Auntie Heidi - my idol and inspiration in baking Sometime when I was 9 years old, my parents told me that we have a visitor and a relative coming – the sister of my grandfather Inocencio Ner Gonzales. She is Sophia Gonzales Tirol. I can’t remember the details of the visit (something to do with land title/properties) but what I can vividly remember is the sponge cake that she brought for us made by her daughter, Auntie Heidi. That was my first taste of a really good cake that just melts in my mouth. It was an unfrosted sponge cake (for it is hard to transport a cake with icing from Kalibo to Looc, Romblon by motorized boat) but just as it is, it stirred my taste buds and made me want to bake my own sponge cake. Since then, I make cakes and breads. Not as good as Auntie Heidi’s of course and because of unavailability of almost every baking need in Looc. In my young mind though, I know that in the future I could make a sponge cake as good as Auntie Heidi’s. The rest is history, I am now baking for a living. I finally met my secret idol and inspiration – Auntie Heidi, sometime in 1994 in one occasion at their house in Sylvia Manila. I didn’t get a chance then to tell her that she was my secret inspiration but I eventually told her in one cozy lunch we had recently with some relatives. I owe her this compliment and I’m so glad I was able to tell her. Astonishing, but does baking run in the blood? Of course not, it is Auntie Heidi’s excellent cakes that has travelled and stirred taste buds and inspired others to bake the same. By: Rosalia Gonzales Buhat Opted for early retirement from the corporate to pursue my love for baking and perfect my craft. Result 2 cake hungry children and 4 even more cake hungry grandkids. Daughter of: Salustiano and Norma Buhat Granddaughter of : Inocencio and Rosalia Gonzalez June 12, 2013
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:49:47 +0000