Kultura Highlights: Turning choux pastries into colors of the Philippines
Butterboy Baking Co. is taking choux pastries into the next level by adding flavors of Filipino cuisine.
What started as a pandemic-hobby picked up during quarantine has now become a beloved local bakery in the heart of Woodside, Queens. Carla, a self-taught baker, started ButterBoy Baking Co. when the world shut down for quarantine and used baking as a way to stay connected with her friends. “I [would] drop by their house with my baked goods and say hi. And then around March 2021, with the support of my family and friends, I had the courage to start selling my baked goods.” Carla told me over Zoom.
I first heard about ButterBoy Baking Co. at the Queens pop-up market a few weeks ago - I had gone with my friend to check out and support local businesses, some of which were Filipino-run. I came across a “halo-halo inspired” choux bun and was curious to try it. If you’re unfamiliar with halo-halo, it is a Filipino dessert that dates back to pre-Japan rule that consists of crushed ice, ube ice cream, leche flan, evaporated or condensed milk, yams, sweetened kidney beans, gulaman, and fruit preserves to name a few as there’s different variations. So how would you fit such a complex delicacy into a tiny choux bun? I just had to try it.
Although it wasn’t the burst of summer freshness you’d taste in a typical halo-halo, the nostalgia of its flavors in the pastry melt in your mouth. You taste the ube, a sprinkle of the flan and gulaman, with hints of the fruit preserves with a touch of freshness from the cream. The unique blending of the flavors to recreate the taste of halo-halo was an interesting experience!
As Carla is growing her bakery, she is also exploring more unique flavors like her matcha, ube, and halo-halo inspired pastries. With ButterBoy, a business that is dedicated to her son (the logo is a photo of her son as a baby), she aims to hopefully incorporate more Filipino flavors. “It’s flavors that I’m familiar with, flavors that I’ve had back in the Philippines or here in the US; but it’s mostly flavors that I like when I was back in the Philippines”, Carla answered when I asked her what her inspirations behind her pastries. “And I like choux pastries because it just reminds me of the holidays: we had [vanilla cream croquembouche with caramel on top] back in the Philippines as a holiday or birthday treat.”
She likes to brainstorm ideas with her older cousin, whom she calls her ate, who lives in the Philippines: “She’s the one who I ask ‘what’s one thing that people in the Philippines, one thing that I want to eat that I can’t have here?’”. Her ube cream puffs are inspired by putu búngbong, a type of steamed purple rice cake. “It’s like a December treat that’s usually eaten around simbang gabi (midnight mass) during Christmas time”.
The next flavor Carla is trying out is mango - the Philippine national fruit and a favorite of mine. “You know what I really want: maybe a mango flavor. But it’s so hard to find mango from the Philippines because mangos from the Philippines are so sweet. The only thing that reminds me of [Filipino] mango is dried mango.” She’s experimenting with the fruit, trying to recreate the sweet and slightly acidic taste by boiling the mango and blending it to create a mango jam - but it’s still a journey she’s currently embarking on and looking forward to trying out.
If you’re interested in buying baked goods from ButterBoy Baking Co., you can view the menu and fill out an order sheet through this Google form! Simply fill out what you want to order, pay over Zelle, and organize a pick-up in her home bakery in Queens or get it delivered. Otherwise, you can catch Carla at the next Queens pop-up market this weekend:
Date: June 26th
Time: 2pm - 7pm
Where: 3706 77th St, Jackson Heights, Queens
Let’s continue to show our support for local Filipino businesses! Do you have a Filipino-run business, company, or individual artist looking to share your work? Email me nicoleabriam@gmail.com to be featured in a Pinoy Highlight!