Down and Buttery: All You Need to Know About Cakes
All You Need to Know About Cakes
The word patisserie originates from the French word pâtisserie, meaning ‘pastry shop’, which was derived from the Latin word pasticium, meaning ‘pastry’. Bellton Patisserie is an online cake shop in Singapore, selling delicious and beautifully baked cakes and pastries for all sweet-tooths. Vegan, gluten-free, and keto cakes are specially oven-baked in store, it is our passion to indulge you with heavenly desserts catered to your specific tastes and needs - no need to feel guilty for a second.
We make it easy for you to get our yummy cakes and pastries - simply order online at least two days in advance, and we will deliver them right to your doorstep! We also offer same day delivery for customers who need it - as long as they contact us through Whatsapp to make arrangements. On top of sending you our most tantalising treats, we also want to share everything that we love about cakes with you. So, let’s get down and buttery with everything that you need to know about cakes in Singapore!
Different types of cakes
Maybe you love sinking your teeth into a rich, dense piece, or perhaps light and spongy tickles your taste buds. Apart from differences in flavours like chocolate, strawberry, or salted caramel, cakes also vary in texture and taste depending on the basic ingredients used to bake it. Every ingredient and step in the baking process contributes to whether a cake turns out spongy and light or thick and dense - really, it’s no piece of cake. With greater knowledge of what’s inside your beloved cakes comes a deepened appreciation for them, so here, we share what makes each one special!
Butter
Butter cakes are the first of the two main types of cakes - the second being sponge cakes. Any recipe that starts with butter, oil or shortening, cream, and sugar is considered a butter cake, also known as a shortened cake. To make these cakes, butter, sugar and cream are beaten together, and then eggs are usually added to aerate (meaning introduce air) into the mixture. Most importantly, flour is used to build the cake’s structure. The colour of the cake depends on the eggs beaten into the mixture: cream colours come from whole eggs, white from egg whites, and yellow from extra egg yolks.
Sponge
Sponge cakes are also named Foam or Unshortened cakes, and they have their name because they are largely made up of foamed eggs compared to other ingredients like sugar and butter. Unlike butter cakes, sponge cakes contain little or no butter and flour. For the cake to rise, eggs are whipped so that air enters the mixture and leavens the cake, producing light, airy cakes with an even texture and good volume… mmm, fluffy!
Chiffon
Mousse
Cheese
Overall, while butter, sponge and chiffon cakes can be enjoyed on their own, they are most often layered with other filling, frostings, and fruits to create the delectable desserts that you find in cake shops for birthdays and other special occasions. Most of our cakes are made using sponge cakes that enable a satisfying combination of light and airy cake with rich and creamy frosting. Mousse cakes and cheesecakes are hardly frosted or filled, but the ingredients in these cakes are mixed around to create different flavours for the great delight of your tastebuds!
Cake frostings that look good and taste better
Nothing like beautiful cream frosting to top a cake off, or as we like to say, put the cream on the cake. Good frostings don’t overwhelm, they complement a cake in terms of texture and taste – sinful, maybe, but irresistible too. We got you covered with these different well-loved frostings used in cakes shops all around Singapore!
Butter Cream
Buttercream frosting is the most common type, made by mixing fat, usually butter, with sugar, and sometimes adding eggs or milk to produce a softer and creamier consistency. The foundational buttercream frosting is the simple or American buttercream, made with fat (butter) and confectioner’s sugar, plus whipped eggs or milk for a lighter and airier mixture.
Another is the decorator’s buttercream, used to create decorative pieces like flowers on cakes. Decorator’s buttercream is stiffer and can be moulded into different decorative shapes, unlike normal buttercream that is soft and creamy. Instead of using butter which melts easily, vegetable shortening is used to create structure and shape for the frosting. This frosting is plain-tasting, used to embellish and decorate rather than excite the taste buds, although a little butter is sometimes added to enrich the taste.
Cream cheese
Zesty and tangy is the cream cheese frosting! Cream cheese frosting is made almost just like buttercream frosting, except that it consists of cream cheese instead of butter, or equal parts butter and cream cheese: cream cheese, powdered sugar, and sometimes eggs or milk. Cream cheese frostings pair amazingly with red velvet, carrot, and pumpkin cakes too.
