New Taipei celebrates Yellow Cake Festival with ten artisanal shops
New Taipei celebrates Yellow Cake Festival with ten artisanal shops
With the coming of the Mid-autumn Festival, many are wondering what kind of desserts to purchase for family and friends. The Yellow Cake Festival held by New Taipei City Government aims to provide an answer. After three rounds of selection, tens shops were awarded with recognition of excellence by Mayor Eric Chu on September 14th. Attendees of the event were invited to taste the cakes, and many commented on the delicious flavors of these pastries.
Mayor Chu says that the Yellow Cake is a traditional cuisine and New Taipei City has held a Yellow Cake Festival for the past five years. This year, the mayor continued, the city invited shops from around the nation to participate in a contest, attracting many young talents. Judges of the contest commented on how the quality of the cakes from this event illustrates that this traditional art has already been well passed-down to the next generation. These judges note that the traditional flavors have been preserved very well, and they witness much innovation in the making of these pastries. These cakes would make great gifts for the holiday, the mayor said, and he hopes that this traditional art can continued be passed down from generation to generation.
The Economic Development Department reports this year’s Egg Cake Festival conducted its contest differently from previous years. Previously, artisans prepared the cakes during the live event, but this year the department organized three phases in the contest judgement: public voting, site visit, and shop tutorial. The first phase is an online voting contest, which saw 12,000 residents participate in the voting and narrow the field to 47 shops; ten popular shops were selected from these 47. The second phase is expert critique, which had dessert chef Hushou Huang and food safety expert Anchang Wen conduct in person evaluation of the staff, cleanliness of the environment, materials used, and recommended preservation date. In the last phase, the two experts and five food bloggers form a judging panel that awarded three shops with the Judges’ Award. These recognized desserts, the department added, will definitely make good gifts for this holiday season, and residents can consume them with assurance of their quality and safety.
After the rigorous selection process, the ten recognized shops were Kemai Cake and Bread, Master Wang’s Flatbreads, Holland Village Bakery, Longfeng Bread Shop, Qixin Cakes, Yiweite, Harry Potter Bakery, Fulitai Japanese Donuts, Jiligao Breads, Shangping Bakery. Among these, Longfeng Bread Shop, Master Wang’s Flatbreads, Jiligao Breads received the Judges’ Award.