Cake Couture

Sharing her passion for lusciously outstanding cakes combined with a brilliant imagination, Trina Ang Kokseng is the artistic talent of Cake Couture. “I chose the name Cake Couture for my business because the term “couture” aptly describes the way in which my cakes come to fruition whereas I customize each cake based on my clients’ whims and wishes.”

Having started her innovative baking business in 2006, Trina shares that she had spent a lot of her growing up years in the kitchen and her fondest childhood memories include many moments with her mom baking and cooking. “Being in the kitchen felt very natural for me, so it’s no small wonder I started cooking and baking on my own at a young age. With 6 other siblings, I had a lot of guinea pigs on whom I’d experiment and they were very willing test subjects to say the least. During these years, I cannot count the number of times my siblings and I left our kitchen as if a storm had passed through it,” she recalls.

Although Trina’s first option was to take up culinary arts, she instead pursued an accounting course and soon after worked at a bank. “But it wasn’t long before I felt the longing to do what I really loved so I took up a culinary degree at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies in Manila,” she shares. More into the exciting and creative baking scene, Trina had also been exposed to both the cuisine and pastry side of culinary arts. “I took up some more courses at the Wilton School in Illinois and was fortunate enough to apprentice under Colette Peters in her bakeshop in Greenwich Village in Manhattan,” she includes.

Together with Trina’s foreign influences, techniques and pairings, she also recently went on a trip to London to attend a one-on-one workshop by Maisie Parrish, specializing in making lifelike sugar figures. “I used to find making sugar figures very challenging, not to mention time consuming. I’m extremely glad that I attended the workshop because I learned a lot of tips and techniques to make minute facial features and expressions, very tiny details that have a big effect in making the figure look more like the person,” she points out. “I’ve always believed that traveling broadens one’s horizon in both domestic and international. For example, in North America, wedding cakes are usually smaller, around 3 layers, but all edible since the cake is cut and served as dessert to the guests. But in The Philippines, the bigger your cake, the more impressive it is even if some layers are not edible. This has helped me realize the difference culture has on cake preferences.” While Trina believes it’s good to bring home what you’ve learned from other countries, she reckons that it is always better to inspire yourself with your own creations. “Take my fondant recipe for example. The humidity in our country is very high, so I had to tweak the recipe due to the different weather conditions here.”

With a medley of outstanding creations, Trina admits that her forte is the making of wedding cakes, as well as celebration cakes for birthdays, baptisms, anniversaries and all other types of occasions. “The most requested flavour for my fondant cakes is chocolate, one recipe that I have been improving continuously over the past few years. It’s more on the bitter side than sweet and my clients sheepishly admit it can lead to more guilt-free eating,” she laughs. “I always welcome specific cake designs as I rely on my clients’ input to make the cake truly theirs as well. I admit that as much as I want to take credit for my cake creations, a lot of the ideas actually come from my clients themselves. For example, wedding cakes, my inspirations come from the theme, motif, or even the bride’s dress. For celebration cakes, I make it in connection to a hobby or an interest and make the design revolve around it, just anything that suits one’s personality. I’ve gotten so many far-out ideas over the past few years, but these are what end up challenging me to do better and I’m very thankful for that.”

Providing a whole lot of inspiration, Trina’s cake creations are hand-carved. “This takes more time than just getting the cake out of the oven and putting it in a box. But due to the unique forms, shapes and sizes, I don’t use moulds. Instead, I carve them myself the same way a sculptor would go about carving a piece of rock,” she explains. “I love making trompe l’oeil cakes, cakes that are made to look like real things. I often get comments from customers that they are very hesitant to cut these cakes up because they look too good to eat. Also, my clients tell me quite a number of their guests don’t believe it’s a cake because it looks too much like a certain object. I also have to add that my cake designs are rarely repeated since many of my clients have such diverse ideas.” Due to the cake creation process, Trina normally requires a week in advance for celebration cakes and at least a month in advance for wedding cakes.

Trina also adds that in her shop, she sells biscotti (an Italian twice-baked cookie best eaten with a steaming cup of coffee) and on weekends, she sells gourmet cupcakes using the same quality ingredients used in her fondant creations. “The concept of Cupcake Weekends is an opportunity to indulge and reward ourselves after some sort of diet on weekdays. Until today, there seems to be a perception that having fondant cakes that look good and having ones that taste good are mutually exclusive. People believe that if they want fondant cakes, they will have to sacrifice taste but customers who have tried my creations comment that they weren’t expecting it to taste good, so I guess what sets me apart is that my cakes actually taste good,” she says with a smile.

There’s every good reason to visit Cake Couture and make a pre-order of this creative explosion! Cake Couture is located at the Banilad Town Center in Cebu City. You may also call (032) 316-2181, email cakecouture@ymail.com or check www.cakecouturebytrina.com for any inquires and indulge yourself!