Taste Test: A Review of Conti's New Pistachio-Knafeh Cake
An entire cake costs almost the same as one chocolate bar.
Quick Overview
Taste: It will remind you of a chocolate mousse cake with pistachio and kataifi.
Presentation: It's dramatic enough to be added to your Instagram grid.
Price: P235 per slice and P1,350 for a whole cake.
Verdict: It's more bang-for-your-buck than the Dubai chocolate bar—taste-wise and price-wise.
(SPOT.ph) Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant is one of the most reliable (and accessible) places to get a cake, for all cake emergencies and occasions deserving a cake. For the most romantic month of the year, they have been teasing a new cake, and if you've been keeping tabs on dessert trends—especially those featuring a certain crunchy, nutty, and very green ingredient—then you probably saw this coming. Introducing Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant's new Dubai-inspired cake, the Pistachio Crunch.
Also read:
Dubai Knafeh Chocolate: Here's the Deal on the Viral Chocolate Bar
Taste Test: A Review of the Viral Knafeh Chocolate Bar From Dubai
Taste Test: Conti’s new Pistachio Crunch cake is a love letter to the pistachio-knafeh craze
Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant's new Pistachio Crunch is inspired by the viral chocolate bar from Dubai chocolatier FIX Dessert Chocolatier's "Can't Get Knafeh Of It." Just a sweet refresher: This treat brings a Middle Eastern twist to a classic chocolate bar, featuring a crispy knafeh filling mixed with pistachio cream and tahini paste, all wrapped in milk chocolate.
There have been many iterations of this chocolate trend, from cream puffs to doughnuts, and now, Conti's Pistachio Crunch is the latest one. Putting into mind the anatomy of the Can't Get Knafeh Of It, Conti's transformed it into a different dessert made with layers of chocolate sponge cake, chocolate, chocolate mousse, pistachio mousse, and a crunchy layer of kataifi, all served with pistachio sauce to pour over the naked cake. Dried petals add a decorative touch—it is, after all, a cake launched for Valentine's Day.
If you order a whole Pistachio Crunch, you get the cake with a bottle of pistachio sauce and a separate container for the dried flowers. The cake is wrapped in a hard plastic ring—once you’ve poured the pistachio sauce and sprinkled the flowers on top, remove the plastic and watch everything cascade beautifully down the sides. Just remember to have your phone cameras ready to capture the moment.
If, like me, you ordered it by the slice, you'll get the pistachio sauce and the dried flower petals served separately (from the cake) in one small sauce bowl. Don't worry, there's enough sauce for every bite of the Pistachio Crunch cake.
What does the Pistachio Crunch cake taste like?
Taking my first bite of the Pistachio Crunch instantly reminded me of a chocolate mousse cake—the fudgy chocolate sponge cake and the creaminess of the chocolate mousse are there, but with the added layers of pistachio mousse, crunchy kataifi, and the ever-so-dramatic pistachio sauce and dried flower petals.
The layer of kataifi is excellent at giving the cake a playful texture—it's like you're eating shoestring chips with your cake. But if you're looking for a prominent pistachio taste, you'll find that the Pistachio Crunch is sub-par—read: It's not the best pistachio-wise, but it's not bad either. The pistachio mousse has a subtle nuttiness to it, and the pistachio sauce, while offering a more noticeable pistachio taste, also has a strong yema-like sweetness to it.
Because the pistachio sauce is the sweetest component in the entire cake, take this as a friendly warning: Do not dump all the sauce at once. A heavy-handed pour can completely overwhelm both the look and the flavor of the cake. It's easier to add than to remove the excess... which is wise advice for life, but especially for this dessert.
Should you buy Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant's Pistachio Crunch cake?
My hot take on the kataifi chocolate trend is that it already has run its course—trends in this constantly online landscape are naturally short-lived. Considering the chocolate-pistachio-kataifi rose to popularity sometime in mid-2024 and how many launched their unique takes on it, I find it ballsy of Conti's to trend jack months later when I feel like people have already moved on to the next best thing.
But as a firm believer and practitioner of the saying "It's better to arrive late than not come at all", I'm glad they went through with launching the Pistachio Crunch cake. Conti's new cake is one of the best takes on the pistachio-kataifi trend—and I would go as far as saying it's better in taste than the chocolate bar it was inspired by.
Not to mention, the price. For context, a bar of the Can't Get Knafeh Of It costs 68 AED (approximately P1,076.86) versus an entire serving of Pistachio Crunch that only costs P1,350—that's a small P274 difference for a better-tasting dessert in bigger portions.
Aside from the lack of pistachio-ness of this cake, which I'm going to overlook for the great overall taste of the dessert, I’d buy another slice of the Pistachio Crunch. Hopefully, Conti's decides to keep it on the menu longer.
Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant's new Pistachio Crunch is priced at P235 per slice and P1,350 for a whole cake. See list of Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant branches. For more information, check out Conti's Bakeshop and Restaurant's website.
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