I suppose it's no surprise that the hotel which came up with a turkey marinated with dark, pungent buah keluak nuts would also dream up an Asian-style logcake.

While some efforts at crossing East and West fail miserably, the Swissotel Merchant Court's Asian Symphony Logcake is a good option for those who want their kueh at Christmas and eat it too. On the inside is light almond sponge cake with a strip of mango jelly in the middle and the whole thing is covered with mango-passionfruit curd and gula melaka mousse.

What makes this cake special is that palm sugar mousse, with its deep, coconutty caramel flavour. I just wish there were more of it. This is one rare time when it's okay to slather on the frosting. The mango-passionfruit curd provides some perky accents to the cake but is not strictly essential.

Give me lashings of the gula melaka anytime.

Asian Symphony Log Cake, $45 for a 1kg cake, from Swissotel Merchant Court, 20 Merchant Road. Call 6239-1848 to order.