The Classic Chocolate Cake

It's The Classic Chocolate Cake. Some like it frosted or filled with Chocolate Fudge or Caramel or Pastry Cream. So what I did is infused it all in my cake, I frosted it with Chocolate Fudge, filled it with Pastry Cream and caricatured it all over with Caramel. Go INDULGE!

The World's Baddest Dog: Happy 1st Birthday Big Moose

BURP! too full!

Because he is too fat and cant fit his body, he will just settle with his head.

Look at those fluffy ears!

Thinking what to do next.

Moose's look when he wants to go inside the house.

Moose is one big lovable pain in the ass dog. 


We bought Moose when he was just 2 months old from a Korean woman after seeing her ad in our vet's clinic. We visited her house to choose from the litter of puppies for sale, our criteria was to choose a puppy that looks gentle, healthy and cute. Moose caught our eye... he has huge shy eyes, really chubby and he looks GENTLE. We took him home. He was our first and only choice.


We named him MOOSE. Thinking he will grow up to become a gentle giant. 


I remember when we arrived home. He was a bit shy with our other dogs (3 mixed jack russ, a mix maltese and a black labrador) and he is so fascinated with water that he drunk so much as if he just came from Sudan and even went inside his bowl then he felt awkward walking in the bermuda grass. We decided to let him stay inside our house until he gets a little older, we thought he will get scared outside because its a new place for him.


His first week with us, he was still timid and the only thing we notice is he ate a lot and he doesnt like eating puppy dog food, he loves the for adult kind. Other thing he sleeps a lot and snores like a huge elephant. 


After a month with us there goes the real Moose! He grew up to be a really huge dog, his vet is worried because he is too overweight , but the only good thing is he is still very active, we even complained about his hyperactiveness, his vet assured us that it will be fine when he gets over his puppy stage....


Well after a year he is still a puppy trapped in a SHAQ-Like body!


He eats our plants from the potted ones to rare orchids, kidnapped a bat yes! a bat as in a bat and torture it with his giant paws, de-feathered chicks that unluckily strayed to our house, steal the meal of our other dogs, get stucked under my car because he was too fat, opened and finished half a bottle of Pet Tabs, sneaked out our gate and swim in our neighbor's muddy pond, sneaked out of our gate and hang out in a stranger's house,   ate countless of slippers, rags, brushes, mops, pails etc., tormented a frog to jump he doesnt like frogs that are staying put he wants them to leap around and chase them. When something happens outside its definitely MOOSE.


After all this grueling labrador months... we will never exchange Moose in any dog in this world, his Oscar winning sad eyes when he wants to go inside the house, his reassuring hugs and licks and his huggable tummy are irreplaceable and priceless.

Silky Lemon Meringue Pie

A spoonful of silky Lemon Meringue Pie is TRUE LOVE and WARMTH OF MORNING SUNSHINE in your mouth.

*Beat the egg white with cream of tartar till soft peaks then add icing sugar gradually, on high speed beat until silky and glossy that is around two-three minutes after stiff peaks.  

The Deception Cake

This is not an Ube Cake. This is a Red Velvet Cake dressed with violet colored vanilla buttercream and lightly drenched with chocolate ganache and filled with chocolate pastry cream.


This is a cake that requires you to close your eyes in order to savor the red velvet cake. Its like eating an onion with nose clipped and eyes covered in order for it to taste like apple.


So next time... Do not eat with your eyes... Eat with your tastebuds. 



“We put things to rest, only to have them rise up again. So if death is not the end, what can you count on anymore? Because you sure can’t count on anything in life. Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is. In fact there’s only one thing about life we can be sure…It ain’t over, ‘til it’s over.”

Iloilo's Best Tacos

I have a penchant for simple and delicious foods, foods that are not complicated just plain and simple delicious.

Gulliver's Taco Bar in The Atrium here in Iloilo City is one example of simple comforting delicious food. Gulliver's Taco Bar is an old stuff, its just a cart and you can even miss it if you don't know it existed, it is in the ground floor right in the foot of the escalator. It sells Tacos, sometimes roast beef sandwich, fresh lumpia (ubod), chinese lumpia, pork barbeque then banana cupcakes. I first tasted their taco I think when I was still in grade school since then if I have chance to pass by the Atrium I grab one. 

