The Best Vegan Desserts in Manila
Finalists for PETA’s Best Vegan Desserts in Manila Contest showcased the most delicious animal-free desserts—from ice creams and doughnuts to cakes, cookies, and more—on Thursday. All the desserts satisfied everyone’s sweet tooth and were also sweet to animals. Proceeds from the contest benefited PETA’s “Kapon/Ligation Immediately, Please” program, which helps to spay or neuter and vaccinate dogs in impoverished communities. A special thanks to Century City Mall for being our venue sponsor for the event.
The judges included ticket holders and PETA’s VIP judging panel, which included chefs Rosebud Benitez, Gene Gonzalez, and Aaron Isip as well as event planner to the stars Ferdi C. Salvador, Meant to Be‘s Addy Raj, notable bloggers Evan Tan and Jeeca Uy, and Nancy Siy, the founder of the 31,000-strong Facebook group called Manila Vegans. They had to try a whopping 41 vegan desserts before they made the decision to name Super Scoops’ Coffee Cashew Crumble Ice Cream the best vegan dessert in Manila!
Jertie’s Kitchen’s Dark Chocolate Cake and Ambassador’s Ice Cream’s Mango Biscoff Ice Cream were named first and second runners-up, respectively. Jertie’s Kitchen’s Dark Chocolate Cake was also awarded Best Cake.
Several other desserts impressed our judges and were awarded prizes, too: The Baking Owl’s Cocoa Cherry Bars won Best Chocolate Dessert while Cakesmith PH’s Prune Cake with Candied Walnut Crunch & Date-Caramel Sauce won Best Non-Chocolate Dessert.
Green Spot’s Kind Choco Chip Cookies won Best Cookie, Green Bar’s Havana Cupcake was named Best Cupcake, and the Most Unique Dessert went to Delicielo’s Moringa Green Tea Affogato.
A Cornell University study found that 60 percent of humans and at least 90 percent of Eastern Asians (including Filipinos) are lactose intolerant after childhood. That means they can suffer from stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea, and gas if they consume dairy. In addition, the dairy and egg industries raise serious animal-welfare concerns. Cows endure intense suffering on industrial farms, and their calves are traumatically torn away from them shortly after birth. Also, the beaks of hens in egg factories are cut off with a burning-hot blade. So the case for consuming cow’s milk and eggs becomes hard to swallow—but all the finalists for PETA’s Best Vegan Desserts in Manila Contest have proved that you can have your (vegan) cake and eat it, too!
Always remember to be kind and compassionate every day by satisfying your sweet tooth with animal-friendly treats.
