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!
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
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
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)
my husband and i went there to eat dinner, we tasted the dayap chiffon cake and it tasted cheap. There is nothing to buzz about this cake coz its nothing like plain chiffon with custard filling, we cant even taste the dayap.
ReplyDeleteI am from UP Diliman and have been making Dayap Chiffon for the last 30 years (we even planted a Dayap tree in our yard to get fruit used in the cake). We generally serve the cake plain, or as a Taisan brushed with butter and rolled in sugar.
ReplyDeleteIf served like CK, the cake is split into 4 layers, and an egg yolk custard filling (which is flavored with vanilla and dayap like a Leche Flan) is spread between layers, the remaining egg whites used in the white mountain icing used to frost the cake. The cake can be decorated with candied dayap peel.
If properly made, the cake should be very light yet moist. And should cost less than P200.00 in ingredients.
Wow Professor Mark, do you sell your dayap cake? I can imagine how your house smells like when the cake is baking, must be heavenly!
ReplyDelete