Here are some options from multi-flavored (and multi-colored) crinkles to customized cakes.
Sugar fiends, rejoice! Although the yuletide season is synonymous with togetherness and known as the season for giving, it’s also the time we get to enjoy sweets without guilt. After all, just like what Charles Brown sings in his classic holiday song, “Christmas comes but once a year.”
READ ALSO: Decadent Desserts: Pies And Cakes For The Holiday Season
So here are five dessert shops where you can find treats for gifting or sharing. You can consider buying from one shop with Christmas menu staples like food for the gods. Or you can go for decadent yet healthy options through a shop with vegan and gluten-free desserts.
Czarina’s Kitchen
Owned by Czarina Ablaza, the daughter of the top business owner and honorary consul of Zambia Louis Ablaza, she shares her baking skills through her online dessert shop @czarina_skitchen. With specialties like assorted crinkles flavors of Red Velvet, Choc-Nut, Ube, Lemon, Chocolate, and Matcha, it can make for a fun potluck addition with its vibrant colors. In addition, they offer food for the gods packed with walnuts and dates to make it as chewy as possible.
You can order here.
Dylan Patisserie
This European-style pastry shop opened its flagship store in Makati in October, offering a selection of desserts, pastries, and gourmet cakes. These includes cookie sets as well as a selection of Christmas hampers, from Gourmet to its priciest option, Deluxe.
Deluxe Christmas Hamper 
Peanut Butter Banana Cake
Dylan Patisserie also has signature European-style cakes including Nutty Nutella, De Hazelnut Praline, Chocolate Mud Cake, Milo Black Forest, Tiramisu, and Triple Chocolate Blossom as well as cheesecakes. They range from traditional flavors like strawberry and blueberry to more atypical tastes like Nutella, and Lotus Biscoff.
Other cake flavors include Tropical Vanilla, Passion Fruit, and Raspberry Mango Opera are best-sellers while classics such as Carrot Cake, Peanut Butter Banana, and Red Velvet are also available. Local flavors are also highlighted in cakes such as Ube Dulce De Leche and Lychee Pandan.
You can order here.
Spoons of Magic
“I wish for [my customers] to be excited to try it when [their orders] arrive, and I wish for them to close their eyes and smile after having their first bite,” Spoons of Magic’s owner Ana Asis told Lifestyle Asia last year. “My heart sings each time I receive a message of approval, most especially from people I don’t know.”
As she considers cooking her passion, Asis started practicing it consistently when she began cooking for frontliners at the height of the pandemic. She then started her online food shop in the middle of the pandemic.
Her product range includes cakes such as Lemon Olive Oil, Cheesecake, and Orange Ginger. For the holidays, Asis came up with pistachio and carrot loaves. Spoons of Magic’s international menu includes Korean Beef Stew, New England Clam Chowder, and Cream Spreads for savory options.
You can order here.
Simply Healthy Manila
If you’re seeking a healthier route to enjoying dessert, Simply Healthy Manila offers all-vegan desserts that, of course, don’t include any animal products like dairy and eggs. Even if you don’t practice veganism, it would be nice to have something on the dessert table your vegan friends can enjoy.
Owned by Dinara Abdullina, a Russian health and fitness advocate based in the Philippines, Simply Healthy offers assorted cookie flavors like Vanilla with Tablea, Oatmeal & Banana, and Walnuts & Cranberry. Their cake assortment has tofu-based matcha cheesecake, Vanilla Strawberry Cake, Chocolate Tart with Seasonal Fruit, and Lemon Cake (their newest variant).
You can order here.
The Workshop Bespoke Bakery
While their physical store is located at The Grid in Rockwell, you can also order online through delivery apps Foodpanda, GrabFood, or Pickaroo. You can select European cake variants infused with Filipino flavors through their Bibingka Basque Burnt Cheesecake, Calamansi Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Mango shortcake.
They offer brownies (which they describe as “life-changing”), banana loaves, Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and KitKat Blanket Milk Chocolate for smaller pastries.
You can order here.
Minimalist Cake PH
Celebratory desserts are more when you can customize them according to the festivity. So, if you want to go the extra mile on Christmas-themed desserts, Minimalist Cake PH can decorate cakes of varying sizes and cupcakes.
They also accept any to all design requests (there are a ton of BTS-themed cakes on their Instagram page) and have locations in Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, and Makati, to name a few.
You can order here.
Bizu Patisserie
For its Christmas collection this year, Bizu introduces the Noelle. It’s a white chocolate ganache and pistachio mousse cake featuring a creme bruleè and strawberry jelly center with an almond shortbread crust topped with a delicate white chocolate ribbon.
The patisserie’s Towers of Joy is also back, made with glazed cream puffs or French macarons rising to a a foot tall. Their latest macaron de Paris flavors this year are Pumpkin Spice, Orange Grand Marnier, and Chocolate Mint.
Noelle 
Towers of Joy 
Cakesicles
You can also opt to send a chocolate surprise with a box of Truffle Pyramids, which includes guilt-free varieties such as the sugarless Macadamia Honey and Dominique. Apart from this, Bizu also has their Christmas cakesicles, holiday-covered pretzel, French truffles, chocolate bars, bonbons, breads, and fruit cakes.
You can order here.
