Dayap Chiffon Cake

Cake of the Month
As the family marks my third child’s progress onto her first year, I will be celebrating her monthly birth day in this blog by featuring a cake. Lined up for the next twelve months, and hopefully on afterwards, are old-time favorites, reliable standards, as well as new discoveries, as I go on a quest for the best cakes around.

Because the centennial foundation anniversary of the University of the Philippines falls in the month of June, the cake for this month is from the Chocolate Kiss Cafe, now named Kiss Cafe (isn't that suggestive? ;-) ), which opened its first outlet inside the UP Diliman campus, and was the first ever (and still is) decent cafe inside the campus.


I avoided the cafe's cakes before because they're too sweet - sweet crumb heightened by real sweet icing. Dayap Chiffon Cake, though, is one of the few exceptions. It's actually perfect for this month, because it sports the university's colors - green icing on top, with box decorated by maroon ribbon.

And it's so retro - it recalls to mind the tall, lemony cakes my mother steamed in her tall and chunky stainless steamer, with the tube in the middle, producing a small cylindrical hole in the cake. I still see tall sponge cakes shaped like this being sold in streetside bakeries, which I sometimes use for my crema de fruta.

The cake's name is actually misleading. The crumb is not the light, cloudy soft and airy cake that chiffon should be. It's not sponge cake either, but it's so dense it's almost like a butter cake, without the butter. Or maybe even pound cake, minus some ounces. But it's still soft, and airy, but not lightly so.


It is a tall cake, some 10cms with another 1cm of icing. Plus it's big - about 22cms in diameter. It consists of four cake layers with caramel filling in between the layers.

The crumb is packed with bits of fresh dayap zest, providing punctutations of citrusy flavor, not too sharp, but just right. The caramel filling, infused with dayap, provide sweetness and additional tang. The marshmallow icing is signature Chocolate Kiss over-the-top sweet, but it is foiled by the thick crumb and the citrusy essence.

Over-all it provides a trio of flavors that proved addicting. What cakes should be made of, for me. Full of motherly love, sweetness. Great with tea, and probably coffee. Kids love it, too!

Dayap Chiffon Cake
Moist chiffon cake and caramel filling, flavored with grated fresh dayap zest, topped with marshmallow frosting.
» Slice: P68.00
» Whole: P680.00
» Half-size: P320.00
» Mini: P135.00

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UP Kiss Cafe
Ang Bahay ng Alumni
R. Magsaysay Street
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
G/F (632) 4333782
2/F (632) 4347430
Open everyday 7AM-10PM
Live acoustic music Mon/Thurs/Sat 630PM-930PM

Roces Kiss Cafe
91 A. Roces Avenue
corner Scout Tobias
Quezon City
Tel. No. (632) 4127876
Open Mon-Sat 11AM-10PM
Live acoustic music Wednesdays 7PM-10PM

goodstuff@thechocolatekiss.com
Website

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Cakes of the Month
Divine Chocolate Cake by Divine Sweets (Puerto Princesa City, Palawan)
Cakelines by Jon-Rhiz (Cavite City, Cavite)
Belgian Chocolate Cake by a La Creme (San Fernando City, Pampanga)
White Chocolate Mousse, by Gateau de Manille (Katipunan Road, Quezon City)
Mango Cake, by Red Ribbon (with branches nationwide)
Ube Cake, by Goodies N' Sweets (several locations across Metro Manila)
Mango Charlotte, by Sweet Bella (Dasmarinas Village, Makati City)
Strawberry Shortcake by Vizco's (Baguio City)
Almond Chocolate Fudge Cake by Malen's (Noveleta, Cavite)
Caramel Cake by Estrel's (Quezon City)
Marshmallow Birthday Cake by Estrel's (Quezon City)

Late Summer Flowers

[Okra blossom]

I grew up among houses, and trees. The trees were fruit-bearing, or provided vegetables. But plants that bore vegetables and fruits I never knew. We had a supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from my grandparents' kasamak (land tenants), who tilled and planted many small tracts of land in the barrios.

We lived in the poblacion, and while there was enough space for planting, vegetable-bearing plants in your front lawn was not in vogue. So I was never intimate with plants, except for the ornamental ones.

It gives me so much wonder then, and joy, to be seeing vegetable plants grow up and bear fruit in the garden just by the building where I now live. I didn't know vegetable flowers could be so pretty. If not for the sustenance that they would provide later, I would have picked several of these and put them in a vase to brighten up our sala (living room) and dining table.

The gardener explained that after several days the petals of the okra flower fall off, leaving the yellow-crowned burgundy pistil to develop into the fiber-laden okra fruit.


