You'll never know when will a great blessing will come knocking to you. I come across an online concert on Facebook a month before where to my wonder it had a raffle. I hope and pray that I will win while I was choosing which prizes I like to have.
After several weeks when someone told me I won, no prize came. I let it go because it's no big deal. But last Friday there's something that happened.
A delivery guy was at our gate. He said there was a milk tea for me. I said my thanks but can't contain my curiosity so I asked who could've given it to me. He kindly showed me his list where an unfamiliar person's name appeared and a famous Samgyupsal restaurant. It was really meant for me for there's my complete name, mobile number, and home address.
Woah! Ube with Milk Only?!
Let's get to my first surprisingly sweet treat - rare sweet milk infused flavoured drink.
Line Up Cafe PH (Manila) has given me a Cream Cheese Ube, one of their specialty drinks. For me, it was rare because I haven't seen ube or yam with cold milk drinks in milk tea shops. I contacted them and asked why I have a free drink from them. It's confirmed! I won that online concert's raffle. Thank you, Lord.
The verdict? It was like a creamy ube ice cream! It has a moderate sweet kick which even centennials (the 50s and up) will surely enjoy. I was sipping it slowly making it less cold. Then I had an idea to put it in our freezer. After several minutes, the texture was similar to soft ice cream. It made me happier drinking it!
Another thing I like about it was it doesn't have any pearl. I'm not a fan of it neither hate it. But I tasted something new - frozen ube strips or maybe it was coconut? It's crunchy and tasty. It blends well with the drink's overall taste.
I really felt good the first time I sipped it and never get tired drinking it. The cold sweet specialty drink runs through my throat refreshed me. I think it's great for all ages and if you want to take a break from working at home, indulge in this yummy drink.
Want more of their flavours? Visit their page here.
A Sweet Special CakeAfter several minutes of sipping cream cheese ube, someone called me. He told me I was having a cake! It's not my birthday you know. This is still part of my prize. Talk about a sweet treat on a weekend!
As I've received the cake, I was surprised that it's a medium-sized cake and I immediately thought that this should be eaten with my family the next day. Saturday comes and it's time for our lunch. My mom invited my aunt's family for lunch with us.
We ate Korean soy garlic fried chicken cooked by yours truly and my niece to cousin, then here come's the dessert. A dessert which we usually eat when someone has a birthday and it's our first time to eat a new brand of Filipino made-cake.
Everyone including me was saying only one word - masarap (delicious)!
I had a privilege to interview one of the owners of Mixes by Mama - Kyna De Mesa-Ochoa to get to know their sweet special homemade cake and the brand behind it.
Q: What do you call the chocolate cake you've sent, it's size, and how much?It's called the Monster Chocolate Cake. It is an 8×8" two-layered chocolate cake with a price of PHP850.00.
Q: How come your chocolate sticky icing tastes different compared to others?Our chocolate icing tastes differently because we modified an old family recipe and added more chocolate to make it firm.
Q: What are the usual ingredients of it?The key ingredients of the Monster Chocolate Cake are milk, chocolate, sugar, and butter plus more chocolate hence the monster.
Q: Is the light-coloured sticky part of the cake caramel?Yes, with coffee!
Q: Background story of your business?My sister and I constantly grew up baking old family recipes with our Mom. Whenever we gave a box of our goods as a gift to friends they always recommended that we start a business. During holidays we would take a few orders here and there but never fully offered them to the public. Finally, after so many years, we have decided to create our own little platform to share our special homemade delights.
Q: Why "MIXES by Mama"?MIXES by Mama was the perfect name for our little family business. After many years of name hunting, we found this to be the most fitting as we offer a mix of many things, not only pastries but we also plan to offer savoury products in the future. The "by Mama" is a tribute to our Mama so that yearslong in the future our children and our children's children would always remember how we started and hopefully also share our Mama's passion for baking.
Q: What is your edge from other cake shops?Our edge from other cake shops is that we maintain the quality in our baking from start to end and we always use premium ingredients (with a little innovation from an old family recipe). Another key factor is that the cake's sweetness is modified yet not obvious.
We were surprised to learn that most of our clientele are the "oldies".
Our style of baking is different from other shops. There may be many versions but our recipes are definitely unique. All our cakes are also made especially at home, not commercialized.
Q: Any trivia about your cakes/pastries?Our products go way back for more than 40 years. With some tweaks to old recipes, our Mama has mastered them to perfection. The most unique product we pride ourselves with is the taisan cake.
Bias aside, I truly believe there is nothing as good as it on the market. It is the most fluffy and tasty butter cake that always leaves you wanting more. You can feel the "home" and "family" in every bite!
That's why I feel something different with each bite I make. The cake's taste is really special I feel the loving person who made it. That's the goodness I felt which I don't usually feel eating commercialized cakes.
The experience of devouring their cake with my loved ones is surely a food treat for every Filipino family out there. You can eat a cake with your family without any occasion too!
Most of them asked me what's the brand behind it. Are you also curious about what Monster Chocolate Cake tastes? Stop by on their page here.
Thank you Lord for making all of us happy and filled that day. Foods really make a Filipino family spent time together. The sweet food treats that weekend is surely memorable.
**I will not receive any amount on promoting these local businesses if you buy from them. I'm just glad in helping them out. =)Blissful Maiden a.k.a Maria Thenesse Cornelio
She writes life blogs and offers content writing services for entrepreneurs. Her light-hearted and empowering niches are lifestyle, personality development, and travel. Chat with her at her socials:Facebook: Blissful Maiden Blogger
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