Calea Pastries and Cake: Bacolod’s Famed Bakeshop
If you have never been to Calea, then you have never been to Bacolod City.
Calea, in a nutshell, is Bacolod’s famed bakeshop. It is a household name for Bacoleños and one quickly synonymous with sinful sweets. Their iconic shop is often filled with tourists and locals alike, but the place is big enough for everyone to savor their desserts in peace.
The display counters of the shop are simply a joy to behold. Upon entering, you are greeted by at least thirty different types of cakes and pastries in the front display alone, all laid out in neat formation. At the freezers near the back, there’s more – a delicate array of ice cream cakes, numbering no less than fifteen different flavors. One can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of sugary confections. But simply give the staff your preferences – chocolate, fruit-based, or cheesecake, for instance – and they will make spot-on recommendations.
Calea’s unanimous bestseller is the Choco Mud Pie. It’s a chocolate ice cream cake with crushed chocolate cookie crumbs and walnut slivers. Packed with heavenly chocolate goodness, this is also light, not at all cloying, and has just the right amount of sweetness. The latter also applies to White Cake, a dense, delicious chiffon cake with bits of almonds and chocolate and smooth, creamy icing. For the best of both worlds, try the Strawberry Chocolate Semifreddo – a pretty dessert made with layers of sponge cake, strawberry and chocolate ice cream, then topped with chocolate and strawberry syrup.
In Calea, it’s almost impossible to pick something you wouldn’t enjoy – and the prices are ridiculously affordable for such generous, mouthwatering cakes! It’s what makes it perfectly normal for some patrons to get three slices of cake in one sitting. If you do it, we swear no one would judge you.
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Article by Jess Jacutan
