With the popularisation of new-age bakeries offering French, Korean or Japanese bread and cakes, it has become increasingly difficult to find a traditional old school bakery. Some of us might still remember those old school cake shops at our neighbourhood selling colourful sugary buttercream cakes while others might have never tasted them at all. I realised that in recent years, people have started to search for these old school bakeries for a piece of their growing up memories.
One such bakery is Pine Garden’s Cake who has been in the scene since 1984 with their flagship outlet in the humble neighbourhoods of Ang Mo Kio. With 32 years of history on their belt, the bakery still churns out delicious bread and decadent cakes daily to satisfy their customers. The flagship store is not very huge but you can find a big variety of freshly baked bread loaves and buns coming out of their kitchen every now and then.
As you approach the stall, you will definitely be attracted by their 2 huge cooler display cabinets. One of side, they offer whole cakes for customers to buy home for any celebration. If you wish to have any customisation, you can call and book your cake in advance.
The other chiller cabinet is filled with single slices cakes which is extremely popular with customers as you can see most people crowding around the chiller fridge. They have at least 30 kinds of cakes and most of them are fresh cream sponge cakes ranging from the old school rainbow cream cakes to modern flavours like Pulut Hitam and Lychee martini. One of their most popular cakes is the Blackforest Gateau which was touted as the best on the island from the local press. The price of their cakes ranges between SGD 2.80 to SGD 3.50 and are a huge difference from these other modern bakeries.
Interesting, they have also started selling cooked food like fried chicken wings and curry puffs which I have not tried before but seems to be popular with the regulars. Other than bread, you can find items like traditional Kuehs, Chinese yam cake and turnip cake and fried peanuts glutinous rice for sale at the counter.
Whenever I visit Pine Garden, I have to resist the urge to buy every cake off the chiller but my personal favourites include the lychee martini and the Ornee ( yam ) cake. As I have never tried the Pulut Hitam cake, I forgo the Blackforest which is another popular choice. The other cake I bought was the Milo chewy cake which is another chocolatey goodness.
The cakes are packed in their cutesy box with their logo that features a squirrel and a tagline of ” The new old school bakery”
I did not manage individual shots of the other cakes I bought as they were gobbled up the moment I reached home. So here’s the Ornee ( yam) cake which has Yam flavour fresh cream and yam bits layered between 2 layers of light and fluffy yam flavoured chiffon cakes. The cake is decorated with 2 Ginko nuts and a red date which is something you would find in the traditional yam paste dessert. The flavours of the cake are light and balanced with just enough yam flavours from the cream and the chiffon cake itself. The cooked yam bits were also soft and gave the cake a nice texture.
Personally, most of the cakes are different from the modern bakeries as the cakes sponges might not be as light as a Japanese bakery one; or the flavours might not be as exquisite as a French bakery. What really stands out are is its humble yet strong identity of an old school bakery introducing new localised flavours not found in many modern bakeries. These flavours give us that feeling of a home-baked tea break cake without breaking our wallets. I would highly recommend anyone to visit Pine Garden to taste some of these cakes to understand the Singapore old school bakeries.
Address: 529 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, Singapore 560529
Operating hours: 8.30 am to 9.30 pm
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