Happy Sunday to everyone, and I hope that you are all doing well. It is past midnight here in the Philippines and since I am a night owl, my day usually starts at seven in the evening.
Today is Mother's Day, and people in the Philippines consider this event to be important.
Over the past months, we have stretched our budget too thin as our expenses continue to pile up. Electricity bills skyrocket due to extreme weather, the repayment of the bank loan that we got, and the cost of other miscellaneous stuff that is needed recently. Though that is the case, I still managed to save up for today's event.
Nanay Helen, April's mom, celebrated her birthday back then. We bought a cake from a known store here in San Pablo, and it was quite big. The price point isn't that costly compared to well-known shops such as Goldilocks and Red Ribbon. After we brought it home and decided to take a taste test, we found the cake to be dry and tasteless, which was disappointing. We then agreed that if we will be buying another one, most likely we will just get a smaller cake so that if in case that the taste is not that good, then throwing it away will be easier.
In a local Facebook group, I searched for a cake for the said event. I entered the keywords "bento cake" and found many sellers offering them for Mother's Day.
I just did the basic stuff in researching and that is stalking the poster's profile and page. By being a curator who hunts fake accounts and imposters on the platform, I think I have some basic hunch if someone's a scammer or not. So after I determined the legitimacy of the seller, I decided to send her a message and inform her of what I like to happen.
I asked the seller if I needed to make a deposit first so that I could secure the order, and she mentioned that yes I needed to do one. This is understandable because they need to have some funds so they can create the order since this is a made-to-order item. In my business back then I also asked people to pay half of the full price before proceeding to such as it served as a safety tool for me in case that the customer changed their mind in the process and I already spent something.
This is the inspiration that I have sent to her as a reference source
This is the final product received, color and font-wise they are different, but it is understandable as the palate to which she needs to input the text is too small. Also, considering that all of us have different handwriting strokes, getting a close-to-perfect ratio is close to impossible. For a $3.50 cake, this is a steal already for me. ( The coffee that I frequently buy back then costs more than this)
After getting the cake from our meet-up place, I thanked the seller for her time and we went home. According to April, when they ate the cake, the taste was good! It was not that sweet, and the cake was moist. The icing tasted good as well she mentioned that they left some for me to eat that midnight and after tasting it I can say that yes her findings are correct. It is perfect for my coffee.
Will I be a repeat customer? Most likely we will be, especially if there's a craving for affordable yet appetizing cake for occasions. Why not?