MANILA, Philippines – Remember Brucie from Matilda? You can now pay tribute to the messy cake-eating hero of our childhood and defy Miss Trunchbull yourself with The Matilda Cake, a ooey gooey chocolate cake made by local San Juan City bakery Megamax.

It’s a nostalgic blast from the past, in the form of a classic chocolate cake that resembles the deliciously chocolatey mess that Bruce Bogtrotter of the 1996 film had to finish onstage in one sitting. Megamax designed it in a way so customers could lift up the delivery packaging and watch the chocolate ganache drip down all over the cake, just like in the movie.

And it tastes just as good as I probably imagined it would as a kid – Megamax’s Matilda Cake features three massive pieces of chocolate sponge cake with a smooth chocolate ganache in between each layer. The sponge cake itself is moist, soft, and loaded with chocolate flavor, without it being too overpowering or rich.

In true Bruce Bogtrotter style, the cake is drowned in a silky deluge of warm chocolate fudge from the top, spilling over to all sides, topped with crumbled chocolate bars. It’s chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, and it may sound overwhelmingly sweet, but surprisingly, it isn’t!

All the chocolatey components come together in balanced fashion – no umay factor here – to make a saktong sweet chocolate cake that’s indulgent enough but not too much that I could easily and gladly finish a slice (or two) of this in one go. I enjoyed it slightly chilled from the refrigerator, but the experience is exceptionally different when the cake and fudge are heated for a few seconds in the microwave beforehand.

Behind the Matilda experience

The Matilda Cake was brought to life by Megamax owners and sisters Maxine and Maegan Lim, inspired by one of their favorite childhood classics and that “simple and worry-free feeling of childhood happiness” that comes from indulging in a chocolate cake.

“Matilda played a huge role in reawakening the child within us, most especially the scene where the principal forces Bruce Bogtrotter to eat an entire chocolate cake. We wished we could taste the cake. So we thought, ‘Why wish when we can create?'” Megamax told Rappler.

It’s a simple and good chocolate cake, just turned into the “Matilda experience,” Megamax said. Nothing too modern; just a traditional and indulgent chocolate cake highlighting the best quality pure chocolate, with the bonus of interactive theatrics.

From just selling tiramisu, Megamax decided to expand its dessert line after seeing the viral Matilda Cake all over Instagram for a while.

“We really wanted to try it. By chance, we ended up in Dubai for a six-hour layover. We knew exactly what we wanted to do when we landed and it was to try Parker’s Matilda Cake,” Megamax said. They swore it was “one of the best chocolate cakes [they’ve] ever tasted” and wanted people in Manila to taste it.

“As big fans of the film, we felt such utter indulgence and nostalgia when we were having it. We were so inspired when they served it to us, so we constructed it from memory,” they said. It took many failed trials and a lot of chocolate consumption before they perfected the recipe after five months.

One thing I noticed was the cute, triangular size of The Matilda Cake. I found myself looking for a bigger serving, since it’s not a typical round chocolate cake good for a big group – it was almost nakakabitin.

“We specifically chose that size and shape. We could’ve done round or square, and honestly it would’ve been a lot easier! But we chose to make it in triangles because of that one scene in Matilda where Bruce Bogtrotter picked up a triangular piece with his hands,” Megamax said, wanting to bring that scene to life.

“Experience is important for us, so we went the extra mile. It’s very loaded with pure chocolate so we chose this size to feed 2-4 people. Only Bruce Bogtrotter could ever finish it alone,” they said – but I’m not so sure about that!

A larger size is in Megamax’s thoughts, especially since people have been asking. It’s just a matter of adjusting to the long process that’s needed to create and assemble the many different parts of The Matilda Cake.

Family effort

The family-owned, home-based bakery started in the pandemic selling classic tiramisu – something the Lim sisters had been doing for their father since they were 15 years old.

“It was our dad’s favorite dessert. This idea led us to launch our business on Father’s Day, to help others gift their dads a tiramisu. We moved on to developing new flavors like uji matcha, Lotus biscoff, and Kahlua to gift more than dads, but everyone in the family,” they said. Megamax then began selling traditional chocolate chip cookies using their grandmother’s recipe, since she was not able to make her famous crunchy, freshly-baked cookies anymore.

Megamax’s Matilda Cake costs P1,050, with extra Bruce Fudge at P250 per 200ml bottle. Because the size isn’t of a whole cake, it is a bit costly for a chocolate cake, but if you don’t mind spending for quality, taste, and novelty, why not?

Megamax is based in Greenhills, San Juan. You can place orders online. A one-day lead time is required per order. – Rappler.com