Sweet Tooth

Korea Travel Mini

2015-08-29T23:09:00.000+08:00

First and foremost, I have a confession to make, I'm a huge sucker for cutesy items and I tend to hoard albums like there is no tomorrow specially when they are on sale. For no other purpose than it was on sale and I can use them in the future. So my tiny apartment is filled with empty albums, way more than I know what to do with them. For that reason, I forced myself to finally get started with this mini album that I've been thinking of doing for the longest time.

For this travel mini, I chose to use the Gold We R Memory Keepers Instagram album. It's small and cute! whats not to love? Rather than buying more travel themed papers and ephemeras, I use my stash. I finally found a good use for my Kelly Purkey 6x6 Mon Ami paper pad. I used to hoard it and cannot seem to let go or decide where I should use it. Now with this album I found that once I got the hand of it cutting it up and creating with the paper is much more enjoyable. I also use embellishments from my Studio Calico project life subscription leftovers. Since this is sort of a big project for me, I limit myself into few items only so that I would not get overwhelmed. I also see to it that the embellishments and ephemeras that I use are mainly flat since flatness is the key to make them all fit! Lol! flatness is that even a word?

Since I am currently in my stamp phase meaning I manage to collect a lot of stamps in the past 2 years that I started project life-ing. Which is ironic because when I started I was like what am I going to dow with those? It's so wasteful and I have no idea what to dow with those. Now they are my kryptonite! Specially if its from my favorite designers. So with lots of stamps comes great responsibility of using them! Lol! ok I got a bit cheesy. Anyway you got what I meant, for this project I use mostly from Kelly Purkey's Clear Kelly line and her collab stamps with Christine Herrin. I just love how modern and how well their designs suits my style. I know a lot of people say that about their designs but I like to think that I'm special.

My favorite go to technique in stamping is stamping directly on the photo. In this instance, I used Staz On Jet Black ink pad.

I got too enthusiastic with this project that I didn't foresee that the 8 day trip we took got way too much photos to be able to fit into that one mini album. I was half way through before I realized my mistake and in the end. I just went with the follow. Now I got 2 albums for that one trip!

It took me longer than expected, a little over a month, to finally finish my first travel album! I am so ecstatic! Its so unbelievable that I managed to finish it! Now I understand why people love to make mini albums. When I was making mine I get to reminisce and remember the actual event that happened when the photo was taken or why. It's like traveling back in time.

Bakery Fair 2015

2015-02-15T20:24:00.001+08:00

Bakery Fair is held every other year and I have been to the fair 3 times in a row now. Bakery Fair is held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, it started January 30 to February. The who's who of the culinary industry is there, there are a lot of manufacturers that held mini demos in their perspective booth showcasing their new products. The are lots of machineries needed for baking and factories. I of course was there to ogle on the latest in the baking industry. I went window shopping for what I would need in my future pastry shop. Good thing though that I was able to drag Emy there, he get to carry most of my loot! After 5 hours of walking around the showroom, he cried uncle and we went in search of food!

My favourite find were these cake decorating books by Sharon Wee and Carlos Lischetti. Actually the night before I emailed Sharon asking about her book, the next day I found out that someone from the Philippines will be carrying her book! Then I saw it at the Bakery Fair eekk!! So excited!!! One of the biggest purchase that I got is The Mat. I've seen (on youtube) and heard so many great things about it that I just have to try it. Stocked up on various colors too! It was way cheaper there. Now that I think of it that is the only purchase that I got at a discount. The other items are just the same price though. Another thing that I'm excited about is the LorAnn Red Velvet Emulsion, its suppose to save you a step when making red velvet cakes. Though admittedly I've read both good and bad stuff about this and I just want to give it a try.

All in all, it was a fun but very tiring and productive afternoon till the next fair.

Midnight Baker is Born

2014-02-10T16:06:00.001+08:00

I've been neglecting my blog I know for that I do apologize. I've been quite busy for several months now. I'm dipping my toes in the food world and been taking in special orders for weddings and birthdays. As regular readers of this blog noticed that I love attending baking classes, I even went and got my certificate in baking. I just love baking so much that when I'm in the kitchen it doesn't feel as if I'm doing work.

I was in this rut that I didn't feel as if my baking is good enough that people would actually pay good money for it. Luckily, I met someone who gave the push that I needed to open up an online shop of some sort thus Midnight Baker was born. I pondered on the name of my would be "shop", I even thought of using the name of my blog Sweet Tooth but then when I ran that idea to some people I found that its sort of hard to pronounce. Finally decided on Midnight Baker because as the name suggest I bake at midnight since I have a day job and this is my sideline for now, I've been actually using the hash tag #midnightbaker in my IG account so might as well use it.

Hopefully this year I would get more orders.

Sugar Free Blueberry Cheesecake

2014-02-04T14:40:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! I know I am days too late but its better than never, right? Anyway, I got way too busy this season amidts all the shopping and baking that had to be done. I somehow neglected my blog. I also got a new hobby that also eats away my blogging time, I'm now into scrapbooking and I'm finding a way to merge this blog with that blog so I'm only maintaining one blog much less hassle for me and I get to update it more often. So please bear with me as I try to decide what to do.

With all the hustle and bustle of the season, I wanted to make something simple and yet delicious and my mind automatically screams cheesecake! I was thinking of making it grand and tall and make a New York Style Cheesecake but I seemed to lucked out since I couldn't find any sour cream! Maybe all the cheesecake makers that sells in the bazaars bought them all. Haha...now my fall back recipe is my all time fave Blueberry Cheesecake. This cheeseckae looks deceiving because its not as tall as american style cheesecakes but the taste and texture make up for its lack of physical stature.

Since I love blueberries so much, before baking I swirled in some blueberries. Though I think next time I'll make a swirled blueberry cheesecake I'll go with a simple sour cream topping, so as you are eating it you would see the blue berries. Although blueberry lovers would prefer the blueberries as a topping. :)

Since blueberries are not that common here and if I do see some in the market, they cost an arm and a leg and feels like a shame to bake with them. Whenever I get lucky and find them in the market, I eat them all natural :)

My go to recipe is from Tyler Florence

ULTIMATE CHEESECAKE

2 cups ground graham crackers
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
2 8-oz cheesecake
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 can blueberry topping

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Pour the crumbs into the pan and, using the bottom of a measuring cup or the smooth bottom of a glass, press the crumbs down into the base and 1-inch up the sides. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

For the Filling:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. The batter should be well-mixed but not overbeaten. Pour the filling into the crust-lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Set the cheesecake pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the sides around it. Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan; the foil will keep the water from seeping into the cheesecake. Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle (it will firm up after chilling), so be careful not to overcook. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Unmold and transfer to a cake plate. Using a spatula spread a layer of Warm Lemon Blueberry topping over the surface.

