PASTRY chef Audrey Tan doesn't believe in pretty cakes. 'When you go to a hotel and pick up a nice cake, with the gelatin and glaze and fancy sponge layers - I don't do that,' declares the unpretentious baker who churns out artisanal bread and pastry every day at the new Archangel gourmet deli at Great World City. 'Chocolate cake is chocolate cake - there's nothing more to make it beautiful.'

It's a philosophy that seems to go against the grain of conventional pastry shops where pretty cakes sell best. But Tan - executive pastry chef of Archangel and Saint Pierre restaurant (which also owns Archangel) - is not so much into style but substance, and more importantly, going back to the roots of baking and the concept of artisanal produce. That is, made by hand, in limited quantities, using all-natural ingredients, and crafted with the passion and personality of the person making it.

That pretty much sums up the philosophy of Archangel itself, which chef-owner Emmanuel Stroobant explains is all about going back to the basics, evoking memories of village bakeries in his native Belgium, which are mainly one or two man operations churning out freshly made baked goods.

In fact, Tan herself has just returned from a six week stint in Belgium, where she deliberately stayed away from fancy pastry operations and instead worked in small bakeries and a chocolate shop in the tiny villages. There, she finetuned her bread-making techniques and learned to make traditional breads like Cramique - a brioche-like bread studded with big pieces of sugar - and a fromage blanc tart made with a yeast-raised crust. So the pastries you get at Archangel are virtually the baked manifestations of Tan's personality - rustic, earthy and made with passion. Calling herself a pao ka liao (Hokkien for 'everything') pastry chef, she personally bakes the shop's daily supply of bread - six to seven different kinds and just 10 loaves of each, and all made with organic flour. What has since become a hot favourite is the jet black squid ink loaf - inspired by the Italian squid ink risotto. The store's signature bread is infused with the fragrance and kick of garlic and chili.

If customers are not distracted by the different colours and textures of the breads, then the smell of Tan's freshly baked banana bread is likely to bowl them over. Scented with a mixture of cinnamon and the more assertive mace, the rustic flavour of the sweet loaf comes through with every bite. Even something as simple as a Belgian waffle is given more substance at Tan's hands. Instead of the conventional pancake-like batter, Tan makes them like bread, using yeast to make it more bread-like. The result is a dense, chewy confection that's lovely to eat just on its own.

Another advantage about Archangel's artisanal approach, too, is the delicious anticipation of what kind of surprises you'll find cooling on the shop's shelves. While the chances of freshly baked breads and waffles are higher in the morning, those who go in the afternoon will find freshly made trays of pastries like a chocolate creme brulee cake which features a layer of creme brulee between chocolate mousse, a slightly salty caramel tart with milk chocolate mousse that's a take on the chocolate confection Twix, the aforementioned fromage blanc tart and a classic bread and butter pudding. And that's not including her macaroons, which she mastered under the tutelage of French pastry chef Jeff Lehude, himself a winner of macaroon-making competitions.

For someone so passionate about baking, it's hard to imagine that Tan has been doing it professionally for only six years. For the youthful 41-year-old, it's her second career, having spent 13 years as a flight attendant with Cathay Pacific before deciding to head out to Los Angeles to study pastry making at the Culinary Institute of America. She cut her teeth working as a pastry chef in LA's Ritz Carlton Hotel for two years before returning to Singapore four years ago to join Saint Pierre.

'I'm greedy,' the reed-thin pastry chef happily admits when asked about her career switch. She's certainly obsessed with her craft, starting her day at 5 am to start her breads, then working on her pastries in the afternoon before heading off to Saint Pierre in the evenings. She has also written her own cookbook, Lust, filled with simple recipes using chocolate. Publisher Marshall Cavendish had asked her to write a cookbook for 'Ah Geoks', or rather, 'aunties', ie, something accessible to home cooks. Which was something she is happy to do, since her philosophy is all about cooking from the heart.

But while she's got her feet firmly on the ground, she also has a 'funky' side, particularly with her penchant for using salt in her dessert creations. Check out her salted chocolate truffles - her own creation of truffle oil-scented chocolates with just that slightly salty kick which can be addictive.

That said, she has no qualms about being called the Auntie Ah Geok of pastry - because what she stands for is home-made goodness made with love. And you can't get any more substantial than that.

Archangel
#03-32/33 Great World City,
1 Kim Seng Promenade
(S) 237994
Tel: 6836 4424