Shamrock

It seems that no visit to Cebu is complete without buying some local delicacies, and this time, we were taken by our guide to Shamrock, right along the Fuente Osmena Circle in the heart of the city.  The bakery is famous for their otap, which is a crunchy puff wafer biscuit that is sprinkled with sugar and sometimes cinnamon.  While the first few bites are delicious, you have to take the biscuit with some liquids, otherwise you wind up choking on a dry throat.  Packs of otap are available at less than P100, which are reasonable for pasalubong (gifts given to people who receive and assist weary travelers).  The bakery also makes other sweet biscuits, like rosquillos (flattened donut-shaped butter biscuits), ladyfingers, barquillos (rolled butter crunchies and shaped like cigars), galletas de patatas and hojaldres (which is also like an otap).  I was a bit worried about my luggage weight, so I only purchased a couple of packs, but my friends bought boxes of goodies to take home!

Auntie Anne's

We went around the Greenbelt 1 Mall with Kong, Gwammy and Pipangga, and Gwammy just couldn't resist stopping by Auntie Anne's store for some hand-rolled soft pretzels.  I think she bought the cinnamon flavored ones (around P50 each), and we had a fun time finishing off her stash!  While I usually pick doughnuts over pretzels, this time it was just too hard to resist--I just love cinnamon!

Ala Creme

Since they were already in Angeles, Becca decided to buy a Rocky Road cake from A La Creme.  While the cake (shown below) was good, I admit that I was a bit disappointed because for me A La Creme's Sinful Chocolate Cake is the simply the best there is, and I was secretly hoping that the cake box contained Sinful Chocolate Cake.  Last time Vicky bought the SCC, it was just a tad under P1,000 but I can assure you that your money is absolutely well spent--it's so good that it has morphed into something sinful.  The SCC is ganache filled and almost like a giant truffle, oozing with chocolatey flavor, not too sweet nor too bitter.  Some people may even find the chocolatey-ness overpowering, but to my mind, the SCC is truly the gateway to paradise!

Moshi Manju

Moshi Manju bakes Korean mini cakes on the spot--the aroma just fills the air, and anyone within the radius of 20 meters from the stall will automatically turn their head to search for the source.  Right after having a snack at Masuki, Monique was instantly attracted, and she had to fall in line for about 15 minutes to get a box of the cakes (P85).  At the time we bought them, there were 2 flavors, vanilla cream (leche) and mocha, and it seemed that the demand for these cakes wouldn't subside.  The cakes are bite-size, and are shaped like corn ears.  Filling is quite hot--I found the vanilla cream filling a bit on the sweet side.  Look at the long line in the picture--just goes to show you that the sense of smell is truly a powerful marketing tool!

Panecillos de San Nicolas

A client was generous enough to gift Vicky with a whole box of Panecillos de San Nicolas.  The cookie creation is a favorite in the Pampanga province, and it just seems that there fewer bakeries that make this wafer like cookie these days.  The panecillos almost tastes like puto seko, but this is slightly creamier, and the texture is not as course as uraro.  My only word of caution is that this cookie can turn your throat a bit dry, so be ready to have a glass of your favorite beverage nearby!  No idea of the price though, but I would say a box (roughly 24 packs of 2 wafers each) would be in the range of P300 thereabouts.  Perfect for gift-giving!

Conti's

Conti's has long been a favorite of the Paranaque crowd, and its store along President's Avenue in the Sucat area has been making waves since its opening in 1997.  They have since aimed to be one of the recognized family restaurants, and when we brought cousin Ed and the Dumaguete contingent out for a round of coffee and dessert, we took a shot at the restaurant's Greenbelt branch.

We just had to try the house favorite, the Mangro Bravo, which is a tall cake with layers of wafer, mango bits and cream lavishly drizzled with chocolate.  Since we were a big group, we simply purchased a whole cake (P1,150) and had the staff cut it up into 12 slices.  I must say that even sliced at 12 pieces, one serving still takes a while to finish.  Coffee was good, and despite the long conversation, we wound up taking a long time to finish the cake.

Sweet Inspirations

We went back to the main house to eat the cake that Erika had gifted her sister.  This was a nicely decorated Peach Walnut Torte (P675) from Sweet Inspirations, a bakeshop located along Katipunan Avenue (somewhere across from the Ateneo de Manila University).  The torte was cream filled, and the icing was decorated with a lot of meringue that Anita complained about it being too sweet.   I, however, thought that the peach flavor wasn't quite enough, since the peaches were merely the topping (I was expecting bits and pieces of peaches and walnuts inside the cake).  The kids?  No worries there--the torte was gone in 20 minutes....

