Wedding Digest Philippines Weddings. More fun In the Philippines Edition | Seite 220

A SK T E H EXP E R T Ms. Arlene Francisco FILIPINO BETWEEN THE LAYERS Ms. Arlene Francisco of Layers and Layers has been creating wedding cakes for close to a decade. Her wealth of experience will help us find the elusive Pinoy taste... Cakes for Every Taste Getting loyal customers is no problem for this expert. Her cakes have left people entranced with their visually captivating designs; give her a challenge and she will surely go beyond and deliver. She works closely with her clients to fully understand the wedding cake they are looking for. Rich flavor is another factor that she skilfully incorporates in every cake to satisfy a whole range of preferences. They are no longer limited by ordinary icing. Thanks to fondant, bakers have a material that is very pliable resulting to more clean-looking and elegant wedding cake designs. An assortment of readymade molds helps them create consistent sizes and shapes in less time. That way, they are able to focus their energies on designing the cake and creating flavors. Her versatility in design, flavor and technique is the same reason why her clientele is a diverse collection of people who love her cakes. “It’s not about size anymore, but quality. And couples nowadays are more conscious of their budgets; they want to make sure nothing goes to waste.” From Ordinary Cakes to Extraordinary Feats Why Weddings are More Fun in the Philippines. She thoughtfully recalls the wedding cakes decades before, “Back then, the design of wedding cakes was usually limited to sugar flowers, and variety was just in colors of those flowers, and even the cake toppers looked the same. The scallop design at the edge of the cake and at the bottom was also overused,” perhaps, in an effort to makeup for the lack in design, wedding cakes of yesteryears relied on something else to wow the crowd. “Flavors then where almost always a choice between butter and chocolate.” Even the color of the cake was predictable as well: stark white. “Now Filipino bakers are more edgy and creative,” an achievement that Francisco associates to the innovation in cake ingredients and baking tools. More so, modernday couples know that the possibilities are literally endless. It is no longer a must to go with just white, themes are all the rage and flavors are just getting better and more experimental at times. Although an unusual choice, she suggests a banana, carrot, and apple flavor for a twist in the Filipiniana cake. With her arsenal of high quality baking gadgets, her keen taste for everything delish, and imaginative fingers, we are sure that this triple-flavored wedding cake would go a long way. Details are important as she shares with us a Filipino-made cake she saw way back which featured a capiz lampshade. She also suggests going with an embroidery or crochet style, “It reminds you of our fabric industry.” Whichever cake idea you go with for your Filipiniana wedding, make sure every layer counts. Layers and Layers by Arlene Francisco 0917.3201988 [email protected] [email protected] www.cakesbyarlene.blogspot.c om