Slice the cheesecake with a thin, non-serrated knife that has been dipped in hot water. Wipe dry after each cut.

Day 9: Fried Dough

2013-08-31T15:26:00.000+08:00

Is it Donuts or Doughnuts? However you spell it, it means heaven for doughnut fiends! Luckily I’m not one of those people. I can easily resist a doughnut unlike cookies or cakes or chocolates! Haha… as you can see I have enough temptation to last me a two lifetimes. Is is so much less finicky than Croissant dough but not less interesting.

I’ve tried making doughnuts before so class for me was quite easy. What I love about today is our instructor Chef Vicky is so good! I really learned a lot from her! It’s not just following the recipe but understanding how to control the yeast to satisfy your every need. No question is silly or mundane; she sees to it that she gets to answer out every question without making us feel stupid.

Anyway, back to the class. As I’ve said earlier it’s about doughnuts. We made two kinds of doughnuts: Yeast raised doughnuts and cake doughnuts. Both are good. The yeast raised just takes some time while the cake needs a bit of muscle, piping into those round shapes. The process of making it is awesome! You can see how from one lump of dough it turns into this pillowy soft dough that get cut and shape into the familiar doughnut holes. Probably the hardest part of this whole experience is the frying part. It’s just darn too hot in the kitchen and piping out those darn cake doughnuts, making sure they turn a perfect circle is hard!!

My fried doughnuts turn out a bit darker than it should be. I was afraid that it might be raw in the middle so I fried them golden brown. Chef V said only light brown much more appealing to the Filipinos palette. The fun part is dipping them in chocolate and sprinkling different sort of toppers!

This is honestly one of the most tiring and yet enjoyable class since I learned so much in just a span of few hours!

Next week is Chocolate Artistry..

Day 8: Buttery Croissants and Danish

2013-08-24T14:32:00.000+08:00

Goodbye Puff Pastry and Hello! Croissants and Danish...

I made a braided Danish before during one of the monthly challenges in Daring Bakers, if I remember correctly my family enjoyed it but of course I cannot say that it was a success because I have no idea what is it suppose to taste like.

Now my croissant is another story..I tried making laminated dough once and haven't tried it since. All I remember is the mess I made with the butter oozing out of the dough; every time I would roll it out the butter is their taunting me. In the end it turned out as a lump of dough with butter oozing out during the baking. How was it you might ask? Honestly I don't remember. I must have deleted that scenario from my memory.

This is one of the classes I'm excited about. I want to be able to make my own croissants. Imagine early in the morning, the smell of freshly baked croissant wafting through the house with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Not that I’m a big coffee drinker though, I’m more of a latte kind of girl.

Imagine my surprised when I saw how messy making croissant dough really is, especially in our tropical weather! As our chef instructor advise us to have our kitchen refrigerated to help lessen the butter spillage. So add that to my dream kitchen bucket list. As I was rolling my dough out I couldn’t help thinking how lucky I am that I’m not going to clean up afterwards! Haha… No wonder these costs a lot at Starbucks!

To add to the butter spillage scenarios, we have to finish turning our dough and shaping them at a certain time since there would be a next class before us! Talk about stress! Though I think if that was the case the school should invest in a blast chiller or something to help hasten the chilling period in between turns. Sadly we don’t have that, on top of that their fridge or freezer is always full of other stuff!! Grrr.. we need space here people!!

My favorite part of this whole endeavor is eating! After seeing the blocks of butter that goes between the layers, you would think that I might be apprehensive in taking a bite out of this. Actually no I wasn't. I at least have to try one after all that laborious rolling. Pain au chocolat is calling my name! Though biting into it was a disappointment since we used local chocolate and chocolate shards to boot , not those proper chocolate batons. In times like this I truly wished I went to a more generous culinary school, where ingredients are not as scarce. I was already halfway through it before I saw any brown speck.

I’m actually not sure if it’s the school’s fault or the instructor. However, I noticed that he is very stingy with ingredients. When I asked how I can make a croissant with ham inside, he cut a sliver of dough and told me pretend that this is the ham and does it like so. OMG! Now that’s why I call stingy! O.O

Would I do this again? I would definitely do it again and use proper ingredients. I mean, if I’m going through with all the trouble of making my own laminated dough, I might as well bring it all out right :)

Next week is Fried Dough time!

Day 7: Laminated Dough - Puff Pastry

2013-08-17T14:19:00.000+08:00

We got layers!! Yehey!

Last week's Pâte à Choux is nothing compared to this week's laminated dough.

Our lesson for laminated dough is divided into two one for Puff Pastry and one for Croissants and Danish, which will be held next week.

Both types of laminated dough have the same technique of locking in the dough. I have an idea before hand what laminated dough is because I tried making croissant before which turned out horrible. This is an excellent opportunity for me to see and learn the proper technique.

We were taught two kinds of puff pastry: the traditional or classic puff and the quick puff. We first did the puff pastry and man it sure is difficult making sure that the butter is pliable enough to roll in between the dough but not to the extent that its too soft that it is already melting or merging with the dough layer. With the classic puff chilling in the fridge, we tried our hands with the quick puff, well..all I can say is that the "quick" part is not really as quick as I thought. Its actually much messier to do compared to the classic puff since the butter is everywhere! Good thing is that all our hard work paid off, our dough got layers! We could really see the different layers!

Time to shape them, shaping part is the FUN! part you can pretty much do any shape as long as the layers are preserved. The scraps got shaped into varied circles and dipped into sugar which is a nice snack but not too much since remember all those butter! Those would go straight to the arteries and my hips!

Tart Tatin

Though I must admit, I couldn't resist the Tart Tatin, I just have to eat it. So much better than plain old apple pie. Though this is not something that I can do on a whim it takes planning and time if I would recreate this at home. Maybe on the next long weekend. :D

Till next week, Croissants and Danish!

Ombre Cake for Matt

2013-08-11T12:36:00.000+08:00

Today we are celebrating my cute as a bug nephew's 2nd birthday. I, of course the ever dotting aunt as well as godmother, have to make him something. I quicky thought of ombre cake! I've seen it around, its been popular in the bloggosphere for quite sometime now. Now it's my turn to make my version of an Ombre cake. I, of course the ever researcher googled and watch a couple of videos. I even googled what should the cake be, well since I'd be spending an hour or so with the design I wanted something simple for the cake. Simple but good!

