MESSINA LAUNCHES HANDMADE GELATO CAKES IN HONG KONG
Hot news, cold cakes. Mark your calendars for 1 December because Gelato Messina is launching their beloved gelato cakes in Hong Kong.
Black Sheep Restaurants and Messina took Pottinger Street by storm in October and have since been making Hong Kong a sweeter place, one house-churned scoop at a time. This winter gets even more delectable as gelato fanatics can look forward to slicing into Messina’s weird and wonderful handmade cakes.
The December launch will begin with eight options to tuck into, including five gelato cakes and three Trans Cakes. Trans Cakes can be eaten from the freezer, with an extended travel time of up to three hours, so it keeps its shape and shine from cooler to party to infinity and beyond. “These aren’t your average cakes,” comments Pastry Chef Karys Logue. “Messina and Black Sheep Restaurants set the benchmark, from perfecting each layer to give you the perfect fork full to getting the chocolate spray just right, every component that goes into its cakes are lovingly made from scratch by a team of trained gelato chefs.”
Those who are familiar with Messina know that their cakes are a welcome addition to any party and will be pleased to know that the original of Messina’s gelato cakes, Dr Evil’s Magic Mushroom ($1500), is a fixture on the menu. Flourless chocolate sponge layered in rich dark chocolate gelato, peanut cookies, and dulce de leche. The look is brought together with a popping candy feuilletine grass base, red chocolate glaze and white chocolate dots.
In addition to this Messina mainstay, the starting gelato cake line up leads with How Now ($800), a take on a tres leche cake, which pays tribute to Messina's dairy farm. Jersey milk-soaked sponge with jersey milk gelato and dulce de leche gelato, appropriately finished with a black and white chocolate cow print, of course.
The Bombe Alaska ($800) features milk chocolate gelato, raspberry sorbet, raspberry gel, and chocolate crunch, covered in a torched raspberry meringue.
Strawberries and Cream ($800) is a strawberry lover's dream – vanilla gelato, strawberry sorbet, wild strawberry mousse, strawberry and marsala-soaked sponge. Finished with a mosaic of strawberries, straight from Messina’s strawberry farm, set with a strawberry gel on top.
Quad Choc ($800) is a step up from your average triple chocolate cake with a quartette of milk chocolate gelato, white chocolate gelato, dark chocolate gelato, and toasted white chocolate parfait, finished with a velvet chocolate spray.
Within the Trans Cakes range, you will find they have a more mousse-like texture and have an extended life expectancy outside of the freezer of up to three hours, perfect if you are travelling a little further.
Messina put its spin on a Boysenberry Cheesecake ($800), with a biscuit crumb base loaded up with lemon curd and boysenberry cream cheese mousse, then topped with Chantilly cream and boysenberry preserve.
The Tiramisu Tart ($800) is inspired by the classic Italian dessert. Tiramisu mousse, coffee-soaked sponge, coffee ganache, and coffee and chocolate tart shell are covered with piped Italian meringue and finished with a velvet chocolate spray.
And finally, The Slab ($800), which looks like it sounds. A shiny layer of milk chocolate covers a hefty square of caramel mousse and sponge, peanut milk chocolate crunch, and peanut butter cremeux. An iconic Messina print chocolate square sits atop.
For diehard Messina fans, stay tuned because the monoporzione – ‘mono’ for short – will soon be available in the new year. Each mono is handmade, just like the larger cakes, but comes in a single-serve mini gelato cake made for devouring on your own.
