15 Festive Goodies, Cookies & Cakes to Sweeten Up Your Chinese New Year

I love Chinese New Year. What’s not to like? It’s that time of the year when relatives – some even travel across the world – get together for a meal. There are good food like bak kwa (pork jerky), fun festivities such as the tossing of yusheng (raw fish salad) and treats like cookies and cakes.

Just like during Christmas and Mooncake Festival, restaurants and hotels always scramble to come up with creative and enticing items for their festive menus. You have already seen some of the most colourful yusheng this year. Now let’s take a look at the Chinese New Year cookies and cakes for 2011! I swear some of these are just so good, I wanna lick them off my screen!

1. Goodwood Park Hotel

5-star hotel Goodwood Park impresses with the beautiful 8 Treasures cake. The deliciously moist cake is decorated with white icing and a pretty festive design based on Chinese-style paper cuttings.

The cake is chock full of assorted fruits and nuts such as walnuts, almonds, melon seeds, olive seeds, sesame seeds, candied winter melon, candied kumquat and banana. (S$68 for 1kg)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Goodwood Park Hotel Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

2. Polar Puffs & Cakes

For the young at heart, the Polar Puffs & Cakes bakery chain never fails to give you something to look forward during major holidays. For Mid-Autumn Festival, they have the cartoon character mooncakes, featuring the adorable Hello Kitty.

Once again, Kitty fans would be delighted to see their favourite feline in the form of character pineapple cakes, filled with yummy pineapple paste! Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh also make an appearance. (S$3.80 each / 11.80 for a box of 4)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Polar Puffs & Cakes Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

Polar Puffs & Cakes ( Halal certified)
All outlets
Website

3. Toast Box

No Chinese New Year celebration would be complete without a helping of pineapple tarts. Coffee and toast chain Toast Box‘s melt-in-the-mouth tarts boast a generous helping of sweet pineapple paste sitting atop a delectable, buttery pastry. (S$16.80 for a tub of 22)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Toast Box Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

4. ET Artisan Sweets

Cake boutique ET Artisan Sweets brings a touch of French elegance with a series of limited edition macarons. They come in succulent flavours like Yuzu, Orangette, Raspberry Charlotte and Pumpkin Spice. (S$11 / 19 / 30 / 36 for a box of 5 / 9 / 15 / 18)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire ET Artisan Sweets Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

5. Jewels Artisan Chocolate

Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” At Jewels, well, you get rabbits!

The chocolatier hops into the Year of the Rabbit with these handcrafted chocolate sculptures. The Double Happiness chocolate treat brings you double the pleasure with a pair of rabbits in two flavours – milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

6. Peony Jade

More bunnies! The Peony Jade Restaurant at Clarke Quay and Keppel Club presents the limited edition Prosperity, Abundance, and Good Fortune gift set. This is bound to elicit squeals of oohs and ahhs from the recipient. It contains ten pan-fried radish cakes filled with salted egg custard, moulded in the shape of plump bunnies! (S$88+)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Peony Jade Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

7. Metrocakes

Newcomer Metrocakes has been baking up a storm since it opened in 2010. Cupcakes, miniature cakes, 3D cakes, Christmas log cakes, you name it, they have it. And the cakes are always so gorgeous!

The Chinese New Year cupcakes are no exception. Topped with edible fondant ornaments of Mandarin oranges, firecrackers, red packets, gold coins and a cute cartoon rabbit, these look almost too good to eat! (And now that we have finished eating them, I do feel a tinge of sadness. My family had such fun eating these gems, I miss them now that they’re all gone!)

• Read the Sparklette review of the Metrocakes Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

8. Bakerzin

Dessert specialist Bakerzin, usually more famous for its macarons, diversifies with a range of mochi this Chinese New Year. These dainty bite-sized Japanese-style mochi balls hold eight delicious fillings – Mandarin orange, yam, black sesame, peanut, red bean, green bean, sweet potato and Matcha (green tea). Which is your favourite?

Can’t make up your mind? Go for the assorted tin. All mochi balls are available at S$38 for a tin of 24 pieces.

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Bakerzin Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

9. KFC

I have raved about the surprisingly awesome KFC egg tarts before and I will rave about them again. The festive edition comes added with actual slices of tangerine!

Fruity tangerine egg tarts. Hmm. Are they too good or too weird? Here’s the Sparklette review of these Mandarin orange egg tarts.

KFC ( Halal certified)
Available at selected outlets
Website

10. Conrad Centennial Singapore

The takeaway festive goodies from the Conrad Centennial Singapore include the perennial favourites like baked pineapple pastries and golden-fried sesame balls. Those pineapple cookies are a must-have for everyone ushering in the New Year!

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Conrad Centennial Singapore Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

11. Tung Lok

If you fancy an all-in-one package with an assortment of all the festive snacks you can imagine, Tung Lok has just the right solution. The all-inclusive Noble Gift Pack contains 10 treats, namely prawn rolls, fruit jam pastries, crunchy walnut cookies, pineapple puffs, sesame cookies, lotus pastry with yolk, almond cookies, ‘Fortune Fish’, ‘Golden Coins’, and yes, honey-glazed bak kwa!

All these goodies are presented in a white box, adorned with cheery red blossoms – just perfect for gifting! (S$50)

12. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee chain celebrates Lunar New Year with three sumptuous festive-themed cakes, including a Mandarin orange cheesecake and the Festive Lapis Delight.

You can enjoy the kueh lapis (multi-layered cake) in three flavours – traditional, prune or pandan. Gotta love those decorative cake toppings! (S$42 for 1.2kg)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

13. Restaurant Majestic

Restaurant Majestic at New Majestic Hotel has its signature durian nian gao (glutinous rice cake). Made with the famous Mao Shan Wang (King of the Mountain of Cats) durians, these layered pastries would do all durian aficionados proud. (S$20.80+ for 8 pieces)

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Restaurant Majestic Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

14. Fairmont Singapore

Love your nian gao? Check out these Koi fish-shaped nian gao from Fairmont Singapore. Besides looking oh-so-adorable, these bite-sized delights are also infused with lavender.

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Fairmont Singapore Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

15. Red House

For a refreshing dessert that is easy on the mouth and light on the stomach, I recommend the chrysanthemum tea jelly with diced water chestnuts from Red House Seafood Restaurant. With its tea flavour, this would put a palate-cleansing sweet ending to that hearty reunion dinner. (S$16.80++)

• Read the Sparklette review of the Red House Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

‘Like’ Sparklette on Facebook and browse the entire Red House Chinese New Year Goodies 2011.

 Loading ...

What delicious goodies have you enjoyed this Chinese New Year? Any recommendations? Share with us below!