Just when I thought I had tasted it all, a new and unique cake — or two, or three, maybe five! — comes along and catches my attention. All new, fresh and fruity. It is not surprising, though, considering that tropical fruits are bountiful in the Philippines and that the country is a major market for fresh fruits and produce from other countries. While Pinoys love their chocolate and ube cakes, there is an emerging trend that leans toward fruity cakes. They make use of not just flavorings but real fruits, and these fruits are not the usual ones you find in cakes.
Here are some of the new and unique cakes that I recently “discovered”:
Duet Cake by Moniquecakesph.
Lychee cheesecake by Tilde Bakery and Kitchen
From trendsetting Tilde Bakery and Kitchen comes lychee cheesecake, a light cheesecake that goes very well with Asian food. Yes, lychees! Inspired by a client’s request to make an Asian-flavored cheesecake, Tilde’s Ginny Roces de Guzman created this cake by “cooking” things in her mind before executing it in real time. So, when she finally hit the kitchen to whip it up, it took only a little adjustment to come up with the final formula. Since fresh lychees are a seasonal fruit, Ginny uses canned ones that are readily available all year round, and makes a jam with them to concentrate flavor.
The result is a lovely nine-inch cake with refreshing lychee cream cheese filling on Graham crust.
Lychee cheesecake is available at P1,300 per whole cheesecake at Tilde Bakery’s store at Brixton Street, Kapitolyo, Pasig City. Orders for delivery may be placed via Instagram (@tildebakery), Viber and mobile phone +63966-9467137, or email address tildebakery@gmail.com.
Cherries Jubilee Cake and Duet Cake by Moniquecakesph
The classic Cherries Jubilee dessert has been transformed into a cake by Monique Tancongco of Moniquecakesph. Inspired by her love for cherries and memories of her countless voyages from Seattle, Washington, to Alaska as a maître d’ on board one of the world’s finest cruise ships, Monique created her Cherries Jubilee Cake. Flambéed cherries go into the icing and between indulgent cake layers with just the right tang from the cherries and a little zip of liquor. The cake comes in two sizes — six by five inches (P2,200) and nine by four inches (P4,600). Should customers prefer bright yellow Rainier cherries, the prices go up just a little — P2,800 for the six-by-five-inch cake and P5,200 for the nine-by-four-inch cake.
Duet Cake by Moniquecakesph.
Moniquecakesph has also introduced the Duet Cake. It is two cakes in one, half and half, in the form of a 10×14-inch rectangular cake. Customers may choose which cakes they want, with the most popular combination being the Strawberry-Guava Cake Duet (P4,300), good for 16 to 20 persons.
To order, message Moniquiecakesph’s Instagram account.
Blueberry and avocado cheesecakes by Gel Salonga-Datu
Blueberry cheesecake is so common that you find it in any bakeshop. But cheesecake loaded with fresh blueberries with a few slices of orange? Extremely premium — and only Gel Salonga-Datu of Cakes by Gel does it with such abundance. Where other bakers would just fill the cake top with canned blueberry filling or dot it with a few pieces of fresh blueberries, Gel fills the entire surface with fresh blueberries with her new fresh blueberry baked cheesecake. It comes in the form of an eight-inch round cake priced at P1,700. She “accidentally” created it when she needed to replace fresh strawberries with the fresh blueberries she more easily found at that time, and the response to her fresh blueberries on top of blueberry preserves cheesecake was so overwhelming that she decided to keep it on her cake menu.
Also from Cakes by Gel is avocado cheesecake (P1,200), a collaboration between Gel and her mom when they decided to create a chilled cheesecake with a local ingredient and found stacks of avocado in stalls along the highway in their hometown Laguna.
To order, message @baker_gel_salonga on Instagram or visit www.cakesbygelsalonga.com. Allow two days’ lead time.