What is mamon?

So for those of you who don’t know, it is a Filipino sponge cake. And no, it does not come from Mamon Island, Philippines. Yes, such an island exists. But we digress. Traditionally, it’s is baked in a mamon molder, which gives it its distinctive shape. And while there are variants like mamon tostado, which means “mamon toasted”, we’ll be focusing on the usual soft variant. 

According to the Bangkok Post, the mamon origin was during World War II. There was little food, and the few commodities available to people were flour and liquid butter. Civilians back then would put the two ingredients together to create a not-so-delicious yellow,cake-like mass. From these roots, the mamon pastry was born. Now it’s not not-so-delicious; it’s super delicious! 

Some disclaimers before the actual test

For the test, we’re just going to consider their appearance and taste. We won’t look at how many calories mamon has, its nutrition facts, or the mamon price. It’s generally pretty affordable anyway, and who wants to know how many calories it has? Let’s just eat it and be happy! 

In terms of the brands we bought, these were just the ones available at the time of this writing. We also wanted to stick to immediately available ones and the ones that are in packaging already. For a more even playing field, we guess?

No one is paying us to do this test. This is strictly of our own accord. So if we’re going to be biased toward anything, it’s to which one tastes best, okay?

Finally, we’re not official taste test judges or anything. This was done purely to fulfill our cravings… and because it’s fun. You don’t have to take our word for it. Feel free to conduct your own taste test and share the results with us!

So without any further delay, here are the contenders!

Uncle George Mamon Rolls

So Uncle George, the first entry on this list, brands itself as mamon rolls. It’s still mamon, so it’s on the list! The package comes with four pieces.

Visual Appeal:

It’s generally smooth, without the ridges of a mold. The same for the top, except for that weird pattern. It reminds us of a kababayan bread, except it’s just flatter.

Taste:

As you can see, it’s very tightly packed. You’ll get a lot of flavor in every bite. It has a nice delicious taste, a good balance of sweet and buttery. For some reason, we also just found it a bit soggy when we bit into it. It was still pretty good though.

Goldilocks Fluffy Mamon

So right at the start, Goldilocks is programming us to expect something fluffy. We wonder if we will be disappointed…

Visual Appeal:

The view from the top isn’t bad. It’s not super appealing, but it’s also not enough to turn us off.

We like how they placed it in a plastic cup instead of a liner. That way there’s fewer possibilities for the mamon to stick. We also love the ridges!

Taste:

Well, we were looking for fluffy, and it was definitely fluffy! You’ll love the buttery taste. It’s also quite firm but soft when bitten into. And aren’t those airholes pretty? It’s a good balance of density and air.

Monde Special Mamon (Classic)

Monde mamons usually come in a pack of 6 pieces and 12 pieces. But if you go to a convenience store, there’s an option to buy just one piece. The packaging kind of hinds what it looks like, don’t you think so? But at least you know that when you get one, it’s a Monde. It’s also one of the bigger ones readily available.

Visual Appeal:

From the side, it looks very nice, plump, and tasty.

From the top is a different story. Maybe it’s best to just look at it from the side? LOL. Maybe if that part hadn’t collapsed, this would be a different conversation.

Taste:

Just as additional to the appearance, when you peel off the paper, some of the pastry goes with it. And well, it ruins the visual appeal. But we do love the ridges! Anyway, so for the taste, it’s dense, has the right amount of sweetness, and… well, in our opinion, unremarkable. There’s no aftertaste, but there’s also no impact on your tongue when you bite into one. We guess that’s great if you’re just looking strictly for a mamon to eat.

Marby Mini Mamon

Here’s the other mini entry on our list. Aren’t they cute? What we like about Marby is that it comes in five pieces! If your craving is not satisfied by one, four more should do the trick!

Visual Appeal:

Well, like we mentioned, they’re cute. And they look soft and fluffy. We probably won’t be able to stop squishing them before eating.

Of course, the top part leaves a lot to be desired. The top isn’t exactly appealing to our eyes… but that’s not going to stop us from tasting it!

Taste:

It has a nice moistness and as we suspected, very fluffy. We kind of found it too airy, though. I mean, we like fluffy, but not to the point where it’s more air than bread. But hey, at least it has five pieces. The taste is also okay, just the right amount of sweetness.

Tiffany’s Two Pack Mamon

So what’s nice about Tiffany’s offering is that you’ll get two in one pack. But will the taste be more than enough to satisfy us?

Visual Appeal:

Sadly, the top part was already stuck to the plastic even before we got one from the packaging. The brown layer was all gone. That made us sad. But oh well, there’s more than enough for us to sink our teeth into.

Taste:

The taste was sweet and buttery, but we found that there was a weird aftertaste. Sort of a chemical-like taste? Also, we found this brand to be a bit too dense for our taste. It’s filling, but with the mentioned taste plus the density, this probably won’t be our first choice.

And the winner is…

If you guessed that the winning mamon = Goldilocks, then you’re right! Among the five choices, Goldilocks emerged as the fluffiest, prettiest, and most delicious. It was the one that had just the right amount of sweetness and it wasn’t too dense. No wonder searches for “mamon goldilocks recipe” are high, or that recipes for mamon like Goldilocks are in demand. A close second for us would be the Marby and the Uncle George brands.

Want to make your own instead?

This test was fun, but would you like to not have to look for a nearby place to buy mamon? Want to just make your own mamon versions? After all, just having five options may not be enough to satisfy you. Then why not enroll in our Gourmet Mamon class? Check out the video below for a preview.

Chef Chona will be your instructor for this class. We’ve featured some of her classes previously in this blog, such as her Kakanin and Silvanas classes. With this class, she’ll teach you how to make assorted ones! There will no longer be any need to Google “butter mamon near me” or “filipino mamon near me.” You’ll just make your own!

In this class, you’ll be able to produce nine different mamon flavors using Chef Chona’s mamon recipes. These include mamon chocolate, mamon ube macapuno, mango, and dulce de leche. You’ll also learn the mamon ingredients, the mamon molder size to use, why mamon shrinks, and mamon shelf life. Find out where to buy tools to make mamon, like the mamon molder, liner, etc.

And as a bonus, Chef Chona will also share with you her techniques on how to achieve proper whipped cream. You’ll even learn how to flavor Italian Merinue Buttercream to further elevate the simple mamon bread. And finally, she’ll give you business advice to make sure your food business is profitable!

So what are you waiting for? Visit The Bailiwick Academy to enroll in this class today!

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