Chocolate Ganache
Ganache is made with two basic ingredients: chocolate and cream! Chocolate ganache can be used as beautiful coatings for cakes, fillings for layered cakes or cookies, and toppings for chocolate cupcakes or brownies. When more chocolate is used than cream, ganache hardens into a coating; it remains creamier and softer when more cream is added, making it suitable for fillings and toppings instead. Our Chocolate Blackout Cake, for instance, is layered with creamy chocolate ganache fillings and coated with a smooth, rich ganache too!
Fresh Cream
Fresh cream or whipped cream is made by cold-whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to produce a light and fluffy white mixture. Strawberry shortcakes use lots of fresh cream as fillings between layers and topping for the cake. Fresh cream combined with fresh strawberries – one bite into this delightful cake and you’ll be wanting more!
Our favourites are the simple buttercream, cream cheese and chocolate ganache frostings. It’s important to use just the right amount of frosting or a delightfully balanced taste. While the frosting ingredients are pretty straightforward, mostly fat, cream and sugar, using the right proportions of each ingredient and putting them together in just the right way makes the necessary difference for a wonderful frosting. For all lovers of creamy, rich frosting, our Red Velvet Heart Cake tops it off with tangy cream cheese frosting and a pretty crown of frosted ombre coloured fresh cream roses.
All-time favourite cakes in Singapore
You may be a cake-lover who loves all cakes, tall or short, tender or full-flavoured – but there has to be a certain one that hits your weak spot and makes you long for more. We’ve all got our weaknesses, so we’re excited to reveal Singaporean’s all-time favourite, got-you-weak-in-your-knees cakes, starting with the most popular!
#1 Chocolate Praline Cake
Chocolate praline cakes are the go-to for chocolate enthusiasts in Singapore – more than chocolate, these cakes have grounded nuts like hazelnuts or almonds added to the batter, introducing a light nutty taste to the rich chocolate sponge. Because praline is originally a confectionery consisting of crushed almonds and/or hazelnut, coated in burnt sugar – caramel, these cakes are sometimes layered with praline layers for satisfying crunch.
Our Chocolate Praline Cake is uniquely crafted with layers of moist chocolate sponge, creamy chocolate mousse, and luxurious hazelnut paste. Instead of praline confectionary, we use crispy feuilletine – thin and sweetened crêpes – offering a surprise with every bite!
#2 New York Cheesecake
The New York cheesecake is made up of rich, creamy and smooth-baked batter, complete with a crumbling biscuit base—a melting slice of paradise when placed in your mouth. Singaporeans love this tangy cake for a zesty twist and departure from the regular sweet desserts we are familiar with. With the added tinge of lemon zest, our New York Cheesecake is fresher and lighter in all its simplicity, a popular choice among our customers!
#3 Strawberry Shortcake
This one’s for the fruit lovers in Singapore: the light and fluffy strawberry shortcake! Strawberry shortcakes in America are made using sweet, dense cakes or biscuits that crumble with each bite. Singapore’s strawberry shortcakes, however, adapt the Japanese method—airy vanilla sponge layered with soft cream and sweet strawberries! Everything about the strawberry shortcake is pleasant to the tastebuds, light and fresh with fruits and cream—you’ll not be able to stop with this one. Get a tantalising taste of our Strawberry Shortcake by making an easy order on our online shop!
#4 Mille Crepe Cake
Mille is French for a thousand – for the thousand layers of crêpes that the Mille Crepe Cake is made of. We might be exaggerating – the Mille Crepe Cake is not really made of a thousand layers of crepe, but it really is made up of many, many layers of thin pancakes called crepes, stacked together with slight layers of fresh pastry cream. In Singapore, flavours range from coffee, to green tea, to rum and raisin, to tiramisu!
#5 Chiffon Cake
As we mentioned before, chiffon cakes are baked in tube pans, pans with a hollow through the centre – so that the chiffon cake, when after it is baked, appears in a rounded shape with a doughnut hole down the middle. Chiffon cakes are often already infused with flavours and can be served just as they are, tasting like strawberry yoghurt, oreo cookies, banana walnut, and even – the most Singapore flavour – durian.
Altogether, our online shop sells a wide range of Singapore’s best-loved cakes, including the Chocolate Praline Cake, New York Cheesecake, and Strawberry Shortcake. We also have unique Singapore flavours, like Chrysanthemum Tea, Ondeh Ondeh, and Pulut Hitam – local black glutinous dessert turned into a sumptuous cake! Preparing to indulge in more than one of these all-time favourites? Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us!
Cakes and Desserts for the Occasion
What occasions deserve good cake in Singapore?
