November 17, 2013 by MICE Ranking

Pineapple Cake – Sunny Hill remains tops

At a recent inaugural fair held in Singapore, 13 vendors offering Taiwanese pastries, fine quality tea and tea ware were showcased. The stalls were selected from an award list to fly in from Taiwan.

Since we often have overseas visitors asking for gift recommendations, we went down to check it out.

We zoomed in on pineapple cakes, an all-season favorite, and tried the sampling from two stalls but couldn’t make any purchases as the pineapple paste tastes unnatural. Many brands of pineapple cakes use a mixture of winter melon and pineapple for its fillings, claiming that a proper mix creates a filling that tastes the best.

For the discerning, nothing but authentic pineapple filling would do.

At one corner was a pineapple cake vendor with a colorful display of pineapple cake boxes and packages. The sales personnel, polished in FAQs, handled questions like “How does your brand compare with Sunny Hill’s?” with alacrity, assuring that only the best ingredients are used; and “Why aren’t you offering samples?” claiming that when exposed to air, the pineapple cake becomes dry and hard, and customers may think that’s how it really is.

In place of samples, brochures depicting the freshness of the pineapple cakes were offered.

Usually, we don’t buy unfamiliar brands based on trust. In fact, two customers walked off upon finding out that there was no samples. But this fair was backed by reputable agencies, and the price they (dare to) charge was quite close to that of well-reputed brands.

So we swiped the credit card and what follows was an experience that left us perplexed and bewildered.

Tricks or Treats.. our testers’ comments on brand “X”

Tester 1:
“Over-baked.”
“Taste horrid. Quick, give me the KFC Portugese tart! I need to override the lousy taste in my mouth!”

Overbaked crust

Tester 2:
” Burnt crust.”
“Oh my goodness, where’s the pineapple? It’s mostly dough! And the dough is too flaky.”

Stingy filling

Tester 3:
“Dry.”
“Stingy filling.”
“Did they use the pineapple juice to make other product? No taste of pineapple!”
“Worse than Mr. Bean’s pineapple tart (S$6.80 for 6 pieces).”

More crust plied away before this much filling revealed

Tester 4:
“Over-baked”
“Poorest dough of all pineapple tarts ever tasted!”

In a nutshell (pineapple shell in this case), this stuff was close to inedible.

In the brochure, generous filling

The crust on the next 3 tested looks less dark and patchy but still has the dried up taste that makes one cringe.

Whoever does the stuffing was quite stingy about it, unlike what the brochure shows.

Some variance in taste is understandable but who loves over-baked, burnt-out stuff?

We are not sure what happens here.

The company claims strict QC control. So if it is not an issue with this batch, did we just encounter a version of food fraud, where food items are misrepresent?

The contents certainly doesn’t match up with the ad at all.

The organizer hastened to assure that this is not the case – the brand did well in the Taiwan market.

All we know is it’d be a PR disaster if we had purchase this in bulk (as we almost did) and give it out as corporate gifts without first testing it for ourselves. For tourists, there is nothing more inconvenient than to cart heavy stuff in their luggage only to find the treat was one big disappointment.

GIFTS & GOODIES RECOMMENDATION

So what would we recommend for corporates gifts, celebrative goodies, and edibles for tourists to bring home?

Taking into account that this is not a definitive survey, but an opinion piece where we were asked to share our experience, and that so far, we have only managed to sample 5 brands of Taiwan pineapple cakes, in terms of authenticity, Sunny Hill is the only one that meets the hallmark of what constitutes a good pineapple cake. For pineapple tarts, we like the “golf-ball” ones from LE Café. If packaging image matters, Sunny Hill may be more suitable.

Sunny Hills pineapple cakes – what’s notable?

♠  Nantou’s indigenous pineapples
We like the chewable moist chunks and fibre (good for health) in the texture of the filling.

♠  New Zealand butter
Light buttery flavor that doesn’t overwhelm.

♠  Japanese gourmet flour
For superior taste and texture.

♠  Plump-yolked eggs
Adds rich flavor to the crust.

♠  No preservatives or artificial flavorings
The taste of the pineapple may change slightly according to seasons, which is how it should be when the filling is not covered up by artificial processes.

♠  Not overly sweet
Fructose, saccharin, sugar – the less the better.

