pick-me-up cakes.

Two years ago I was dreading the idea of having to give up my love for cakes when I moved to Beijing. Beijing greeted me and my parents with some rain and her infamous traffic jam, and I still can't describe how it felt to be squished in the backseat of a tiny car which was stuffed to the brim with 70kg of luggage and us. There was the imminent fear of not being able to adapt due to my more than rusty Chinese, but also the need to be brave so mum knows that I am more than capable of living by myself in a city/country neither of us knew very much about.

Fast forward two years and I become the person missing this and that about Beijing over the summer holidays while I was in the US and Singapore. People give me the look I know so well when I tell them that I miss Beijing. "What's there to miss?", their eyes ask, as images of news headlines screaming tainted milk, fake eggs (well fake almost everything, really) and the smog come to mind. Well there is more to Beijing than that, if you give her a chance like I did.

So allow me to share one of my favourite things about living near Wudaokou (五道口): cakes from Cafe Bros (波罗斯咖啡)! That coupled with the fact that they deliver for FREE just bumps Cafe Bros up a few notches on my comfort food list. So obviously.... one of the things I had to do in my first week back in Beijing was to get reacquainted with these cakes.

From left to right: Crepe cake (薄饼蛋糕), Sweet Potato cake (红树蛋糕) and Strawberry Pie (草莓派). Pooh courtesy of yours truly.

I consider them value for money, despite them being priced similarly as cakes in Singapore (each slice costs about 22rmb) because they do wonders to my mood whenever I have them. They are kind of like my pick-me-ups, especially when it is a gloomy day in Beijing. Now as I am typing this I am yearning for a cake, but I really ought to exercise some self control since I had a very filling lunch thanks to it being Restaurant Week in Beijing.

Now if you are wondering how to eat a crepe cake, let me teach you. DO NOT ruin the good cake by sticking your fork in it and eating it like you would a cheesecake. So give the picture below a good look and PRACTICE, because we all know practice makes perfect.  

Steps: Insert one prong/tine of a fork between layer 1 and 2 at the sharp tip of the cake. Peel backwards until the entire layer is rolled up on your fork. Enjoy:)

By the time you get through all the layers in one slice, you would have mastered the fine art of crepe cake eating. If you haven't, you should be buying a second slice and starting over. Afterall, this is so much more enjoyable and easier than having to 将铁棒磨成针.

Unfortunately this was the one picture I managed before I polished off the cake, so no step by step guide. If you have the crepe cake sitting in front of you right now you'll understand why it is so hard to stop for pictures:)

Cafe Bros (波罗斯咖啡): 海淀区华清嘉园13号楼门东 (010-82865970)

Now I will get back to overdosing on Korean variety and Hong Kong dramas before semester officially begins tomorrow.