If not for the baby eggplants that have sprouted, I would have mistaken this bloom to be the flower of a weed that grows like grass and populate untended lawns. How charming that eggplant flowers are also purple-colored. These flowers bow down to the ground at night, then look up again as the sun touches them.


I recognized the tree that bore this, but if this bud were plucked and presented to me on its own I could not have ventured a guess as to what it was. It is the newly-developing jackfruit or langka/nangka, which will eventually grow up to be so huge and full of thick spines.

It reminded me of my babies. They were all born almost bald, as I had been. All they had were very short tufts of fine, downy hair, every single one of which proceeded to fall off before the babies turned two months old. But now my first two kids have very, very, thick hair, like mine. Thick, not just in volume, but also per strand.

Who would have thought this cute baby would grow up to be so prickly?

Happy Centennial, UP!

U.P. Naming Mahal

U.P. naming mahal
Pamantasang hirang
Ang tinig namin
Sana’y inyong dinggin

Malayong lupain
Amin mang marating
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin

Luntian at pula
Sagisag magpakailanman
Ating ipagdiwang bulwagan ng dangal

Humayo’t itanghal, giting at tapang
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan

*As collectively translated from the original
poem in English, found below.
**Set to music by National Artist Nicanor Abelardo.

U.P. Beloved

U.P. Beloved, thou Alma Mater dear
For thee united, our joyful voices hear
Far though we wander, o’er islands yonder
Loyal thy sons we’ll ever be
Loyal thy sons we’ll ever be.

Echo the watchword, the Red and Green forever.
Give out the password to the Hall of Brave sons rare.
Sing forth the message, ring out with courage
All hail, thou hope of our dear land
All hail, thou hope of our dear land.

- by Teogenes Velez

The finale of the Pamantasang Hirang: The Centennial Concert, in celebration of the centennial foundation anniversary of the University of the Philippines, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), was the singing of the university hymn, in line with tradition.

I almost fell down to the carpeted floor, though, when the university who's who, including distinguished alumni and the current members of the university's various performing arts groups assembled onstage, led the assembly singing and started with "UP Be-loo-oo-ved...."

What on earth...?

In all my years as a student, both during my undergraduate and graduate studies at the state university, I never heard UP Naming Mahal sung in English. I had attended many official functions, as a student and more as a member of an official university-based performing group, and I never even knew there was an English version.

I didn't exceed my maximum residency rule (MRR) as a lot of students are wont to do for love of the university (haha!), but I think four years plus a change in leadership, and a return to school after five years, would at least have given me an inkling of the sudden turnaround of the Filipino university. And I have maintained close relations with those who chose to stay (not MRR, but as faculty), from whom I receive updates. But nada.

It was disconcerting, to say the least. It didn't jive. I couldn't raise, with heart-felt feelings, my clenched fist up in the air while singing All hail, thou hope of our dear land....

It didn't the have the natural ring of Ma! bu! hay ang pag-asa ng! baaa...yan!!!.

And, I actually didn't know the English lyrics.

Well, it turns out UP Naming Mahal was originally composed in English, translated later on in Filipino. I was in the university during the last decades of its first hundred years, so I never knew. But literature suggests that the Filipino translation actually is controversial, and does not capture the full meaning of the original in English.

And here I am bemoaning the fact that the English version is not in consonance with the Filipino version - the only version that I knew. Oh well.

~ ~ ~

Featured in picture above is golden pearls in a husk - nilagang mais, boiled corn on the cob. It was a favorite pantawid gutom (snacks) in the afternoons during my college days, and was a cheap source of sustenance at Php15 (US$0.33) a piece then.

The corn are vended around the campus, boiled still in their husks, carried in a metal drum full of steaming water. When you buy, the manong vendor would peel the husk, trim the hair, impale the cob on a long barbecue stick, then brush margarine and sprinkle some salt on the kernels.

The smell and taste of it is unforgettable. Soft, sweet corn that is a little salty, creamy, buttery, every bite producing steams of smoke. Perfect for shared bites onto the cob, but just enough to carry one through all the org meetings or choir practice or group studies, or just plain people watching around the sunken garden, waiting for the stars to peek out from among the embracing acacia leaves.

I imagine nilagang mais sustaining generations upon generations of isko and iska through the years, from when the university was born, and on to the next hundred years. And the next.

Other posts on UP
Khas Food House / Centennial Kick Off
Rodic's / Centennial Official Start

Chocolate Bread Pudding

My current favorite, from Bread Talk. This has the size of an ordinary muffin, but it's so packed it's heavy - filled with the goodness of Bread Talk breads. One piece lands in my stomach like a boulder. It's like eating half a bilao of kakanin.

