Book Review: Baking Secrets by Rudolf Vincent T. Manabat

Seldom you come across a book that is so cheap but so wonderfully written and the recipes inside are heaven sent. I have read about this thin book from a culinary magazine, I was intrigued, here in the Philippines its rare to have a bake book authored by a Filipino. COOLNESS i thought. The next time I went to a bookstore I looked for it, my heart sank its so THIN but I was compensated because it was displayed in the center table (it means NBS recommends it) and its cheap just Php125.  So I bought it.

When I started reading it I was so engrossed, that I finished the whole book just in an hour, it was so well written and 'entertaining' given that it was in book paper with no colorful photos to keep you glued.

I have already made the Moist Chocolate Cake and the Butter Cake it was a keeper. Truly a keeper. Im intrigued withe Dulce de Leche Cake, will try it soon. I have tried and tested a lot of recipe from cookbooks I already know by heart just by looking at the recipe if its good or its just another recipe book filler.  

Then this book has a Baker's Tips section where the author gave out useful tips on baking. 

If you are a Baking Beginner I really recommend this book, its reader friendly no technical terms involved here, just basic baking terms, the recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are so simple that you can easily find them in the local supermarkets. If you are a Baking Pro I still recommend this book its a great addition to any baker's reference cabinet, from time to time one can really learn something from it, anyways the field of culinary arts is a continuous learning process. We can always learn from another baker and in this one I have learned a lot.

The author is quite young, Im sure he will be really be a big name someday in the pastry world. And im sure he will write more beautiful bake books maybe a bigger book. I really hope. Im a fan of his writing.

Buy!Buy!Buy this book! Its a one of those "Big Things comes in Small Packages". 


Excerpt:

I have included the recipe index in my photos to give you a background on whats inside this cookbook. I know how difficult it is to choose a cookbook without scanning the contents first. I have many disappointments  before... buying expensive cook book where the cover is so promising but the contents are not so feasible or a complete disaster. If only book stores will provide open book samples. SHEESH. 

Honeycomb Apple Pie

One thing I have learned in my baking experience is we eat what we see, if it doesn't look scrumptious enough to eat well no one will really enjoy it. Be ridiculously obsess with detail but still pay attention to flavor, believe me they see your downsides even it taste like heaven.

I already made an apple pie a week ago but honestly it didn't please me visually  although it taste really good, so I decided to bake another "honeycomb" design apple pie. 

Last time I used the bottle cap of my olive oil to punch holes in my crust for that "honeycomb" effect, it turned out alright but it wasn't perfect as I would like it to be, so this time I scavanged through my pantry looking for something round that I can use to punch out the dough... Lo and Behold I found the "coupler". Yes the coupler that you use for your piping bags.

I suggest that you punch the "honeycomb" pattern before laying the top crust into the pie. Punching the dough to an attached top crust will create some messy work. 

The edges of this apple pie is made up of the punched out round doughs. I clipped them into the edge of the crust to create this look. See? No waste!

Be resourceful with your baking gadgets, don't buy everything. Especially the famed Egg Separators...cant you use your hands?

Happy Apple Pie Baking!

Barenaked Chocolate Cake

Frosting is fun but sometimes it get overrated too. Change is more fun. How about a naked and moist and gooey chocolate cake stuffed with extra creamy vanilla cream? Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours then BAM! it will change your life.

Thats a little exaggeration but its true. Ill tell you a little secret on how to bake a very moist and gooey chocolate cake the ones that is not crumbly (i despise crumbs): UNDERBAKE for about 5 minutes and add a tablespoon of liquid glucose or two tablespoons of light corn syrup to your batter, it will add magic.

Eat this with a glass of cold milk and you will say goodbye to chocolate frostings. 

 “You know, the smallest thing can change a life. In the blink of an eye, something happens by chance – when you least expect it – sets you on a course that you never planned, into a future you never imagined. Where will it take you? That’s the journey of our lives: our search for the light. But sometimes, finding the light means you must past through the deepest darkness. At least, that’s how it was for me.”

- The Lucky One

Slice me happy: Apple Walnut Loaf

I love making quick breads on weekdays, they are fast and easy to make. I like them wrapped in a foil to 'encourage' moistness and stashed em' inside the fridge. Once in a while i take a peek on the fridge and eat one slice at a time, GUILT TRIP. 

Nigella Lawson is truly a bad influence. Really good, hands down Nigella. Recipe adopted from Nigellla's  Apple Banana Nut Bread but omitted the banana. 

Smores got overboard!

