What is one of the most iconic Filipino dessert flavors known around the world? Is it ube? Buko pandan? The sweet and light taste of a classic leche flan? Well to answer, it’s pretty much all of the above. What if you could get all of those into one form, all cozied up in box?
Pastries on Demand is a local business in Garden Grove run by a self-taught baker named Irene, a Philippines native. During my visit to Pastries on Demand, we had a little discussion on the background of her business and how these cupcakes came to blossom.
Starting off as a complimentary baking experience, she aimed to find new ways of emphasizing the Filipino culture in the means of food. As an avid foodie herself, she came to the experimentations of leche flan and cupcakes after visiting several bakeries. Thus came leche flan cakes, and cupcakes that takes a whole new approach on Filipino desserts.
As another step forward, she elevated the quality of her leche flans by creating a more eggy and soft signature. If that doesn’t seem to spark an image in your head, it’s something delicious you’re going to have to taste for yourself.
It’s found often that leche flans are firm and gelatinous, but at Pastries on Demand, the flan is a little more creamy allowing it to adhere to the cupcake and almost “marinating” it from it’s moistness alone.
With that said, lets jump into each individual cupcake we had the pleasure of trying!
Death by Ube and Ube Flan, both share familiar qualities of that clear sweet and subtle ube taste. Specifically, the Ube Flan shows a clear distinction of halo halo being how the flan creates a creamy sustenance to it.
Clearly when it comes to ube pastries at other restaurants, they usually miss that essential and long-lasting taste of ube, but the leche flan cupcake combo hit the spot and was amazing.
Same words can be said for the Wicked Pandan cupcake that doesn’t shy away from the traditional filipino delicacy tastes. Remember that buko pandan pudding you had? Maybe even one from Max’s or the pie from Jollibee? Well here you go, in cupcake form.
The chocolate flan is an unexpected but loved combo. The moist texture and lovable chocolate taste paired with the eggy flan almost makes it seem like a newly discovered dessert. This was one of the inner discoveries I had about myself though; I can’t have a chocolate cupcake without a flan now.
Thai Tea, a blast of Thai tea followed by the crystal boba. While the Thai Tea taste kicked in, it was on par with that same taste and flavor from typical boba shops. A few bites later, it was soaked in with the flan and crystal boba jelly that made me crave some Thai Tea boba.
Banana Sunrise – I noticed the texture and softness of the cupcake was slightly different compared to the others. This is complimentary with a nice coffee beverage, with the texture being closely identical to a banana muffin. A lot of breakfast cultures have fluffy and breaded foods followed with something sweetened. The flan helps balance that.
Start off your morning right with the Vietnamese Coffee flavor. When I tell you I was BOUNCING off the roof when the flavor of Vietnamese coffee hit me, I mean it. It’s that one familiar Vietnamese coffee taste that we all know and love. The type we go to local cafes for. Being paired with the flan that actually has the same hint of coffee taste within it, made this another breakfast option hit.
Eggnog is one of their seasonal flavors and another customer favorite. We all know that creamy and silky taste of eggnog on a brisk Christmas morning. With this cupcake, it brings that nostalgia back just in in time for the holidays!
If you’re in the Orange County area, be sure to check out their Instagram and place an order for your private events, birthdays, or parties. These treats are guaranteed to make your friends and family smile. Be sure to let them know that you heard about them from your friends at Jackfroot! Cheers!
