{"id":8251,"date":"2025-11-19T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7431432"},"modified":"2025-11-19T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:00:00","slug":"in-photos-filipino-baker-puts-lifelong-passion-into-cake-creations-in-the-shuswap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8251\/in-photos-filipino-baker-puts-lifelong-passion-into-cake-creations-in-the-shuswap\/","title":{"rendered":"iN PHOTOS: Filipino baker puts lifelong passion into cake creations in the Shuswap\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A cake specialist at a small grocery store in a small town in the Shuswap is wowing customers with his creative, lifelike cakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay-ar Quiambao spends part of his shifts making custom cakes and the other part pouring his lifelong cake making passion into creating imaginative works of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to think of original ideas where people will enjoy the designs and at the same time really enjoy the taste and flavours of the cakes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quiambao\u2019s latest creations include realistic looking turkeys for Thanksgiving, and severed body parts and brains for Halloween.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"|\"
Cakes at Village Grocer in the Shuswap look like bleeding hearts. SUBMITTED\/Jay-ar Quiambao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It has taken years of dedication, and trial and error for Quiambao to master his art, which he did mostly on his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in the Philippines, Quiambao dreamed of being a pastry chef, but didn\u2019t have the money to go to culinary school. Instead, he studied hotel and restaurant management, and when an opportunity to work at a restaurant in Dubai came up just over a decade ago, he took it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had to start from scratch, so rather than becoming a pastry chef, I started as a kitchen helper,\u201d he said. \u201cThe salary was not enough to pursue my dream because I was financially helping family in the Philippines. I started making cakes at home, making basic cakes and trying to improve myself little by little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"|\"
Cakes at Village Grocer in the Shuswap look like real turkeys. SUBMITTED\/Jay-ar Quiambao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After several years, Quiambao was promoted to assistant pastry chef, then took a job as a pastry chef at a different company where he made custom cakes for big special events like weddings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were all custom cakes, they told me the idea they wanted me to do and I tried to create it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year-and-a-half ago he came to Canada to work at the bakery at Blind Bay Village Grocer. In February, he started managing the cake section and that’s when he was able to let his creativity flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Halloween and Thanksgiving, my manager told me to prepare something for the display and I didn\u2019t want to make something common,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought, why not try to make a realistic turkey or amputated feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe manager told me at the start we need to focus on standard cakes, but when they saw the designs coming out said I can do whatever I want, and I can\u2019t go anywhere.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Halloween cakes at a Blind Bay grocery store look like severed limbs. SUBMITTED\/Jay-ar Quiambao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blind Bay resident Sarah Tokarek has been shopping at the store for 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the past the cakes were not too original and not baked from scratch so I didn\u2019t buy them much,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of a sudden, I saw the bakery changing. I was in there at the right time on Halloween when the display was stocked and looked amazing. I was like \u2018who is doing this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokarek introduced herself to Quiambao and took a few photographs of the baker and his delicious artworks to share on her social media page called Shuswap Adventure Girl<\/a> where she promotes her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe makes cake pops from scratch,\u201d she said. \u201cThe ones we had were little tomb stones, they were super good and so delicious on the inside, they were super moist. The next time I was in he gifted me one that was made into a little puppy and it was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This puppy cake at Village Grocer in Blind Bay is made out of chocolate mousse. SUBMITTED\/Sarah Tokarek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quiambao is getting a big response from other shoppers and cake orders are increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re saying they appreciate me a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was working in Dubai my confidence wasn\u2019t high, this is all new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Village Grocer is located at 2798 Balmoral Road in Blind Bay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I was in there at the right time on Halloween when the display was stocked and looked amazing. I was like \u2018who is doing this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":8252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1810,706,704],"tags":[],"region":[547,548,549,550],"class_list":["post-8251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8251\/in-photos-filipino-baker-puts-lifelong-passion-into-cake-creations-in-the-shuswap\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"iN PHOTOS: Filipino baker puts lifelong passion into cake creations in the Shuswap\u00a0","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8251\/in-photos-filipino-baker-puts-lifelong-passion-into-cake-creations-in-the-shuswap\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8251\/in-photos-filipino-baker-puts-lifelong-passion-into-cake-creations-in-the-shuswap\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-jay-ar-.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-jay-ar-.jpg"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Ainslie"}],"creator":["Shannon Ainslie"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwine","logo":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/06\/logo-inwine.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-11-19T12:00:00Z","datePublished":"2025-11-19T12:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-11-19T12:00:00Z"},"rendered":"