Plates: the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo is launching a new series of cakes on Monday (2 June), including a signature cake inspired by Ceylon Tea – the Pettah Tea Mousse Cake!
I participated in an enjoyable and very well presented cake tasting at the hotel last week and tried out the six cakes on the cards: the Pettah Tea Mousse Cake, Cafe Ivory Gateaux, H2 Hazelnut Milk Chocolate and Passionfruit Cream Cake, Burnt Milk Coffee Layer Cake, Milk Chocolate and Caramel Pear Cake, and Almond Crunch Cake.
First up in this review is, of course, the Pettah Tea Mousse Cake. Infused with Sri Lanka’s finest Dimbula tea grown on the western slopes of Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, it is a tribute to the iconic ‘yaara’ tea that most of us cannot resist.
This cake isn’t merely infused with tea; there’s the magic of the cardamom and condensed milk mousse too, which sits atop an almond sponge and a molten crémeux centre. Described as ‘a love letter to Sri Lanka,’ the cake is memorable and magical – unlike anything you’d had before.
I had very high hopes for the Burnt Milk Coffee Layer Cake, but it under-delivered on the coffee flavour as I was hoping for a little more bitterness. The texture was fabulous though, in tiramisu style.
The H2 Hazelnut Milk Chocolate and Passionfruit Cream Cake was very rich and I enjoyed it even though I’m not much of a passionfruit fan, while the Milk Chocolate and Caramel Pear didn’t really work for me despite the complexity of the flavours and textures, and the Almond Crunch was rather too sweet for my liking.
As for drawbacks, I would certainly have liked a bit more colour on some of the cakes, while an option or two for those who (sacrilege!) aren’t chocolate lovers would be great too.
To wrap up, here’s my favourite cake from the selection: the Cafe Ivory Gateaux. While I would certainly go back for the signature cake, the Cafe Ivory Gateaux is sure to draw me back several times over. I loved the orange compote in this and how well it paired with the decadent chocolate mousse – and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since that first taste.
Tip: don’t miss out on the ‘yaara thé’!
Richard Siken
Poems: today I share this absolutely amazing poem that ends with a gut punch, titled ‘Dinosaur,’ by American poet, painter, and filmmaker Richard Siken.
My housemate’s girlfriend has a kid who stays with us half the week. He’s kind of slow for a ten-year old, but everyone keeps insisting that he’s six. His hair’s too long but I don’t really know what he looks like because I won’t look him in the face. He’ll barrel into the kitchen, saying something about dinosaurs, and stop abruptly, saying You’re not Andy. I never turn around because sandwiches are important and he shouldn’t be encouraged to barrel into a room without looking, thinking that it’s safe because rarely is anything safe, and most people aren’t Andy, and they will just take what you say about dinosaurs and twist it around until you sound crazy. Also he probably has jam on his face and dirty hands. Also I don’t want to turn around and look him in the face and scare him with my face, which is a sad face, the face of someone going through a difficult thing and not handling it very well. He isn’t messy, not really, just too young to understand that you have to clean as you go because messes compound and you have to confront the things you’ve ruined before they drown you in wreckage and filth. Unless he’s ten, in which case he’s old enough to learn. Also he got shampoo all over the bathroom because he was pretending he didn’t know how to wash his hair, hoping someone else would do it for him, but he put on such a good show that he convinced himself that he didn’t know how to do it after all, and he scared himself, which is pretty much what I do all the time, so it was irritating and made me feel self-conscious. If he’s six, he probably looks cute with jam on his face. If he’s ten, probably not. I don’t know what I’d do if he was sixteen, standing behind me with too-long hair and jam on his face, going on about dinosaurs with his dirty hands and not looking up and not realising that I’m not Andy. When I was in the hospital and my head was full of noise and snow I still knew who Andy was. Also there are dogs. I call them Dog, Other Dog, and Little Dog. I won’t learn their real names. The only reason you name a dog is so you can tell it what to do. I don’t know what to do so I’m staying out of it. I don’t look the dogs in the face either. Once you look something in the face it starts to want things.
From left: British Council Country Director Orlando Edwards, award-winning journalist Savithri Rodrigo (‘The Informed Reader’), Social Scientists’ Association Researcher Dr. Crystal Baines (‘The Academic’), writers Vihanga Perera, Savin Edirisinghe, and Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, Gratiaen Trust Co-Chair Nafeesa Amiruddeen, and JKH Head of CSR Carmeline Jayasuriya at the shortlist announcement
Pages: the Gratiaen Prize 2025 winner will be announced tomorrow at a special awards ceremony.
The five titles that made it to the shortlist from the longlist of nine are (in alphabetical order): ‘He Was God’s Child Too’ – Upali Mahaliyana, ‘Kata Katha: Gossip, Rumours, and Idle Talk’ – Savin Edirisinghe, ‘Nowhere No Return’ – Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, ‘The Warm South’ – Vihanga Perera, and ‘Wombful of Weeds’ – Ranudi Gunawardena.
While congratulating the winner in advance, I hope all the shortlisted books will be published soon and cannot wait to read them!