Milk Chocolate Box Cake

A compact, very chocolatey, kinda chewy, dense chocolate cake with creamy pastry cream filling topped with one of a kind milk chocolate soft buttercream. Im proud of this creation. This is something you wont find and taste in other bakeshops or baker. 

This one will come with four pretty poinsettias in the corners. Not in picture because I ran out of icing sugar. Bugger! Boxed in a clear plastic box so convenient for this holiday rush. This will also come with red and green ribbons. Plus a gift card.

PM for orders. 

At your Christmas Table: Walnut Caramel Fudge Brownies

Christmas is fast approaching. Everytime someone announce on TV that its __ days to go before Christmas I feel a lump on my throat. This past days I feel distraught, I cant seem to make up my mind on what to sell for Christmas. So finally after months of planning and kitchen tests I finally formulated an "im not so expecting this" creation. Finding a good recipe is like finding a needle in a hay stack and then adjusting the recipe so it will be very good is like inventing a rocket for a trip to Uranus. Yes that grueling. I feel guilty everytime I think of how may chocolate bars, walnuts, premium butter I wasted so I can come up  with a recipe this good. A million thanks to my cookie monster nephew who never got tired of eating my scraps.

When I formulated my brownie.... I had the Becky's Kitchen Brownies in mind. It should be that good, I promised myself. If not that good, as close as I can get! Im just realistic Becky's Kitchen is an institution......luckily it turned to be really good, equally good as Becky's, Im not shy to say that because its true. 

And its pretty too! not girly pretty but delectably lipsmackingly pretty.

If you like walnuts and fudgy-caramelly brownies, then this should be at your dinner table this Christmas plus Im sure your friends will love this....

16 squares for 400 Pesos, boxed up and tied up with red and green ribbons, It will be a sweet Christmas. 

Watch out for my marvelous square packed moist chocolate cake soon...

* Deliveries will be reasonably charged according to distance.

The Very Pretty Rose Cake

Im an old soul. I love childhood memories, the old life and rustic stuffs. So lets call this style the classic rather than old school. If you will ask me to bake you a wedding cake, I wont be doing it with fondant and airbrushing but rather with creamy buttercream or silky marshmallow icing.

Here just like a Classic Victoria Sandwich Cake. Stawberry Jam sandwiched between two fluffy chiffon cakes. So good... just like the old times.... nowadays cake fillings are so complicated... from salted caramel to rose water flavored choo choos.....

TIP: When filling your cake make a "dam" first on the outline of your cake to prevent the filling from spilling out unto the sides and mess up your frosting... its good that your dam is the same color or almost same color  with your frosting.

UPPER LIGHT BLUE CHIFFON CAKE was colored with four drops of McCormick Bright Blue.

TIP: Always have a leveled top cake and brush away the crumbs before you frost.... Dirty Ice first then get crazy with icing, FROST Away!

Here I used WILTON 2D Tip for perfect rose swirls! and Light TEAL color from paste type Chef Masters!

The Wilton Way: Basic Decorating Course "Practice makes Perfect"

 (Cake Damages is due to storage and transportation, just imagine a cake that slept for two nights in the fridge then HAND CARRIED from MNL-ILO with my other stuffs, I only have two hands! Sorry for the scratches, dents and its kinda melting...)

I left my cam with my bro so I have to hand carry this cakes back to Iloilo to have their pics taken  and be posted in my blog. Yes that tedious and impractical and traumatizing plus I will never do it again. EVER. 

I took a Wilton Cake Decorating Course last weekend at Living Well Homestore at The Podium under Chef Jackie Ang Po. It was fun and at last I learned how to pipe and frost a cake properly. Before, I just taught myself through youtube and books. My instructor was really good, I learned well and she's so perky and  funny that I was awake and attentive the whole class which was scheduled on sleepy hours. Will definitely going back for more courses... 

Kosher Dictatorship: Anti-Cybercrime Act 10175

This is not about food or any pastry, this is about how rotten and dictating the present Philippine government is.  I know by writing this my blog might be blocked by the Department of Justice oh well its just Oct 2.. I am not writing this because of any political aspirations like what Ninoy Aquino did (Ninoy Aquino didnt mean Filipinos are worth dying for but the Presidential position is worth dying for, wake-up Philippines!), but because I want my small audience to feel my opinion and hoping that they get enlightened about this issue. The cybercrime law was passed because it will be the skirt that our government will be hiding behind everytime they commit an anomaly, cyberspace is the modern day MEGAPHONE, your dirty laundry will scatter like wildfire in minutes, it can make you or break you. Remember, during the 2010 election cyberspace was the one who put this government in power, so what place them in power can unseat them too. Behind this computer screens are "intellects" that cannot be easily swayed by "at the end of the day" statements or make believe lovelife. Netizens scares our politicians.

Our Facebook page, Twitter accounts, Blogspot sites, etc is like our house, we own it and we have a fence around, if we paint our house neon orange---- the government has no business on it. 

The Anti-Cybercrime Law is an act of cowardice and dictatorship of our congressmen,senators and especially our beloved President. 

