MANILA -- An exciting and much-awaited cake competition, with over 60 talented bakers as participants, will be one of the major highlights of Bakery Fair 2019, happening February 15 to 17 at the World Trade Center.

Nature will be the theme of this year’s competition, which set the minimum height for the cakes at 5-feet.

Judges are presidents of international bakers from China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, plus four other names from the local front.

Bakery Fair 2019 will be ushered in by the ceremonial cutting of the giant, special cake, celebrating the theme, “Chinese New Year in the Year of the Pig.” The Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association, Inc. (FCBAI) believes the theme is a fitting celebration of good luck and good life, as the Chinese New Year officially started just last February 5.

The actual cake will be 7-feet tall by 4-feet wide and made with eight layers. It will be created meticulously by award-winning cake designer, chef James Anton Uy of Cubcakes Bakery.

Uy is a respected baking and cake decorating instructor and the 2013 winner of Bakery Fair Cake Display competition, where he bested even some of the more established names in the local baking industry.

The cake will be the centerpiece of the Bakery Fair 2019 ceremonial cutting that will take place at 10 a.m. on opening day on February 15.

Started in 2001, Bakery Fair aims to foster awareness on the importance of updating the baking industry, baking enthusiasts and the general public on the latest trends in baking technology and ideas, new equipment and ingredients, latest packaging concepts and materials.

“We try to showcase the technology and whatever is new in the three-day Bakery Fair,” said FCBAI president Peter Fung.

Held only every two years, Bakery Fair 2019 has become a much-awaited event for baking enthusiasts in the Philippines.

“Baking is very interesting,” Fung said. “The creativity of Filipino bakers comes out every time we hold Bakery Fair.”