MANILA, Philippines – You can never go wrong with chocolate cake, but with the amount of bakeshops and online sellers serving their own takes on the classic dessert, it’s hard not to get lost among the overwhelming sea of choices.

If you’re looking for a simple yet sinful chocolate cake that exudes homemade charm, home baker Lea Sawali might be able to please. It’s simple in concept – chiffon chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache – but the end result is satisfying yet not too sweet, and will make you reach for another forkful…or slice, because who’s watching?

The chocolate cake is moist, soft, but not airy. There’s a bite to it, without it being too dense. The cake’s chocolatey sweetness is definitely present, but it’s still mild enough to accentuate the star of the show, which is the premium quality chocolate ganache used by Lea on top.

The premium chocolate ganache is silky, smooth, thick, balanced, and isn’t overly sweet either, which removes any umay factor from this decadent dessert. Combine a generous amount of the ganache with the chocolate cake and you’re guaranteed mouth tingles, coming from someone who isn’t so much of a sweet tooth.

Moonchild’s chocolate cake comes in a 7″ round small size (P345) that’s good for two-three persons; in an 8×8 square large size (P695) good for five-six persons; and a 10×13 rectangular party size (P1,450) that’s good for 10-12.

You can store the cake for up to 12 hours at room temperature (as long as it isn’t directly exposed to heat). It’s good in the refrigerator for a week, and a month in the freezer. It tastes best at room temperature, so eat it right away!

If you’ve kept it in the fridge, the cake tastes just as good microwaved for 10-15 seconds until the ganache gets wonderfully melted and oozes on top of the moist cake.

Piece of cake: How Moonchild grew

Moonchild by Lea Sawali is a home-based business in Las Piñas City, founded by stay-at-home mom Lea in the first year of the pandemic. The lockdown affected her husband’s job as a pilot, so to help with the household income, Lea decided to start selling cookies with her background in the culinary world.

It was only in 2021 when Moonchild was officially born. She made a chocolate cake for her father’s birthday, not knowing that she would be coerced by her family members to sell her creation as soon as they took their first bite. Lea heeded the call, began selling her homemade chocolate cake on Instagram, and the rest was history.

“Mas lumakas po yung demand ng cake. Before kasi it was all me…no helper at all even sa house. So I just focused on the decadent cake,” Lea told Rappler.

(Demand for the cake grew stronger. Before, it was just me, without even a helper at home.)

“We didn’t think na (that) it will be as big as it is now!”

As word-of-mouth grew, so did Lea’s humble cake business. She said that a Petron Gas Station got in touch shortly after because they wanted to carry her cake, followed by a Shell Gas Station, and then multiple resellers around the Metro. As of now, Moonchild has official resellers located in Shell Tagaytay, Marikina, Quezon City, Makati, Pasig, Shell San Pablo City, and Petron Molino Blvd.

“It expanded already, and I finally hired some help,” Lea said.

Moonchild by Lea Sawali is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm. The main hub is located in BF Resort, Las Piñas City. Customers can place their orders via Moonchild’s website. – Rappler.com

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