Halfway through its annual Chocolate Festival, Tinapayan Bakeshop invited members of the Iloilo Bloggers Inc. for another afternoon of chocolates that again fulfilled our “Sinful Desires”. It was another exclusive event hosted at The Promenade Restaurant of Days Hotel Iloilo and it was literally “a taste of what’s to come”.
Tinapayan presented its chocolate creations and offerings that would make up the third and fourth weeks of its Chocolate Festival. With two chocolate cake creations, four chocolate dessert bars and two choco breads, it was one afternoonChoco Strawberry bar
I got to taste this first and I easily liked it. The combination of gooey chocolate and rich strawberry “filling” with a crumbly top just had the right balance – not too chocolaty or too fruity. The crumble top provided contrasting texture that made a crunch out of every bite.
Choco Caramel Seduction
I had to control myself to easily give in to this aptly named cake. Very seducing from every angle, my guess right that this cake I saw on display earlier at the bakeshop would be part of the chocolate festival. It’s made with layers of butter pound cake and moist chocolate cake with generous caramel filling and icing. Artfully covered in chocolate and topped with chocolate and cream creations and cherry. How is that for a seduction!
Chocolate croissant
I then opted for something simple but turned out to be my favorite. The croissant was crisp-flaky with just the right amount of chocolate filling. Perfectly golden – it’s looks good but definitely tastes better.
Banoffee Bar
Not actually like those Banoffee tarts or cakes – just a name. It has a banana cake base with fresh tasting bananas and a rich chocolate mousse top layer. Filled with caramel and walnuts, this was among the most luscious bar in the selection.
Coco Heaven
Another chocolate and coconut combination, it was unidentifiable at first since the coconut topping looks more like walnuts. It turned out to be big “chunks” of “desiccated” coconut. A chocolate cake base with a simple butter cake top plus, of course, those super sized desiccations.
Choco Espresso Torte
Layers of chocolate and coffee cakes with caramel and walnut filling and more chocolate icing – this one will surely perk you up. Twice the goodness of these well loved beans in cake, every bite will wake you up even for more. From the way it looked to how it tasted, it was indeed a sure winner.
Choco Mango Crème Brulee
Using fresh mangoes infused in the crème brulee, the sudden disappearance of fresh mangoes in the markets concerned Tinapayan. They just couldn’t sacrifice the quality and taste of the natural sweet taste of mangoes by using preserves. Indeed we were lucky to have this one made from fresh mangoes and it really reflected on how it tasted – naturally sweet, and combined well with chocolate
Chocolate swirl
I just passed on this one since this is almost a staple at home, together with its cousins – ube and cheese swirls. It’s basically a loaf bread with “built in” filling and taste reflective of its name. Just something usual made special by Tinapayan.
And as if the whole lot wasn’t enough, I was again able to bring and shared some of these goodies at home.
(Acknowledgments: Very special thanks to our gracious hosts; Ms. Evelyn Que, Owner of Tinapayan Bakeshop, J. Scott Sarria, General Manager of Days Hotel Iloilo and to the two Marketing gals of Iloilo Supermart - sorry forgot your names as of now)