Red Ribbon Bakeshop

Baked goods.  Ube.  Both things I adore.  Combine them?  Even better.

I was thrilled to learn about Red Ribbon Bakeshop, a legit Filipino business, started in 1979 in the Philippines, but now has more than 450 locations worldwide, including 30 or so in the US.  I haven't visited a shop personally, but I was given some treats from one to try.  They also ship nationwide.

The Red Ribbon lineup features plenty of ube, with cakes, cream rolls, pastries, and so (of course they have halo-halo!), but they also carry many other items, including savory empanadas, a couple main dishes, plenty of selections with mango, and more.

But again, I didn't visit, I just tried a couple ube-liscious baked goods from the comfort of my own home.

Ube Mamon.

Mamón was a new item for me to try.  I didn't know what it was at first, and thought that it actually was going to be a big puffy cream filled cake.  No idea why I thought that, but, in my head, this was going to have cream inside.

Ube Mamon.

"Mamón are traditional Filipino chiffon or sponge cakes, typically baked in distinctive cupcake-like mold."

It didn't look great coming out of the package, a bit smooshed in transit ...

And, wait, no cream.  Just a chiffon cake.  I was suddenly much less interested, but still tried it.

Yup, it was, just a light cake.  Kinda ugly color on top ...

Ube Mamon: Inside.

Inside was a pretty purple hue, but, it still was just a light chiffon cake, slightly sweet, and to be honest, I didn't really taste ube.

It really was, well, boring?  Like this, **+.

It was better when I added ube ice cream, and lychee ice cream, basically making an ice cream sundae with torn hunks of the cake.  Likely would work cutting in half and stuffing with ice cream too?

I'll consider trying it warmed up, cream filled, etc, but plain cake ... eh.

Ube Ensaimada.

The Ube Ensaimada though I was very excited to try, same style packaging ... but very different creation inside.

Ube Ensaimada Ingredients.

Ok, I was *slightly* scared by the ingredients, um, "imitation cheese" ... and a lot of unpronounceables ....

Ube Ensaimada Nutrition.

And yes, that adds up to a heafy calorie count ...

But ... ube ... cheese ...

Ube Ensaimada

Spoiler: 

This was everything I wanted it to be.

The imitation cheese on top is fascinating, shreds of ... kinda cheese?  When I heated one of these up, it did *not* melt like normal cheese, that is for sure. But added a touch of savory.  The shreds of cheese were kinda ... hard?

The bread was soft, sweet, fluffy, asian style white bread.  Tasted pretty fresh.  Ube comes in the form of paste throughout, some visible on top.

Ube Ensaimada: Inside

Inside you can see the pockets of ube paste.

I liked this a lot.  Soft sweet bread, some ube flavor, the fascinating "cheese".  I'd love even more ube flavor of course, but it was good like this.

It was quite versatile, at least for me.

Good room temp, good warm.  Good as a snack.  I can see it being really tasty for breakfast.  I also liked a hunk warm with whipped cream.  I bet a fresh, warm one would be amazing any time of day.

***+.