Candy Gets Hungry #10: The Original Cake from Taiwan at 1 Utama - Did I like it?

When you are constantly seeing videos being shared on Facebook about a massive crowd queuing to buy a cake from Taiwan, of course you'll want to try it right? Even someone like me whom isn't a fan of such cakes in general was eager to see what's the hype about this legendary "源味本鋪 Original Cake" from Taiwan. When I went to Sunway Pyramid the other day for my boyfriend's graduation, I managed to hunt down Chizu, but failed to hunt down Original Cake before closing hours. I wasn't particularly sad or anything since at that time I already knew that they were opening a new branch at 1 Utama, next to Tealive.

Fast forward to their grand opening @ 1Utama, I was ngam ngam shopping, passed by and saw the crazy queue, then I've decided.....to try it after the hype dies haha. I mean I've waited so long already, no harm waiting a couple more weeks right? The next day, I saw one of my kawans Tiffany buying their cake and apparently there wasn't a long queue?! Short queue on a Sunday?? Initially I thought "ok, maybe everyone has already tried it at Velocity/Pyramid and the long queue during their grand opening was because...it was their grand opening....?" Then later on I found out that they were giving out free cakes all day long during their opening at 1U. So perhaps that's the reason behind the long queue la. I mean, who doesn't love free food right?

Their 1 Utama branch offers 3 flavours to choose from. I also think they've revised the pricing slightly lower as compared to the pricing I saw from other reviews online. (unless it was an opening promo price, I'm not sure) Their pricing is as such: Original Flavour Original Cake - RM15 / Cheese Flavour Original Cake - RM20 / Frozen Chocolate Cake - RM25. 

Instead of waiting for a month, I've decided to try my luck on bringing home their Cheese flavoured Original Cake the following day. Which was a Monday afternoon. I half expected to queue along with a huge crowd of KPMG/IBM employees, but surprisingly I only waited for about 7-10 minutes to reach the front of the queue :o

Honestly, I think the queue exists because they only have 1 person cutting the cakes lo. Moreover if the queue consists of more people favoring either one of the cheese/original flavour, I think that's one of the reasons for the queue. Ok ok, now let's see how they cut the cakes right in front of you.

They'll take a fresh cake out of the kitchen and flipped it over. Then you'll be engulfed by the heavenly scent of yummy freshly baked cake.

Then they'll measure and make guidelines with the knife. It's quite surprising to see a cake baked this way. The side with dots on the top is their Cheese Flavoured Original Cake while the smooth side is their Original Flavoured Original Cake.

After measuring and cutting it into two (cheese & plain), they'll begin to cut the cakes.

Do you know how happy and excited I was when I saw the cheesey goodness flowing out of the fluffy cake?

Then they'll package it in their paper boxes

Got home and was super excited to try it with my fam and bestie!

For a cake this big for RM20 I think it's quite a fair pricing la. 

Finally we've arrived at the most important part of this posting. Taste test!

Do I think it was worth the hype? Yes and no. 

Yes, because for a basic sponge/'kinda-souffle-like' cake, this was actually not bad but still not mind-blowing? Generally most cakes of this kind are really really dry and crumble easily but this one was slightly more moist than those even though still a little dry in my opinion. I guess I could say this kinda tastes like a souffle but not as moist as a souffle?

No, because I would never queue 2 hours for this. If you queued for 2 hours and loved the cake, good for you then haha!

Would I buy it again? 

Nope. In the end I still don't like this category of cakes haha, even souffles I'm not particularly a fan of it. However, if I would ever ever repurchase from their shop, I would get their Original Flavour instead because I'm really not a fan of the cheese filling in their Cheese Flavour Original Cake. When I saw the cheese flowing out when they were cutting the cakes, I was so excited!! Sadly, I did not expect the cheese to be so salty. In my opinion, the saltiness of the cheese totally killed it, in a not so flattering way. Though, I wouldn't mind getting the Frozen Chocolate to try if I don't see a queue the next time I pass by their shop. 

Overall thoughts:  

I don't know why but eating just the cake(minus the cheese) reminded me of Uncle Tetsu's cheesecakes. I know I shouldn't be comparing the two because they're two different type of cakes, but I'm not the only one that feels like the two tasted 30% similar, so I might as well just put it out there. Perhaps its the fluffiness the two have in similar? However if I were to choose between RM15 Original Cake and RM20 Uncle Tetsu Cheesecake, I'll go for Uncle Tetsu ahaha. 

That's all for my thoughts on the Original Cake from Taiwan. Everyone has different thoughts on this so you'll definitely need to try it yourself to know if you like it or not.

ciao ciao~~

Store Locations

源味本铺 Original Cake - Sunway Velocity
3-29, 3rd Floor, Sunway Velocity Mall, 55100 Kuala Lumpur

源味本铺 Original Cake - Sunway Pyramid
F1.78, F Floor Blue Atrium, Sunway Pyramid, 46150 Bandar Sunway, Selangor

源味本铺 Original Cake - One Utama
S121b, 2nd Floor, One Utama Shopping Centre, 47800 Bandar Utama, Selangor

源味本铺 Original Cake - Queensbay Mall
3F-23 , Queensbay Mall, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang

源味本铺 Original Cake - Gurney Plaza
170-B1-16 , Plaza Gurney, Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang