The elusive balance between the sweet and the salty is often displaced in salted caramel creations. Here’re five that have gotten the winning combination down pat.
If it’s not too sweet, it’s too salty. Finding the perfect balance — a middle ground with neither flavour overwhelming the other — of the sweet and the salty in salted caramel desserts may prove to be a daunting task. But we’ve piled on the calories (so you don’t have to) to sieve out five tempting desserts that have executed the winning combination flawlessly.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
Drury Lane’s salted caramel chocolate tart ($4) marries the best of both (dessert) worlds. Luscious molten salted caramel and semi-sweet chocolate (brownie points for choosing a partner that doesn’t dominate the flavour profile) sit in a crisp and crunchy tart that delivers a mouthful of toothsome gratification with every bite. A merry mélange of textures, ranging from chewy to crunchy, is only trumped by the tart’s rich flavours. Our only gripe? This bestseller sells out swiftly.
Drury Lane, 94 Tanjong Pagar Road. Tel: 6222 6698.
Salted Caramel Waffles
Hatter Street’s salted caramel waffles ($8.90) stage a show-stopping performance (with fragrant aromas to match) backdropped by the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed dessert store. More than just a pretty face, this dessert tastes every bit as good as it looks. A freshly pressed crisp waffle sits on a white plate sided with powdered sugar gently dressing strawberries like freshly fallen snow. A scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream is perched in the center and finished with a drizzle of house-made salted caramel sauce. Kudos to the pastry chef for dishing up every element from scratch. Bon appétit!
Hatter Street, #01-333, 212 Hougang Street 21. Tel: 6988 4591.
Salted Caramel Milkshake
Casting us back into the softer, gentler world of our childhood is The Providore’s salted caramel milkshake ($10.50). This milkshake is a veritable dessert in itself and one reserved for the sweet-toothed. Here, caramel syrup and salted caramel gelato from Latte e Miele Artisan Gelato are blended into a smooth consistency before garnished with crushed caramel brittle. It’s thick, creamy, and utterly satisfying.
The Providore Mandarin Gallery, #02-05, 333A Orchard Road. Tel: 6732 1565.
Salted Caramel Crepe
Entre-nous Creperie’s house signature Geraldine’s Favourite ($14.90) has reigned as the most popular item on the menu for the past six years. While it doesn’t impress on the aesthetic front, bite into it and you’ll find the ugly duckling morphing into a beautiful swan. Served with a scoop of homemade salted butter caramel ice cream — we opted to make the swap from the default vanilla ice cream — that’s reminiscent of toffee, the crepe is thickly moist and chewy, enveloping thinly sliced apples pan-fried in Brittany butter and salted caramel sauce. The best part: crisp, crusty edges of slightly burnt crepe evocative of the bittersweet flavours of imperfection.
Entre-nous Creperie, #01-01, 27 Seah Street. Tel: 6333 4671.
Salted Caramel Cheesecake
The Sweet and Smokey Taffy ($19.90) is a salted caramel cheesecake creation dreamt up by Daniel Tay of Bakerzin fame. It’s a sweet and salty concerto of salted caramel and cream cheese baked to perfection on a crunchy ‘volcano’ oreo biscuit crust, and finished with a glazed layer of salted caramel ‘lava’.
Cat & the Fiddle, www.catandthefiddle.com.
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