Did someone say Dessert?

Who does not love dessert? Dessert the course that "seals the deal" in a meal. It's a meal's own way of bowing out. Every country has its own dessert. Here in the Philippines, we have our halo-halo and buko pie. Go to any Chinese restaurant and you'd order Almond Jelly after a smorgasboard of dumplings and lemon chicken. Certainly dessert is there to complete a meal. Sometimes, it's what some people look forward to.
At the Diamond Hotel, they took dessert to a new level by creating their version of Dessert Nirvana - a scrumptious dessert buffet offering

"one of the most extensive, if not the most extensive, stand-alone dessert catering service in the metro by putting together an array of treats concocted with skill and expertise borne out of its five-star heritage."

The event was held at the Cake Club at the Powerplant Mall where food bloggers and bloggers met, dined, and enjoyed a night of good food and good fun. When I got the invitation to join this event, I couldn't say "no." I'm a sweet tooth myself (hence my blog's name) and what better way to start my new baby food blog but an event such as this? Despite that I had a marathon photoshoot the day before I made it a point to attend this event.

I got to Rockwell a little past 6 (the event was at 7 pm) bearing Makati Friday traffic so the cab had to take a detour to Kalayaan just to get me to Rockwell on time. When I got there, the event was just being set up so I did some window shopping first. When I got back, I spotted Sophie of Beautynomics.com, looking radiant with her newfound makeup skills. I also chatted with the event host, Val.

While I was chatting with her, the makeup artist in me was tempted to ask her if I could be her makeup artist some time. I wanted to put makeup on her! Her skin is flawless!

Okay... Back to our event. Diamond Hotel also provided us with a light dinner of salad, cold cuts, fruit slices, and a croissant.

There were also games, where a mystery cake was presented to the bloggers and a bloggers' team was asked to guess 5 ingredients on the cake

It's a cheesecake actually, and we were asked to guess the 5 nuts in the cake. Our expert food decoder, Phoebe was able to distinguish walnuts, pecans, almonds, and confirmed my theory that the dessert had pine nuts. Fran also confirmed walnuts. When we submitted our answers, guess what? We won the game! The prize was a gift check for one whole cake for each winner!

If the happiness was not enough, they also raffled out GCs and I also won another GC for knowing what a Mont Blanc dessert was. I managed to sample out a Mont Blanc, which was a

"French chestnut paste with dark rhum on almond tart"

So that's what the familiar taste was! And it really looks like a white mountain, hence the name.

Speaking of trivia, I also found out trivia that a famous Christmas icon actually originated from Egypt and was believed to be food for the afterlife. Guess what it was? Fruitcake!

Also, if you want this Dessert Buffet at your next event be it a corporate event or wedding or debut, Diamond Hotel also offers specially-created dessert buffet packages. All you have to do is to call Diamon Hotel or go at The Cake Club to place your order. You don't have to pick all the desserts up yourself- they'll be delivered right to your door by Diamond Hotel's temperature-controlled vans. Yeah!

Okay, so after which, the dessert buffet was open and we got to take pictures and sample out all the lovely desserts Diamond Hotel has to offer...

The macarons are classics! I got a rose macaron, which I've tried before. The rose actually has this interestingly exotic flavor associated with it. Sort of like a florally sweet type. You just gotta try it!

I was also able to sample their sugar-free desserts - green tea pannacotta and aloe vera jelly. The aloe vera jelly is another interesting delight. It was light on the stomach with an exotic sweet fruity taste. It was amazing how they put something I usually associate with skin care and makeup into a dessert.

Green Tea Pannacotta fuses both East and West with the creaminess of Italian Pannacotta with Japanese Green Tea. I just could not believe it was healthy! I also fell in love with the Green Tea Creme Brule and the Baked Cheesecake, a classic Diamond Hotel favorite. In fact, I had the Baked Cheesecake for breakfast this morning!

More dessert pictures that let them speak for themselves....

I also took the time to chat with other bloggers. Jane of The Yogini from Manila was with her son and her son said that the event was worth missing all his favorite shows. I also met Arpee Lazaro, a food blogger who shared with us his insights on food, good eats, and all. I also managed to share a few of my own makeup tips and reviews. It was really cool meeting different bloggers from different genres.

After all the dessert has gone, it was time to call it a night. Definitely, I'm sure to catch some more desserts at the Diamond Hotel or its extension coffee shop at The Cake Club at Rockwell.

(Diamond Hotel Philippines is located at Dr. J. Quintos St., Manila 1000 Philippines. Tel. No. (632) 305-3000)