The crust was hanging out in our fridge since New Year's day so I decided to make something out of it, all I have in my pantry is a can of peaches and chocolates and basic baking stuffs. I decide to get sweet crazy. 

GRAHAM CRUST + HOMEMADE CARAMEL SAUCE + MELTED MARSHMALLOW + MELTED SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE + ROASTED MARSHMALLOW

If you want you can add chopped walnuts, mnm's, etc in between....

It was so sinful that one spoonful can make you feel guilty for the next two days. But my brother and my nephew didn't feel guilty at all, they finished the whole thing overnight that I didnt have the chance to take a photo in sliced form. This is good if your heartbroken and needed some sweet comfort.

Homemade Caramel Sauce Recipe

1 cup brown sugar, packed

4T all purpose flour

1/2 cup boiling water + 1/2 t vanilla

pinch of salt

2 T butter ( half of a stick)

1/2 cup all purpose cream

* Combine sugar and flour in a saucepan. Add water and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt. Add more water if the mixture is too thick.

*Remove from heat. Stir in butter and cream. Whisk until smooth in consistency. NOT FOR CAKE FILLING, WONT HOLD FORM. GOOD FOR DRIZZLING, TURTLE PIE, BROWNIES, etc. 

Really Special: Not just another Apple Pie

I love a warm slice of apple pie. It comforts the soul. So on a cold morning of January I decided to bake an Apple Pie. I thought of baking one pretty apple pie, so i thought of the Honey Comb crust design of Martha Stewart. Indeed the Honey Comb holes made my pie oh so pretty. 

In order to achieve that shiny caramelized golden brown crust, make an egg wash :one egg yolk, a teaspoon of full cream milk, and a pinch of cinnamon. Before baking, brush the crust with the egg wash then sprinkle brown sugar, after 30 minutes in oven repeat the process. After baking still hot from the oven brush and sprinkle again! TADA! Golden crust!

I used Gala Apples for this. If you like baking apple pie/apple crumble/apple turnover/anything apple you should know your apples. Here in the Philippines, we have few available.. We have Fuji (yes its the big ones striped yellow and red), Red Delicious (the deep red,medium in size,best looking ones, its the apple that Sleeping Beauty ate), Gala (smaller and rounder in shape than red delicious, looks like Fuji but way smaller, red and yellow in color), Granny Smith ( they are your green apples), Honey Crisp (looks like your gala apples but bigger and with hues of greeen), Mcintosh apples (it red and green and small), Jonagold (medium sized, red and green but more of green)... sometimes in big supermarkets we come acros golden delicious and some pink lady. I know apples because I read their names in groceries and read about them. I use Gala for my apple pie because they are crisp even after baking plus the tartness and the sweetness are just balanced. Fuji apple is too crispy even after baking, granny smith is too tart for me, red delicious tends to be mushy after baking. I recommend Gala or Granny Smith for baking but if you can find Jonagold then better!

I wish I can share to you the exact recipe for this Apple Pie but this is a product of guess and check. The recipe was adapted from Blue Ribbon Apple Pie  but tweaked most part of it. Will finalize it soon and share with everyone. 

So we may not always be winners but we’re not lazy. We take chances. We go for broke, swing for the fences and sometimes, yeah, we strike out. But sometimes you get a home run. LIKE THIS APPLE PIE.

Sunday Lunch: Grilled Scallops with Butter and Garlic

If you are on the healthy diet this is not one healthy lunch. One its soaking in butter. Two the garlic is deep fried and drenched in oil. Three you cant help it but finish the whole bunch with heaping amount of piping hot white rice (yes the bad kind of rice). So forget it this is not healthy seafood. 

Filipinos are lucky especially the ones living in island provinces, fresh seafood is everywhere. This one was fresh from our town Sunday wet market. At 160Pesos per kilo its a steal compared to the ones in manila.

Let me teach you how to prepare this the RIGHT way, if done hastily scallops can cause you a nasty stomach ache.

Remove the upper shell, clean the scallops thoroughly, remove sand and other foreign objects (things that shouldn't be there, like small fishes,crabs). Set aside. In a kilo of scallop you will need 1 garlic head chopped finely, 1/2 cup of butter (unsalted) softened, 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup annatto seeds/atchuete.

Heat oil in medium fire then add the atchuete when the oil turns bright orange strain off the atchuete leaving behind the orange oil... now add the garlic into the oil... fry until golden brown. Put off the fire let it cool. Then add it to softened butter, mix together thoroughly. (orange oil with garlic + butter)

Grilling part. Put the scallops in the grill face up. Let it "sweat" its will cook on its own juices, scallop stores salt water, most shellfishes do. When all the water from the scallop has evaporated add a dollop of your butter mixture, the more the better, just ask the French people. Wait for the sizzle of the butter. Remove from grill. Its done. Enjoy your not so healthy seafood dish.  

