Original Cake is a popular cake shop in Taipei known for its fluffy, spongy, eggy cakes. People line up to get the cakes as soon as they smell them coming out of the oven.
The castella cake shop first opened in 2010 in the Tamsui Old District in New Taipei, and their simple, traditional cakes are now available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and finally, the Philippines! They just opened their first branch at the second floor of SM San Lazaro (near the escalators) last January 2019.
I was invited to check out Original Cake last night where we saw the kitchen and met the people who brought Original Cake to Manila.
WHAT IS ORIGINAL CAKE?
The Original Cake is a simple, traditional type of cake that is made with all-natural ingredients like eggs, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, and flour imported from Taiwan. They do not add any preservatives or any other “chemical” additions to the cakes.
I noticed that the OG management is very strict when it comes to quality control. All the cakes are made fresh every day. They do not even serve any cakes that may have been sitting out for a few hours anymore. That is commitment! I personally would still eat the cakes, hahaha. I mean, when we buy the cakes and take them home, they usually don’t get eaten right away. Sometimes they get eaten the next day and we’re totally fine with it. 🙂
If your idea of a cake is something that has more icing the better, then the Original Cake might not be to your liking. However, if you enjoy simple cakes that are not too sweet, then I think this is something you need to try! The Original Cake is a classic sponge cake without any bells and whistles.
I am trying very hard to not call it a “Tita” or a “Lola” cake but it is exactly the type of cake that I think my mom, aunts and my grandmother would go for, hahaha. 😀 The cake is delicious, fluffy, not crumbly, and it’s just good. It’s not mind-blowing, but it reminds us of the time when cakes were simple, before all the “extras” that make many contemporary cakes over the top. And that’s why it’s called the Original Cake.
We also met some of Original Cake’s bakers, who were also original! 😀
FLAVORS
They currently have 3 flavors:
Original
This really reminds me of home-made sponge cake because it doesn’t have any “commercial” taste 🙂 They use ingredients a home baker would use. This is also how my sponge cake would look like if I baked one at home because I would be too lazy to add any more icing or whatever 😀 But I’m too lazy to actually bake so I’d rather get Original Cake instead 🙂 It’s similar to our familiar plain “mamon” but better 🙂
Golden Cheese
This is the Original Cake with slices of Anchor cheese sandwiched in the middle 🙂 this was everybody’s favorite flavor. You can tell the Cheese flavor from the Original flavor from the cheese “dots” baked with the cake.
Chocolate Cake
I didn’t expect to like the Chocolate flavor but it was delectable. It is not too sweet, and it was slightly, pleasantly bitter from the chocolate. It also had some melted Hershey’s chocolate chips sandwiched inside the cake.
STORAGE, REHEATING & PRICING
You can keep the cake chilled in the refrigerator (properly packed) for up to 3 days.
You can reheat the cakes in the microwave (about 15 seconds for my home microwave). The Original and Cheese flavors are better eaten warm (the cheese melts!). The Chocolate cake can be eaten chilled. The cakes go very well with coffee 🙂
The cakes are for takeout 🙂 There’s no seating available at the store.
WHAT’S NEXT?
I was able to try the Snowflake Crisp that they will be launching soon! It is a chewy cube made with superfoods like cranberries and dates. This one is addictive – it’s like a nougat, but healthier and not too sweet & sticky 🙂
The next branch they will be opening will be in SM Fairview.
Original Cake plans to open more branches across Metro Manila in 2019: Ayala Circuit, Eastwood Mall, Lucky Chinatown, SM City Manila, SM City Sucat and Robinsons Galleria.
For updates, you may follow Original Cake on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/originalcakeph
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/originalcake.ph