I quickly grabbed my ever trusty recipe binder. This binder contains recipe pamphets from different lifestyle courses from baking schools that I have attended. Mostly its from Heny Sison Culinary School but I also have few from Enderun, which up until now I'm thankful that I got them for free. The school is gorgeous by the way. If money were not a problem I would have gone to endrun. I have pamphet from my one and only class at Chocolate Lover and at CCS Bakeshop.

Back to the cake, I was planning to make a chocolate cake but then everybody loves chocolate so that's not a challenge. Then I saw this butter cake recipe, its a buttercake what so special about right? Well, what got me intrigue was that the method is different from other butter based cake that I've seen. It took longer to mix and more steps in the making however with the rave reviews I got from my sister, I am very pleased with it.

Though my icing is something I have to improve, I used the non-dairy whipped cream though it taste good. Look how happy the celebrant is with his cake! Hehehe.. love this photo! Love you Matthew! Happy Birthday

Day 6: Pâte à Choux Anyone?

2013-08-10T21:47:00.000+08:00

With basic piping technique under our belt, we will be put into a test and try out our piping skills with this week's lesson. It's Pâte à Choux Day!

Pâte à Choux is a light pastry dough used to make profiteroles, croquembouches, Èclairs, French crullers, beignets, St. HonorÈ cake and gougËres. Its a very versitile dough that once piped into a different shape, its called a different thing. When piped into rounds its called Cream Puff, into logs its called an Èclairs, into rings irs called French crullers and so on...you get the picture.

This week is a bit disappointing for me since I was expecting to make different versions and all I got are cream puffs, Èclairs and St. HonorÈ cake. For some weird reason I find Chef Carlos is not as informative as my other previous instructor. He silently makes stuff and you have to be very attentive or else you would have missed what he was doing. The ever adaptable me sees to it that I watch Chef's every move so that I won't missed a thing and when I don't understand what he is doing I quickly ask questions.

I must admit I made eclairs and cream puff before. I watch Jacques Torres on Food Network over and over again, until I think I got his technique. But sadly my attempt then was bad, I got too excited and my Pâte à Choux didn't puff up properly it got deflated. I remember that it still taste good. Pastry cream on a other hand we can be friends. I've been making pastry cream for so long that ruining a good batch would be mightly embarassing for me. I actually love making Pastry cream, I find it relaxing and eating it is to die for! For special occassions, I would use vanilla bean in my pastry cream. I love seeing those black specs when I'm eating any vanilla based dessert. I find it more luxurious and more fragrant.

Its a good thing that my previous blunders paid off, today my pata choux rose beautifully but it didn't have those cracks, mine is not as pronounce as the others. However, since chef said that the cracks are not necessary, hearing that got me perky cause I really thought that my batch was a dud.

Eating it fresh out of the oven was awesome, but I bet if my pastry cream where cold and the recipe had vanilla bean or let alone vanilla essense it would be heavenly. But still these little babies are quite addictive. I see to it that I didn't stuff myself full with eclairs and cream puffs since I want a taste of the St. HonorÈ cake. I saw this St. HonorÈ cake being made on the telly as well years before but nothing beats seeing it being made right infront of you. Biting into this cake is a revelation for me, you can taste the different layers and the textures are good! Its like when cream pie and cream puff got married, St. HonorÈ cake is their baby.

Hopefully next week, class would be better. Let us roll up your sleeves, up next is Laminated Dough.

Thank You Sweetlink

2013-08-09T00:00:00.000+08:00

I must admit I'm one of those people who relays on Facebook a lot! As soon as I get home, check my mail, check my Facebook then think about what to have for dinner. Facebook not only keeps me updated with my family and friends specially those who are millions of miles away, it also helped me communicate with people or company that I don't normally bother communicating with because for some reason or another communicating through fb as we call it here in Manila feels safer, less time consuming and less intrusive even because you'd know they would answer your fb message when they have time to kill. So what am I getting at with this post? Why did my food blog suddenly turn into fb fan page? Hold your horses people, yes my post have a point.

Ever since I learn how to bake I thought about having my own patiserrie so whenever a would be supplier has a facebook page I "Like" them so I would be updated on their product lines. Few of months ago, one of those "Like" paid off. I chance upon SweetLink a local food related supplier here in Manila. They carry all sort of cake supplies, chocolate supplies and anything in between. They had this online giveaway, not much really they just had some trivia questions and I answered and I get a price! It was that easy right! I love it when company holds giveaways and they don't ask for your arm and leg for it!

The store is only open on weekdays and I am working on weekdays so I told them that I would be dropping by their booth in WOFEX at SMX, thier booth will be there until Saturday. Its a good thing that they are nice enough to say that yes I could just drop by then. Having no idea what exactly is the prize, they only said I'd get a "super" prize, thinking I hope to God this would be well worth the effort. After my saturday tiring pastry class, even in horrendous rain, I quickly grabbed a cab and went home to drop off my chefs jacket and other school supplies. Grabbed a change of clothes and walked a few blocks to ride a bus and a jeep to get to the venue.

As I arrived in the venue, the rain stopped. Ok the weather is just playing with me. I had to pay 150.00 pesos (appx $3.5) for the entrance fee to the venue. That is actually quite high because usually entrance fee for venues like that cost cost 75 pesos (appx $1.70) only. Anyway I'm there to get something free so I just cough up the money and went inside. It was like food everywhere! I remember saying I should have brought my glasses with me with all the colors and people around they are like a blur passing me by. Its a good thing I quickly spotted the Sweetlink booth. There was a Chinese lady manning the booth and a Chinese guy talking to people aside from the Filipino helpers. When they told me I could choose 10 pastry tips and 3 fondant cutters, I was like really!! I belive I even clapped my hands in glee and jump a little bit! Hehe...I know I'm so geeky.

There are the loot that I got! Though the pastry tips are not many actually more on just round tip and star tip just varied in sizes. The fondant cutters will definitely get useful for me once I'm taught fondant flowers in pastry school. The trouble it took to get there is now forgotten, I'm just so giddy with all the free stuff that I got. The whole loot cost around 4,500 pesos (approx $102)! Imagine I got these from just answering tria online! Thanks Sweetlink for your generosity and graciousness!

Day 5: Frosting Everywhere!

2013-08-03T12:53:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday we were taught the Basic Cakes, this week was all about Piping Techniques. Its a hard and dirty job but someone has to do it, and that job falls into our hands. It takes a lot of practice but then again, as people always say "We eat with our eyes first". Its one of those frustrating things that you "have" to know if you want to go into the cake business because who would want to eat an ugly boring cake right? I remember when I was a kid I always get the slice of cake with all the sugary flowers. I didn't care much about the chiffon cake, what I wanted was the frosting and the pretty flowers.