Book Review: Goldilocks Bakebook

This book is a cross between a coffee table book and a cookbook. Visually this book is a perfect 10 but technically I mean recipe-wise just below 5. If you are hoping that Goldilocks gave out their recipes for your favorite polvoron, mocha roll or brazos de mercedes then this book will disappoint you. They didn't.

I remembered I have too many egg whites in the freezer so I decided to try the meringue recipe well it turned out to be a complete inedible disaster. HOW CAN A MERINGUE RECIPE GO WRONG? Weird... So  I tried another recipe  "Crema the Fruta", well in turned out--- not so Goldilocks. 

If you are in search for a good baking recipe book this is not for you, but if you are for reading and shopping for a good coffeetable book on baking well I will suggest this book. Its inspiring to read how Goldilocks started and it will somehow remind you of your favorite Goldilocks Cake (mine was the good 'ol Ube Roll) and this book will remind you how good Goldilocks was before it expanded and became available nationwide.

Price-wise, its a steal for Pesos795, considering it  has glossy,thick and colorful pages, if this was a foreign  authored book the price could have been tripled.

 If you are a baking buff  like me buy it! Decades from now this will turn into a good memorabilia of our most loved, proudly Pinoy bakeshop. 

Best and Pretty Ever Carrot Cake

I can still remember the day of my very first carrot cake, it was dry outside but still " fresh batter" inside. It was discouraging. The only good thing about that day is my baking teacher ( a brilliant one!) taught me about marzipan (marzipan is the yummier, more feasible and cheaper sister of fondant). This is one cake that is so simple to do but finding the right proportions is so hard....

After a dozen of testing recipes from books, online, magazines, product inserts... I came across this one. It was a jackpot. The carrot cake was super moist. Really its super moist and the flavors are well balanced especially the sweetness.

I used cream cheese frosting all over. Planned to put marzipan carrots on top but realized I ran out of icing sugar, so I just settled for walnuts. 

Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Shredded Carrots 1 cup
Brown Sugar 1 1/4 cup
Eggs 5 large eggs
Vanilla Essence 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon Powder 1 tsp
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder 1 tsp
Plain Flour 2 cups
Corn Oil 1 cup
Raisins 1/3 cup ( I omitted) and replaced with Walnuts
Pineapple,crushed 1 small can, drained

Grease and line one 9 inch round pan. Sift all dry ingredients and set aside. Whisk oil and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one   at a time, then add the vanilla essence. Fold in carrots, pineapples and raisins/walnuts until evenly incorporated. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until just well combined. DO NOT OVER MIX and NEVER OVER BEAT especially if you are using stand mixers. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes. 325*F. ENJOY! Frost with your favorite cream cheese/butter cream frosting. 


When we follow our hearts, when we choose not to settle, it’s funny isn’t it? A weight lifts. The sun shines a little brighter and for a brief moment at least, we find a little peace.

Welcome 2013: The Awesome Blueberry Cheesecake

Thank you 2012. Hello 2013. My new year baking resolution is to make more beautiful, simple and elegant cakes. I promise not to go "piping-happy"... pipe here pipe there pipe everywhere. RIDICULOUS ME. I know. and please lesser floral cakes.

As you can see I changed my blog's name. Its a new year thing. Why celestial? Its my favorite brand of tea ( Celestial Seasonings ), a cup of Tension Tamer or Apple Cinnamon paired with my baked goodies is enough to send you floating across the Milky Way. 

This year will be fun and prettier. I promise.

So to welcome the 2013 right I made a classic Blueberry Cheesecake. A good Blueberry Cheesecake should have balance and smoothness. Balance wherein you can taste the nutty and buttery crust, the silky and creamy cheese cake, and sweet n' tart tinge of blueberry topping. Smoothness in the sense that the cheese cake should not be "rough sweet" and has no lumps. The only texture that you can feel should only come from the blueberry and the crust.

Thanks to Excelle Elite Non-Stick Wilton Heart Tart Pan, its really foolproof. no need to grease the sides, it comes out perfectly. It really is heart shaped.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Wishing you all a fruitful and healthy 2013.

A Happy New Year to Everyone: This Page will be under Construction

This page will resume Saturday 6:00 AM, Philippine Time.

Simpler. Sweeter. under our New Name: Celestial Cakes. Same baker just better.