Vanille part trois

So we found ourselves in Vanille once more last Sunday. I wanted to check out what is new. It’s a lame excuse, but any will do so that I can visit my favorite dessert haunt in Cebu. Here are a few more pastries that we’ve tried.

Cerise. Structured piles of mousse and sponge cakes are a trademark of Vanille. This one promises chocolate mousse with cherries but somehow I was expecting some bits or the definitive flavor of cherry but both escaped me. It was tart but indistinct. Perhaps I was inattentive? There were pieces of cherry on top of the sweetened vanilla-flavored whipped Chantilly cream so the concoction can still lay a claim to its name. Still, the raised sponge cake was as always, very light and delectable and the mousse was rich and not overly sweet.
price= P80


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400s, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 800


Tarte aux pommes. Non-francophiles, don’t be scared, the name is just French for apple tart. I am a fan of apple tarts and pies. I crave them. I look for them. The Vanille version was not a disappointment. The crust is just the right thinness (I don’t like thick crust in pies) and flakiness. The apples were firm, juicy, tart and sweet, with the usual hint of cinnamon and vanilla. That said, the price of 120 pesos was a bit expensive when compared to versions of other pastry shops in Cebu. If there is a plus, it would be the presentation. The topping of razor-thin apple slivers which were slightly browned at the edges, looks quite fetching.
price= P120


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 800


French macarons in passionfruit. I’m already a fan of Vanille’s French macarons . I love the juxtaposition of the saccharine crunchiness of meringue and the creaminess of the ganache. The passionfruit version is a winner. At first bite, the taste is subtle but in due time, the sharp sourness attacks. When it comes to tropical fruits, sometimes, I want them to be in-your-face and non apologetic. True to its name, passionfruit is an ardent explosion in the palate.
price= P25 each


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400s, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/160s, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV


Concerto. The finger-like log of hazelnut dacquoise reminds me a lot of Isabelia (see my first blog on Vanille). The biscuit-like base of meringue is nutty and I always like my dessert to have some crunch. The hazelnut bits contrasted delicately both in flavor and in texture with mousse of creamy Belgian chocolate. This is an uplifting aria of the senses.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/5.6, 53mm, ISO 800


Chocolat. What is a pastry shop without a chocolate cake? Vanille’s version is divine and could be its trademark, what with its elaborate construction. Billed a la maison, the layers of chocolate cake and chocolate mousse are shaped in a spherical half-globe. The cake has just the hint of bitterness which tempers the inherent sweetness of sugar. The clincher is the icing fully covering the dome. Dark and gooey, it stretches like marshmallows, slices like meringue and melts like fudge in the mouth. Too bad that this delicacy cannot be scaled up structurally as the big cake is flat and round and the icing is reduced to a thin upper crust. I’d take the personal mini anytime.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f/2.8, 100mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/5.6, 53mm, ISO 800


Vanille Cafe and Patisserie
The Terraces, 2nd level
Cebu Ayala Mall
Cebu City, the Philippines

This is the 3rd Vanille review after part 1 and part 2.

a second helping of Vanille

I could not help myself and I just had to go back to Vanille. Desserts came a-calling last Sunday and I listened to my sugar craving.

For that day, I, my wife and Cacing indulged on two treats.

1. Calypso. The dessert looks like a baked Alaska at first glance, with its icy and frosty white shell. Attractive caramel brown patterns are skirted and scorched around the folds of the white mousse dome. A heap of mango cubes is perched on the concoction, announcing its tropical intention. Inside, the sponge cake is soft, light but gladly, not watery. When sliced, the coulis (ku'li or "coo-LEE") sauce of mango essence is viscous but did not spill over the cake. It pays that there is no shortage of sweet mangoes in Cebu for the final flourish is this queen of Philippine fruits. The sweetness is divine! I couldn’t help but contemplate if I should order the big cake version for Christmas, as I am always partial over mango cakes.
price= P65


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV


2. L’Opera. Unlike the Ube, this is the French classic made of chocolate butter cream, chocolate ganache with rich coffee-soaked sponge cake. The cake gets a high rating for sheer physical construction value. I can imagine how finicky assembling the layers must be, with restraint and skill needed to make the sponge cake the right thinness and the ganache paste the right thickness. Upon slicing, the cake held up on its own, firm and retaining plenty of spring. It did not collapse into a mess even with the eager battering of our fork. And as far as richness go, what do you expect with a treat of premium butter and cream? It rolls perfectly in the mouth and melts in no time. As I took some time photographing the cake we sliced, our 9-month old Cacing could not help but squeal loudly for more. Babies just have no patience!
price= P65


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV


On our way out, there was a new display on the counter. There were oblong cakes covered with green powder. The waiter said it’s green tea with raspberry. We were tempted but could not stay any longer.

