The one that Mama Cakes offers is not as creamy and rich, with a delicate crumbly texture and cheesy flavour with a fragrant lemony tang (which we suspect is to make up for the sourishness of twaróg). We usually avoid New York cheesecakes for being too jelak (that feeling when you've had enough of a particularly rich food), but we can easily finish a slice of Polish cheesecake. But as far as cheesecakes go, this one is pretty good. We have not tried an original Polish-made sernik, so we cannot ascertain how authentic this is. The reason being you can savour its flavour better than shovelling the cake straight into your gob. This Polish cheesecake slice is packaged in a plastic box, which comes with a label that earnestly reminds customers to eat the cake in “small bites”. Other than the randomised daily menu, what we also find frustrating about this stall is that the tong shui has a minimum order of five bowls. And five types of tong shui including Gingko Red Bean Paste (S$3), Black Sesame Paste (S$3), Almond Paste (S$3.50) and Gingko Beancurd Skin Barley (S$3). Other than cakes, she also makes Cookie Egg Tarts (S$3 for two) and Musang King Durian Tarts (S$5 for two). “I just see what ingredients are available that day, like whether my bananas are ripened enough,” she explained. Her daily menu is random, as she bakes about three cakes a day to sell by the slice. Unless you preorder a whole cake, what you get when you drop by the stall depends on what Liew makes that day. Prices for a slice range from S$3.50 to S$5.20. They are sold in slices or whole in an eight-inch size, such as Longan Walnut Rum Cake (S$37), Pandan Coconut Cake (S$25), Cavendish Banana Walnut Cake (S$35), Black Sesame Walnut Cake (S$32) and an interesting Salted Egg Wintermelon Cake (S$37). Other than Polish Cheesecake, Liew also offers nine other types of cakes. Do note that the sernik is only available on weekends for walk-ins (preorder in advance if you want it on other days, as Liew can only make a limited number of cheesecakes by herself). The cheesecake is topped with a chunky blueberry compote (the Polish also make sernik with a base like shortcrust, decorating the cheesecake with other toppings such as chocolate ganache, meringue, nuts or crumble).Ĭustomers can order the eight-inch Polish cheesecake whole (S$50, yields 10 slices), or buy it by the slice, which comes plain with no blueberry topping (S$5.20 each). “Lemon wafers are more fragrant,” she noted. Her version is oven-baked, with a crushed lemon wafer base instead of the usual shortcrust or graham cracker base. While the original recipe has a bread dough base, Liew adjusted it to be less labour-intensive so that she can cope with the workload as a mainly solo hawker. “It is his family recipe that is almost 100 years old,” Chia told 8days.sg. The recipe came from a Polish man who is a friend of Chia’s brother. While the popular American cheesecake is creamy and rich, sernik is lighter and has variations like no-bake. Mama Cakes initially sold a Polish-style cheesecake called sernik from home, which is a classic treat in Poland. “He would say things like ‘never mind lah, just do it’, but I’m very particular,” she laughed. It’s good that my son set up this stall for me, otherwise I may get dementia from sitting around at home.”īut Liew admits that she has had her share of work-related arguments with her son when they run their stall together. Liew added: “I was feeling bored at home and wanted to make something nice for people to eat. I said this is your second home,” he told 8days.sg. “She wanted this stall, so I set it up for her. Whenever he has time off from his day job, Chia helps his mum at their stall. In 2017, they moved their home-based operations to a hawker stall at Golden Mile Food Centre. Mama Cakes was opened by 40-something IT analyst Desmond Chia, who set up the business in 2013 so that his Kuala Lumpur-born mum Liew Pick Choo, 73, could have something to do with her free time. The hawkers running this stall are not from Hong Kong, though the tong shui recipes they use are from family friends who are Hong Kong-based chefs.
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