Great Eats,  Product Reviews

A fashionably sweet life with Sugar Babies’ couture desserts



I am mentally kicking myself right now for being way behind on my backlogs. I’ve been meaning to write about this box of desserts I received from Sugar Babies Desserts Unlimited since my brothers and I consumed it in a flash. I think people know by now how much I love receiving samples from up-and-coming pastry shops because it allows me to appreciate just how creative Filipino bakers can be. They can be anyone from college students to home-based bakers but they still have the ability to produce these unique flavours. Of course, there are times when food professionals decide to open shop on their own and as I will tell you right now, it’s quite a wonderful thing.

I received a box of lovely desserts from Katipunan-based Sugar Babies Desserts Unlimited. Frankly, Katipunan is like the other side of the world from where I live. I have not been to the area in years (not even kidding) so I am immensely grateful to the lovely people from Sugar Babies Desserts who were kind enough to bring their sugary treats to me. Thank you very very much! 🙂



Behind Sugar Babies Desserts is the duo of Casey and Marie, both pastry chefs, food stylists, and recipe developers. Marie graduated from ISCHAM while Casey chased after her chocolatey dreams in Switzerland. With their constant urge to make novel desserts and out-of-the-box sweet creations, these #twobakedgirls have taken their love for sugar to a new level by launching their very own dessert brand!

And now I hope you’re ready to fall into a sugar coma, because it’s time we talk about the desserts. 😉

First thing I want to comment on is the presentation of their desserts. I really appreciate how each piece of dessert is “structured” if you will. Very professional and clean and classy. Before I go on to my own commentaries, let me give a rundown of each of the desserts in the box according to their descriptions in the press kit sent to me:

  1. Costra Dulce– a fusion of sultry dulce de leche and banana custard mousse embraced in a chocolate cookie tart shell and glazed with lush Nutella ganache
  2. Muele de Chocolat– strawberry mousse sandwiched in moist chocolate fudge crinkles for a blissful aigre-doux bite
  3. Chocolat de la Mer– lavishly dense chocolate squares suffused with decadent salted caramel filling.
  4. Pistacia Oro– delicate pistachio shortbread paired with a medley of pistachio and pineapple in a richly divine custard.
  5. La Maria Francesca– chocolate cheesecake and fresh mango mousse on a fine chocolate cookie crust and enveloped in a rich chocolate glacage
  6. Mon Cheri Citron– a luscious combination of lemon and yogurt dulcified with a mixed berry compote draping and granola crust.

I didn’t eat this box all by my lonesome if anybody’s wondering, so with some of the desserts I will talk about the collective reactions of my brothers alongside me as we taste-tested these babies. I can tell you the discussion was quite positive. So positive was it in fact that every piece of dessert was gone before I could take photographs of the inside of each.



The Costra Dulce is pretty interesting. At first I thought maybe the cookie part is like a banana chocolate chip cookie base because I could not see the banana custard mousse as described above. It actually sunk to the bottom so the underside of the treat was quite wet. Fortunately it still tasted yummy. In general, I love the banana-Nutella flavour combination anyway.



I found myself loving the Pistacia Oro a lot; a buttery pistachio shortbread with a lovely pistachio-pineapple custard piped in the middle. I love that it doesn’t taste overwhelmingly pistachio and is not too sweet. Mostly buttery but not in a cloying way, with an unmistakable pistachio flavour. However I think the Chocolat de la Mer is where it’s at! These dense chocolate brownies were absolutely glorious. You can taste the depth of a good chocolate in these! My only issue is how the salted caramel filling hardened inside and turned into something like a candy caramel. A very hard candy caramel. I’m not so sure if it was because my fridge was too cold, but either way I was sad I didn’t get the oozing filling I had expected to carry this dessert to a higher level.

At the back is the Mon Cheri Citron, a lovely lemon custard on top of an earthy granola crust. I love lemon desserts and I enjoyed this one because it was nice and tangy (also thanks to the yogurt), which is always the number one thing I look for in lemon-flavoured desserts. In that aspect this was a check. However not knowing about the granola crust at the bottom can come as a surprise, and depending on whether you like the sudden burst of sweet this can be either a good or bad thing. 



Up next we have the Muele de Chocolat, which is basically two chocolate crinkle cookies used to sandwich a strawberry mousse filling. At first this raised my brows because I was already expecting this to be super sweet. One crinkle is sweet enough but to eat two as a sandwich cookie? Hmmm. Not something someone with not so much of a sweet tooth (me) might like. But surprisingly, as I got a taste of this it wasn’t too sweet– more chocolatey than sweet actually, which was great because it helped the strawberry filling actually taste like a strawberry filling. And yes, the cookies were moist and lovely.

And finally we come to the star of the show, La Maria Francesca. This is their signature dessert, and for a good reason!



I can say only good things about this slice of cake. First of all look at how pretty those layers are! I loved everything from the chocolate crust, to the smooth chocolate cheesecake, up to the bejeweled fresh mango mousse with a chocolate glaze on top. It tasted wonderfully chocolate-y with a light burst of mango. I think that little mango layer really helps to keep this cake balanced, for I know some people who can’t finish a whole slice of cheesecake because their tastebuds begin to protest against the richness of it. My brother and I both declared this as the favourite. Don’t forget to try this when you visit or order!

I can’t help feeling that Sugar Babies Desserts really took a lot of time in coming up with these well thought-out treats. Six desserts is a pretty solid number, especially if your desserts are the sort that cannot be found anywhere else. Some of these are very interesting takes on old favourites, reinvented and fused with flavours not normally seen. I have no doubt that the brains behind Sugar Babies Desserts will create more unusual products in the future, and I can only hope I get to sample more of their wonderful ideas the next time around.

As their motto goes: Sugar, couture, and everything amour, that’s what Sugar Babies is made of.

~~~

Sugar Babies Desserts Unlimited

Located at CrumbsList Pastry Depot
130 Katipunan Avenue, Saint Ignatius Village,
1110 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel No.: (+632) 703-5383
Mobile No.: (+63) 917 533-9189
Email: sugarbabies.desserts@gmail.com
Monday to Sunday: 11am to 7pm

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