It's been properly soaked in milk it's so milky, but not watery milky and runny that it makes me believe it's something new, baked fresh. It's creamy yet still retains the texture, and consistency, of bread. And tastes of the high quality crumb of Bread Talk breads. Yummm.

It's redolent with melt in your mouth chocolate chips - on top, inside the crumb, and lots of them packed together at the bottom that it's almost like there's a chocolate chip crust.

I wonder why Bread Talk didn't have this from when they started operations here. Lots of other people also love this - I know because it is always so hard to find one. I feel so lucky when I find two pieces sitting on the bread shelf waiting for me. I hoard them at once. For I never know when I can find one again.

Kalui

I first heard of Kalui Restaurant from a friend - a fellow epicure and traveler - who went to Puerto Princesa many years ago. He texted he had new finds, but that he wasn't able to sample Kalui because it was then undergoing renovation.

All the time that we were in Puerto Princesa locals recommended two, and only two, restaurants - Kalui, and Badjao. It never failed - every time I asked any Puerto local the words Kalui and Badjao flew off their mouths at once, like a mantra.

Badjao I had tried on a previous trip. It had been a memorable dinner hosted by the son of the late governor - a feast of lobsters, blue marlin and prawns simply steamed with grilled eggplants and fresh tomatoes, the sound of the sea lulling us and small fish flicking here and there under our feet, literally.

I longed to go back there, but we didn't have the chance - I became so engrossed with the market. It was such joy to find lovely things to cook and eat. And the kids enjoyed the full expanse of the greens that surrounded our temporary home that we simply forgot about going out.

On the eve of our departure, though, a friend picked us up and took us to, where else? Kalui, for a sort of despedida dinner.

It seems locals are proud of Kalui. It's been around for a while now - probably one of the first of its kind. It's well publicized, and even the present mayor is always spotted entertaining visitors there.

And I believe Puerto residents have every reason to be proud of Kalui. It represents an artistic, sophisticated endeavor in what is considered the backwoods. It is named after the owner Louie Oliva, Ka being short for kapatid (sibling) and Lui the nickname, although it is spelled as one word.

Our host chose to take us to Kalui for dinner so that we could appreciate the effect the lights play on the interiors. Kalui is a stylized nipa hut with all the trappings of a good life. Made of bamboo, nipa and other indigenous materials, burnished to a glow, multi-leveled and airy and surrounded by greens and cascading water. It is raised from the ground like a true nipa hut, and as you take off your shoes (required) your feet feel the cool bamboo floor.

The interiors is crammed with paintings, decorated lanterns, and other artsy knick knacks, the corners hosting fresh flowers and fruits, with one panel showing off whole jackfruits, papayas, watermelons, melons, pineapples and other bounty of the land - all real and not papier mache.

You can opt to dine sitting on cushions on the floor, or in secluded alcoves. There are wash areas that employ large banga (clay jar) to hold the water, and the washrooms can rival any five-star hotel's. There is a computer where you can vote for Puerto Princesa's St. Paul Subterranean River Park and Palawan's Tubbataha Reef for the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

This was the only time I had been to Kalui, so the impressions I put across is based on this one trip only. I have to qualify my opinions, because it seems to me you go to Kalui to soak in the ambience and revel in the atmosphere of a first-rate, first-class vacation house. The food is just something you partake of for want of something else to do after you've toured around - something you don't pay much attention to.


We ordered the Kalui special (I've forgotten what it's exactly called), Php849 (approx US$20) for a full course meal that you let the chef decide what to serve, based on what was available at the market that afternoon. It consists of soup, salad, two seafood courses, vegetables and dessert, for two.

We were first served two small cups of clam broth, infused with ginger and lemongrass, and containing one single clam each. I didn't take a photo because that clam just looked so sad sitting alone in that soup.

Then two small plates of lato (sea grapes) that you eat dipped in a squeeze of kalamansi or a drop of the spiked vinegar in a bottle on your table.

Our seafood for the day comprised two small squid sauteed in a hot sauce with leeks, and two steamed shrimps.


Don't you just feel so forlorn looking at these? How can you eat just one shrimp in a meal? I mean, Filipinos love shrimp, and order by the kilo, not by the piece!


The main courses were served one at a time, and the last to arrive was this fried battered eggplant with a chunky tomato sauce. This was undeniably good, but by this time I was so bewildered I couldn't properly appreciate it.


Dessert consisted of two coconut halves filled with cubed fresh fruits sprinkled with muscovado sugar.

