Move over, bento cakes. There’s a new cool kid in cake town: half cakes.
Skimming through the internet, you’ll be able to find that it is not only the Philippines that is so deeply enamored with the K-wave. All around the world, hints of South Korean culture’s influence can be felt—whether it be in music, fashion and yes, even food. Case in point: those dainty Korean bento cakes that went viral in 2020. And while they’re still widely popular, a new trend in Korean cakes has emerged and is taking up space in various online bakeries based in the Philippines: half cakes.
This new craze actually holds quite a few names—canvas cakes, half-moon cakes, sideways cakes and as aforementioned, half cakes. However you call them though, one cannot deny the basis for it being so well loved. Charming and dainty, the type of designs it usually sports look almost ethereal.
The product is literally half of a normal 9-inch cake that’s positioned vertically instead of the normal horizontal stance. Its hill-like structure opens up the door for patisseries to explore new designs that one would not usually expect on a cake. Some bakers even go to the point of making painting-like creations that you can’t help but be in awe of. Just look at these Hogwarts-inspired cakes by Korean-based bakeshop, Monthly Cake.
Photos from Monthly Cake
The shop is actually one of the bakeries that sparked the trend. If you’re interested in getting your hands on one, we’ve done the deed of collating some of the best IG shops from the Philippines to purchase half cakes from.