words romana dalgleish, yasmine simillion, wing cheng

Mothers always deserve some special consideration but particularly on the one day a year dedicated to their demanding, all-consuming role. Of the many ways we can show our appreciation, food is always a good idea, especially as for most of us mum was the resident culinary expert as we grew up. Of course, a special Mother’s Day treat might be obvious if you are a whiz in the kitchen but for those who are much less adept, bc scouted around the cake shops.

western cakes
Western cakes are known by their elegant presentation and rich ingredients: Just by looking, one is tempted. At Zoë’s cake shop (Shop 6 Sunning Plaza, 10 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, 2234 7188) it will be love at first bite. With its charming little cakes and chic shops, Zoë’s offers the type of French style cakes that will really flatter your mother. The shop’s signature cake carries its name and is easily identified by the smiley faces that beckon from behind the glass counter: The soft hazelnut cream beneath the smile melts on your tongue with the crunchy chocolate biscuit base. Another favourite is the 1459, which is like a mille feuille terraced with custard. This cake is made out of 1,459 layers of puff pastry which is made with butter and is used to create just such multi-layered pastries. And for a chocolate fix, mothers can hardly go wrong with the famous chocolate mud cake with its mouthfuls of French chocolate. Other specialities she may be enthused by are the opera, banana cream cake and a variety of cheesecakes. Zoë’s even has a selection of cakes for vegan mothers. All the little cakes are $30 and can become accompaniments to cold and hot drinks such as coffee ($38/43), vanilla milk ($33/38) and milk tea ($33/38) to suit any mother’s taste.

Just around the corner you’ll find another ritzy Western cake shop, COVA (Shop G10, G/F, Lee Gardens, 33 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, 2907 3060). The opening of the first COVA cake shop in Hong Kong dates back to 1993. Jump ahead 16 years and now there are nine of them situated at prime shopping malls all over Hong Kong. If you don’t have plans to take mum and the cakes somewhere special then stopping at COVA isn’t the worst thing you could do. COVA in Causeway Bay is also a restaurant but it offers a private room for cake consumers, which is nice because mothers will hardly want to be overwhelmed by the smell of fish while swooning over their chocolate mudcake. COVA’s décor is elegant if not quite understated – it is fair to say that its style perfectly matches the myriad colours of the display. It’s the perfect place for mothers to sit and enjoy every bite with you. Now, some mothers will indulge quite easily in food without worrying too much about putting on the pounds, but many women are careful of their treats. COVA caters for both. For those who will try anything that looks tasty, the chocolate banana cream cake with two layers of chocolate sponge filled with fresh cream, banana, honey and walnut and topped with fresh banana slices and strawberries will be very tempting. It will do nothing for those concerned about their figures and cholesterol levels, but they will instead appreciate the lemon chiffon cake ($230) made of lemon sponge layers with fresh lemon cream but without any added sugar. This cake is decorated with caramelized lemon slices and gold leaves. The little cakes at the shop can vary from $13 to $30. Share them and a nice cup of COVA coffee with mum and her afternoon will be complete.

chinese cakes
Alternatively, if your mother prefers an authentic taste of Hong Kong you could treat her to the more dense and flaky traditional Chinese cakes. Chinese pastries are often related to special occasions, such as moon cakes for the mid-autumn festival or the specialized cakes for weddings. But either way these colourful delights are often too tasty to be saved for only such occasions. We stopped by Lin Heung Bakery (160-164 Wellington Street, 2544 3284) which has been running for over 80 years – this place couldn’t get any more authentic. Lin Heung Bakery is notorious for typical Hong Kong wedding cakes. In the Chinese tradition, the groom buys these cakes during the engagement to impress his future family-in-law. If the amount and taste of the cakes please the family, the wedding bells can ring. And if a cake is tied to such an important, life-changing event, they must be worthy enough for Mother’s Day. Although Chinese pastries may not be much healthier than Western cakes, they certainly look it with their lotus seeds and winter melon, which should be more appealing than sugar frosting or butter cream if mum is watching her weight. At Lin Heung there is a large selection of cakes but you it is difficult to go past their signature wedding cakes. We tried out the green bean paste pastries ($80) and lotus seed pastries ($11) – the Cantonese character printed on top meaning joy and happiness would make such cakes even tastier for your mother.

If you want something nice but understated for your mother why not for go for an elegantly packaged Mother’s Day giftbox ($60) from Kee Wah Bakery (41 shops in Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, www.kee-wah.com.hk)? It contains a selection of Kee Wah’s most popular delights such as ginger and walnut cookies and lovely heart-shaped pastries like the short pineapple cakes and the lotus seed paste pastry with egg yolk. Wrapped in a box saying ‘Thank you, Mom’, this is a more than appropriate gift. Or if you prefer you can make your own selection of the Kee Wah assortment. We totally fell for the Chinese sweet crispy ($52 for a 8 packet box) made with top grade flour, fresh egg, sesame, honey and topped with cashew or walnut. Somewhere between crunchy and soft this texture is nowhere to be found in Western cuisine. Which may be true, but that is not to say that whatever delicacy you please mum with, Chinese or Western, will not make her day that much sweeter.