Its very messy learning how to pipe each design properly and correctly. Frosting is everywhere! on my clothes, on my skin, on my face, on my camera! Its a good thing that my camera is the waterproof kind, I can wash off all the sticky frosting. My classmate who is taking up the culinary version of my class, is having a hard time doing all the swish and swirls. He said he doesn't have a patience to do this. Haha... Imagine doing 5 cakes or let alone 10 or more cakes like this? As for me? I love it though my hand hurts after all the pipping I can imagine making a cake and people would be like how did you that? I bet that feeling would be awesome!

Sad thing about this Saturdays lesson though, we didn't have any cake to take home! Next week, we will meet again! Hello Pâte à Choux!

Day 4: Cakes Anyone?

2013-07-27T23:33:00.000+08:00

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes and more Cakes!

Pies, tarts and quiches check! Now its time for Cakes! Yes! I love cakes! Making and eating them. Cakes for me is so special because it symbolizes a celebration. It could be a birthday, wedding or just plain family gathering. When there is cake, its usually a fun day. Let the day begins!

This Saturday was all about cake, Basic Cakes to be exact. Unlike my previous class there is no special unwanted event that happened. Its straight forward, Chef Heny taught us how to differentiate fat cakes from foam cakes. Fat cake, sounds so hideous when you hear it but it simply means it uses butter, while foam cakes uses oil. It all sounds so complicated at the start but as the days progresses it all because clearer to me. The cakes taught in this session are the building blocks of all cakes, once you've mastered the techniques you can do all sorts of cake because its basically the same technique but with different flavors. From the pictures you can see that we made a lot of different cakes partner with all sorts of frosting.

Making a cake under the watchful eye of Chef Heny is a bit intimidating but as she said before we started, when she calls our attention or correct us don't get too sensitive about it because she wants us to learn and we can do so by learning what we did wrong.

Chef Heny showing us how to decorate my Mocha Cake!

Up next is all about Basic Cake Decorating! I can't wait!

Posing with my Mocha Cake and my classmate May

Day 3: Pies, Tarts & Quiches

2013-07-24T12:42:00.003+08:00

Chef Heny with my classmates

Guess what day is today? Yup it’s pastry school day! Who knew there would ever come a time that I would be excited to go to school? Well certainly not me not that I didn’t enjoy college, it was a blast! This is different though, I didn’t mind waking up early even if I wasn’t able to sleep early. I didn’t even mind commuting even if it’s quite far. I’m there to learn and yes I’m definitely learning. It’s something I look forward to every weekend.

After that awesome time we had with the Custard lesson, I couldn't wait to today's lesson. Today was all about pies, tarts and quiches. That is one of my weakness I could never make decent pie dough. I find it confusing when to dock and not to dock. Which dough is patchable and which is not. Which dough goes with what filling? We were like a bunch of groupies that got so excited when the cake guru herself was the one who was teaching us that day. The lesson started out very smoothly but then when time was against us, chef was rushing a bit and some of us got lost in what to do next.

After this class I’m quite confident that I can make my crust. It’s a good thing that I already got a food processor a generous birthday gift from my siblings and my brother-in-law years ago. J Yes! Chef also taught us how to do it manually but it took time! Thrice as long as the food processor procedure! Love it! I found out that I was rolling out my crust way too cold and I was not mixing and watering it enough.

One of the funny events that occur in the class is that we had this new classmate that is such a scatterbrained and literary doesn’t know anything about the kitchen, it’s like watching Paris Hilton’s Simple Life. Haha…then after 2 hours, she suddenly announced that she is in the wrong class! Her class was for the oven phobic baking class which will be held in a different classroom later in the afternoon! Hehe…I think she got so excited and woke up hours and hours earlier. Even thinking about it now makes me smile.

This is what we made in the class

One thing I didn’t quite like about that class is that the kitchen helpers are mostly new so from time to time; the Chef would get distracted since she couldn’t find her spatula, her trash bowl, the spoon! Little things like that it can be quite distracting. In that area, the school needs to improve. However, that is something I can readily overlook for now since I’m learning a lot.

Hopefully this would improve by next week. Up next is all about cakes!

Vanilla Bean Butter Cookies

2013-07-16T19:47:00.000+08:00

Vanilla is one of the most utilized baking ingredient in the baking world. A little teaspoon goes a long way. The smell of it is very nice specially in baked goods and ice creams. You know those black flecks you see in premium ice cream? Those are vanilla beans from the vanilla pods. These vanilla pods are quite expensive since they are hand picked from a rare orchid plant. Though I have a hidden stash of vanilla pods around the pantry, I save those for special occasions. For these vanilla bean butter cookies I used the next best thing which is called vanilla paste. Vanilla Paste comes in bottles they sort of looks like vanilla extract but with thicker consistency and have tiny flecks of vanilla. I find more convenient to use these since all I have to do is unscrew the bottle so most often I use these.

I wanted to try Peggy Porschen's cut out cookie recipe not only because I'm one of her huge fan but also the fact that I heard so much good things about her cookie. How it not only taste great but very cooperative for cut doesn't shrink and puffs up when baked and it taste good. I don't want to bother making royal icing and waiting it to dry to make my cookies so instead I used these cute stamp alphabet set where you can make your cookie anything. Mine was a simple celebration of having an awesome laid back Sunday so I made my cookies say "HAPPY SUNDAY". I rolled these out a little bit thicker than I normally do because I wouldn't want to punch a whole on the other side of these. Be sure to use butter and not margarine or shortening for these. They are called butter cookies for a reason so using cheaper alternative like those mentioned above can vary the taste. They turn out quite nice, thick and crunch on the outside and soft and chewy inside. They are excellent coffee companion and have just the right amount of sweetness. They taste buttery without being oily. A word of warning though don't sit with a full jar of these beside you because in a few minutes you wouldn't notice that you ate almost half of the batch! (Guilty *blush*)

Happy Sunday! (nom nom...munching)

Day 2: Custards, Puddings & Soufflés

2013-07-07T23:54:00.000+08:00

The class trying to absorb every thing Chef says

Last week, we were taught all about Kitchen Sanitation.

This is the second session but the first time to be actually in the kitchen doing some baking. I got do excited I got up an hour earlier than my alarm even though I wasn’t able to sleep early from all the excitement. I go to school 45 minutes earlier and I was glad to see that I’m not the only one who is excited. The day started out with a lecture then Chef Vivian demonstrated the proper technique and along the way she gives pointers on what should be done and gives us pointers to avoid pitfalls especially on soufflés. Then we were divided into groups and each group was assigned particular recipes to do. It is up to us teammates to decide who gets to do with what. I chose to make Chocolate Pot de Crème and who gets to finish early among our group gets to do the Grand Marnier Soufflé. I never realized it before how daunting it is to bake in a new kitchen, everything is unfamiliar. We don’t know where the ingredients and equipment are located. It’s a good thing though that the kitchen helpers are there to point us to the right direction. It was chaotic at first but I find it so much fun!