♠  Big
Each brick-shaped cake is equivalent to 2 – 3 pineapple tarts.  This certainly helps to ward off hunger for times when we get so busy we go without meals.

♠  Generous pineapple filling
Many bakeries underfill, resulting in an all pastry taste.

♠  Actual pineapples used for the filling
Not mixed with candied winter melon.

♠  Halal-certified
Good as multi-national corporate gifts.

♠  Quality Control
To maintain quality, pineapple cakes are made in Taiwan and airflown here. The shelf life (best consume in less than a month) is printed on each box.

♠  Location
It isn’t any brand that can meet the criteria to qualify for a Raffles Hotel address, which is an assurance of sorts.  If the inside has turned foul for some reason like our recent encounters, we are sure Sunny Hill would take ownership of the issue.

♠  Individually wrapped
Mess-free and convenient to carry around as ready snack.

♠  Packaging
The packaging is minimalist and elegant, with the cakes placed in an recyclable gift box.  Currently, it comes with a calico bag.

Serving Suggestions

Hot
A tip from Lee, SunnyHills at Raffles Hotel —
Put into mini oven for 2-3 minutes, and it will be crumbly outside and warm pineapple fillings – almost as though it was just baked.

In some countries, the weather tends to turn things cold and hard, so this method works well.

Cold
Take it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for that extra decadence.

Eat it as is
Served with hot or cold tea.

We used to make our own pineapple tarts from Sarawak pineapple and the freshest ingredients, because it’s not easy to find pineapple tarts / cakes with the right combo of pastry and filling that pleases the palate. But it’s a labor of love if you want to do it well – 3-4 hours’ careful tending to yield just a hundred small tarts.

So to have Sunny Hill right in Singapore is a really convenient alternative, and in a readily presentable form, for serving to guests or as gifts.

Side-by-side Comparison

We prefer Sunny Hill’s 50g to the competitor’s 40g which makes the overall crust ratio too dominant.

Note the different in weight, per packet

Sunny Hill on the left, another brand on the right..

The pineapple cake industry is highly competitive, with many brands jumping on board with new innovations like playful shape designs or fillings that have added cranberries, longans, and other fruits, or flavored with red wine, mocha, or green tea, etc.

Till today, the ones made by Sunny Hill remains tops on the craving scale. Lee, SunnyHills at Raffles Hotel, shares some insights:

“Sunny Hill created the rectangular ‘brick shape’ and is the first to use only Taiwan’s native pineapples which are non-GM and organically grown. Now we have many look-alikes and some even use exactly the same wordings and descriptions. As they say, being copied is the best type of flattery..”

“Until now we have not changed the ingredients, except that costs have been going up. In fact, we are looking to use even better ingredients; our master baker is constantly trying to make it better.”

Comments from our testers?

No comments.. All the Sunny Hills pineapple cakes were gobbled down too fast to capture comments.
A box of 10 was gone in minutes.
The second box of 10, rationed for the next day, was gone within hours.

One fussy eater who dislikes pastry stuff rejected the Sunny Hill pineapple cake. Nevertheless, we left it on his workstation. He ended up asking for more.

CONTACT SunnyHills 微热山丘:

Singapore
SunnyHills at Raffles Hotel
328 North Bridge Road
#03-05 Raffles Hotel Arcade
Singapore 188719
Tel / SMS: 65-85229605
Fax: 65-67928211
Email: service@sunnyhills.com.sg
Website: http://www.sunnyhills.com.sg/contact.php
Order Details: http://www.sunnyhills.com.sg/order_contry.php

Shanghai, China
SunnyHills on The Bund
2F, Y.W.C.A. Building, No. 133
Yuanmingyuan Road
Shanghai 200002
China
Tel: 86-21-62363316
Fax: 86-21-62363301

Taipei, Taiwan
SunnyHills at The Park
No. 1, Aly. 4, Ln. 36, Sec. 5
Minsheng East Road
Taipei 105
Taiwan
Tel: 886-2-27600508
Fax: 886-2-27600509

Nantou, Taiwan
SunnyHills Courtyard
No. 2, Ln. 1100, Bagua Road
Nantou City
Nantou County 540
Taiwan
Tel: 886-49-2292767
Fax: 886-49-2291500