Ah Mah's Dirty Bun-Inspired Blanket Castella Roll Cake Taste Test: Nice Or Not?

The castella rolls come in three flavours: pandan, sesame and chocolate, and you can customise them with four different spreads, such as kaya coconut, strawberry and cream cheese.

Aside from spreads, you can also stuff your roll cake with your choice of four toppings (additional 30 cents each), like chocolate rice or crushed nuts.

If you were expecting a fat, fluffy castella cake shaped into a roll, you’re gonna be disappointed. Think a skinnier sheet of the brand’s usual pandan castella cake, smeared with kaya and rolled up. Despite its lack of height, the sponge is silky, soft and very fragrant with fresh pandan juice. The kaya (sourced from a supplier) is a bit too sweet, but still flavourful. We added coconut flakes to our roll, which gives it a nice chewy texture. Pretty yummy, though it’s like a less stellar version of the retro homemade kaya rolls from Rich And Good Cake Shop.

Inspired by the current dirty bun trend. Feathery, mild-tasting chocolate sponge is filled with sugary chocolate ganache, sprinkled with crunchy chopped peanuts, crackly “sweetened crêpe flakes”, then rolled up, slathered with more ganache on top, and finished off with cocoa powder. It does get “dirty” if you use your fingers to eat it, but this was small and soft enough to nibble with a fork, so we chickened out, did that, and encountered no mess. Those with a sweet tooth might like this ’cos it tastes kinda like the love child of a Ferrero Rocher and a, um, Milo-dusted dirty bun. We suppose it's worth a try if you've got the metabolism of an 18-year-old. But we prefer the pandan roll.

We usually enjoy the earthy nuttiness of sesame, but this roll has an almost bitter edge that clashes with the strangely greasy cream cheese filling.

Available at all Ah Mah outlets, including #B2-K7 VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk, S098585. Tel: 6325-4508.