Birthday
Birthdays are the first occasion that comes to mind when we think of cakes. Round cakes and candles – today marking the years lived by the person being celebrated – is believed to have started as a ritual of worship to the moon goddess, Artemis. The ancient Greeks used round cakes to represent the moon and candle smoke to send prayers and wishes up to the heavens, to celebrate Artemis’ birth. While most birthday cakes are still round today, it is also common to find rectangular, square and even heart shapes. More importantly, birthdays now celebrate the people we love! Check out our selection of gorgeous birthday cakes and order online for delivery in Singapore.
Wedding
In medieval times, the best and richest foods were brought out for special occasions such as wedding feasts! Historians suggest that the wedding cake was not the unique food object in those times – there was no special food that stood out from the rest in a wedding feast, unlike our multi-tiered wedding cakes that take centre stage today. Still, it’s likely that the fancy wedding cakes of today took roots in those times – since decorated foods required more expensive ingredients that could only be afforded for momentous occasions like these.
Wedding cakes are still expensive to this day! The tradition has also extended to include wedding anniversaries – couples in Singapore enjoy celebrating a wedding anniversary with uniquely decorated artisanal cake!
Christmas
The Yule log cake, or as the French call it, bûche de Noël, can be traced all the way back to Europe’s Iron Age. People would burn logs decorated with pinecones, holly or ivy to celebrate the end of harsh winter and usher good luck for a new year. The Yule log tradition carried on, but the logs got smaller to fit smaller hearths, which happened to be an ideal size for cake-baking! It is not known how exactly the log burning tradition transformed into a cake baking one, but the Yule log cake continues to live on with other Christmas festivities till this day.
Yule log cakes are traditionally made of rolled yellow sponge, filled with light cream and frosted with rich chocolate buttercream – intricately decorated to look like logs and adorned with meringue tree branches and mushrooms, marzipan hollies, and fresh berries. The log cake has also evolved into other cylindrical designs, like trains, gingerbread homes, red chimney houses, white snowed mountains, but nobody will forget the classic Yule log cake at Christmas!
Other festive occasions
Other desserts for special occasions
If you’re hosting a party, dessert tables are very popular with guests! Shake things up by decorating the table according to the theme of your party and filling it up with delicious treats. The golden rule for creating a gorgeous display is to locate the tallest and most central food display, like a tall cake or dessert tower, for the centre spot; from there, arrange a symmetrical and balanced display with the rest of your food items. Keep to just a few chosen colours with your food, plates and décor, and your dessert table will be a treat for eyes and tummy alike! Here are some winning desserts you might want to bring in for your next special occasion:
Macarons
Delicate treats that come in a variety of colours – pastel pinks and purples, cheerful greens and yellows, or deeper reds and browns – easily choose the right fit for your party theme! Made of expensive ingredients like almond and fruit, these sweet treats offer a pleasant, crumbling surprise with each bite. Macarons can be arranged into gorgeous macaron towers using tier plates, or arranged like pyramids, stacked one on top of another. Order your favourites online from a range of over 20 flavours and colours, and you can have them delivered on the same day in Singapore!
Lava Cakes
Soft, fudgy cakes, sprinkled white with powdered sugar and overflowing with rich, warm, melted chocolate—who doesn’t love lava cakes? Lay out elegant dessert forks, pop open a tub of vanilla ice cream, and serve your guests this heavenly treat. If ice cream is too messy, you can always throw in a couple of raspberries to balance the sweet fudge!
Cupcakes
Frosted cupcakes are the go-to for any dessert table because they are just so easy to serve and petite enough to be tucked into at a party! You can have your pick at the many flavours: classic red velvet, raspberry swirled, salted caramel, zesty lemon, earl grey lavender and so much more…
Cookies
Which is it? Bite-sized cookies for satisfying crunch, or soft chunks of chewy goodness? Have it all, small, colossal, crispy, gooey, in a mouth-watering range of flavours like matcha white chocolate, red velvet, peanut butter and more when you order from us! We’ll deliver these lip-smacking snacks fresh to your doorstep.
All in all, explore this divine world of delectable desserts and create a feast for your special day!
Cake delivery: on time for the party
Sweating over your party plans? Have food delivered straight to you to lift an enormous weight off your shoulders.Nothing wrong with preparing homemade, home-baked desserts for your guests – but be sure to plan an accurate timeline to make sure that your food is ready on time, and too early so that they aren’t fresh anymore. Of course, you might also choose to drive to the store and pick these sugary treats up yourself, but it might take a few trips to and from the car depending on how much you need – never underestimate the time you need to set up the party deco!
