Patisserie Caroline

Dave Bentley

3.0

I love Patisserie Caroline's Calamansi Dacquoise.Patisserie Caroline Bakery Cafe is a small bake shop started in 2008 by sisters. It's a cozy little cake shop that is filled with baked goodies!Patisserie Caroline is more famous for its cakes, and particularly its bestseller, the Calamansi Dacquoise.We tried the following dishes:Salad Caroline (P215.00). OMG, I loved it! It was like all my favorite things put into one salad - I can taste creamy garlic, honey mustard, and on top, that's chicken sandwich filling! And mangoes! What's not to love? Yup. Totally love this salad!Clubhouse Sandwich (P214). I never met a clubhouse sandwich that I didn't like. So I liked this one, too!Patisserie Caroline also serves pasta, we tried the Pasta con Sarde (P160). It's spicy because of the Spanish sardines. I love Spanish sardines, but I just wasn't feeling their pasta. Best to stick with their salad & cakes :)If there is one thing you should make the effort to go try, it is the Calamansi Dacquoise! (It's pronounced da-kwaz)This is an original Patisserie Caroline creation. It's made of layers of crispy cashew meringue (also known as cashew dacquoise; it's the same thing used for sans rival), with a sweet, sour, tart calamansi curd type filling, and enveloped in whipped cream! Unlike sans rival, there is no butter filling, so people who don't like layers of pure butter won't have a problem.The calamansi filling is what makes this cake unique! It's just sweet enough to let the sourness of the calamansi shine through. The whole cake is not too sweet - each bite is soft/crunchy meringue, sweet and tart calamansi curd, all mellowed by whipped cream. As you can see from the picture, the calamansi layers are thick - I like that they don't scrimp on the filling and put a lot in the cake!The Bailey's Cheesecake (P195) is another one of their premium cakes. It's quite creamy and I could really taste the Bailey's. The cheesecake is topped with mini chocolate kisses.Another of their specialty cakes is the Mango Sans Rival. Other people at the table loved it - it's not too sweet, and not oily (I know some people don't like super buttery sans rival).We also tried the Frozen Calamansi Brazo (P450 per loaf). This is something that I liked too. Apparently, I like calamansi-flavored cakes!  Since the cake is cold and the calamansi refreshing, I think it's a great cake to order when summer is getting too hot!SUMMARY:If you are in the area, check out Patisserie Caroline. Their cakes are good - especially their specialty calamansi-flavored ones. If you like sweet & sour/tart flavor combinations, their calamansi cakes may just become your next favorite!Please check out the blog for a more comprehensive review!