The Ultimate Custard Square Hunt - Bliss, Hamilton

We had high hopes of Te Kuiti having some magnificent custard squares, having been told ahead of time about Elvis the baker and his wares. Sadly, neither of the bakeries in Te Kuiti stocked custard squares, and though one of the cafes did they looked suspiciously like Denheath custard squares, and while I love them there was a fairly decent length queue and since I have tried them before I thought I should search further afield.

On Sunday when we were in Hamilton we went to Centre Place, a mall in the centre of town. We did a spot of shopping, and I spied that a cafe in the mall had custard squares. We agreed to come back to it once we'd finished our shopping, since at that point our bellies were still pretty full from The River Kitchen. Mr Cake bought a coat from Meccano and was looking at a scarf, but it was $50 so I suggested we should check out scarves in other stores, so we popped into Hallensteins. They had a pretty similar one for $25, but when the guy rang it on it was $3.74. He thought that was pretty funny, and Mr Cake was happy he hadn't bought the $50 one! So anyway, this custard square cost more than Mr Cake's new scarf, at $4.

As you can see they've gone a bit mille-feuille with an extra layer of pastry in the middle, but this was definitely what I would identify as custard square - a denser custard filling. It was pretty good, though; great custard, not too sweet; pastry crisp, not too dry but flaky and good. My only critique is that the icing was a bit bland - it needed maybe a hint of lemon, or a sprinking of coconut, as it was basically sugar flavoured. Overall, though, both Mr Cake and I gave it 7.5/10. Not bad for a little coffee kiosk in a mall! So now you know where to get your custard square fix in Hamilton!



Bliss is located in Centre Place, 501 Victoria Street, Hamilton, www.centreplace.co.nz