I went back and looked at my camera roll from last year, and found there was a cake I ate more than any other baked good in 2024 – the lod chong taro cake from Roslyn Thai.

The excellent cafe across the street from Witches in Britches, run by husband-and-wife team Sapol “Pol” Deoisares and Busarin “Rin” Rojkaranwong (both ex-Long Chim), is secretly one of the best bakeries in Melbourne.

Rojkaranwong, formerly the head pastry chef at Sydney’s QT Hotel, is in charge of all Roslyn Thai’s cakes. While she makes simple things such as pandan shokupan and delightfully light cream-filled buns, the standouts are inventive cakes that riff on Thai dishes. These include a Thai milk tea cake with herbal jelly, tako chiffon – pandan chiffon with taro, coconut, sweetcorn and water chestnuts – that is indebted to the Thai layered coconut pudding, and even a tom yum chiffon with a lemongrass, makrut lime and coconut-infused chiffon; tom yum lime curd and Chantilly cream.

We think you might like Access. For $12 a month, join our membership program to stay in the know.

SIGN UP

But my favourite is the lod chong taro cake. In Thailand, lod chong – sweet bright green rice flour noodles (also called chendol) – are typically served with crushed ice, palm sugar and coconut milk. “This is my favourite dessert and reminds me of my childhood back in Thailand,” Rojkaranwong tells Broadsheet.

Her take sees two layers of taro chiffon cake separated by a layer of taro kaya (coconut jam), topped with lod chong and set in a fudge made with agar, coconut sugar and scented candle blossom coconut milk. The coconut milk features the fragrances of five flowers – jasmine, cat’s milk flower, chomnad, monrose and ylang-ylang.

Every time I buy a slice, I have plans to ration it out. But the lod chong taro cake always seems to disappear in one sitting.

What: Lod chong taro cake
Where: Roslyn Thai, West Melbourne
Price: $10.50