There’s always another time.

Vanille Cafe and Patisserie
The Terraces, 2nd level
Cebu Ayala Mall
Cebu City, the Philippines

More on Vanille in part 1 and part 3.

a taste of Vanille

We first saw Vanille Cafe and Patisserie last October 31, when we were browsing through Cebu Ayala Mall’s The Terraces, the newest swanky dining-place to be which opened the day earlier. Dessert hound that I am, I made a must-visit mental note. The ambience is certainly promising. It offers a cozy statement of class- creme walls with stenciled Victorian patterns, tiled mosaic splash, plump purple velvet-upholstered chairs and three crystal chandeliers. Most of all, the cakes, from the outside, scream of a delectable promise. Alas, we just enjoyed a full lunch and sweets can be had some other time.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/50s, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 100


So two days later, we made it a point to hit the cafe before we partook lunch. A bit of a reversal to have dessert first but as people know, pastries are my priorities. My wife and Cacing were willing to oblige.

The young twenty-something pastry chef Valerie Lua is totally unassuming. We were the first sit-down customers that morning so she attended to us personally. Surprisingly shy, she stuttered repeatedly when we peppered her with questions. Vanille is obviously her baby. Together with her sister Vanessa, she opened the cafe to pursue the dream of setting a pastry shop they can call their own. Her inhibition belie her solid qualifications: she graduated from no less the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, arguably the premier culinary arts school in the world (it certainly is the largest, being present in 20 countries). A news article also pointed to her training in the famous Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. (It recently made news when Tom Cruise proposed to his present wife Katie Holmes).

What exactly does the shop offer? French-Filipino fusion. Imagine the exacting codified demands of French fare but with the introduction of decidedly Filipino ingredients. How is the response of the Cebuanos to her baked delights? “Overwhelming, “ Valerie avers. She cannot keep up with the orders and her backlog is keeping her from experimenting with new flavors and designs.

On offering that day were four pastries. We tried out three.

1. Isabelia. This concoction has for its base a special peanut dacquoise which is a cake of nut meringue and buttercream. The upper half are dollops of chocolatey mousse. The twist is that local tableya (cacao bean paste used for cocoa sikwate drink) is used as the chocolate ingredient. Half moon slivers of this bitter tableya chocolate garnished the ensemble with panache. Having both alkaloidal bitterness and sugary sweetness dance together in my tongue is divine!
price= P80


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, -1/3EV


2. Ube. This is an opera cake to crave for. A true French classic, opera cake typically features layers of sponge cake, almond biscuit, white chocolate ganache, coffee buttercream and chocolate glaze. In Vanille, chocolate and coffee were replaced with ube, that distinctively purple yam cherished in Filipino desserts, whipped into a mousse. Being a fan of anything ube, from halaya paste to ice cream to hopia, I can only fawn and wish that my serving was larger.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/250s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200


3. French macaron. Finally, French macarons, the real Mccoy, have arrived in Cebu! Not to be confused with the dense English-style coconut macaroons that Filipinos are familiar with, this traditional French pastry is a sandwich of round meringue flats with creamy ganache between the layers. As in any meringue delights made primarily of egg white and sugar, the crisp smooth cookies literally melt in your mouth leaving the decadent and rich cream to deliver the coup de grace. Again, Vanille chose cocoa tableya and ube as flavors and I cannot be any happier.
price= P25 each


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100, +1/3EV


As I savored the last pieces of cake in my mouth, I was left to wonder what other heavenly delights Vanille has to offer. Vanessa assures us that she’ll introduce new concoctions in the following weeks, weekly if she could. Our expectations would be high but somehow we know that the first rate cafe that is Vanille will deliver.

Vanille Cafe and Patisserie
The Terraces, 2nd level
Cebu Ayala Mall
Cebu City, the Philippines

More on Vanille in part 2 and part 3.