Carrot cake festival highlights Benguet's 101^st anniversary

by Marilou Guieb, Today, 26 Nov 2001

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The crowning of a giant carrot cake that many believed could make it for the Guinness Book of World Records highlighted the celebration of the 101^st Benguet Foundation Day anniversary on November 23.

The giant carrot, measuring 4 feet by 12 feet and I foot thick, looked regal, iced with white fondant, laced and bordered with butter cream icing.  A 10-foot replica of the fondant carrot adorned the top of the cake with sprinkling of small carrots around it.

The guest of honor, Sen. Edgardo Angara, placed a crown, made of Benguet weave and adorned with feathers, symbolic of the traditional tribal headgear worn as a sign of prestige.

A beaming Benguet Gov. Raul Molintas; Purificacion Molintas, regional director of the Department of Tourism-Cordillera Administrative Region; and Midz de Leon, chairman of the provincial tourism council, stood by holding a placard as the cake was opened for public viewing.

The cake took five days to make by 10 bakes of the Baguio Country Club (BCC).  The chef, Pio de Guzman, and Art Nucazam, chief of the BCC cakes and pastries department, led the bakers in crafting the design of Samuel Tayaban, BCC kitchen artist.

The cake itself took three days to bake, from November 15 to 17, requiring 207 pans of 18 x 27 parcels of cakes weighing 876.4 kg.   The next two days were used in preparing 70 kilos of sour cream butter and 66 kilos of fondant.

The 207 pans and icing were transported from BCC to the Benguet Provincial Capitol on November 21.

"We are determined to put the cake in the Guinness Book of World Records.  The whole process was documented and would be entered in the competition," Molintas said. "The king carrot cake is really a labor of love by farmers, BCC and the provincial government," he said.

"The La Trinidad Trading Post donated 800 kilos of carrots.  After choosing the best, the cake used up 400 kilos of grated carrots," de Leon said.

Among the ingredients were 280 kilos of all-purpose flour, 250 kilos of white sugar, 100 grams of salt, 300 grams of cinnamon powder, 300 grams of baking soda, 180 grams of allspice, 150 grams of cloves, 2,400 eggs, 300 liters of corn oil, and 30 kilos of walnuts.

According to Purificacion Molintas, the ingredients and logistics of the cake is estimated at P160,000 but the BCC baking staff said that it is closer to P200,000.  "This does not include the labor component and baking expertise of the BCC chefs," she said.

"We are still studying if we will institutionalize the King Carrot Festival," said Molintas.  "We have to assess the number of arrivals and other success indicators. We may come up next year with a king potato."

The emphasis, he explained, is that Benguet products are highlighted in the festival.  He described the event as tourism- and nutrition-related, as the giant cake attracted tourists and promoted the nutritional value of vegetables.