Ever since her mum Corazon passed away five years ago, Grace Guinto, the woman behind the website 'Sweet Cora', has felt a certain disquietude every time Mother's Day draws near.
"There’s always a level of anxiety of how are we going to spend it. She’s not around. Do we spend it with our aunties? Do we spend it with our family unit on our own?" she shares.
Mother's Day Merienda
This year is different though. For Mother's Day this year, Grace plans on "celebrating [mama] even when she's not present in person" while she revels in a "moment of happiness that will allow me to feel a level of fulfilment again."
Alongside fellow Entree.Pinay Kristina Náray, Grace will be hosting a in South Melbourne Market on May 12. This pop-up dining event will feature six courses of sweet and savoury Filipino snacks.
"I’m obviously more of a sweet connoisseur and that really is the catalyst of why 'Sweet Cora' [and 'Sweet Cora pop-up' at the Footscray Finds] came to be - a legacy of my mother, but also a homage to my love of sweets. No meal is complete without having sweets as part of it," Grace shares.
Grace will be co-hosting a Mother’s Day merienda with fellow Entrée Pinay Kristina Náray at the South Melbourne Market on May 12. Source: Grace Guinto
Grace plans on serving her reinvented turon cake made of banana cake, jackfruit, dulce de leche mousse and salted caramel meringue buttercream as the first sweet course; a second course which is focused on the cassava root; and a third course made of ube because "nothing can say 'Filipino dessert 'like that vibrant purple colour."
Royal Bibingka
One merienda favourite won't be featured in the event but has a special place in Grace's heart - her mum's Royal Bibingka. Her mum had written down the recipe and had given it to her before she passed.
Ingredients
Corazon's handwritten Royal Bibingka recipe Source: Grace Guinto
3 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup grated cheese
Banana leaves, wilted
Salted duck eggs, optional
Butter, melted
Freshly grated coconut
Procedure
Grating the coconut. Source: Grace Guinto
1. Best eggs until light and creamy. Add sugar gradually beating well after each addition.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together.
3. Beat dry ingredients alternately with coconut milk.
4. Pour batter into a 20” layer cake pans that have been greased and lined with wilted banana leaves.
5. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
6. Take out pans and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for another 20 minutes.
7. Brush twice with melted butter while baking.
8. When done, brush again with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
9. Serve with freshly grated coconut and duck eggs.
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