Chef Vivian demonstrating how to do Soufflés

Of course, everything didn’t run as smoothly as one would want but we manage to overcome obstacle and finish with flying colors. There are three of all in a group, actually at first, B and I couldn’t find our third teammate, since we asked everybody if they are team 2 and all of them said otherwise. B and I found it weird that we lost a teammate early on. I even thought that he/she must have left the building. We didn’t think much about it and just divided the task between the 2 of us. Then after a few minutes our lost teammate was there, C said she thought that she was part of the other group, we said its ok just pick whatever she likes. Then she keeps asking us what we are going to do, B kept telling her but she doesn’t seem to understand what B is talking about until B wrote it down! OMG! Deep inside I was thinking we are in big trouble… uh oh. When she finally understood what we are going to do, she turned into this know it all person. B was getting her ingredients putting it all on our prep table when C told her to put it back since we should be getting all the measuring cups, bowls, and trays first. B got a little ticked off that C keeps putting her nose where it doesn’t belong. I told B just ignore C and just concentrate on her task, of course B happily did. The 3 of us are sharing a four burner range, since B and I started first we took the ones in front and C was left at the back. For some unexplainable reason C put her mise en place with B’s mise en place. So when it was time for B to mix her sugar with her eggs she grabbed the wrong bowl. I couldn’t do anything because my chocolate is on the double boiler it might burn if I don’t watch it. So just calmly told B that if she could just take out the excess. B got so flustered and a wee bit pissed that she over cooked her Crème Anglaise and Chef told her to go it again, which is actually a blessing since now here Crème Anglaise has the right amount of sugar and B did it perfectly! I was fortunate enough that my Chocolate Pot de Crème came out splendid, I was a bit apprehensive about it since it was supposed to only bake for 20-25 minutes and yet whenever I checked it’s not yet finished. Then my little babies came out of the oven all smooth and shiny, I couldn’t wait to dig in. Since B and I are finished with our first dishes, we teamed up and made a Grand Marnier Soufflé together, I was scared of doing this because I remembered trying to do a chocolate soufflé at home years ago and it came out raw at the bottom. But what the heck, right that’s why I’m in pastry school to learn from my mistakes. I’m sure that Chef doesn’t expect us all to be perfect.

B and I divided our tasked, I buttered the ramekins then she started making the pastry cream. B then was having a hard time whisking the pastry cream because it got heavier I took over and she started whipping the egg whites. While waiting for the egg whites to whip up, I’m cooling the pastry cream. Since the pastry cream looked cooked enough I left it for a while and checked on C because I haven’t heard from her. She asked me to watch her pot and I did having no idea what it should look like was afraid it starts boiling over with her high heat and C sure is taking some time to get back I lower the burner into simmer. Good thing that Chef was there to tell me that should be simmering only. Then just in time C came back and asked what happened and I said that it should be simmering only not boiling. And I left C to finish her task and went back to our soufflé. Finally after few minutes of folding and smoothing, it’s time to put our little baby in the oven. B and I started cleaning up our prep area since chef said several times that we are very messy, so sorry Chef. :D C for some reason is taking all the time to garnish her pudding I think it took her 15-20 minutes to slice 2 berries, a strawberry and blueberry. She for overzealous with her cinnamon, that the whole top of the pudding is covered with cinnamon. I think she thought that was cocoa powder or something.

Chocolate Pot de Crème

As we were winding down, with the pot de crème cooling and with our diva soufflé in the oven, our table clean and shiny. C kept bugging me that the pot de crème looks too plain we need to garnish it. She asked me what to put and I told her that it’s still cooling; putting whipped cream on it would melt. Then a know it all that she is wanted to pour the Crème Anglaise on it! Told her no, whipped cream is better but we have to wait. When C saw that I wasn’t listening to her, she told B the same thing this time thought she is singing a different tune. C told B to get whipping cream so it would look plain. B this time, all tired and pissed off said that “Ano ba problema e ganun din naman yung sa iba” (What’s the problem? The other teams look the same) C then insisted that it’s too plain! I calmly told her we don’t know where the whipping cream is; if she wants to put some go find it. After a few minutes she got tired of repeating herself she just stopped insisting. I mean if you want something done and you’re 100% sure that you’re right you’d do it yourself instead of bugging other people. I mean come on we’re on the same boat here. We are not her minions to boss us around. I mean, I get her point but she is NOT listening they are still too hot to be topped with whipping cream! Geez how difficult is that to understand. It’s a good thing that I’m in such a happy mode that all that drama just slips by me no problem. I bet in a real kitchen there are more dramas like that or even much worst.

Grand Marnier Soufflé

The waiting is killing B and I, we couldn’t wait to see our soufflé, we’ve been waiting for what seems like ages but really its just 25 minutes. B and I are so happy that our soufflé rose! Even though we overbeat our egg whites and our pastry cream was too cold and didn’t incorporate very well with the whites. It still looks glorious on the outside all tall and golden brown. The inside though was another story; it didn’t look appetizing on the inside but still taste fabulous with the Crème Anglese. I love it. You know the feeling that when you made something and other people enjoys it? I love that feeling of instant gratification that all your hard work is well worth it. Can you imagine a room full of foodies enjoying each other’s work? It’s pure heaven.

Even after all that drama, I had a good time because I’m there to learn and I believe that I did learn a lot that day. I sure wish that I still get to see B on the next session. I think she got too tired with all the running around and stuff and with C bugging her on the side. I was trying to cheer her up that it was ok it’s our first time to make soufflé, all things considering, we did well. I told her next time we’ll do better.

Next session is all about Pies and Tarts, yikes and yes!

Yikes! Because I can honestly say pies are not my forte. Yes! Because finally I get to see firsthand what is proper pie dough. I can’t wait!

Day 1: Kitchen Sanitation

2013-06-22T23:00:00.000+08:00

Woke up earlier than usual since most Saturdays I want to sleep in. Not this Saturday though, this day is more special because today id the first day of pastry school! I've been waiting for what seems lie forever and now the day has come! Love it!

Our instructor Chef Vivian Syyap, she studied in CIA, New York and had several cooking stints in other US states before deciding to come back here in Manila. Now she is an instructor, consultant and a private chef. Our major topic for the day is Kitchen Sanitation, the do's and don't. What is proper and what is not. After listening to this class I grew more diligent in washing my hands :D I'm also now more informed why such things as food contamination happens. yikes!

