Snapshots of a weekend spent walking for dessert.

The first weekend of my Great Escapes Dessert Tour was a sugary success! It was bliss to meet and bond with like-minded people who adore dessert as much as I do, and my terrific team at Ayala Malls made everything so easy. I am blessed.

Come and walk with me as I share highlights of the tour. All photos are courtesy of tour participants and the Instagram accounts of Glorietta and Greenbelt.

@iloveglorietta

All my guests got a loot bag at the start of the tour filled with Ayala Mall vouchers, a travelogue magazine, and so much more. The bag also proved super helpful for all the food gifts that were given to them at each dessert stop.

At Mochi Cream:

an extra serving of Baumkuchen and Matcha Float and…

…trivia game time! (With prizes, of course!)

Ever grateful to this fabulous group of people who joined my first ever dessert tour. Such a fun group! And they all brought their copies of my book to be signed! The dessert tour turned into a mini book signing session.

I’ll always remember my first ever tour group. Couldn’t have asked for a better – or sweeter! – bunch.

@ilovegreenbelt

“It boggles the mind that we’ve been eating non-stop for almost three and a half hours. It shouldn’t be humanly possible…” says one of my guests to me at the last restaurant stop. His eyes are as wide and bright as his grin, evidence of someone gleefully flying as high as a kite on sugar. I’d say his quote sums up my dessert tours pretty well.

The second day’s tour is sold out. Warming up to my role as tour guide to this much larger group.

My tour participants tell me that two of the best things about my dessert tours are:
1) Getting to try new desserts at long-time favorite establishments. At Café Mary Grace, they got to try the Marian Mocha, a light-as-air chiffon cake laced with amaretto cream. It’s a cake that’s still in development and not yet commercially available.

2) Getting to meet the owners and chefs of the establishments. Above: with Baba Ibazeta-Benedicto, pastry chef and owner of Classic Confections. Foreground: Mon and Monique Eugenio, owners of Myron’s Place.

My dessert tours are carefully curated. Here, my guests at Bizu being led through the aroma-flavor exercise by Bizu’s Chief Culinary Officer, Chef Ronnie Reyes. Below, a tasting platter of five desserts ranging from sweet to bitter. An incredible tasting experience.

My tour groups went home laden with lots of giveaways. Here, the Lori Truffles made by Bizu and a huge box of assorted bars from Classic Confections.

At Myron’s Place, the last stop of my Greenbelt tour, all my guests have gone home. Suddenly, I hear my name called. When I’m introduced to JV and Kat Manalasan, I’m initially alarmed that these were tour participants that I’d ignored. I make it a point to know everybody in my group. The married couple are long-time readers of my blog who are at Myron’s Place to try the bread pudding, a dessert I’ve featured on DCF. “Do another tour next year, Lori!” Urges Kat.

Well, I don’t know yet about next year but I still have space for a few more people for my tours on September 20 at Glorietta and September 21 at Greenbelt. See the full dessert menu here and email me if you want a ticket. I’d love to have you there on my last two tours!