Michelle Co of Creamy Catering has one of the most interesting taisan cakes on offer.

Her little cakes are inspired by the taisan of then-famous Joni’s Bakeshop, her grandmother’s recipe.

Michelle thought of combining her favorite kakanin and incorporating them into her taisans. After a fair amount of kitchen play, the Taisans Series came to be.

First was the Ube Taisan capped with a generous slathering of sweet ube halaya frosting and sprinkled with grated quezo de bola.Around Christmas time, she thought of blending the staples of the season into her creations.

Of the collection, the Puto Bumbong Taisan is my personal favorite. The cake is interesting and so full of character. It is a fluffy puto bumbong taisan with a rich and creamy butter-

margarine frosting, and a sprinkling of muscovado and desiccated coconut.

Another variant I like is the Quezo de Bola, slathered with a secret recipe for butter frosting. The feather-light cake is crowned with grated quezo de bola. I love the interplay of sweet and salty!

Michelle’s Bibingka Taisan is made by combining taisan and bibingka batters. It is the batter blending that gives this particular cake a unique texture. It is slightly denser and a tad moist, compared to the rest, yet nonetheless soft. The bibingka cake is iced abundantly with butter frosting, then garnished with shredded coconut, grated cheddar cheese and thick slices of salted egg.

The flavors of Christmas can now be had all year round.

Desserts in a bucket

Creamy Catering also has desserts such as Buko Pandan, Coffee Jello, AvoCoco, and Hot and Cold Taro Sago in buckets. So convenient that they’re ready to give away as tokens or to bring to any potluck, once the pandemic is over.

I personally enjoyed their Hot Taro, a thickened taro soup with coconut cream, taro bits and tapioca. The Cold Taro Sago is a smooth and creamy coconut milk-based dessert with taro cubes, buko strips and tapioca.

Michelle generously shared her Ube Taisan recipe. It is her hope to bring a taste of her home to yours.

Ube Taisan

1 c cake flour

½ c white sugar

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

5 eggs, separated

¼ c water

1 Tbsp ube extract

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Ube halaya

Quezo de bola, grated

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare loaf pan.

Beat egg yolks and half of the sugar in a bowl with electric mixer. Beat on high speed until thick and light in color. Then add in ube extract and water. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites till foamy. Add in the cream of tartar and sugar. Whip until it reaches stiff peaks.

Fold in flour mixture onto the beaten egg yolks. Then gently fold a little of the beaten egg white mixture into the batter until you finish all the rest of the mixture.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 20-25 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.

Garnish with ube halaya and quezo de bola. (Tel. 0917-8800203, @thecreamerycatering on Facebook, @creamerycatering on Instagram)

Joy-full breads

When chef Joy San Gabriel bakes, expect it to be over the top. She has the gift of making everything a notch better than usual. Her breads are as light as clouds—from her ensaymada and cheese rolls, to those on her menu that I just recently discovered: pimiento bread, Spanish bread and herb loaf.

Her pimiento loaf is an ultra light dinner roll filled with cheese pimiento. Strangely, it just somehow disappears before your very eyes. So addicting! It is so easy to snack on and pairs beautifully with children’s party spaghetti with meat sauce.

Her Herb Loaf is light and buttery with the herbs lending an air of complexity to it. It makes a perfect bread to serve with a meal and with your pasta dishes.

The Spanish bread is simply delicious. Each is filled generously with a rich butter-sugar filling. Each bite makes you long for more. This is a level-up rendition on the classic.

In Joy’s words, “Our bread are made from scratch and do not contain any preservatives. They’re basically just flour, eggs, Anchor butter, yeast and sugar. The breads are all made by hand, you will notice that the shape of each is ‘unique.’ The fillings are also homemade.”

Her carrot cake, made in the traditional manner, is also worth mentioning. It is soft, not sweet and spiced right, with a cream cheese frosting that makes it all come together. (Tel. 0917-5278837; @joybakes on Instagram) INQ