Sweet Lu, Sydney

When I visit Sydney, I often find myself having the opportunity to order cake for my co-workers.  This important task ranges from smaller 20 person parties, to those of about 100 or so.  At this point, when the locals see me in the office, they ask when cake day is.  Yes, I have a reputation.  Over the years, I have sourced the goods from a variety of places, having settled on Saga Bakery the past few years for the true show stoppers.  Before that, when Uncle Tetsu first opened in Sydney, I introduced my team to that style of cheesecake.  This time, when I visited, it was time to introduce my co-workers to another trendy dessert: crepe cakes.

I was talking to one of my teammates based in Sydney, and he mentioned never having a crepe cake before.  I explained that the trend had taken off in the US a few years prior, and Sydney, with all its trendy desserts, must clearly be on board.  I immediately started looking and found very few places offering crepe cakes, only two actually. I was surprised, because the dessert game in general is so strong in Sydney.  Give it another year?

Anyway, one of the two choices was Sweet Lu, with a convenient location in Chinatown.  I went to visit my first night in town to scope it out, and the lines were long, the place was bustling.  Definitely a good sign.  

"Treats for every occasion bringing warmth and sweetness to your life."

Sweet Lu is not just a bakery, it is a "Boutique Dessert House", offering cakes, filled croissants, and their signature item, little egg tarts with interesting toppings, such as durian marshmallow or boba pearls, in addition to the crepe cakes I was seeking out.  I am *very* curious about the tarts, particularly as I have a hard time imagining the durian and marshmallow combination ...

"Handmade with love using premium ingredients showcasing the best our local farmers have on offer. Perfect for any occasion!"

Sweet Lu has been in business since 1997, and prides itself on quality, local ingredients.  I tried a number of items, and every single one seemed like it had been baked fresh that morning, the fruity elements were perfectly ripe, and the cream was rich in all the right ways.

Delivery Packaging.

Since I ordered multiple full size cakes, I had them delivered, which was easy to arrange directly through the bakery online.  My jaw dropped when I saw the cakes lined up in my building reception.  Each one came on a sturdy base, with a clear plastic box around it, bound by ribbon, with a custom cake serving set on top.  They were remarkably well packaged and displayed, and I really appreciated that I didn't need to transfer to another tray or platter to serve.

Party Kit (included, or $15 additional).

"Big gathering? Create the perfect place setting for your celebration. Each pack contains our premium signature Sweet Lu serving knife, candle, plates (x5) and forks (x5)."

Each cake came complete with a party kit, with 5 tiny little plates and 2 prong forks, a birthday crown, candles, and matches, and a serving knife.  While I didn't need the birthday components, and the plates were far too tiny for our desired portion sizes, the cake cutter in particular was a very welcome addition.  The server and forks all had custom Sweet Lu branding.  

Awesome to have this included, and you can purchase extra sets for $15. 

Chiffon Cakes

Sweet Lu does not just make the crepe cakes I had sought out, they also make chiffon cakes (and I suspect made those long before introducing crepe cakes).

"Light as air Chiffon cakes laced with fresh whipped cream in a range of flavours. Perfect to enjoy for everyone!"

Sweet Lu's chiffon cakes are all elaborately decorated, with interesting fillings and flavors.  On the fruity side there is wintermelon, blueberry, strawberry, rose and lychee, and fig and berry.  Chocolate lovers have the Oreo chocolate, and for the truly over the top there is the earl grey milk tea cake with "oozing molten earl grey lava custard centre".  I was tempted to get the later for my group, but, I worried it would be too messy.

I got one full size chiffon cake for my group, along with 2 additional slices for myself.

Strawberry. $12.80.

"Our Signature Strawberry chiffon cake layered with fresh strawberries and clouds of fresh whipped cream."

The most boring, and lightest, of the cakes was the strawberry chiffon, with layers of plain chiffon cake, strawberries, and whipped cream.  The cake was light and airy, chiffon style, not a dense American style butter or sponge cake.  The whipped cream was fresh and fluffy.  The strawberries were juicy and ripe.  It reminded me a bit of strawberry shortcake when people make it using an angel food cake rather than biscuit base.  The ratios of cake to cream were exactly as I wanted.  

The elements of this were all good, but its not a cake I'd pick for myself, as when I want cake, I want dense buttery sponge cake with copious buttercream, not something light like this, and when I want fruit and cream, I want a shortcake biscuit with it, not chiffon cake.  But nothing to fault with the execution of the cake, just a preference thing.  My least favorite, but still a good cake.  ***+.

Rose Lychee. $12.80.

"Pillowy soft chiffon cake with Lychee and finished with Rose Cream."

Next up was the rose lychee chiffon cake I had considered getting for my group, as it sounded great to me, but, no one else was interested in rose and lychee flavors, so, I got a slice just for myself.