Their taco is simple.. sauteed ground beef, shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, grated cheese and ketchup. I always have the spicy kind so it has hot sauce. and one thing both weird and wonderful is their taco shell is not even the tortilla kind its made with stacked lumpia wrapper deep fried to the shape of a taco shell dont worry its not greasy. I cant figure out how they do it... :P

One thing though its messy to eat... but its worth it. Every bite taste like home... warm, comforting and peaceful. Yes peaceful! Your mind clears while eating this classic favorite... Seriously, for me it does.

So if ever you pass by The Atrium grab one. You won't regret it.

“Just when we think we’ve figured things out, the universe throws us a curveball. So we have to improvise. We find happiness in unexpected places. We find our way back to the things that matter the most. The universe is funny that way. Sometimes it just has a way of making sure we wind up exactly where we belong.”

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I am more partial with fruit infused cakes. I used to love Red Ribbon's Mango Cake so much... (well that was before it got  commercialized), but I can still eat that cake. I just love the fruity side of cakes. Its refreshing in the taste buds, not heavy and too rich like chocolate cakes. Although for some people especially for the chocoholics they will disagree on this. This is just me.


Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a classic cake. When I was just a kid I love looking at them, and wonder if I can only eat the top part. I always love that caramelized pineapple and caramel drenched chiffon cake combo. 


If you love fruits, caramelized sugar and fluffy chiffon cakes, then you definitely love Pineapple Upside Down.




P.S.


You can substitute Pineapple with thinly sliced apple (use fuji), Fruit Cocktail Mix, Peaches, Mangoes (half an inch thick slices), Pears, even Bananas (saba variety thinly sliced). Just make sure to have a caramel base!   

HAPPY WEEKEND GUYS!

My O-M-G #1 book in my Wishlist: FLOUR Spectacular Recipes from Boston Bakery+Cafe

Came across this book in a culinary magazine and the magazine featured some of the pages from this  book... I really like the recipes, really feasible and I can tell its really good. 


Only problem is its not available in the local bookstore... well its not time to give up. 

Iloilo's Hotel Del Rio Pineapple Turnover

I have a thing for simple and honest desserts, just good desserts with no thick make-up or complicated over the top twists, just a sweet bite of heaven.


Hotel Del Rio's Pineapple Turnover is one good example. Its so good that you can easily finish a dozen in one sitting. The pastry crust is so buttery and flaky, the process of creating this crust is an art, one should have a good pulse and a graceful finesse in dough rolling or else it will break. and The Pineapple filling is made from scratch, not starchy or too sweet or too sour JUST RIGHT, it taste like the pineapple jam your mom makes at home. 


This pastry taste one of kind, I have tasted a lot of fruit infused turnovers,tarts, croissants, pies,etc... but none comes close to this....


Iloilo's food scene is scarce when it comes to really good desserts, most dessert places are just too made up and photoshopped (sorry for being brutally honest)... but there are runner ups like Turtle Pie in Messe but sad to say its no longer around, the good ol Butterscotch of Biscocho House, the reasonable but really creamy Brazos de Mercedes of Grand Hotel. So right now I'm writing about this Pineapple Turnover because its a rare find and it hit a home run.


So the next time you pass by Hotel del Rio place an order for a box of Pineapple Turnover and it wont disappoint. 


* also recommending their Napoleones if you want some real chocolate and sugar rush. 

Ugly pics of a very pretty Moist Chocolate Cake

I apologize guys if I have been off the radar lately. Things just got busy. Will be updating soon promise... like next week!

Made this cake for a colleague its a Moist Chocolate Cake with a twang! Im just happy that I can make  marble scales texture. Its just a mixture of Chocolate Fudge and Whipping Cream. Do not mix them instead layer them up then smudge them using an off set spatula, learned this technique from one of the show in Asian Food Channel. This icing texture is nice for Black Forest Cake, Christmas Log Rolls and Marble Cakes.

“Carpe Diem.  I’ll admit the Romans had it right. You gotta live life. Between seizing what life offers in the moment, and forging ahead, no matter what life offers, or closing the curtains, and shutting out the day.