October is here and many of us celebrate The Oktoberfest. The Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival where visitors were served millions of liters of beer. Held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, it is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or late September to the first Sunday in October, with more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year.
However, on April 21, 2020, Bavarian Minister President Markus Soder and the Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, announced the official cancellation of the 2020 Oktoberfest due to the ongoing corona virus pandemic.
Since, we Filipinos are known for our creativity, we create our own way of celebrating Oktoberfest. The Chocolate Queen Raquel Choa was known for her Beyond Chocolate creations. Who says, is beer only for drinking? This month she bakes chocolate cake with beer for her OktoberFest Chocolate Cake Collection.
Like me, you might be asking, is it possible that beer and chocolate cake would go together? Well, the Chocolate Queen created chocolates made out of beer. Actually it was a sudden decision for her to develop two additional cakes using beer. She just asked her staff to buy Red Horse and San Miguel Beer in the sari-sari store. It’s quite a long time where Raquel wanted to develop these cakes in honor for her mother and her grandfather “Tatay Dinong”. And so, true to her passion she immediately sent me a message that she was baking with beer last Monday at Casa de Cacao and that she wanted me to try the three chocolate collections namely: Red Horse chocolate cake, Torta de San Miguel and Torta de Cerveza Negra.
The Chocolate Queen narrated that each cake has a story to tell.
TORTA DE SAN MIGUEL
San Miguel Beer to other people may be just a plain, golden lager with a rich, full-bodied flavor. For Raquel’s mother, it was the favorite drink and her motivator in the hustle and bustle in the carenderia, a place where Raquel learned about the nitty-gritty of local eatery selling and service.
Just like the other beer-infused cakes which omit milk and water, the smooth full flavored taste of San Miguel Beer complementing its pleasant aroma harmonizes with the other ingredients of this distinct chocolatey cake – a San Miguel Beer trademark of harmonizing and bringing people together, nourishing friendships for years.
TORTA DE CERVEZA NEGRA
This cake is an ode to Raquel’s Lola. It puts back to the days when the Cerveza Negra, upon the prodding of Raquel’s grandmother, became her obligatory drink during her menstrual period. Country folks believed that drinking beer compensates iron loss during menstruation.
The Torta de Cerveza Negra eliminates egg and milk as integral parts in baking this special cake. The cerveza gives it a boost and provides a unique taste and aroma of the deep dark chocolate concoction attributed to the Cerveza Negra as a dark lager. Giving the cake further surprise are the cacao granules garnished on the cake with the mini crunch and grainy texture it provides.
RED HORSE CHOCOLATE CAKE
The Red Horse Chocolate Cake is a homage to Raquel’s Lolo, Tatay Dinong. He would receive a bottle of Red Horse beer from Raquel after she would sell a sack of coconut shells, a fulfilling gift to a noble farmer after a hard day’s work.
Without milk and water, the distinctive sweetish taste and balanced smooth bitterness of the Red Horse beer along with its high alcohol content go well with the other ingredients of this specially concocted cake adding a well-defined chocolate taste…a chocolatey treat for a job well done.
Since I am not a beer drinker, I decided to bring the three chocolate cakes at my office for most of my officemates love to drink beer… I conducted a taste test. I gathered them around and let them taste the cakes and identify which cake has a mix of san Miguel beer, red horse and cerveza negra.
Alas! Out of 12 people, three got the perfect score! And I tell you the winners are really hard beer drinkers! Congratulations to Elizer Agpalo, Rian Ian Mahilum and Nina Bolo. Of course they got a prize from The Chocolate Queen. Each one of them got a Ganache Truffle.
These cakes are only available for the month of October. The 3 in 1 mini-cake is Php900. You can buy per piece at a price of Php 350.
The bigger version of the cake which is 8×3 inches is only Php 1,500.
So, what are you waiting for? Call The Chocolate Chamber for reservations at 09175561521 and 09176287661 and order these one of a kind cake and savor it with all your senses.
