Loca over mocha

MANILA, Philippines -  Probably every red-letter milestone in our lives is celebrated with a cake — christenings, birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, a first job, job promotions or what have you. Whatever the special occasion, this requisite delight makes the memories so much warmer, so much sweeter!

But who needs an excuse to yield to this sweet temptation? Certainly not me. Cakes are my comfort food. I reach out for my favorite sweet treat when stress starts eating me up. After all, “stressed,” spelled backwards, is “desserts”! But for me, they’re more than just dessert, they’re my main dish. Call me weird but when I eat out, I make sure I order dessert first — usually a big fat slice of the resto’s best-selling cake. Why is that? Because what if something happens and I never get to eat dessert?

Through the years, through life’s ups and downs, comings and goings, I’ve sworn by two all-time favorites as far as flavors go: chocolate and mocha. Being a certified chocoholic, I haven’t met a chocolate I didn’t like. And mocha? Since I tasted this new Red Ribbon cake called Mocha Choco Crumble, I’ve gone loca over mocha. Mocha and chocolate in one cake? It’s a marriage made in confectionary heaven. Now, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. It’s like having your mocha and eating your chocolate, too!

This takes the cake

Trust me, I’ve tasted a lot of mocha cakes in my life, but this Mocha Choco Crumble takes the cake! It’s certainly not your ordinary mocha cake. Its rich mocha flavor is enough to rouse lethargic taste buds on a humdrum day. I’d say it’s the tastiest mocha flavor I’ve tasted, compared to all other mocha cakes you’d find out there. But that’s getting ahead of this heartwarming story.

Needless to say, it was love at first sight — and bite and smell — for me. The air is redolent of the intense aroma of mocha, and I’m hooked forever. And it looks as delicious as it smells — pretty as a painting, it mixes assorted mouthwatering hues of chocolate brown and mocha beige, topped with chocolate and mocha swirls and chunks of choco crumble enough to melt your mocha-choco-loving heart.

But the proof of the cake is in the tasting, right? So, let’s dig in! Gingerly sticking my fork into a mouthwatering slice of the three-tiered Mocha Choco Crumble, I take an indulgent mouthful and get the most delightful surprise of my life! Poking further, I discover chocolate crisps in between the spongy layers of mocha. It’s like finding precious gems hidden in a gold mine. It’s mocha with a delectable chocolate twist! And it’s so crunchy, my little nieces and nephews will find this cake so hard to resist. That goes for little old me, too!

Here’s yet another surprise: The mocha is oh-so-moist it simply glides down your tongue and teases your taste buds. As I bite into the mocha cake laced with mocha syrup, a rivulet of chocolate and mocha cream filling runs through my tongue and lingers on my palate. Have I just died and gone to sweet heaven?

But that’s not all, folks! Having had my fill of the choco crunch sitting on top of the cake and stashed in between its layers, I discover a chock-full of chocolate wedge underneath the cake as I dig farther down.

Surely, from top to bottom and in between, this cake is a winner! Now, if only I can beat my six-year-old nephew Andre to the crunchies!