She also introduced us to different kitchen paraphernalia as you can see in the photos below. Not that I remember most of them, its quite nice knowing what they are for.

Till next week! Its all about Custards, Puddings & Soufflés!

Off to Pastry School

2013-06-17T17:19:00.000+08:00

In the next few months I'll be going to pastry school! How exciting! I'm now broke but heck its now or never! I've been thinking about going to pastry school for several years now, I know I don't have to go to pastry school to be a pastry chef. However, you know that feeling that something is missing? I bet that those self taught pastry chefs out there would chastise me for wasting my money. That I should just apply for a kitchen position and learn from there. Honestly, remember those geeky classmates you have during high school who loves to go to school and is never late and always wants homework? Well.. in baking I'm like that. I want to learn how things are done the proper way not just haphazardly. I want to learn the basic proper techniques and personalized it to my preference when I already know how it should be done. I thought it over millions of times and thought heck I only live once, might as well do something that I love.

I cannot wait to get started! Though I'm dreading walking up early, I'm still excited to wear my chef's coat and be elbow deep in butter! I'll try to chronicle my pastry school adventure through this blog as often as I can for my fellow readers who cares.

Pastry school here I come!

Little Girl Scout

2013-05-20T22:23:00.003+08:00

I have always been fascinated by the great outdoors, I remember when I was in six grade my school announce that there will be a girl scout club! I was so excited and wanted to join asap, however the clincher is there would be no out campus camping or anything. The camping would have been held at the school roof top! Ugh..such kill joys I know. Now as a grown up, I understood. Think about having 20-30 children in the wilderness? That would be pure chaos! Those poor city teachers wouldn't last a day..let alone a night.

For that inner child me that always wanted to go on a camping trip and sit by the bonfire roasting marshmallows, I made a special treat a Brownie S'mores! What could be better? More marshmallows! I've seen them everywhere in the "blogosphere", it seems that a lot of people has a fascination for these gooey goodness. who can blame them right? I certainly can't because I'm one of them! If you like marshmallows like I do, be certain to have some extras handy, more than what the recipe called for since they are ever so tempting to just pop in your mouth! :D

This recipe perfect for anyone who doesn't have any kind of mixer, everything is doable by whisk and spatula. It can even be done with a wooden spoon! Yes its that easy. This is one of those, one bowl kind of thing, you just have to have the 3 main components of a good s'mores: chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. This is excellent for those lazy Sunday mornings when you just want to have something fun and laid back for brunch or dinner. I must admit given a chance to redo this which I'm sure in the near future I would. I wouldn't put the marshmallows all at once since they turned out way too dark for my liking. Still taste good and gooey but definitely not the look what I as looking for.

S'MORES BROWNIES

Adapted from Home Baked Comfort

1 cup unsalted butter
10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/3 cups cake flour
3 Tbsp natural cocoa powder
6-8 whole graham crackers, crushed in your hand
9 jumbo or 12 regular size marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a 9-by-13 inch baking dish.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring often until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sugars. Then whisk in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.

Sift the flour and cocoa over the chocolate mixture. Use a rubber spatular to stir just until blended. Stir in crushed graham crackers. Pour into dish, spreading evenly and top with marshmallows.

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool and cut into gooey squares.

Carrot Cake for Easter!

2013-04-08T11:10:00.001+08:00

I love Apple. I love the apps that I get from using Apple but then not everything is perfect. If so I would be living in a dream. What's that got to go with Carrot Cake? Well... my Pages app kept notifying me that its been ages since I posted something there. The first time it did that I was like oh OK that's cool IO have an auto reminder but the second and third time is not cool. Its like a stalker that I cannot shake off! OMG!

Good thing is Holy Week was about to come. I got TWO whole days to kill, ahh living like a lady of leisure which is quite nice for a few days but it would drive me inside and make my family fat because I would be baking everyday! :D

Few days before the Holy Week vacation starts I stocked up on my baking ingredients. I even got this recipe from the popular Filipino chef Heny Sison herself. First off I would like to say I regret that I cannot post this recipe since Ms. Heny would not like that. The good news is for those who are interested to know how to make this moist chewy carrot cake go attend her classes, its a bit expensive compared to other baking class however I find her recipe and her way of teaching quite nice and very adaptable to what I need. She doesn't skimp on ingredients and on tips.

Making this takes a little elbow grease since you have to grate lots and lots of carrots and it uses massive amount of oil. I thought it would be oily but I trust Chef Heny since most of the recipes that I got from her are pretty straight forward and works almost all the time. I must admit I made two mistakes in making this cake on my own for the very first time, first off instead of making this cake is using 3 pans like the recipe said I baked it using only 2 pans since its what I have on-hand and I just split the layers into 4. Well what I got are shaggy moist layers. Second mistake is that I didn't double check the ingredients that I would need to make the creamy cream cheese frosting. Luck would have it I'm a block too short but then again I went ahead and tried it since make cake is already baked and cooling, there was no turning back now. So you can see from the photo above, I sort of skimp on the filling between layers fearing that I wouldn't have enough to cover the cake and I was right, I barely had enough. Most of the carrot cake I tasted are heavy and dense, this is surprisingly springy and light and have lots of crunch from the nuts.

I've been looking for the perfect carrot cake recipe since I'm deluding myself into thinking its healthier than other cakes since it has a veggie in it namely the carrots! However as I was making it, I change my mind, it's sort of healthish, moderation is the key! :D Want to make something that sure to impress? Try making this carrot cake. People who don't like or avoid eating since it don't sound like a dessert after all since its made of a veggie, well..those people would be amaze how good this taste.

Happy Easter everyone!

Moist Chocolate Cake

2013-02-06T22:22:00.000+08:00

Chocolate and I go way back, we've been best buds since I was a wee child. I can go months without ice cream but without any chocolate? I cannot fathom what will I do when that happen. My favorite way to use up chocolates is by whipping up a mean chocolate cake. I got my go to chocolate cake which I learned few years ago from my favorite culinary divas Heny Sison and Jill Sandique. Both are excellent chocolate cakes, both are bestsellers and are always well appreciated by my family. However, sometimes unexpected conundrum occurs, like running out of eggs and butter!! I know I know...such a pitiful excuse trying to get out of my weekly baking, but alas fret not, I found this amazing chocolate cake the uses...mayo...yup...you read correctly, I said mayo, as in good old fashioned regular store bought mayonnaise, the kind you slap on your BLTs. Its actually nothing new I've seen old fashioned recipes that uses mayo but I just didn't give it a try since I found it weird.

