As I was covering the post oathtaking of President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III at Malacanang Palace, I entered a room leading to the venue of our media briefing when something caught my eye. There before me was a beautiful, fondant cake shaped like Malacanang Palace itself.
It turns out the cake was the masterpiece of Penk Ching and Shen Ratilla of Pastry Bin. I was lucky to bump into Penk, the master cakemaker herself, to get some initial cake details.
She was busy overseeing the moving of the cake so I got more details on the cake itself the following day. Here are some interesting trivia on the cake from Penk herself (as well as some other info I gathered from press articles):
* Dimensions of cake – 80 inches long x 40 inches wide x 30 inches high. The presidential seal is made of gumpaste.
* Flavor – Banana walnut (apparently, this was the flavor of the cake served at the victory party of then President-elect Noynoy and everyone loved it so Penk decided to do this cake in the same flavor)
* This is the first inaugural cake in the history of the Philippines
* While Penk has already done all kinds of cakes including wedding cakes and special occasion cakes, this is the first time she has done an inaugural cake.
* According to Penk, Pres. Aquino’s sister, Pinky Abelleda, confirmed and approved the cake design. Penk researched the cake’s look from the internet and from Nick Joaquin’s book “Malacanang” provided by Pinky.
* Penk had 8 assistants for this project and it took them 4 days to do all the gumpaste work (drying of the sugar stuff)
Kudos to Penk, Shen and Pastry Bin for a first in Philippine cake history. Maybe in future presidential inaugurations, we will see more inaugural cakes.
What a lovely cake! Was President Aquino the first to slice the cake?
@Fedoran – I was no longer there during the cutting of the cake but I presuppose it was the President who did the honors.
Hello Jane!
I am amazed when we Filipinos are able to do something as creative as that! It doesn’t even look like a cake–it’s more of a sculpture made out of smooth material. It’s absolutely gorgeous that I would feel bad to have to slice and sink my teeth into it. (How I wish! Wonder what Banana Walnut tastes like?)
I wonder how the guests felt when they saw the cake and figured that they will be digesting it later.
Congratulations to Penk Ching and her crew for designing a magnificent creation!
@Rogue|Hero – You’re right. It looked like an awesome sculpture. Penk is a genius!
Cheers!
I’m a huge, huge, HUGE fan of Penk’s work. Her vision astounds me. If you’ve seen her tropical fruit basket as her winning entry in one of the international cake decorating contests as of late, my eyes popped. No one can believe it’s all gumpaste, cake and lots of airbrushed food color.
Thanks for posting this Jane. I’ve always wanted to see it.
@Fristine – You’re welcome! And no, I have not seen the tropical fruit basket yet but I sure will look for it on their website. Grabe, the inaugural cake looked so awesome up close. And the presidential seal was replicated exactly.
lovely cake ! very creative and it looks so nice that eating it would be a crime to destroy the wonderful work of art. looking forward to more unique cakes like this. 🙂
did they really cut this cake and consumed? Nakakahinayang naman, sana they have a smaller version for the guest 🙂 .
It’s so AMAZING! lots of hard work, good job!
i did not witness the slicing of the cake but for sure it so delicuos,congrat and god bless po
ang ganda! parang hindi cake!!!!!!
wow, what a wonderful cake! i enjoyed my visit to your blog, Jane!
@Peggy – Thanks for dropping by, Peggy!
Penk, I am very proud that once in my life time I was able to see/view this Inaugural Cake you made for PNOY.
Lumalabas talaga ang talino ng isang Pilipino lalo na inspired by the fact that we are heading to a new direction as a one people.
Nakakapilipino talaga !!!
i never seen as amazing as this cake and how it tastes!!!