The construction of this cake was less perfect than the previous, with some layers of the chiffon cake thicker than others, and quite a bit of back frosting/cream.  The cake however was much the same, light and moist, same with the cream.  In with the cream was sweet and fruity fresh lychee, and everything had a subtle, floral, lovely rose flavor.  This one ate a bit sweeter than the strawberry cake, but still wasn't an overly sweet cake.  The lychee added nice texture as well.

The rose and lychee were a sophisticated and inviting flavor mix, and I liked this one considerably more than the strawberry cake, even though, on the surface, they were much the same.  ****.

Fig & Berry Cake. 8 inch. $169.00.

"Fresh figs topping pillowy soft chiffon cake layered with fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries encased with cheese and raspberry fresh cream." 

For my group, I went for a crowd pleasing non-controversial flavor that still sounded good to me, the Fig & Berry cake, which sounded much like the strawberry cake, but, with raspberries, blueberries, and figs on the top, and instead of just plain whipped cream, it had cheese and raspberry cream.  It was a beautifully decorated cake, dusted with icing sugar as well.  It was however lacking any of the promised figs.

This was our highest priced cake, at $169, but, it was clear more effort went into the decorating of this one.

Berry Cake: Cross Section.

Here you can see the construction of the cake.  Again, three layers of light, moist chiffon cake, with plenty of raspberry whipped cream all around and in-between the layers.  The fresh fruit element (berries only, no figs!) was the decoration on top, and continued in the center of the cake between the layers. 

I felt much the same way about this as I did the strawberry cake.  Yes, the chiffon cake was a nice chiffon cake, and the cream was so fresh, but ... that's just boring to me.  The fresh fruit was nice, and all perfectly ripe, but it would have been better to have the berries not just in the center, and more distributed to the edges between the layers.  I didn't taste the listed cheese element in the cream either.

So, not quite as described on the menu (no fig, no cheese), and a touch boring, but nothing really to fault with the execution of what it was.  I liked it slightly more than the one with just strawberry, ***+.

Crepe Cakes

"Alternating layers of delicate golden handmade crepes and fresh pastry cream to create a light mille crepe cake. Elegant and delicious!"

Crepe cakes are available in a variety of flavors, none very "vanilla", as the most basic is the soy custard flavor, and the variety ranges from light and floral rose or osmanthus, to the risky like durian.  No taro, black sesame, or pistachio though, which let me down, as those are my top picks for crepe cake flavors in general.  My group picked the earl gray as their top choice, which wasn't my top choice, so I also got myself individual slices of others.

The crepe cakes were all very consistently well made.  Paper thin layers of fresh, not dry, crepes, the right balance of cream between the layers.  The flavors were more subtle than other brands of crepe cake I've had.  Definitely not too sweet.  But I've been spoiled by having Lady M crepe cakes, and, well, they are a reason they are so famous.  Others can be really well executed, like these, but, Lady M is just a class apart.  

Earl Grey. 8 Inch. $118.

"Earl Grey crepe cake, fresh cream infused with Earl Grey tea layered with Earl Grey tea jelly." 

Earl grey is certainly not the flavor I'd ever pick, but my co-workers all had this as their top pick, so I got it for the group.  Of course, I did still try it.

The full cake was $118, in AUD, so much cheaper than Lady M.  Individual slices are $12.80 each.

Earl Grey.

The crepes themselves were clearly fresh, not dried out, delicate.  The cream was faintly earl grey flavored, lightly sweet.  Construction was well done, lots of layers, perfect balance of crepe and cream.  The jelly on top had a slightly stronger earl grey flavor, although it too wasn't all that strong.  

Overall, a well made crepe cake, but flavor was very mild.  My least favorite of the four flavors I tried.  **** for construction, **+ for flavor, ***+ overall.

Osmanthus.

"Aromatic osmanthus crepe cake with fresh floral notes topped with fresh whipped cream and an osmanthus glaze."

One of my co-worker's second pick was osmanthus.  Again, not what I'd pick, but I got him a slice, and of course I still tried it.  Again, the construction was well done, perfect balance of cream and crepe, and all was clearly fresh.  The flavor was lightly floral and lightly bitter, which, I guess is what osmanthus is?  I'll admit I haven't had much osmanthus flavored stuff in my life.  The jelly on top was again more flavorful than the creme layers.

Overall, another **** execution, *** for the interesting but mild flavor, ***+ overall, and above the earl grey for me because the flavor was more complex and novel.

Rose.

"Elegant rose cream with rose lychee jelly vanilla crepe cake."

Next was a slice for me of my top pick of the crepe cakes that Sweet Lu offers: rose cake.  This was a lovely cake, again, nice construction, clearly fresh, good layers.  The lychee jellies added a touch of sweetness and a bit of a textural focal point.  The rose flavor was reasonably strong, I don't think I'd want it stronger because rose is so powerful.  It was the sweetest of the cakes I tried, mostly due to the lychee jellies.  The jelly on top, again, a nice extra burst of flavor, and flower petal garnish made it look quite elegant.

