Ms. Lydia N. Robillos... Queen of Sugar Flowers

By Chef Ed Dychauco, RN
Thursday, March 17, 2011

IN THE 70's, there were only a handful of "bakeshops, snack shops and cake shops" rolled into one. And one of the pioneering legends in this entirely different edible world of art was a sweet lady by the name of Lydia. Her love for cooking was already in her when she enrolled at Notre Dame University in Cotabato City and finished her B.S. in Home Economics (minor in Filipino) way back in 1958.

Being the eldest of six siblings, she felt it was natural for her to do household chores, especially the cooking and baking. It was at the same university where she met, fell in love and eventually married her long time classmate (in some subjects), the dashing and mestizo Anselmo of Dumaguete City in 1954.

Their love affair started in Cotabato City. They were blessed with three kids (Bobby, Rosita and Rebecca). But since Mr. Robillos was connected with Elizalde International then as a sales agent, their family has to transfer to Butuan City and finally, to Camaman-an in Cagayan de Oro City in the 60's where they eventually settled down and had four more kids (Rhonda, Lily, Jun and Romy)

As if by God's will, Mommy Lydia (as she is fondly called), traveled to Manila to accompany her husband for a checkup where she took the advantage of enrolling in various culinary classes. One of whom was under Ms. Grace Mercado in Quezon City and another one whom she can't remember the name anymore, enrolling in both baking and flower making.

She can still vividly remember making her very first chiffon cake in a green colored, box-type, stove-stop oven, using her precious hand-held mixer, which takes hours (!) to reach the foam stage of the cake! Everybody in the family just loved her creations, since she also does a lot of "experimenting" with new recipes.

Rosita's Bakeshop, a simple snack shop with seven tables came into full swing in 1971 along RN Abejuela St. in Divisoria. It was accepted so well by Kagay-anons that it became a by-word. People from all walks of life enjoyed her very famous Pancit Palabok, which became her best seller. Aside from other snack items, Mommy Lydia also accepted cake orders for birthdays, weddings and other special occasions. A four-tiered cake costs only P4,000 then, complete with edible flowers and ribonettes, flower sprays that sometimes reaches a height of four feet!

But then, her love for flowers prevailed. She wanted to make realistic flowers from sugar. And she did it with gusto! Upon the invitation of her pen pal, Carol Helstad of Wisconsin in 1988, she flew to the United States to make a wedding cake for Carol's daughter. She made and hand-carried all the sugar flowers needed for the cake. And while there, Mommy Lydia visited the famous Wilton School of Cake Decorating to get more ideas.

In the 90's, Australia was the place for her. She finally enrolled in the more advanced gum paste flower making at the Cake Decorating School of Melbourne, Australia under the tutelage of Ian Pertzel. And that was the start of her love affair in the making of edible sugar exotic orchids and other flowers.

And the rest is history. Now, Ms Robillos makes hundreds of beautiful hand-crafted, realistic edible flowers a day and sells them to various bakeshops and cake shops in the city and neighboring towns. Her flowers even travel to various parts of the Philippines like Cebu, Davao, Zamboanga, Bukidnon, etc.

Chances are, if you get to see a birthday or wedding cake simply or lavishly decorated with attractive, fine-looking and gorgeous sugar flowers here in the city, it must have come from her artistic hands. And she does everything now at the comfort of her home in Camaman-an after she closed Rosita's Bakeshop many years ago.

Currently, Bobby lives and works in New York, Rosita (Diday) and Rebecca (Becky) are involved with Lily's edible flower export business in Manila, Rhonda is in L.A., California, Jun is in Australia while Romy is with them here in Cagayan de Oro. All of them are married and has given their parents 15 beautiful grandchildren.

And as a close and dear friend, "adopted" son and colleague in the baking and cake decorating industry, we exchange note every so often that a day never ends without me calling or her calling me. There was never any competition between us. We help each other and it is and will always be a mutually benefiting learning experience for both of us as we explore new trends and styles in the culinary arts.

At 78, Mama Lydia is still active and very keen on her flower making hobby and business. She is ably assisted by one of her granddaughters, Lydia Ruth (Pie-pie) who also has a very keen eye on beauty and arts. Mommy Lydia makes sure that every little detail of the flower should be made and crafted close to the real one as much as possible. Give her a real fresh flower and she will turn it into an amazing sugar flower!

In a couple of days, Mommy Lydia will be celebrating another milestone in her life. May she live to be a more than a hundred years old of good health so there will be continued sweetness and beauty in the industry where she get to create and share her God-given talents to the next generation and continue her legacy....as Queen of Sugar Flowers! (Website: www.potsnpans1976.weebly.com; email: potsnpans1976@yahoo.com)

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 17, 2011.