Classic Cakes

I only like the carrot cake (really it’s a turnip kueh, not the western carrot cake). Been eating it for years and it is still very good. Often give it as a gift too. However, the Chilli is not enough. It is very good but not enough for one who likes Chilli.
Heard their Yam cake is good too but personally I don’t like yam cake much.
Have tried the cakes before but then not for many years because I still am of the opinion that the carrot cake is the best.

This is a review for their yam cake, as I didn’t try their cakes.
I love anything taro/​yam, and I really wanted to LOVE their yam cake, but I felt it was rather meh.
They sell their yam cake in blocks here — $ 8 for a quarter, $ 16 for half, $ 30 whole. Whole is probably 10″ by 10″ (guesstimate). It’s slightly pricey, but the only place we have for comparison are markets where people eat yam cake as a breakfast food. If you’re not local, yam cake is not a sweet cake per se, but a savory cake made with taro, sausage etc.
Because taro has a mild flavor, yam cakes in general have ingredients like dried mushroom, Chinese sausage, shallots, salt, pepper, dried prawns etc, to enhance its flavor. The yam cake is very yam-​dense, but I was disappointed with the dearth of ingredients. Not to overwhelm it, but to complement instead. The yam cakes here have only Chinese sausage and shallots, and some lard inside (I think). They are topped with a visually-​pleasing mix of spring onions, fried shallots, and cut red chilli. I found the yam cake here not salty enough for me, but I have a heavy palate and this is just my opinion.
They provide a nice spicy chilli sauce to go with the yam cake, but they are extremely stingy with it. Whether you buy a quarter, half, or whole, you get one tiny container of it. Would I buy it again? Maybe not. I would try their cakes — they have a tonne of newspaper cuttings saying how good their mille feuilles are.
P. S. They don’t take credit cards here.

This is one of the true gems in my neighborhood. I seldom come across bakers that can pull out the stops on more than 1 – 2 specialties and Charles does that.
Classic Cakes has the most underrated tiramisu in Singapore and I’ve no idea why. I would put this on par with Da Paolo’s increasingly overpriced little boxes and those airy cups at Preggo’s. He uses the lightest sponge, really whipped, melt-​in-​your-​mouth mascarpone and a good sprinkling of cocoa dust on the top. The cake itself looks innocuous but darn… just…man…I can’t. The black velvet cake is pretty good too and when I bought it for a friend after she gave birth (I mean who wouldn’t want chocolate), she said she and her husband ate the whole cake within a week.
I’m a little divided on the Best Ever Chocolate cake. I’ve tasted it over the years since the shop opened. At the start I felt the chocolate couverture was too waxy, which is a function of the amount of cocoa butter in the mix. But, I think the recipe has been tweaked over time (or my taste buds have adjusted) because the chocolate cream seems more balanced and the cake itself is wonderfully moist though once in awhile I get that waxy hint. There’s a little jam in there too to add a kick and chocolate curls on the top that I love sticking in my mouth before attacking the cake. The BEC certainly holds it own in a stiff local playing field, though it sometimes lacks *just* that extra oomph to be a knock out in my book.
Charles does a number of other cool things like mille crêpe cakes, which very few bakers attempt. I personally don’t find mille crêpe cakes appealing in any shape or form (and trust me, I work 2 blocks away from Lady M, have tried Everything With Fries & Classic Cakes’ versions), so I’ll leave it to the pros to decide that one. I also don’t eat Chinese radish/​yam cake. HOWEVER, I will leave you with 3 tidbits about those goodies:
— I have heard aunties who don’t live near my neighborhood rave about the «radish cake from sunset way cake shop»
— I have seen the shop window stacked floor to ceiling with boxes in the days leading up to Chinese New Year every year
— I was once picking out cake slices and this mum and her rather pudgy son walked in. The mum wanted to order the radish/​yam cake and asked her son to tell Charles what he thought of them and the boy’s eyes lit up while he exclaimed, «it’s so YUMMY I ATE THE WHOLE THING»
Go forth and eat my friends.

Have you tried their brownies? This is a serious question — have you tried their brownies? They are reeeeeediculous. Fudgy and delicious, they are. And why is this? There’s just this one kind of brownie in the display — caramel and sea salt — and its amazing. That caramel adds such a chewy dimension, and those crystals of salt are real nuggets of flavour.
Had a friend tell me about a special gluten-​free version he makes with almond meal, and that was even better! Call ahead and expect to wait two days, and what you get is two slabs of glorious, nutty, chocolatey deliciousness. Savour it slowly, and in moderation, lest you get a sore throat and blame me!

The radish cake deserves all 5 stars. This is the cake that gets sold out year after year every Chinese New Year! Yup, better get on the waiting list as early as you can. A little pricey perhaps, but worth the money. There’s nothing quite like the radish or yam cakes here. Have it with the chilli on a Sunday afternoon. That’s my perfect weekend snack!
The Mille crêpe is delicious too and you can actually feel the different layers of cake when you slice into it and eat it. Unlike some other mille crepes which just feels like creamy mush when you slice your knife into it. The glazed caramel top adds a lovely crisp texture to the cake.

Classic Cakes reminds me a lot of Lana Cakeshop at Greenwood– simple, old school and unpretentious. But compared to Lana, Classic Cakes offers a greater variety– French favorites like the mille cake to old school hits like the Blackforest and Cheesecakes.
I’m a huge fan of Blackforest cakes and not at all hard to please, but I was pretty disappointed with this one. Sure, their cherry portions were extremely generous and each cherry is soaked to perfection, but the cream was tasteless and the sponge cake was rough and crumbly. It seemed like it soaked up all the alcohol from the cherries– leaving it moist, and so limp to the point it was very difficult to hold the cake up and eat it. At $ 3.90 per piece, it borders on being slightly pricey considering that the portions aren’t that large.

Not many places sell crêpe cakes in Singapore, which is why I keep returning Classic Cakes for a slice of this French classic. Made up of many layers of perfectly cooked crepes, the top of the Mille Crêpe Cake has a burnt caramel top that adds another dimension to its taste and texture. Definitely a different experience on the tastebuds if you haven’t already tried this! The café also serves chocolate and cheese cakes. In the mood for something savoury? Try their radish or yam cakes!
Situated at Sunset Way, this café is not the most accessible of places, but when you’re in the area, do check it out!