Roasted’s cakes are all about delectable aftertaste

What exactly are coffee table books on luxury brands doing in a place like this you wonder as all the other senses pull you back to the heavenly aroma of freshly baked cookies? Walking past spickly clean, can eat-off-them floors, you settle on a plush sofa, adjacent to a humongous(large is too small for it) glass window, with sun rays of a warm afternoon streaming in. This time the aroma wafts more profoundly in the air, lingering like an olfactory aftertaste of an expensive itr.

As you soak in the sunlight, Roasted, the soon to be launched patisserie by Roseate House New Delhi, Aerocity, starts unspooling layers of sweet and savoury, which leaves you asking for more. So we start with palette cleansing green tea which is followed by black tea, signature of The Wellnesss Group(TWG), which would be serving more than 27 different varieties of exotic teas at Roasted. The chefs at the patisserie, to give you a "different" experience, have paired specially crafted macaroons, each complementing the flavour of teas. From vanilla bourbon, earl grey to black 1832, the macaroons are as many as the hot beverage on the menu.

Executive pastry chef at Roasted Anand Panwar has tried to pull off an audacious twist by adding jelly to one of the macaroons. While he says that the idea is to reduce the saccharine sweetness these small bites come loaded with because of meringue and egg white, we personally feel that some things should be left as they are. Other than the chewy texture of this macaroon, there is nothing much to write home about. The jelly doesn't do justice to this French classic.

We are, however, not disappointed because we soon find out that the cookies and cakes at the patisserie more than make up for the one off bite. We first dig into carrot cinnamon tea cake, the unusual infusion is an explosion of flavours in the first bite itself. Panwar has created an extremely light and subtly sweet version, with hint of vanilla and ginger, wrapped in a cinnamon blanket, which leaves a delicious after taste. It has all the potential to be a best seller. The chef says that he has used all home made ingredients for the cakes which again are from grandma's kitchen. One also has chocolate walnut, banana walnut and lemon to choose from. "To bring out all the flavours, we keep cakes mixes aside for 48 hours. The cakes have been curated from across the world but we have turned it around to appeal to indian tastes," informs Panwar.

What is a cup of Singapore breakfast tea without a delectable cookie? Quite naturally we reach for the almond maple cookie: another exclusive by the Roasted kitchen. We are told that the cookie is unlike other biscuits and you agree. Crisp on the sides, the maple makes a chewy centre, which is not overtly sweet. As you debate whether to go for another, Panwar cheerfully takes away the guilt when he says that they use only brown sugar in all their products. 

Roasted also offers pastries and signature cakes for the sweet tooth, all of them inspired by Italy and taking the sentiment further, baked in moulds specially brought from the European country. One such cake is Mr Pillow: white chocolate mousse for the outer and orange rind and passion fruit muselli inside. The 'pillow' rests on a bed of honey toasted rice crispies and milk chocolate. Roseate Cubic and Cloud are the signature cakes from the patisserie, both bearing the stamp of Panwar's innovation and passion. Roasted Cubic is made of chocolate praline mousse, hazelnut crunch, having layer of blueberry jelly inside and sprayed with grey cocoa on the outside.

The lines inside the cube are piped with red glaze. It's the Cloud that takes the cake, literally. It is a treat for those who love chocolate and raspberry. The exterior of lemon and white chocolate semi-freddo, is balanced with tanginess of raspberry jelly and ganache, which covers the cake's base of chocolate feuilletine.

The sun is gradually setting down, its rays playing hide and seek through the glass window and you make a mental note to come again for the carrot cinnamon on a balmy winter afternoon. And to find out what the coffee table books are for.