Manila, Feb. 20 -- The municipality of La Trinidad in Benguet province launched on Thursday the 2025 Strawberry Festival that will feature a giant strawberry cake shaped into a "kayabang" (native basket) using 280 kilos of fresh berries.

Valred Olsim, municipal tourism officer, said in a media interview on the sidelines of the event held at the Nazarene Bible College here that this year's design was given a sneak-peak during last year's festival. The town then featured two giant strawberry cakes --one red and the other, white featuring the snow-white strawberries.

Olsim said 500 pans of strawberry sponge cake will be cut into 16,000 slices at the municipal gymnasium on March 23.

"We have a local baker owning a bakeshop using their own ...