Is there anything much better than a steaming hot bowl of instant noodles? Probably, but they’re still bloody tasty. So delicious in fact, that people are ordering cakes made from them for birthdays and weddings.
Noodles are my lifeblood. My kitchen cupboard is never without one or two packets – always curry, because they’re the best. They’re quick, simple and satisfying – so why wouldn’t you want a noodle cake, really?
Just picture it: you and your fiancé are discussing cake flavours. ‘How about chocolate? Oh, what about vanilla and strawberry?’ they ask. ‘Ha!’ you say. ‘Those are flavours for mere mortals. I know what we need.’
With the trusty brand of Mi Goreng, culinary whizzes Tot Aw use noodles to re-imagine classic dishes and sweet treats. However, their wedding cakes are their pièce de résistance – a towering monolith of squiggly goodness.
The cake-makers are located in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the large, tiered creations are a popular choice with people planning weddings and birthdays. Tot Aw (short for Totally Awesome) had reportedly planned to become a doughnut company at first, however they found their calling in noodle-based cakes.
Named the TOT Cake, the cakes come with a multitude of tiers. In order to assemble the beast, it’s made from between 14-17 packets of instant noodles, and can feed between eight and 10 people (or just one, if you’re like me).
But why have they made the cakes in the first place? Well, the bakers got the idea from Indonesian mums, who seemingly fill their children’s lunchboxes up with so much Indomie noodles that it would all eventually mould into a cake-like shape.
What flavours are available? Erwin, the cafe’s co-owner, explained to The Jakarta Post:
The first [topping] is taken from our spicy rice menu, such as shredded chicken, salted cuttlefish and meatballs. The second topping is beef cornet and melted cheese.
The cafe is looking to expand the flavours available on the noodle cake. ‘We plan to make more Indonesian-flavored toppings such as chicken gulai [curry stew], opor [coconut milk stew] and rendang [beef simmered in coconut and spices]… we also have a noodle menu with cheese and chocolate toppings. So it’s really about food that is rarely found out there.’
They’re also looking to launch a noodle-influenced dessert menu soon, too. As someone who eats instant noodles at least three or four times a week, colour me hungry.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.