Old school cakes ($15)!
Lavender bakery old-school cakes assortment for $15 — pandan chiffon, butter cake, kueh lapis and the rest of the after-school classics in one box.
Monday evening pickup near Lavender — grabbed a box of old school cakes from one of the old bakeries that still does the assortment properly.
We ordered:
- Old school cakes assortment box — $15
Inside the box: pandan chiffon wedges, kueh lapis squares, kaya butter rolls, ondeh ondeh, a few tau sa bao and the marbled sponge cake my parents’ generation grew up on. Each one in its own little paper cup, the way Singapore bakeries used to do it before everything got individually shrink-wrapped.
The pandan chiffon was the clear winner — light, airy, real pandan aroma, with the slightly damp crumb that says someone made it that morning rather than two days ago. Kueh lapis had the right thin-layered chew, glossy butter sheen, not the dry mass-produced version. Ondeh ondeh burst proper with melted gula melaka the second you bit in.
At $15 for a full assortment you’re paying about a dollar a piece, which is reasonable for a tasting flight of nostalgia. We took some home, brought the rest to share with family.
These old bakeries are quietly disappearing as rents climb and the next generation doesn’t take over. Worth supporting while they’re still around.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Honest, nostalgic, easy to keep buying — would revisit.
