The aroma of the spices waft around and give one of those rapper hand gestures to your nose which reels in shock while you're opening the packaging. It says cake on it, and you picture the cakes you're usually used to. Not this time though.
An attempt to sample the 'local' sweets of a faraway land, led us to purchase some 'cakes' and sweets while we were in the city of Colombo the day before our flight back to Malaysia. And of course a couple of weeks after sitting in the fridge (the whole family was down with some strange sort of stomach and digestive tract related illness after the holiday, sadly), we open the boxes of the cakes, and assault our taste buds with cakes that are extremely sweet and spicy (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Cloves,among others for those who are curious) all at the same time.
While the rest of the family members seem to enjoy the cakes, I can't bring myself to enjoy them as I usually would enjoy cakes (and trust me, I am a fan of cakes). Firstly, they are too sweet (even for me), and according to a recipe I found online, 1/2 a bottle of rose essence is used in the recipe. And secondly, I've always associated spices with savoury food, and when the flavours were combined this way, I felt like I was being forced to take medicine.
What do you think? Should spices be left well alone for curries and other savoury type dishes, or are you cool with vast quantities of spices in sweets and cakes?