Chinese Neapolitans, Mousey Heads and Wife Cakes.

We’re in good shape for the rest of the week for cake hour. Today, although no one officially signed up, two people came through with our daily treats! We saved one for tomorrow and went with the pastries etc. that came from one of the Chinese bakeries in Boston. There were three groups of treats!

No Asian bakery in Providence so they sent to Boston!

Interesting selection!

The first group we named Chinese Neapolitans because of the way they were presented – rectangular, with several layers and mousse like filling.  We had four flavors to choose from – chocolate, strawberry, green tea and tiramisu. These were all good, not too sweet, which we expect, and very light.  I suspect the filling was probably gelatin based, rather than egg whites, as it was airy as opposed to dense.  From appearance, they seemed somewhat elegant and indulgent. This is not what we have seen heretofore from Chinese bakeries.

Very elegant, don't you think!

Chinese Tiramisu, believe it or not!

There had to be something made with green tea!

Is it strawberry mousse or jello!

Finish it off with some chocolate!

The second batch of things was like cupcakes but because of the decoration on the top we called them mousey heads. As you can see, there is a frosting decoration that looks like the head of a mouse!  Actually they weren’t cupcakes, per se, but rather cylindrical cakes that might have been cut out of a larger sheet. There were a few layers with frosting and jimmies on top.  These were also lighter than expected and with just the right amount of sugar. Who knows what the reason for the mouse heads.

They look like cupcakes but they are cylinders!

See why we call them mousey heads!

It is actually a two layered cake!

Lastly we had these flat pancake-like things that are called wife or sweetheart cakes. We are certain that is what they are called because each Chinese colleague that came in identified them as such.  “Oh, those are wife cakes!” These were flat, with a flaky bread-like crust and a filling made from slightly sweetened sesame and almond paste that contained winter melon pieces that we thought were onions. Apparently this is a Cantonese treat.  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_cake

Is it a pancake - no it's a sweetheart cake!

Cracking that open!

Slicing it for the sweethearts!

The filling includes winter melon!

We liked these although they seemed less like a dessert at first. In truth, we have learned that not everything has to be as overly sweetened as we tend to get in American bakeries and we’ll take these kind of cross-cultural treats any day!