Let me eat cake

Marie Antoinette once said, “Let them eat cake.” If I were a peasant back in the days of the French Revolution, I’d happily take her words as a genuine attempt to offer me cake, ditch my hunger for the stale baguettes and munch on the amazing French creations for the rest of my life, maybe a vanilla millefeuille, a Saint Honoré or a basket of madeleines.

Back to the 21st century. Having a natural sweet tooth, my love for cake in particular has transformed through the last 20 years of my life to an almost uncontrollable psychological problem – the one and only symptom being that I cannot stop thinking about it. I’d be planning my next trip to Columbia Road market to pick up one of Lily Vanilli’s amazing tarte au citron on my tube journey to college. I’d be analysing the layers of contrasting flavours and textures of a chocolate gateâu during lectures. And at the end of the day, putting all the remaining cake-fueled brain power to use in writing articles such as the one you are reading right now.

On a particularly bad day, possibly triggered by the high levels of stress, cortisol and hypoglycemia, I’d look at anyone blankly in the eye muttering: “I want cake.” Luckily for me the Library Café happens to supply a good enough raspberry and white chocolate muffin to keep me sane.

On a good day, normally on a weekend when I am actually bothered to get out of my oversized, worn out sweater and make myself look slightly more presentable, I’d head off to WA café, my favourite place for all things cake, located just a short walk from Ealing Broadway tube station. Living in between Holland Park and Shepherd’s Bush means I’m conveniently five stops away on the Central line as opposed to the eleven stops on the District line from South Kensington.

WA café, owned by a Japanese pâtissier by the name Mayumi Nakahara, is a small independent café boasting a range of pastries produced on-site by their skilled pâtissiers every day. Their pastries are strongly influenced by the French, yet mixes this unique style, great attention to detail and the cuteness exclusive to the Japanese people into their creations, making them quintessentially Japanese.

After all the cakes I have ever allowed into my mouth in London, from the local Patisserie Valerie to that posh, pink French patisserie down Exhibition Road, WA café’s are by far the best I can get without a trip across the channel.

Walking in through the clean glass automatic doors you are greeted by their pristine creations of the day all lined up in neat rows in the glass display alongside other freshly baked buns, croissants and biscuits. The Japanese waitresses politely nod and smile at your entrance, waiting behind the counter quietly as you devour the view in front of your eyes with your back bent, while eavesdropping on the local Japanese lady next to you ordering in perfect Japanese.

Their range of ten hardly ever changes except for a few seasonal additions, such as their cherry blossom mousse cake during the spring or the grapefruit pistachio tart in the summer. Despite this, I always spend an embarrassing amount of time walking backwards and forwards in front of the counter just to make up my mind on what to get. Don’t call me indecisive and greedy – you too would be blinded by the colour, the immaculate detail and the beautiful smells drifting from their ovens behind.

On my fourth visit, I decided to treat myself to a proper eat-in experience at their wooden tables by the large window. While waiting for my tea and cake, I immersed myself into the peace, tranquility and cosiness in the atmosphere, generated by the bright and simple interior. Their name, WA, in Japanese, means peace and harmony. Their choice of crockery is the perfect reflection of the Japanese people’s style, attention to detail and respect for food. In their culture, each bowl and dish on the table should complement the food and contribute to the overall enjoyment of the dining experience. Cakes are served on small, white, rustic-looking ceramic plates and tea in thick-bodied bowls on a black saucer.

Being in a Japanese café guarantees a warming cup of matcha latte, the green tea version of your usual coffee. Just something I always order wherever possible as it reminds me of home. The strawberry shortcake, the iconic representative of a Japanese transformation of a Western classic, is a heavenly ménage à trois between the layers of sweet whipped cream, light sponge and slices of the juiciest strawberries.

My other three visits involved an extended trial of their creations. Their signature choux trios is a row of three mini chou joined together, sandwiching whipped cream featuring three oriental flavours: black sesame, matcha and azuki (red bean) custard. The choux à la crème is again an amazing, crusty choux pastry filled with vanilla custard. I was more than delighted to find them still fresh and crunchy after being in the fridge and taken home – normally you’d expect shop-bought choux to have absorbed all that moisture in the air and had shrunken to a sad, chewy blob.

The raspberry and pistachio tart is a frangipane tart with a fragrant, buttery crust with a lightly whipped custard cream and embellished with fresh raspberries and was another one that succeeded in retaining that crunch. Their matcha rolled cake, a delicate sponge with lightly whipped matcha cream and azuki paste, uses top-quality matcha powder from Kyoto, Japan to give that unique scent and prominent bittersweet flavour in every mouthful. A more classic choice would be the Mont Blanc, a whole candied chestnut enrobed with sweet whipped cream and covered with chestnut cream, all balanced on a crumbly almond frangipane tart. And finally, the white sesame cheesecake with a full-flavoured white sesame cream cheese and a crumbly black sesame biscuit base.

All this writing made me crave their cakes again. Will I be back for more? Most definitely.