Have you heard the latest hangat food in town? Nope?
Here it is.
It's a sponge cake.
\\
源味本鋪 Original Cake is from Tamsui District, Taiwan. This branch at Sunway Velocity is currently their only branch in Malaysia. I came across them while browsing the directory of Sunway Velocity and decided to drop by today at 10.42 am to try my luck. If you go through their Facebook, you see one intimidating queue after another.
And indeed it was intimidating. I started off at 10.42 am and it took me an hour and 18 minutes to get my hands on the cakes at 12 noon. It's probably the longest I've queued in Malaysia for anything. But, I'm considered fortunate, as the queue at the original Taiwan branch could last up to 3 hours on busy days!
Even though there were 6 ovens running at the same time, each customer is limited to 2 cakes each which I think is fair since they're currently hangat and allowing customers to purchase more than 2 would result in the said Taiwan-esque queue. The cakes are going at a discounted price of RM15 for the original and RM20 for the cheese flavor with each costing RM18 and RM25 normally. In Taiwan, they have 6 flavors so I'm looking forward to that when it reaches Malaysian shores.
Each piece is measured with precision so much so that a metal ruler is used to mark out portions before its cut. Mr Cake Cutter here seems to be a natural at it though.
Piping hot out of the oven, the cake looks gorgeous. It wobbles with every touch and looked ever so soft and fluffy.
Look at that soft and bouncy texture!
The cheese flavored cake has 2 layers of sliced cheese creating distinct unmistakable lines of yellow. I got 2 of this as it was essentially an original flavor sponge cake with cheese. Want to know how the original flavor tastes like? Just eat it without the cheese.
So the ultimate question - how did it taste? I have a confession - I don't like sponge cakes. A lot of the time, it's crumbly, dry and seems to suck up all the moisture on your tongue. This one was nothing short of amazing. It was moist, bouncy, light and airy but dense at the same time. You'd usually never use those words all in the same sentence. Eggy and fragrant, the cheese added another dimension to the usually plain sponge cake to keep you wanting more.
I'm pleased to say that I now have a favorite sponge cake! Is it worth the wait? It's a big, resounding yes!