That all said, the rose crepe cake from Lady M really was another notch above this, with more delicate crepes, thinner layers, and stronger flavor.  There is a reason Lady M is so well known.

This was my favorite of the crepe cakes from Sweet Lu, and I'd gladly get it again.  ****.

Soy Custard.

"Golden vanilla crepe cake with soy cheese custard garnished with clouds of fresh whipped cream dusted with roasted soy bean powder."

My last slice was the soy custard, which I got mostly out of curiosity.  It sounded simple and plain, but, I do really like the flavor of soy, and "soy cheese custard" was just too interesting to turn down.

It was fairly hard to describe, certainly the most plain, but somewhat stronger tasting, if that makes any sense.  I wouldn't identify the taste as particularly soy nor cheese, but it was more like the taste of the custard from creme brulee?  The filling between the layers seemed thicker, more custard like in this, than the others that seemed more like whipped cream.

I enjoyed this, again due to the excellent construction, but I did want fresh fruit to jazz it up a bit.  ***+.

Other Cakes

In addition to the crepe and chiffon cakes, Sweet Lu also makes some hybrid cakes, sponge cakes, and, for those who love Durian, and cheesecake, a durian cheesecake, topped with big hunks of fresh Musang King durian.  Sadly, I could not convince anyone else to go that route.

Strawberry Matcha Crepe Chiffon.

"Double your enjoyment with both crepe and chiffon cake! Premium grade matcha crepe layered with matcha infused cream on top of layered chocolate cream and chocolate chiffon cake with strawberries and garnished with pistachios."

If you can't decide between chiffon or crepe cake, get both!  And throw in a chocolate cream layer as well.  That is what you get with the strawberry matcha crepe chiffon cake.  It has a chocolate chiffon cake base, a matcha crepe middle layer, and chocolate cream top, along with fresh whipped cream, strawberries, and pistachios.

I'll admit that this seemed like too many competing elements.  Chiffon cake and pudding and crepes?  Matcha and chocolate and strawberries and pistachios?  That's ... a lot.  The matcha and chocolate in particular I just couldn't imagine going well together.

It actually worked fine, although some elements simply faded away into the background.  I saw the dusting of pistachio crumble on top, but didn't taste it at all.  The single strawberry was just garnish on top.  Likewise, the chocolate chiffon cake was entirely lost for me.  So, they didn't compete, but were pretty lost.

The matcha crepe cake layer was excellent, again, really nice execution on the crepe cake, and the matcha flavor was intense.  I liked the chocolate cream too, rich, mild milk chocolate flavor.  They were ok together, but, I do think I'd enjoy them more separately.  

Overall, an interesting cake with many components, and I enjoyed it, but likely wouldn't get again.  ***+.

Taro Cake. 8 inch. $139.

"Taro cake layered with coconut jelly and sea salt cream, garnished with coconut and nut flakes."

And finally, even though no one else wanted it, I got the cake I was most interested in, the taro cake.  I love taro, I like coconut jellies, and I love sea salt cream, so, this sounded pretty perfect to me.  It was a square cake rather than round, and came garnished with coconuts and seeds, and a few bits of gold leaf.  Definitely a less stunning presentation than the others, but it was, hands down, my favorite.

Taro Cake: Cross Section.

The cake was again a light chiffon I believe, thinner layers than the other cakes.  It mostly just served to provide a touch of structure to the cake, and little else, which I didn't mind.  

That is because the main component was the two taro layers.  Beautiful purple color, creamy, fabulous real taro flavor.  I believe it was sweetened mashed taro, perhaps with some cream in the mix too.  Truly delightful.  It was frosted with white cream frosting, which Sweet Lu described as sea salt, but I didn't detect much of.  The cream was a great compliment to the rest of the cake.  The coconut and seed garnish was great for a touch of texture.  I never found any of the coconut jellies that the menu said it would have.

Overall, a great cake.  Such wonderful taro flavor, and yay for cream.  I'd get this one again and again, no question.  ****+.

Signature Favorites Tasting Set.  $118.

"ONLINE EXCLUSIVE combination 10 of Sweet Lu's most popular cake slices.

The Tasting Set features a variety of one to three slices each of our favourite cakes available on the day. This may include Signature Strawberry cake, Strawberry Matcha Chiffon cake, Rose Crepe cake, Soy Custard Crepe cake, Earl Grey Tea Crepe cake, Rose Lychee cake. "

Sweet Lu is kinda my hero.  They make a full size cake that is made up of slices of their signature cakes.  Cheaper than getting 10 slices by the slice, and far more fun than getting a whole cake of just one flavor.   Our set came with two each of the strawberry and rose lychee chiffon cakes, and two of the rose crepe cake, along with slices of osmanthus, earl grey, soy custard, and the strawberry matcha chiffon.  It gave me a great chance to try several I wouldn't have normally picked.  I'm all for frankencakes.