A sweet spot
WHEN it comes to cakes and pastries, Cebu has been blessed with infinite choices. Local mom-and-pop stores that have grown into bakery chains, artisanal bakeries, pastry shops and patisseries that promise you you’re getting more than your money’s worth—there’s a whole lot of variety now, and every neighborhood has at least one of them. A name to know in Cebu’s sweets scene though is Yoyi’s Pastries and Desserts.
Hailing from Ormoc City, the family-owned pastry shop’s claim to fame 21 years ago was its torta. Named after their second child’s nickname, the business was born out of the owners Froilan and Julieta Celeste’s desire to spend more quality time with their kids. Proving that they’re not a one-hit wonder, they offered more delicacies that only aimed to capture the “pasalubong” market at first, but are now the standout specialties. These are the cassava cake, brownies, butterscotch and revel bars.
In October 2015, Yoyi’s opened a branch in Cebu, its first outside of Ormoc. Buzz about its desserts reached food obsessives and while the bars were what it first introduced to the Cebuano market, it has since expanded to include more mouthwatering creations like chocolate crinkles, egg tarts, cheese sticks, leche flan, brazo de mercedes, langka tarts, macaroons, buko pie, chocolate caramel bars, cakes and cheesecakes.
At present, the crowd favorites are the classic chocolate cake and heavenly mango cake. The ganache of the former is basically everything your chocolate dreams are made of and lays on top of a dense and moist cake like a silken sheet. The latter is a light chiffon cake with layers of mangoes and cream in between, with just the right sweetness, even with the puffs of cream frosting on the outer rim. Both are ideal to pair with a steaming cup of coffee, or with any of the frappuccinos available at the store where you can grab a seat and a bite to eat.
As with other exceptional pastry shops, Yoyi’s is consistent in that every product fresh out of the oven is as good as the last one. Each is handmade with passion, and packed full with only the best quality ingredients. Sure it’s one thing to believe word-of-mouth recommendations, but it’s quite another to actually get to try it yourself.
Yoyi’s is open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Find it on the ground floor of Medalle Bldg. on J. Llorente St., Cebu City.