April 5, 2009
Old snacks, new shapes
Doughnuts and pizzas now come in forms that are nothing like their original
By Tan Yi Hui
There was something bigger, rounder and tastier than a diamond ring at Ms Nurhidah Ramli's engagement ceremony last November.
It was the pink, white and black 25-piece doughnut cake that she ordered for the event, held at home for about 500 guests.
'We liked it. Guests were wondering how the doughnuts were stacked and balanced so nicely,' she recalls.
The 23-year-old customer service officer says she wanted a cake that was modern and unique, 'not the normal lapis or wedding cake'.
So the doughnut lover and regular customer of Donut Empire ordered a doughnut cake from the local doughnut chain. Her cake was a stack of 25 doughnuts in chocolate and strawberry flavours and filled with chocolate fudge.
Doughnut cakes are just one of two novelty snacks that have descended on Singapore in recent months. There is also pizza in a cone, offered by franchise chain Kono Pizza.
The 13-outlet Donut Empire, which is well known for its halal-certified egg-free doughnuts, introduced customised doughnut cakes for birthdays, weddings and other events at the end of last year.
Each cake is made up of 15 to 25 doughnuts, which are arranged into the shapes of everything from logs to trains along with cream, cookies, toppings and icing. Prices are $38 for a 15-piece cake, $48 for a 20-piece one and $60 for a 25-piece one.
A spokesman for the chain says it started offering the cakes as many of their customers buy their doughnuts for birthdays, weddings and corporate events.
'Customised doughnut cakes are unique, add a personal touch and are great conversation starters,' he says.
He adds that demand for the cakes has been strong. The chain, which has two outlets in Malaysia, is looking to open an outlet in Indonesia and another in the Middle East in two months' time.
Over at Italian-based Kono Pizza, you can taste everything from Hawaiian ham and pineapple to beef pepperoni wrapped inside a cone of crispy bread.
Mr Mark Wai Loong, manager of the franchise here, says his company came across the quirky dish at a food fair in the Middle East, and decided to introduce it here. Kono Pizza opened last August and there are four outlets islandwide.
The cone crust and fillings of the pizzas are baked together in a patented oven imported from Italy.
Kono Pizza has two standalone outlets at Ngee Ann City and Liang Court Shopping Centre, and two sub-franchised to cinema chain Golden Village, which sells the cone pizzas in combination with popcorn and drinks at their VivoCity and Plaza Singapura branches.
The cinemas sell over 2,000 pizzas a month, at $5.50 per cone, and offers extra flavours such as satay chicken.
A Golden Village spokesman says: 'The compact cone shape allows our movie patrons to eat the pizza without too much fuss. It's not messy and is easy to handle.'
Mr Mark says his two standalone outlets sell about 150 cone pizzas daily. Prices range from $3.80 for a small cone to $5.80 for a large one. He says: 'We think it has great potential. We are still quite new, and will be expanding.'
Kono fans include Ms Rebecca Ting, 23, who works in a design firm. She says: 'My sister actually tried the original Kono Pizza in Italy, so we were excited about it when it came to Singapore.'
She once ordered about 100 cone pizzas in various flavours for a party. The cones, kept warm with aluminiun foil wraps, were a smash hit with her friends. The runaway favourite was the curry-flavoured ones.
She adds: 'My guests were thrilled. I think it's the concept of it being in a cone. I've not seen this in Singapore before.'
Novelty bites
DONUT EMPIRE: Customised doughnut cakes
Think a doughnut pile-up with extras such as whipped cream, cookies, biscuits and wafers thrown in. If you have a sweet tooth, this will be heaven.
A mix of different doughnut flavours in one cake means there are more choices as opposed to a one- flavour cake.
It uses high-quality chocolate that remain soft and fudgy, so you do not get a hardened coat that cracks as with most chocolate- crusted donuts.
Cakes come in three sizes - small (15 doughnuts for $38), medium (20 doughnuts for $48) and large (25 doughnuts for $60).
Flavours range from chocolate and Oreo to honey and green tea.
You need to get creative in serving it though, because it is hard to cut out equal portions other than to remove a doughnut at a time.
To order, go to www.donutempire.com.sg
KONO PIZZA: Pizza in a cone
You won't have to worry about melting ice cream streaming down your cone faster than you can lick it, but this is no neat treat either.
Its soft contents, such as tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini and chicken chunks, tend to spill out if you do not bite skilfully. So keep those tissues around.
Taste-wise, it scores on freshness, and you cannot miss the base ingredient - Kono cheese - which is mostly what you will taste in milder-flavoured combos such as Hawaiian.
Other flavours include chicken sausage, curry chicken, spiced minced lamb, tuna and sweetcorn, and smoked beef pepperoni. There is also Margarita, with a mix of basil and herbs, and Vegetariano, with roasted eggplant, zucchini and black olives.
Prices are $3.80 for small (available only for Margarita), $4.50 for medium and over $5 for large sizes. Not cheap for a small snack the size of an ice-cream cone.
The appeal is in its novelty: warm, freshly baked pizza in a cone, on the go.
Available at: Ngee Ann City, Takashimaya, B2-07-7-1; Liang Court Shopping Centre, B1-13; Golden Village VivoCity; Golden Village Plaza Singapura
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