Nevertheless, desperate time calls for desperate measures. Baking for me is like an addiction, like how smokers are addicted to nicotine, when I want to bake, come hell or high water, I will think of a way how I will do it. I remembered reading from a fellow baker, Bake Happy, that she made some mean chocolate cake using her mother's recipe. I must admit I used her mayo cake recipe before in cupcake form, they were soft and bouncy and very moist but it somehow lacks body. It was so soft that It could support my chocolate ganache frosting. I promised myself that next time I would make it using APF instead of cake flour as she suggested but then I remembered. I'm making a cake now, so I better try it with cake flour first it might be different because cupcakes are way smaller. Good thing I followed my instinct, they came out perfect! Dark, rich and moist chocolate cake, just perfect! Bake Happy said the cake is so good that there isn't a need to frost the cake. Not me, I mean, why not make it better right? Chocolate cake alone is good but a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is just plain great!

MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE

From Bake Happy

2 cups flour (all purpose flour is okay, but you can find cake flour, it would be better)
1 ½ cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, mix mayonnaise and sugar until smooth.
Sift or dry whisk the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Just make sure all four ingredients are well mixed.
Add a third of the flour mixture to the mayonnaise mixture.
Add 1/2 of the water required. It will look all curdled and icky but don't despair once all the water is well combine it come together quite nicely.
Repeat #3 and #4 until the flour mixture and water has been added to the mayonnaise mixture. Add the vanilla extract last.
Pour into a well greased pan and bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes for cakes and 12-15 minutes for cupcakes. Make sure to tap the pans used to let the air out before baking.

WHIPPED CHOCOLATE GANACHE FROSTING

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract (if you're feeling fancy, you can add Kahlua, too)

Chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream through strainer, over the chocolate.
Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
Add butter stir until combined.
Cool ganache in the refrigerator overnight. Then beat/whip until fluffy.

Giveaway Winner

2013-02-04T18:21:00.005+08:00

End of 2012 I tried to have a giveaway, though its not as successful as I thought it would, it was fun. I'm happy to say that the winner is none other than Alix Marie Remigio! I'll be contacting you real soon regarding the shipping of this item. Your prize is waiting for you!

Thanks for those who participated! I will sure hold more giveaways in the future!

Back-to-Back Baking Classes

2013-02-04T18:08:00.002+08:00

Enderun College

Christmas season and New Year came and went, I am sad to say that I’ve been tardy in my updates; I’ve been attending a handful of demo classes or more popularly known as lifestyle classes here in Manila. Mostly about baking since cooking often bores me to death! For whatever reason I love attending classes. When I’m inside the classroom/kitchen area, it feels like a different world where the only thing that is important is out passion for cooking. People that I meet often varies in age level: from younger generation of single ladies like me to as old as grannies but most are mommies lo oking for something to spruce up their baking repertoire for their family. Personally, baking/cooking classes for me are very therapeutic and fun. It’s filled with so much information that I always leave the class feeling very smart and knowledgeable.

My slew of classes started last quarter of 2012, the first class that I attended was at Chocolate Lovers in Cubao. I took up a lesson for Sugar Free Brownie Class, since my dad is a diabetic so that means the chances that we become diabetic in the future is high since that is a hereditary disease. I figured the earlier I start learning how to make sugar free sweets the better. Moreover, I also noticed a trend here in Manila that people are growing more health conscious whenever I sell my creations during the holiday season. My patrons would always ask if its sugar free or do I have a sugar free version and I don’t. I tried experimenting with Splenda before and the brownies that came out with that product are inedible. I would have loved to keep experimenting but Splenda is way too expensive. In this class I learned about sugar substitute Isomalt and coco sugar. These are sugar replacers that behave and feel like real sugar because they are in granular form, unlike Splenda which is in flakes form. Honestly, compared to other classes that I attended this was a far inferior class in terms of all the goodies I get to take home. The ingredients used were inferior as well, inferior in the sense that instead of using regular unsalted butter, the recipe called for half shortening half margarine and some recipes even used all shortening! It’s the first time I ate a brownie made with half shortening and half margarine. The instructor said it so to keep the cost down, especially if we were going to sell them in the future. I’m no Paula Deen but please bring out the butter! I was so appalled! Shortening in brownies? I mean I’m not a food snob but heck if I’m going to eat something fattening like a brownie I want it something that is packed with flavor! I left the class thinking that it’s a good thing I didn’t pay full price for this.

After my disappointment with the class in the Castle, I went back to my true and tested Heny Sison lifestyle class. Based on past experiences, chef instructors don’t skimp on the ingredients so we really got a taste how it should look and taste like when we would bake them at home. And for some reason I noticed that people who attends classes here are more eager I guess, they freely ask questions so the classes are livelier. Moreover, every time I finished attending a class here I often feel that I amass huge knowledge. The number of recipe that I get per session is also a lot thus it’s well worth every penny and if ever I do get in a though baking situation in the future, I can attend the class again as long as they are still offering the class. Isn’t that fun!

As I have mentioned on this blog before I had a fruitful long weekend few months back. That weekend bore a sweet fruit and won THIRD price! As a prize I got to attend TWO weekend classes at Enderun Collage in McKinlley Hill. It’s a private cooking school that I had once inquired on their pastry program but my schedule never permits me to go since the class that I want takes up whole 3 months all weekday classes only. Luckily with this price I could sort of attend that prestigious school. I picked two classes Sachertorte and Parisian macarons. I was giddy for weeks I could not wait to attend.

The first time I stepped in the school I was so amaze how massive it is and people are running everywhere, everyone was quite busy. With no one minding me or ushering me to the right direction I just went ahead and climb the glorious red carpeted stairway. What awaits upstairs are high tech kitchen labs filled with every kitchen gadget you could imagine! There were more than 5 kitchen labs I think. Amazing!

I think I looked like a lost puppy when a kind student there ushered me to the right direction. What greeted me was this mild mannered Austrian chef and told me to wait for the others since I was way too early! See how excited I was! As I was waiting I got a chance to see other enrolled students who are busy preparing vast number of desserts for an event that evening. I was floored in how much quantity of ingredients there were! Vats and vats of cream and milk, huge trays of fresh eggs were stacked together in one corner, massive block of chocolates were being chopped and industry sized rich creamy block of butter are being cut into cubes. Ack!!! I felt like I died and went to foodie heaven!