Kalui's over-all atmosphere raised up expectations on the food a little bit too high. Or maybe there should have been a notice at the entrance that the price of the food is inclusive of the entrance fee to the area, and the right to enjoy the ambience.

I have scoured the city market almost every day for two weeks, so I am sure that the entire meal cost Ka Lui less than a hundred pesos (approx US$2.50). Sure, everything was fresh, the food was cooked simply and impeccably. But I know Ka Lui could have been a little bit more generous, since everything served was local and can be found in the area in abundance.

That meal was just so contrary to the Filipino sense of hospitality - when you have guests in your house you feed them generously. Maybe that renovation spelled a lot of cost overruns.

Good thing my husband's unit threw an afternoon party before we came to Kalui, so we were still full at dinner. Or else I would have asked my friend to take us to Badjao next. Or even to Bona's for a comforting bowl of pho. For I craved to be comforted then.

It was sad to have our Puerto Princesa idyll end on a sour note. But the entire vacation was one high note after another, a symphony of joy that nothing could ever spoil. You had to have a flat, or maybe a sharp, sometime.

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Kalui
Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa
Palawan (towards the airport)
Tel. No. (6348) 4332580
Reservation recommended

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Previous Posts on Puerto Princesa
Sea Urchins
Seashells
Fresh Fish
Daing na Tahong
The best chocolate cake in the country!

Puerto Princesa Restaurants
Chao Long
Balinsasayaw Inato and Grill
Baker's Hill

Balinsasayaw Inato and Grill Restaurant

[Nido (Bird's Nest) Soup]

I had tried nido soup before in Metro Manila restaurants, mostly in Chinese restaurants, purely out of curiousity. I had discontinued this practice because I hadn't found anything appealing at all in eating thin strips of white rubber in a bland egg foo-yong soup. Or eating hototay-like soup and asking where's the nido?

This was my fourth trip to Palawan, but I don't remember ever being served nido soup in our previous trips, even during the family vacation in El Nido, where the birds from whom the nests are stolen live in abundace in the limestone cliffs.

So the husband vowed it a must that we eat at Balinsasayaw, so named after the local term for the native swiftlets that produce the nido, or bird's nest. And of course we had to order the balinsasayaw soup (Php350, good enough for two), made from the sticky nest that is a result of the bird's saliva, or some say the bird's regurgitated diet of seaweed.

It was still egg foo yong, but the nido pieces were soft and tender with none of the gummi-ness I have come to expect. They tasted fresh, not dried, and surprisingly flavorsome. The best nido soup I've eaten. But of course. We were in Palawan, after all.

It is said that bird's nest is the world's most expensive food ingredient at source. I can't say it's well worth eating it, but our soup's price tag was fair enough, even cheap, considering its purported medicinal properties that make it so highly sought after.

[Balinsasayaw Express]

Balinsasayaw serves specialty local dishes of the area as well as grills, particularly inato, the Visayan version of the lechon manok (roasted chicken).

The newer restaurant along Rizal Avenue consisted of an open air main dining area, with several small huts on the front lawn, surrounded by plants, for a more private al fresco dining experience.

We ordered all the dishes with the signature balinsasayaw tag to them. The Balinsasayaw Express consisted of seafood (fish fillet, shrimps, squid, and sikad sikad out of the shell) sauteed with bell peppers in a mildly hot sauce. I loved this - the sauce was good and did not drown out the individual flavors of the seafood, like eating something sizzling that did not come on a sizzling plate. Great on rice.

[Balinsasayaw Special]

And because it's a habit of mine we had to have dessert, and the house specialty is halved fresh buko (young coconut) filled with several scoops of ube (taro) ice cream and sprinkled with roasted kasuy (cashew nuts) halves, cashew nuts being one of Palawan's main products.

I have something against restaurants' penchance for serving ice cream to cap a meal. I think a la modes are a very unimaginative way of providing desserts. As are cakes.

But the pairing of ube and buko was just wonderful - scooping out velvety creamy ice cream then scraping out tender shreds of buko from the shell was divine, the ube silky on the refreshing coconut meat.

The kasuy provided punctuations of crunch and nutty flavor, making it a multi-textural ending to a good dinner, and grounding us to where we were at the moment.

In the province of our dreams.

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Balinsasayaw Inato and Grill Restaurant

• Manalo Extension / Rizal Avenue
  Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
• Aguinaldo Highway
  Silang, Cavite

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Previous Posts About Puerto Princesa
Sea Urchins
Seashells
Fresh Fish
Daing na Tahong

Puerto Princesa Restaurants
Chao Long
The best chocolate cake in the country!
Kalui
Baker's Hill

Palawan Hotels