I got a surprise message from Flour Pot Manila‘s Chef Rhea SyCip the day before yesterday, letting me know that she was sending over this limited Ubi Kinampay Cake as a new year’s gift. I’ve been stressing out with this Omicron surge and friends and family testing positive left and right, and learning of people who think they’re positive but don’t want to get tested and would rather live in denial, and answering questions on social media about whether or not they should get checked because they’re asymptomatic… they just have a mild fever. I was in the middle of pulling my hair out when Rhea messaged me, which calmed me right down and got me really excited for whatever it was that she was sending over. Like I mentioned in a previous post – whatever comes out of that woman’s oven is going to be amazeballs.
Little Miracles Meant to Be Shared
I had seen a post on Flour Pot Manila’s page with a photo of what looked like fat, giant, hairy potatoes, which are Bohol’s precious ubi kinampay. Right around the Ber months, chef Rhea coordinates with the local farmers in Dauis, Bohol to get a harvest of their special yam each year, to be turned into a beautiful cake for us Manileños who love the purple taro in all its delicious shapes and forms. But this year, because of the devastation Typhoon Odette wrought in Visayas and Mindanao, that almost didn’t happen.
The Ubi Kinampay variety, used for desserts, only grows in the town of Dauis on Panglao island. And even before Odette came through bringing hell and high water with her, the supply has already been scarce as farmers wait a year before harvesting the precious tuber, which takes a lot of time and a lot of space, so farmers settle for other, faster yielding crops. After the typhoon swept through the region, people have been busy rebuilding their lives and helping out their neighbors with relief operations, so you could imagine the surprise Rhea got when she found out that 50 precious kilos survived the storm and were being flown in to Manila.
Aside from being incredibly photogenic, the cake itself is light and airy, with the ubi incorporated to color the chiffon a light violet, with thick layers of melt-in-your-mouth ubi kinampay crème icing in between each cake layer, and a chunky, halaya middle, giving the cake a bit of heft, extra sweetness, and an interesting mouth feel. The dark purple halaya isn’t as smooth as the stuff we would get in a bottle, but I like getting little bits of ubi kinampay with every bite. I’ve been enjoying small slices with a hot cup of salabat, as I find the strong ginger flavor compliments the sweet, earthy dessert quite nicely.
Conclusion
It really is a little miracle and a labor of love, learning how this cake has come to be, The journey it takes for it to grow from tubers, to the year it takes before it’s ready to be harvested, to the work it takes to get it to Manila, and turned into this beautiful piece of art, loving made, each ingredient respected and elevated to come together to make something as simple as a cake. As this Ubi Kinampay Cake.
I like what Rhea said in her note that came with the cake. “May this cake be a symbol of hope, resiliency and survival! That life will continue and that we just have to remain hopeful and expectant of better things to come.” Delivery and dispatch of these limited Ubi Kinampay Cakes (₱2,500) start today, and then January 17 onwards until supplies last. For every cake sold, Flour Pot Manila is donating ₱250 (aside from what they pay for the ubi, of course). This should help the farmers get back on their feet, continue farming, and rebuild what they lost since Odette. For inquiries and orders, please call or text +63 916 493 7488.