Ordering online is just so convenient because it takes care of everything about your cakes and desserts – from the moment the baking process begins to the moment the food is set down on your table. Delivering gives you ample time to breathe, take care of everything else, and settle down before you throw your wonderful party!
With Bellton Patisserie, all you have to do is browse our elegant selection of cakes and desserts, order and pay online at least two days in advance, and we will deliver to you any time between Mondays to Fridays from 9am – 6pm, and on Saturdays from 9am – 1pm. We are more than happy to try to cater to your special requests or orders too! Simply contact us here to see what we can do for you.
Quality Matters: Stretch your Dollar with Quality Cakes
Cakes for any dietary preference in Singapore
Just because you have specific dietary preferences, doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a tasty slice of cake in Singapore! With our assortment of vegan, gluten-free and keto cakes available, all of which are halal, you’re free to eat to your heart’s content any time you want.
Vegan
Vegan cakes have no animal products inside, which means that eggs and milk are kept out of the mix. People commonly think of vegan cakes to be harder and denser because of the lack of whipped eggs to provide air and structure. This is not true! Vegan cakes can be made light and airy through various other methods like sifting flour or making sure that the temperature of the oven is kept even to help the cake to rise. Before you make your judgement, take a bite of our soft and fluffy vegan cakes!
Gluten-Free
Gluten is a protein found in grains, wheat, barley, oats etc. and it is usually what helps baked foods to stick and have their structure. Gluten-free cakes swap out regular wheat-flour for single-grain flour like quinoa flour. Instead of gluten, other ingredients like chia, flax or psyllium seeds, guar gum or xanthan can be used to support the structure of the cake. While gluten-free does not necessarily mean healthier, there are people who benefit from taking gluten out of their diets. Gluten-free cakes may be shorter and slightly crumblier, but they sure taste just as delicious as regular cakes do!
Keto Cakes
Don’t want to bust your waistline while indulging in yummy cakes? We’ve got good news: you can have your cake and eat it too. Keto cakes are low in carbs and high in protein – a way healthier alternative! Wheat flour that is high in carbohydrates is replaced with low-carb ingredients like ground fruits or tree nuts, ground flax meal, or eggs that still provide a binding effect to retain the cake’s structure. To make the cakes even healthier, some people also substitute sugar for natural sugar substitutes!If you have specific dietary requirements, drop us a Whatsapp to find out more about our heavenly assortment of vegan, gluten-free, or keto cakes available just for you. Shop from our online store and have these personalised cakes delivered directly to your Singapore address.
Cake mix vs. cakes made from scratch
Did you know that the cakes you buy from a bakery aren’t necessarily made from scratch? Many bakeries use a cake mix to create their basic batter, and then tweak this mix with added ingredients so that it takes on unique flavour or better texture after being cooked.
Fresh or processed?
With cake mix, the ingredients that go into your cakes are more processed and artificial. Most cake mixes have high contents of sugar, chemicals, and trans-fat that are extremely unhealthy. On the other hand, cakes made from scratch use fresher ingredients, natural sweeteners and less sugar, and contain way less trans-fat!
Chemicals like propylene glycol mono-, sodium stearoyl lactylate, artificial colours and flavours are present in cake mix brands like Duncan Hines. Ingredients like these, and other ingredients like partially hydrogenated soybean oil, cellulose gum and modified corn starch, are out of place in cakes that are made from scratch. Imagine baking a cake… is ‘partially hydrogenated soybean oil’ on recipe?
Homemade cakes use fresh and familiar ingredients like butter, eggs, flour, sugar – a definite healthier choice.
Dynamic or flat?
Cake mix just can’t beat a fully homemade cake in terms of flavour! Cakes made from packaged mixes produce flatter and more sugary tastes, with an overly-even texture.
The best thing about a cake made completely from scratch is that the ingredients can be adjusted and controlled at every single step of the baking process – creating nuanced flavours and textures according to evolving tastes and preferences.
Overall, homemade cakes are full and unique in flavour, and made with fresh and healthier ingredients. Our cakes are made lovingly from scratch so that every bite tastes a little like heaven. Cake mix or homemade, you decide, but our quality cakes are sure to hit home!
The littlest ingredient, step, and measured time make a difference in baking a heavenly creation. You can count on us to love the details. Browse our online shop and make an order to receive our delicious cakes from the comfort of your home, here.