Twin shortcake featured in strawberry fest

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Residents and tourists alike will have a chance to partake of the largest strawberry shortcake that won for the municipality a record in the said category in the Guinness Book of World Records with the expected serving of the twin strawberry shortcake that will be one of the major highlights of the annual staging of the town’s Strawberry Festival on March 18, 2023.

Mayor Romeo K. Salda disclosed that the twin strawberry shortcake will be heart-shaped  with a height of 7 feet, length of 14 feet and a diameter of 5 feet.

He explained that bakers will be featuring both the white and red strawberry varieties in the baking of this twin shortcake, thus, there will also be two kinds of shortcake, the white and red ones, which will be made available to the public.

However, the municipal chief executive pointed out that the twin shortcake that will be served will produce 16,000 slices with the first 1,000 slices to be given for free while the remaining slices will be sold to the public at around P30 to P35 per slice to raise the funds for the cost of baking of this cake.

In 2004, the municipal government, in partnership with local bakers and concerned stakeholders, were able to bake and present to the public the largest strawberry shortcake that was included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mayor Salda said that the bakers need around 275 kilos of both white and red strawberries to be able to prepare the twin shortcake that will be presented to the public at the municipal hall right after the conduct of the street dancing and mini-float parade on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

Based on the computations from the local baking industry, the municipal government needs at least P1.2 million for the twin shortcake as highlights of this year’s Strawberry Festival.

The mayor said that there are strawberry farmers who already committed to supply the required volume of both white and red strawberries in the preparation and presentation of the twin shortcake for the local bakers to appreciate these 2 varieties of strawberries that are now being largely promoted by the concerned stakeholders.

Salda admitted that the municipal government is still in the process of importing virus-free strawberry runners to replace the old supply to ensure robust production of strawberries and guarantee adequate supply of the said fruit.

He stipulated that once the virus-free strawberry runners are available, these will be reproduced through tissue culture by the BSU so that there will be sufficient strawberry runners readily available for the farmers to continue the production of the fruit that is in demand in the market.