Passion Heart Café – where love is an important ingredient

Where would you go in Penang to buy a birthday cake or to enjoy a delicious slice? Although choices are aplenty, I would frequent just a handful of cake houses here in Penang. Among them is Passion Heart Café, located at 23, Jalan A.S. Mansoor, off Jalan Transfer.

I can still vividly recall my childhood days in the 1970s and 80s when there were very few cafés and cake houses in Penang. Birthday cakes were either homemade or from the ever-popular Eden Bakery at Gottlieb Road. Flavours were limited to sponge cakes or butter cakes, often decorated with colourful cream and wafer roses.

How quickly times have changed and today, the creative development of cakes has been astonishing. You can order rich ice cream cakes from Haagen Dazs, fine Japanese creations from Châteraisé, seductively luxuriant French offerings from Le Petit Four, chocolate-rich madeleine towers from La Vie En Rose Pâtisserie, gorgeous cupcakes from La Vanille Cupcakes & Macarons, fresh Japanese Green Tea cakes from Brix and BAUME, homemade-style cakes from Jenni The Cake & Bake Shop and the list goes on and on. You could even digitally print a realistic photo (of course with edible ink) to decorate the cake or sculpture a giant prosperity peach complete with flying cranes and fairy lights.

Although visual appeal is a boon to sales, taste and texture are far more important in gaining a string of loyal customers. At Passion Heart, quality ingredients are used to ensure delightful bakes, hitting all the right notes. The tempting cakes at Passion Heart are the creative bakes of self-taught Ms Nely Koon. Her passion for baking is bountiful, always pushing the boundaries of creativity and experimenting with new flavours and textures. Nely bakes with passion and has always been keen to innovate her repertoire of cakes.

Fruits play the starring role, with sugar, cream and butter used in moderation. Cakes scented with natural local ingredients include durian cream cake (layers of sponge cake and fresh cream interspersed with durian purée), durian mud pie, durian/chempedak/mango cheesecake, yam coconut cake, chempedak cake, chempedak/banana/apple crumble, hummingbird cake (with pineapple chunks) and pandan gula merah cake. The carrot cranberry walnut cake perfumed with local spices is jam-packed with so much ingredients. If available, add the pomelo cake and the onde-onde cake to you list of must-try items. Nely uses less sugar to allow the natural sweetness of the fruits to shine through.

Whenever I have overseas guests, we would often drop by Passion Heart to sample a slice of cake or two. Their pleasant surprises are incredulous, unaware that local fruits can flavour such delicious bites.

For a boozy dose, try the tipsy tiramisu with rum or the black forest cake with red wine. If you appreciate a zesty punch, order the tangy lemon cake, lemon meringue or the lemon poppy seed cake. The Russian cheesecake and burnt cheesecake (available in three flavours – classic, chocolate and matcha) are equally delectable. Two of my daughter's favourites are the Oreo cheesecake and chocolate moist. Nely's creations are utterly delightful and they continue to grow in popularity.

I first met Nely in 2006 at the Little Penang Street Market (held on the last Sunday of each month). I was part of the committee that organised Little Penang which ran for 12 years. Nely’s cake stall, which she called Nellcis Cakes, was always packed with customers, her cakes selling out in a flash.

We have become good friends since then. I once asked Nely to bake a huge fruit tart for a friend’s birthday party, proving her only a photograph of how the final outcome should look like. She flaunted her culinary prowess and delivered a masterpiece. Time and again, I will seek her assistance to create memorable cakes for parties. I love the organic, rustic look of her cakes, knowing that every bite would be a rewarding experience.

During festive seasons, Nely offers cookies and fruit cakes as well. All cakes are available whole or by slices, dine-in or takeaway. Nely can also custom-make almost any type of cake, even gluten-free ones as well as cakes for diabetics.

Prior to baking cakes, Nely was a personal assistant to a director of a multinational company. She then ventured full-time into her love for baking and never looked back. She operated a stall at Red Garden Food Centre for a few years before establishing Passion Heart Café at Lebuh Muntri in 2013. It was there that Nely started offering more than just cakes, spreading her menu to include soups (broccoli, tomato and wild mushroom), pasta dishes (carbonara, aglio olio and pesto), nasi lemak and her popular Jawa Mee (blanched yellow noodles in a thick sweet potato gravy topped with hard-boiled egg, fried beancurd, prawn fritters, fresh greens, fried shallots, kalamansi lime and a blob of spicy sambal). Do take note that during festive seasons, the kitchen will be closed as Nely will be in full swing baking festive cookies and cakes.

In September 2019, Passion Heart Café relocated to its current premises on Jalan A.S. Mansoor. Assisted by her children, the café opens daily from 11.30 am to 9.00 pm except for Tuesdays. Nely’s cheerful disposition is contagious and if she has time to spare, it is great to have her at the table to regale some tales.

Passion is energy. Feeling the power that comes from focusing on what excites you must be ingrained in Nely. If you ask her for the secret ingredient in her cakes, the answer has to be love.

Passion Heart Cafe
23, Jalan A.S. Mansoor, 10050 George Town, Penang
T: +6016 443 1336
Open daily 11:30 am – 9:00 pm except Tuesdays

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Written and photographed by Adrian Cheah
© All rights reserved
27 November 2022