MAY 3 (Reuters) — Bakers in the Philippines have made a life-sized cake of Manny Pacquiao to celebrate his upcoming fight in Las Vegas.
Cake Artists Zach Yonzon and his wife Aila Sim built a five-foot-five-inch cake of the Filipino boxer which will be displayed in front of their cafe.
The cake weighed over 70 kilogrammes and is composed mostly of chocolate cake, ganache,Rice Krispies and fondant.
Yonzon, who runs the Bunny Baker cafe with his wife said they wanted to pay tribute to the Filipino boxer.
“Me and my wife wanted to do something for the event, it’s such a national event, and of course we wanted to honor Pacquiao, he’s like a modern day national hero. So, the only way we knew how is, we’re cake makers, so we wanted to create a cake. And then my wife says why not make a life-size Pacquiao cake,” said Yonzon.
It took the couple two weeks to complete the cake using a total of 208 eggs and more than 64 kilogrammes worth of sugar and flour.
Yonzon said they had difficulties molding the cake to look like the Filipino boxer, but the feat was worth the effort.
“What Pacquiao has done for us is he inspired us to think that we can do more than what we are. That’s what he’s saying, God has raised me from nothing into something, and that’s exactly we’re doing here. We want to do something that very few people have done,” he said.
They plan on serving the cake to their customers on Sunday (May 3) in celebration of Pacquiao’s fight in Las Vegas.
At Kink Cakes in downtown Manila, bakers made two Pacquiao cakes to promote their shop.
The cake showed an image of Pacquiao etched on the icing with a fondant boxing glove holding a Philippine flag, while another cake featured a fondant caricature of the Filipino boxer fighting against Floyd Mayweather inside a boxing ring.
Kink Cakes co-owner Pia Carlos said they wanted to capture the essence of the Pacquiao’s upcoming fight in their cakes.
“We wanted to visualize how the fight will be so it will be, like it will be intense that the fight of the century itself, the title itself, so we wanted to represent that one,” she said.
The promotional cakes on display will be available for special orders at a limited time.
The Philippines widely regard Pacquiao as a national idol, with thousands of fans packing covered gymnasiums and public park to watch free viewing of his fight on large LED screens throughout Manila and various provinces.
The fight on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas between Mayweather and Pacquiao is expected to be the highest grossing bout in history.