Costa Brava Cakes

Mother's Day is easily one of the most popular of the minor holidays, and the kids showed their affection by giving the bouquets pictured above--Lola, Vicky and Becca were tickled pink!  We celebrated the lunch with tempura from the Macapagal Highway stalls (3 kilos gone in 60 minutes!).

Dessert was topped by the delectable cakes of Costa Brava, a bakeshop located along Polaris St., in Bel-Air, Makati (party size for P1,200 each).  As you can very well see--I arrived a bit late to take the photos:

I took a little piece of the white cake, which had a lemony zing to it (you can see my piece right under the letters "pp").  The chiffon cake had even texture, but the white icing was a bit too sweet for me (then again, one can say that of most white icings).  The caramel cake was fluffy, and with its smooth filling, this one suited my taste buds very well.  I understand that one of their cakes was included in the list of the top 20 residential bakeshop cakes by the Philippine Inquirer, and now I can say, rightfully so!

Kitchen of Cakes & Coffee

It's pretty interesting to learn a new thing every now and then.  I had always thought that I knew the Tomas Morato area like the back of my hand, but when Mikaela brought half a Sans Rival cake from the Kitchen of Cakes and Coffee, I was flabbergasted to learn that the store was located right along Tomas Morato Avenue!  I've never even seen the place before, and I pass through Tomas Morato on a regular basis.  

I think that my sister had the cake in her refrigerator overnight--I had expected the crunch that comes along with freshly made Sans Rival.  The sweetness, however, was just right for me, and the creamy texture of the buttery sections were also done properly.

Becky's Kitchen

We have been patronizing Becky's Kitchen for around 25 years.  Located along Vito Cruz St. in Singgalong, Manila, this bakery has been making reasonably priced and delicious cakes, among which is one of Vicky's all-time favorites, the prune walnut cake.  For her birthday, however, I decided to get a cake that more people would enjoy--the coffee creme cake, for only P490:

Yup, that was a yummy treat!  If you are coming from South Superhighway, the bakery is on the right side, just before getting to the end of the one-way portion of Vito Cruz.  You won't miss the old house; lots of history & character, which I would assume, goes into the baking experience of each cake!

Happy Cream Puff

I've been a fan of cream puffs ever since Monique went gaga over Beard Papa's creations around 10 years ago.  I found a Happy Cream Puff stall at the ground floor of the old IBM building along Paseo de Roxas, and I was able to try their version at only P45.  Nice soft pastry, creamy filling, with just the right amount of sugar.  Absolutely wonderful!

Purple Oven

I half-expected the box to contain ube pastries.  Yes, the label was Purple Oven so instinctively, that was the first thing that came to mind.  It turns out that the Purple Oven bakeshop churns out such delicious treats like oatmeal bars and chocolate brownies, both pictured on the right.  Vicky was lucky to have been given a box of these treats and Monique and I must have finished the whole box in just a couple of days.  I asked around and found out that the bakeshop is situated in the Pasig Kapitolyo area, and I look forward to scheduling a visit one of these days... 

Cupcakes by Sonja

Sonja's cupcakes at Serendra at the absolute favourite of Vicky and Monique.  They have a wide variety of cupcake flavours and toppings, each with mouth-watering names and with its own legion of fans.  Our last visit there was sometime last December, and I had all but forgotten to write about their cupcakes.  As a stroke of luck, just this afternoon, I found the above photo tucked away in my USB flash drive.  I guess that you can say that their Red Velvet Vixen (the cupcakes inside the left-hand box) is the most-loved cupcake by  the mag-ina, and as you can see they bought 4 pieces of this one as compared to the one-of-each-flavor cupcakes inside the right-hand box.  Cupcakes vary in price, ranging from P50 to P100.  Somehow, this Red Velvet Vixen cupcake by Sonja makes me think of Bridget Neilsen, swinging her sword around as Red Sonja...

Ju.D's

I've always pronounced this bakery's name as Judy's but if you look closely at the spelling, you may have second thoughts on how to pronounce it.  Ju.D's has been around for around for a decade or so, and last Christmas, Gwammy sent us a sampler of their different fruitcakes.  

