Tourism Weekend: 10,000 partake of six Baguio historical cakes

BAGUIO CITY – Thousands of local residents and visitors flocked to the SM City Baguio Entertainment Center Thursday morning to witness and partake of huge cakes that featured the six major historical sites in the Summer Capital as part of the 10^th edition of the Hotel and Restaurant Tourism (HRT) Weekend.

The presentation of the Baguio City Hall, Baguio Cathedral, Baguio Post Office, Baguio Country Club, Mansion House and the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in the form of various flavors of cakes is one of the city’s crowd-drawers during lean seasons, and part of the activities or the 104^th Charter anniversary of the city.

            

The six historical cakes, which were baked by over 200 volunteers over the past two days, were eaten by the viewing public in a span of just two hours after they were opened for free tasting.

            

Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the city government did not make a mistake in strengthening its partnership with the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) to make the city one of premier tourist destinations in the country even during the rainy months since foreign and domestic visitors continue to converge here to enjoy its natural scenery and innovative crowd-drawing events.

            

“We will continue to work with HRAB to give our constituents and visitors new attractions during the annual staging of the HRT Weekend activities that have proven to be our natural pull that sustain increasing tourist arrivals on rainy days,” Domogan said, claiming that the rainy season is still the best time to spend a well-deserved break in the city because of lesser traffic, cooler weather, lesser pollution among others.

            

Students from different public and private education institutions,  workers in private and government offices, senior citizens, and visitors from different parts of the archipelago eagerly awaited the 6 historical sites in cake form and the subsequent partaking of the same that lasted for two hours.

Art Nucaza, BCC pastry chef, said the Baguio Country Club and Baguio Cathedral cakes were baked with the banana flavor, the Presidential Mansion and the Baguio City Hall cakes used the carrot flavor while the PMA Melchor Hall and Baguio Post Office cakes were baked with the chocolate flavour.

            

According to Nucazan, each of the six cakes had a dimension of 10 feet by 10 feet on the base while the structures showcasing the identified historical sites will be at least four feet high.

Among the ingredients of the six cakes showcasing the historical sites in the city include 300 kilos of fresh carrots, 15,000 pieces of banana (tumoc), 900 kilos of white sugar, 1,000 kilos of all-purpose flour, 340 litters of corn oil, 600 cans of evaporated milk, 11,000 pieces of fresh eggs, 30 kilos of baking powder, 130 kilos baking soda, 12 kilos walnuts, 6 kilos salt, 6 kilos of cinnamon powder, 200 kilos of unsalted butter, 500 grams of cloves, 400 litters of whipping cream (HALTA), 5,000 pieces of paper doillies, 3 rolls of aluminium foil and 1 roll of pastry bag.

Eugene Yap, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines (HRAP), commended the HRAB for being innovative in the conduct of the HRT Weekend which is a plus factor in attracting the influx of visitors to the city that would provide the sustained effort towards enhancing the local tourism industry contributory to the overall economic growth of the country.

Around 40 private and public higher education institutions and groups engaged in the tourism and hospitality industry will be competing with each other in the various fields of culinary arts in the next three days in order to showcase their expertise that will continue to bring honor and pride to their respective places of origin and their schools.

Anthony de Leon, HRAB president and general manager of the Baguio Country Club, extended HRAB’s gratitude to all those who extended their support and assistance that again contributed to the successful staging of this year’s HRT Weekend, saying that the invaluable support and cooperation of both the government and private sectors means a lot in contributing to the success of their events and their future activities.