I still hope to wake up one day and see a Philippines where people doesn't believe in "at the end of day" statements, that Ninoy Aquino is a hero, Noynoy Aquino is a brilliant leader, and go loko over the color yellow and votes only on the familiar.

Philippines is more fun without the Cybercrime Law... and Im sure its the best without the politicians who signed for the passage of this "dumb and wimpy" law! 

Post Script:

I challenge our "at the end of the day" president. If you are not wimpy...sign the FOI bill.

This will be your Homemade Christmas Gift: Citron Bars

This is the best time to plan out what will you give away this coming Christmas. Homemade gifts are special, receivers always appreciate labors of love and of course homemade gifts don't get recycled. 

Christmas is just around the corner, so I'm feeling extra generous. I'm sharing with you a very special special recipe very good for gift giving: Lemon Bars. 

This Lemon Bars recipe is extra special, really decadent and rich but surprisingly refreshing. And it will be a surprising gift to your family and friends because most of us will be receiving chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, brownies, pastries, bars, cheesecakes etc... but not Lemon Bars.

This recipe is very easy to make. Just basic and easy to find ingredients and short cooking time. You don't need to have great culinary expertise to do this. You can double or triple the recipe if you are making huge batches.


Lemon Bars

For the base crust

1 c All Purpose Flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar  ( can be sub by caster sugar )
1/4 tsp salt (very important! to balance the flavor, anti-umay)
1/2 c butter (baker's best if you are in econo mode, anchor is very okay, danish butter is extra special (Lurpak will do!) )

For the Citron topping

3/4 cup caster sugar / sifted white sugar
2 T of APF
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs
1 T grated lemon zest
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice ( make it one and half squeezed lemon then add water to make it 1/2 cup )  *1/2 c of pure lemon juice is too sour

This recipe is for an 8x8 square pan. Grease - Line - Grease. Combine flour, sugar and salt in bowl cut in the butter until pea size. If you have a food processor this task will be easy. But you can always use a fork or a pastry bender or even your fingers. Just mash and rub in the butter to the flour mixture. Make sure the butter is softened. 

Dump the dough to the prepared pan and press evenly over the bottom, the dough will look too little but its enough, the base crust is supposedly thin. It should look like this:

Bake until the edges are golden brown or crisp brown. Do not over bake, remember you will return this again back to the oven. Here loo at the edges, just the right browning.

Now for the topping...

Whisk sugar, flour, salt together in a bowl. Whisk in eggs then add lemon zest and juice. TASTE the mixture I know its gross with the raw eggs but you have to taste if its too sweet or too sour for you remember this recipe is according to my taste buds  If its okay then pour over the crust. Return to oven and bake until filling is just set. Around 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before slicing. Best eaten cold and sprinkled with icing sugar.

So now you have really good Lemon Bars. Package this in a clear plastic box then tie it with a bright red ribbon, write a really good Christmas message and your good to go! Happy Holidays folks! 

Mangoriffic! - Mango Loaf

I've been busy this past days, with so many errands, baking and researching to do. Yes researching for what I will be selling for Christmas. Until now I still dont have any concrete idea what to offer. Really bleak... weak... bleak... whatever.

Anyways, I know I'll get by... I always do. 

Instead I formulated a brilliant recipe for a Mango Loaf Cake. Not really formulated but I twisted my Banana Loaf Cake recipe and turned it into a Mango Loaf. At first I thought it wont work, because I know in the first place that mango is more acidic than bananas, maybe it wont rise and it will turn out rock hard. When it went out the oven it looks depressing. Too brown for a mango loaf, dry, and kinda too solid. But as always I gave it a chance, I let it cool then wrap it in a foil then refrigerate it overnight. 

Its taste test time. In the morning, when I sliced it I was greeted by a bright mango cake below the dark brown crust dotted with real mango bits. It was moist, soft and fluffy, sweet mango smelling and its dense in a good way. You can eat it in one seating like what my nephew did. 

Just like in real life: " Always give it another day to judge someone or something. "

Veggie Goodness. Carrot Cupcakes

A carrot cupcake should have visible shreds of carrots for it to be called carrot cupcake. An orange or yellow colored cupcake is not a carrot cupcake. Do not be cheap with the carrots.

A carrot cupcake should have pineapple bits. It adds sweetness and flavor dimension.

A carrot cupcake should have raisins or prunes. Its something to look forward to... on every bite.

A carrot cupcake should have walnuts... hazelnuts are rare but thats  pure indulgence. This guys will add texture and peanut butter-jelly compliment to the carrot cupcake.

A carrot cupcake should have cinnamon and vanilla. What you will smell is what you will eat. If your house doesn't smells good while baking then I'm sure it doesn't taste delish!

A carrot cupcake should be homey and simple. 

Happy carrot cupcaking! 

Eat Meat Pies.

Im desperate to make a real empanada, but my setback is deep frying it. I love deep fried foods but Im wary of doing it myself. One, I dont have a deep fryer and two, its a waste of oil, in our house we only use canola oil, imagine wasting minimum half a liter of canola oil. Wheew! Yes its the stingy me! So I decided to do BAKED Meat Pies! It turned out to be just okay.... the crust is not flaky enough... and the filling was a little tad salty. This is where I say... TILL NEXT TIME..