I was a bit worried that although I had kept the sampler box in the refrigerator, it's already been a couple of months since December.  However, since the mini-fruitcakes were individually packaged, the sampler was still in good edible condition (fruitcakes are generally baked to last some period of time).  The sampler had four variations--the usual Christmas cake, prune cake, butter cake with fruit-glaze, and if I remember correctly, the fourth on was a walnut cake.  I would have wanted the cakes to carry a little more punching power though--and that means moistened with a tad more rum or brandy!

Ms. Polly's

Vicky was able to take home a chocolate cake from Ms. Polly's, the piece de resistance for our Valentine's Day dinner.  Quite heavenly--the cake itself was spongey, soft and the icing was thick, moist, glistening, truly chocolatey, with just the right amount of sweetness.  We left the cake out at the dining table surrounded by a moat, not refrigerated, so as to keep the spongey texture.  It was still great today!  This is a real find, and at P540, is pretty reasonable to me.

Biscocho Haus

At the Iloilo airport, I also picked up some butterscotch bars made by the Original Biscocho Haus as a comparison.  Although a bit more expensive, I found that these bars to be more agreeable for me--the sweetness level is a trifle lower than that of the other brands.  The gooey sensation is also intact, and the bars are stouter than most others.  I also like the individual packaging,--sealed plastic pillow packs.  I understand that this firm is based in Jaro, and that the recipe for the bars dates back from several generations of the Jalandoni family.

Merci

I just got in from a business trip to Iloilo, and I was lucky to find some pasalubong treats at the new city airport in Santa Barbara.  Merci, which is a Bacolod-based bakery, has reasonably priced bakery items, and I found myself buying some piaya, which is a crusty cookie with sweet fillings.  Traditionally the filling is molasses, but nowadays, they have ube and mango versions as well.  Also bought their butterscotch bars, and this turned out to be gooey and tasty, but a bit too sweet for my taste.  I was lucky that there was an ongoing promotion--if you show them your boarding pass, they give you a 10% discount!

Sans Rival

Sans Rival may be the name of a delicious dessert made with butter and nuts, but it's also the name of a cozy bakeshop along the seaside in Dumaguete City owned by the Trinidad Teves-Sagarbarria.  Over the Christmas holidays, cousin Eddie found time to fly in Manila and drop off his gifts for us--some fruit cakes from Sans Rival bakeshop.  While others may find the fruit cake to be a worn-out Christmas present, we just happen to be a fruit cake family, and we absolutely love it!  I found the time to open the fruit cake this afternoon, and I wasn't disappointed.  Quite good for commercial fruit cake--plenty of almonds and raisins, a little fruit glace mixed in as well (no cherries on top, however, which could have made for a more colorful presentation).  I like the sweetness, it was just right; the consistency was firm and as I picked up the slices, the cake didn't crumble (which is a very important property of proper fruit cake).  On the negative side, I would have liked the cake to have been brushed with a little more wine/brandy/rhum or whatever it is that bakers brush when they age fruit cake.  That gentle whiff of alcohol (not too excess) is a crucial criteria that we judge quality fruit cake.  Overall, though, this was good stuff!

Sans Rival bakeshop has spawned the House of Silvanas, a bakeshop operating out of San Lorenzo Village Makati, and specializing in mini-Sans Rival cookies called Silvanas.  This in turn is owned by the Mary Ann Sagarbarria, the daughter-in-law of the owner of Sans Rival bakeshop.

Kamuning Bakery

We got a wonderful New Year's gift from one of Vicky's uncles--egg pie from the famous Kamuning Bakery, which has been open since pre-war days.  I tell you, the consistency of the egg filling is practically leche flan!  Sweetness is just right, and one slice is not enough for me!  I understand that her uncle has patronized this bakery since the fifties; I don't know how much the egg pies cost these days, but I'm sure it's got a big bang for your buck! Simple, filling, great tasting!  The bakery also has other delights (e.g. cheesecake), but the egg pie is what it's been known for.

Vargas Kitchen

The Vargas Kitchen has three branches located at the Rustan's outlets in Makati & Rockwell, and at South Supermarket in Alabang.  Vicky was lucky to have been gifted a giant VK butter cake and I must say that while I am more of an ice cream & gelatin person than a cake & pastry person, I truly enjoyed this butter cake.  It was soft and very flavorful; when you open the box you can actually smell the rich aroma it exudes.  In fact, if you take a look at the picture on the left, you can see that we had already finished around three fourths of the cake before I remembered to take a picture!  Actions speak louder than words--what more can I say?