Me. My Life.

I’m a big fan of ice cream, and I’m a big fan of chocolate. What happens when you put two together? I end up in Chocolate heaven, if there really is such a thing.

I first discovered Awfully Chocolate on a very innocent trip to  buy a cake for Andrew’s brother’s birthday. Their cousin had reserved a cake at Awfully Chocolate at Cluny Road and we were supposed to collect it. Now, what happened later isn’t of the issue here. But anyway, here’s some background about the place.

Awfully Chocolate so far has 4 branches in Singapore (Cluny Rd, Katong Mall, Sembawang Hills, Raffles Place area – can’t remember name). It serves chocolate cakes (3 flavours) and ice cream. Cakes only come whole, and off the shelf only comes in half kg. Ice cream is served by the scoop or pint (I think).

When you step into an Awfully Chocolate, you are greeted by nothingness, almost. The shop space is pretty much bare, save for a few luscious cushioned seats for customers to sit and enjoy their ice cream or choose their cakes. The walls are bare white, and lighting often comes chandelier like (Cluny Rd) or funky-looking ones (Sembawang Hills). Apart from the cushioned seats, lights, and the shop sign, everything else is WHITE. Even the counter.

Urged by a nagging craving this afternoon, I made a small detour on the way to training to the outlet at Katong Mall for a scoop of the awfully sinful chocolate. At $3, you get a pretty generous helping of chocolate ice cream in a white chinese takeaway box with the chinese word 黑 (black) on it. The scoop is a translucent green, shaped like a leaf, with a pointed tip (presumably to dig into your ice cream).

I had to suffer the crazy heat to walk to Katong Mall, but for the effort, it was worth every single bit of my $3. The ice cream was thick and creamy and very chocolatey. Nothing like your usual Magnolia and I dare say its even comparable to Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen Dasz, leaving a tiny bit of bitter aftertaste that only proper chocolate can offer.

The only disappointment though, is that the decor of the Katong Mall outlet pales in comparison to the ones at Cluny or Sembawang Hills (I haven’t been to the Raffles one). It hardly offers the zen-like-yet-oh-so-cosy-I-could-nua-here-all-day feeling, even though it is still in the signature all white decor all Awfully shops possess. I’d attribute this to the fact that while the other outlets are housed comfortably in traditional shophouses (hence having the luxury of space), the outlet at Katong Mall seems to function more like a kiosk. Not somewhere I’d want to idle my afternoon away.

While the ice-cream is something to scream about (almost). The cake is a little lacklustre. We had the all chocolate cake – dark chocolate with with dark fudge. The consistency of the cake was good, and the fudge had just enough dark chocolate. I only had one slice since we were all pretty stuffed from dinner but it wouldn’t be something that you’d be gelat over. My only grouse was that it tasted suspiciously like the fudge cake my aunt would make, only that my aunt’s fudge cake was much, much better. At $42 a kg, and with Awfully Chocolate being obviously an expert in Chocolate, I expected the kind of “Oh my god I’m in Chocolate Heaven” feeling when I bite into the cake.

Nonetheless, if you love chocolate ice-cream, Awfully Chocolate is definitely one of the places to check out. Scoops are at $3 while pints are at $11.20.

You can find Awfully Chocolate here.

The picture is a little bit out of focus, but i’m sure the detail can be seen. Freshly frosted, freshly baked, succulent and moist chocolate cupcakes!

Chocolate Meringue Kisses

I know, they don’t look much like kisses, but they were supposed to be kisses.

I didn’t know meringue was that easy to make until today. Just whisk two egg whites to form soft peaks, whisk in sugar and it forms hard peaks, and add the vanilla essence and cocoa powder. Pop them into the oven for about 35 mins, and then leave them to cool in the oven with the temperature turned off.

Voila!! Yummy yummy, melt in your mouth chocolate meringue kisses.

I’d expect them to be gone before I get home tonight.