Purist Patisserie – Elegant and Delicious Entremets

Purist Patisserie is a lovely name. The interior of the shop is lovely, too. So are the cakes. And the owner. Everything here is pretty, exquisite and elegant.

Open only on weekends, Purist Patisserie isn’t actually a full-fledged cafe. It is a space where people can walk-in and browse through catalogues of cakes, and order them. Run and owned by Joanne, Purist Patisserie specialises in French entremets and desserts. For those interested in making a trip down for their beautiful cakes, note that this cafe is only open on Fridays and weekends. This is because Jalan Pelikat (where Purist Patisserie is located) is “very very ulu (deserted)” on weekdays.

Enter the small, charming shop, and you’ll be greeted by an array of cakes sitting in the glass display. The cakes looked extremely inviting. Captivated by their vibrant colours and unique shapes, we decided to order three cakes — Fleur ($8), Whiskey Bar ($8) and the newly-launched Walnut Melon ($8).

Fleur ($8), a bright pink entremet, is a visual treat. Fleur consists of alternating layers of a raspberry mousse, a crispy pastry and a layer of sponge cake. I especially liked the sweet peach cream in the middle. The raspberry mousse was tangy, yet sweet, rather firm, and bouncy. As I bit into the lychee bubbles atop the cake, I was greeted with a refreshing burst of lychee juice — so satisfying! The dainty white chocolate ring, adorned with small pink petals, also adds some sweetness. Compared to the other incredibly soft cakes we ordered, the fleur is a tad tougher to cut through due to the layers of pastry within. Although Fleur is supposed to contain alcohol, I couldn’t taste it.

I was incredibly excited to try the Whiskey Bar which, according to the label, contains “Black Pepper-Whiskey-Pine nut-Chocolate Valrhona Araguani 72%”. It is not often that unconventional ingredients, such as black pepper, are added into cakes. The first thing that hit me, as I dug into the cake, was the distinct crunchy ground black pepper bits in the outermost layer of cream. The black pepper made the cake a little spicy. Initially, I was a little disappointed because I couldn’t taste whisky in the cake. However, that changed when I dug further into the cake and came across its brown middle core. The strong taste of whiskey finally struck, and its characteristic warmness made this cake very enjoyable. In essence, the Whiskey Bar is the perfect grown-up cake. The dense chocolate cake beneath the whiskey core was great too. However, I did find the addition of pine nuts a tad weird. Nonetheless, this unique and complex entremet hits 4 of the fundamental tastes – sweetness (chocolate cake and cream), saltiness (pine nuts), bitterness (whiskey) and spiciness (black pepper). In conclusion, the Whiskey Bar is intriguing and mysterious, and its courageously complex flavour profile makes it my favourite cake of the lot.

Finally, the recently-launched cake on the menu, the Walnut Melon ($8). The walnut melon cake is soft and cottony, and has a texture similar to that of a light Japanese cotton cheese cake. A sweet melon taste shines through the entire cake. The smooth, dense and sweet walnut filling is well-complemented by the salty and nutty cake base. I enjoyed the variations in texture and flavour that the salty nuts at the bottom of the cake brought to the table.

Overall, the entremets at Purist Patisserie are of top quality. Joanne pays great attention to the details in each cake. Although the cakes here are slightly pricey for their size, it takes a huge amount of skill and dexterity to execute each layer almost flawlessly. After polishing off the desserts, I realised that the prices are actually quite reasonable.