We’ll start baking

And making kakanins and native sweets. These have never been in our regular culinary chores, since baking cakes entails precise measurement of ingredients, something we developed a rather negative attitude to. Well, we just received strong incentive to try our hand at baking with the recently published cookbook by a lady who, in her senior years, is still active with her oven, flour, eggs, etc. In fact, Mama Els, as she is fondly called, still works as a consultant in three establishments.

Aurelia Miranda Yap has been baking for more than 50 years from her native San Fernando, Pampanga to her home in Quezon City. She also taught and among her successful students are owners of some of the popular bake shops in the country. She headed the baking and cake decoration department of Cordon Bleu, Ecole Cuisine Manila for 20 years. Her valuable contribution to the baking industry won her the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award during the Bakery Fair sponsored by the Filipino-Chinese Bakers’ Association.

The lady was quoted saying she "does not invent recipes, I compose them". Rightly so, for each recipe in the book shows an artistic and epicurean composition of flavors and colors, like her best-selling "wet look" Caramel Chocolate Cake and Biko Calabasa. The latter is intriguing so we will try it today. She uses fresh carabao milk in some recipes. Her products are sold at Aurely’s bake shops in Pampanga and the cook book Philippine Cakes, Pastries and Kakanin is available in book shops at P220.

Pan de sal, pan de monay and pan americano have taken on new faces in the hands of today’s pastry chefs in the fast sprouting bread shops in Metro Manila. Bakeries in big cities like Cebu will likely follow, some of them having already shown product creativity these last two years.

For the up-market, at the Glorietta 4 is Bread Talk, offering a very extensive list if you are patient enough to queue up for a minimum 20 minutes. You will find the open store on the right side of the Oakwood entrance. Service is rather slow, because there was only one cashier who was also putting the products into boxes. To top it all, she would, like some very irritating cashiers, ask you for small change. At the rate the crowd was milling, it would be impossible for her not to have loose change. The products have some very imaginative names, inspired no less by its mother country, Singapore and the Chinese influence. They range in cost from P34 a piece to P700-plus for a small chocolate cake.

If you are on a strict diet, skip the bun they call The Floss (topped by shredded pork) , delicious, malinamnam due no doubt to its considerable butter filling. They’ve got two types of naan bread, curry and cheese, at P54 each. There are Nonya Chunks, either chicken or beef at P38 per; Bak Kwa with pork barbecue filling; giant pianono-like rolls at P54 with bacon; Himala, not a miracle but bread inspired by the Himalayas, and Earthquake Cheese Loaf inspired by the big quake in China at P98 per. Given a choice we’d buy this, luscious-looking and topped with cheese, a bit toasted and truly looks yummy. What looks to us like our own leche flan is Japanese Light Cheesecake, which you get for P298.

Over at Rustan’s in Shangri-la Plaza is Bread Works, on the right side of the entrance, owned by enterprising young bakers who trained abroad. Prices are moderate, ranging from P5 to P42. The names are as creative. Consider Somethin’Fishy with sardines as filling, our favorite Pinch Me, a bun with vanilla filling, Finding Nemo, Internet done like a net with corned beef and Mongo Bongo. We predict there will be more and more bread lovers among us.

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