The class started promptly at 9 and ended quite early at 12 noon which is a good thing because the school is located in a remote area I don’t think there’s food anywhere and I have no idea where the campus cafeteria is. It’s actually hands on class and not just a demo which is nice. We would watch and listen to the chef and after we would go to our workstation and do what the chef demonstrated earlier. The chef was super nice and he has this nice Austrian accent that I like very much. He was very helpful to the extent that I felt like was rushing me, instead of just teaching me how to do it he would grab my bowl and do it himself while explaining what he is doing of course. Since the sachertorte took many steps to finish; there is the cake, apricot frosting then the glaze, I again I felt as if Chef was rushing things when it seems like we were taking too much time making the cake batter he would ask the pastry students who are around to help us. The students would then just takes over and do out task. I was like ugh ok but that sucks! I’m there to learn and not just watch, if I wanted to watch I would have just stayed at home and watched the telly. I was expecting glorious looking sachertorte meaning with all the bells and whistles but what I got was a plain looking glazed cake, no decoration no nothing. What an utter failure! I took my tired self-home and slept the whole afternoon since I woke up early for that class.

Class two was Parisian Macarons! I’ve been meaning to make it myself for a long time now but it seems like too much of a trouble I cannot find ground almonds. The chef instructor for this class was Chef Cy, he is a big and cuddly looking Filipino chef who is very talkative. He talked the whole morning and answer lots of questions about the do’s and don’ts of making a macaron. This was a fun class we got a chance to experiment with different colors and flavors and we get to take them home in these pretty macaron boxes. Before this class I never understood why people say they are very addictive but now I recognized their addictive powers. They are tiny little things that are crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Imagine how small little things like these can pack a lot of wallop in the flavor arena. I think I must have eaten more than my share of these. Now I must give them a try one of these days!

I do wish that Enderun would offer Weekend classes for the Certificate in Baking and Pastry. I might not be a professional pastry chef but I'm very interested to be one, what's keeping me from doing so was the schedule. Most culinary school that offers Saturday classes are not that extensive and there are few choices to choose from.

Now that 2012 is over, my back-to-back baking class is over, I must admit I kind of miss it. Baking classes are something I look forward to in the end of the week. Hopefully 2013 would bring more exciting classes to come. I cannot wait! Happy Post New Year everyone!

Cheesy Ensaimada and A GIVEAWAY!!

2012-12-26T15:18:00.002+08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! Its been a hectic month for me, between work, baking classes and driving lessons, I manage to squeeze in Christmas shopping. Buying and wrapping christmas gifts are one of my favorite activity though I dread the time when my card bill will come.

This holiday season instead of baking a cake or cupcake, I opted on making something that I hardly had a time to do during regular weekends. I made my Special Cheesy Ensaimada. Think cheese bread with pillowy cream and blanketed with generous shavings of cheese. Though it was time consuming after all said and done the house smelled wonderful.

In the spirit of Christmas and gift giving, I would like to host my first GIVEAWAY!!! I'm givingaway Elinor Klivans The Cupcake Deck! Cupcakes are very easy to do and everybody loves eating cupcakes. As much as I would like for everyone to be able to join, logistically, it would cost me too much, so for the moment I would open this giveaway locally. So waht are you waiting for? Start clicking and join! ^^

GIVEAWAY RULES:

Open to Philippine readers only.
All giveaways are sponsored by Sweet Tooth unless otherwise indicated
Contest starts today December 26, 2012 to January 18, 2013.
Winner will will be chosen randomly on January 20, 2013.
Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified within 24 hours of winning. It is the winners responsibility to reply within 72 hours.
Winner will announce the winner on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, so be sure to follow the steps on how to join.
Sweet Tooth is not responsible for any late or lost entries, electronic, hardware, Internet or other computer/communications related malfunctions, giveaway disruptions, injuries, losses or damages caused by events beyond the control of Sweet Tooth, any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the giveaway or prizes lost in shipment.
By entering any of Bake Happy's giveaway, you are agreeing to the official rules.

JOIN IN 3 EASY STEPS:

Like me on Facebook. Share with this message to your facebook friends. "@Sweet Tooth is having a Giveaway! Visit http://bit.ly/Usq5pX and join now!"
Follow me on Twitter. Share with this message to your Twitter followers. "@nikchua of Sweet Tooth is having a Giveaway! Visit http://bit.ly/Usq5pX and join now!"
Leave a comment on this post stating Name & valid email address when you have done both.

Actual Prize! The Cupcake Deck by Elinor Klivans

Book Signing

2012-12-04T14:44:00.003+08:00

As my regular blog readers probably know I'm an avid baking book collector and I cannot cook. What you may ask am I doing buying a cookbook? Well..I have a perfect excuse for that. I'm simply patronizing our own. Its all about Filipino food. Like any Chinese born in the Philippines aka Filipino Chinese would know, we often eat Chinese food because it suits our palate more and more often when we were young its our Chinese grandmother who cooks so its understandable that her repertoire are all Chinese food. Sadly, my granny already passed away year ago and she didn't write any of her recipes down.

Now as I grew older I realize that I have to be able to cook! Nothing fancy just something edible for my future family to feed. I start my cooking journey by reading through one of the most popular Filipino cookbook there is, Memories of Philippine Kitchens by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. Both of them are born in the Philippines but migrated to the US under different circumstances but both love to eat and open up a Filipino restaurant to celebrate their love for Philippine cuisine. I was fortunate enough to chance upon their book signing session when they came to Manila. I do wish more cookbook authors would come.

Fruitful Long Weekend

2012-11-24T14:54:00.000+08:00

Over the recent year I've noticed that more and more Filipinos are adapting the custom of Trick or Treating with their kids during Halloween and for grown ups, different bars here holds an annual Halloween party. Even the malls here participate in such event. They would a lot one whole day usually Sunday where kids along with their parents of course could walk in each establishment and ask for candies. I remember when I was a kid there were no such thing. Halloween breaks usually meant going to visit our ancestors in the cemetery which translates to less time playing!

This year though my Halloween is less than usual, I got to participate in a contest called "Dress Up Your Cupcake" held by Enderun College. Enderun College is one of the prestigious school in our country today. I learned about this contest through their FB page which is a good thing that I subscribe to. This is the first baking/decorating contest that I ever joined and I was kind of a bit scared and intimidate. I mean the only decorating I know is with a pipping bag and make big swirls. I decided to just have fun with it and do the best I can. I got a week to finish my design that includes taking your picture while making it and a picture of the finished product. Then I had to post it in my Twitter or Instagram account. Its a good thing that I have both of those account so I can concentrate on my cupcakes.

For the cupcake base, I decided on two flavors, a red velvet and a chocolate cupcake. Red Velvet Cupcake because I was craving for one and there was a couple of blocks of cream cheese in the fridge waiting to me use up. Chocolate cupcake because generally speaking almost everyone likes, even loves chocolate! There's nothing wrong with that. For the look of the cupcake it took me quite a while deciding which one. I only got three chances and I want to make the best but I have to be realistic whether or not I am able to do the designs.