I was at the Art in the Park event at the Salcedo Market last Saturday and purchased some photographs from our favorite photo gallery, Silverlens, and the proprietor asked me 
if I had had any of Baba Ibazeta’s baked goods which shared a table with Tommy’s Coffee. I had not. I featured Tommy’s Coffee and his then table partner Biscotteria Manila soon after I started this blog. And every once in a while, Tommy still comes up to me to tell me that some buyer from California or some local restaurant/cafe contacted him to buy coffee as a result of that early post! But I didn’t realize that the baked goods beside his coffee are now supplied by someone else. At any rate, they had a pretty appealing looking rum cake on display so I bought a slice to try at home. I also took home some apple walnut muffins and banana raisin ones as well…
I thought the rum cake was very good. A nice hefty slice for just PHP55, it was 
dense without being heavy, sweet without being overdone. Some nice chopped walnuts were sprinkled on top and the sheen of the cake was just right for me (not too dark, not too light). And thank goodness there was no drizzled confectioner’s sugar glaze to put it over the top. I think I spied some lemon rind in the cake itself, though it appeared way to yellow orange to be fresh…unless of course it was orange rind instead. The taste of rum was noticeable but not enough to inebriate you if you only have a slice or so. Overall, I thought it was a very satisfying slice of cake to have with a cup of coffee, or if you are like me, hot tea. I tried both of the muffins and while they were moist (perhaps too moist?) and interesting, I preferred the rum cake instead. I don’t know, I think I am having strange reactions to anything in cupcake wrappers after all the brouhaha over an earlier post on Cupcakes by Sonja. I didn’t try anything else from Classic Confections that day but I did notice they had some nice looking Christmas/holiday cookies that were individually wrapped, some brownie like confections and boxes of mini-cupcakes as well. Classic Confections – 746.2773.
17 Responses
Aw, I missed you at Art in the Park last Sat then.. I did try to keep an eye out as I have a general idea of what you look like. An Asian James Bond, right? :-)
I told the Museum people to do the art thing quarterly because they said they were MAYBE thinking of doing it twice a year(?!?). I think it’s a great thing to do regularly. We took home 2 paintings which were v reasonable. Art plus our organic veg, nice laksa, French food.. made for a nice Saturday morning. (sorry, not a cake person so no comment on the cakes, but Baba used to supply our restaurant with her cakes which are very good).
Did Art in the Park happen already? How did it go?
Sorry that I didn’t get to meet you several Saturdays ago when Mailin called.
Richard
(In Beijing at the moment)
I buy my xmas cookies from Baba, she also made me specially designed birthday cookies two years ago. They’re reasonable, good quality stuff. Some people like her chocolate cake, others aren’t so keen on it. I also like her russian cookies (they are dusted with confectioner’s sugar though).
you should’ve bought her version of the almond roca as well. the chocolate in it is dark chocolate–a very good foil to the sweet toffee. :)
I agree with Mandy…Baba’s almond roca rocks!
I’ve never tried rum cake before, but it looks pretty good! Nice blog you have there!
Classic Confections’ rum cake is numero uno!
does anyone have a recipe for this rum cake? or banana cake/muffin?…i would like to try it coz my son loves bananas….thanks in advance……
Baba Ibazeta’s cakes are awesome. Its not over rated like sonja’s cupcakes. Why buy 1 cupcake from sonja’s when you can have 2 good tasting moist rum cake slices from Classic Confections.
Baba’s Cupcakes are pretty good too. Must admit I have not tried her rum cake yet so can’t comment. My favorite rum cake is by Girl Velsaquez.. It is so good! I have known people who have transported (by hand),her cake to the US, Scotland and Turkey! Let me know if anyone wants the number will check with her and list it on this post as in comments if thats alright with MM?! My Tita makes a pretty awesome Galliano cake with orange juice and Galliano liquor. It is similar to rum cake but instead of rum it has Galliano and some orange juice so it is redolent of both alcohol and citrus! Yum!
Question: How can I get my cake to soak the rum evenly? What I’ve been doing is poking lots of holes into the still-warm cake before pouring on the rum sauce. I always seem to end up with little “pockets” of rum flavor within the cake and of course lots of alcohol flavor along the edges. Help!
Anna, I have only made rum cake once or twice and I drowned it in good rum. But perhaps a syringe would work and you could discreetly inject rum into the cake without poking holes? :) That’s how we used to inject vodka into watermelons in college…
I should try this, I’m a big fan of rum cakes. I’m quite picky, though, as I like them to be very moist and with rum flavor throughout. My current favorites are Millet Soberano’s which she sells at Figaro, and the Choc. Rum Cake of Joyce Aragon (she of dulong fame). If you want a really over-the-top alcohol punch, try the Borracho at Dulcinea, which lives up to its name. It’s small, but it’s as if they soaked the little cake in a bowl of rum, yum!
have you tried Tortuga rum cake? i haven’t had it in a while but the memory still lingers.
Try brushing the rum on the cake, a few tablespoons at a time.
I was at Greenbelt 5 the other day and saw that Classic Confections is opening a store there.
Am quite excited about it. :)
Hello, just want to share that yesterday, I dropped by Greenbelt 5 to check if Classic Confections have already opened. Let’s say serendipitous, it was actually their store’s soft opening yesterday and all of the desserts are on display, could be tried buffet style, on the house! How cool is that?
I wasn’t able to have dinner already after trying out so many of their desserts; the lemon torte is my favorite! Thanks by the way to Cat, and her twin sister Kit, and also Baba for being very accommodating.. ;P
Their grand opening is tomorrow, 18 December 2007. Pls do drop by, 2nd floor, Greenbelt 5.