Rice Bowl

This is for a friend celebrating her birthday.  I didn't think twice about making her a cake that is related to rice.... she loves rice!!  I think she's not happy if her meal didn't include rice.  Anyway, at first I was torn between making a rice cooker or a rice bowl. But as you can see the rice bowl prevailed. :)

Cake is red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and vanilla buttercream frosting for the bottom part of the cake. To make the rice effect, I used a cheese grater with the fondant.  I was worried that it won't give me the rice effect but was so happy that it did.  A fun cake to make.

Beer Mug

Another birthday celebration for one of our friends.  I was kind of undecided as to what cake to make for him.  Last minute decision was to push through with this beer mug design.  I'm not saying that he's an alcoholic though! :D

Cake is chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and covered with fondant.   I used the Cricut cake machine to cut out all the letters.  Used silver glaze and silver highlighter to color the bottom of the mug and the handle. Lastly, added a real beer bottle, still with content, for added effect.

Royal Icing

Royal icing is a pure white icing that many confectioners use to decorate cakes and cookies.  This type of icing dries smooth to hard depending on the amount of powdered sugar used.  This is ideal for piping works on cakes and also use to "glue" some other decorations on cookies.  The very popular use of this icing as glue is during the holiday season when making gingerbread houses.


There are a lot of variations of how to make this icing.  Some prefer to use meringue powder instead of egg whites.  I have tried meringue powder but I didn't quite like it, for me it tastes weird.  So here I am going to share to you a very easy way of making royal icing using egg whites.

Here's what you need:
3 egg whites, should be at room temperature before beginning.
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

In the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer, place the egg  whites, powdered sugar, and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment,  beat all together on low speed until combined.  You can use hand mixer if you don't have a stand mixer but note that it will take longer to get to the right consistency.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Restart the mixer and beat the mixture on medium speed until very thick,  shiny, stiff and white, about 7-10 minutes. 

Check the consistency to ensure that it is suitable for your  needs. If you require a stiffer icing, add a little more powdered sugar  at this point and mix again.

If you want to add color to your icing, add a  few drops of food coloring into the bowl and mix it for a few seconds  until evenly distributed.  This is now ready to use.

Royal icing dries hard and fast so once you have come to the desired consistency and have added some color be sure to use it immediately.  If not, icing must be stored in an air tight container.

Monster Cookie

Another easy treat to enjoy or if you are just not much into cakes and a very much a cookie lover here's one you can do and substitute for a cake.  A giant cookie which is often called cookie cake or cookie pizza. This is actually my first time to do this and I am so pleased how it turned out except of course for my poor hand piping of the message. I need to work on that. :)

Anyway, you can turn your favorite cookie recipe to this giant cookie cake. But for this post I am going to share an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Here's what you need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon  baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups  bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup  white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 14-inch, light colored, round pizza pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper.  I only have dark pizza pan, so I lowered the temperature to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each. You can use hand mixer if you don't have a stand mixer, it will only take longer to cream it together.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix with a whisk.

Add the mixed dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing to incorporate, and add the vanilla extract.

Fold in the dark and white chips using a spatula.  

Spread across the prepared pan but leave about 2 to 3 inches around the edges.

 Bake until the edges are golden and the cookie is set but the center is still slightly soft

 20 to 25 minutes. 

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Now, you can decorate your cookie using some royal icing or just plain powdered sugar or some whipped cream.  It's your choice! :)

Cornbread Muffins

I have a left over buttermilk from the red velvet cake I experimented the other day. Unfortunately, you can't store buttermilk for a long time as it stales easily.  So I googled and searched for recipe that calls for buttermilk.  Mostly what came up were pancakes or biscuits.... then there was cornbread.  Aha! I've always wanted to try out making some cornbread. Perfect, right?!

Here's what you need:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs 

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter muffin pans or 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan.

Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. 

Whisk buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter in another medium bowl to blend. 

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated; do not overmix. 

Transfer batter to prepared pan.
  

 

Bake until bread is golden on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 22 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.  For storing, cool completely in pan on rack, cover with foil and store at room temperature. 

This is good and a perfect pair with chili.  But I was not too crazy about this recipe. I was looking for a more cake type recipe like the ones you can get from Famous Daves. This recipe could be the one some people out there is looking for but for me the hunt for my perfect cornbread muffin is still on. ;)

Recipe source: www.allrecipes.com

Buttermilk Cornbread

Red Velvet Cake

A friend of mine told me that his favorite is Red Velvet Cake.  I told him that I will make him some and send it to him when I get the chance.  I haven't tried making one so before I even plan on sending him some I need to make sure that I make it right. :)  Good thing today we will be going to a get together at a friend's house to bid farewell to Tatay Armando and wish him well.  So a perfect timing for me to try out the red velvet cake recipe I found in the net.

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons  cocoa powder
1/2 cup  unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups  granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

 Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

 

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.  

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. 

 

In a small bowl whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. 

 In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.  

 

Here' the batter after all have been mixed.  I ran out of red food coloring so it didn't turned out as deep red as it needs to be basing on some red velvet cakes I have seen.

 

Working quickly, pour the batter in prepared cake pans or cupcake pans like what I did here.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Let the cake cool and then refrigerate it before applying icing.  You can use any white frosting like vanilla buttercream or the cream cheese icing which is the most famous one paired with this kind of cake.

  

Once frosted and have let the icing set for awhile you are now ready to serve!  I had my son taste it and he said that it is YUMMY!  So I think this recipe is a keeper. ;)

Recipe source: www.joyofbaking.com

Peach Mango Refrigerated Cake

Here's a quick no bake cake that you can serve for dessert to your family and friends.  Very easy and quick to do and tastes so yummy, that is if you are into peaches, mangoes and cream!  When I was in Manila and working there there's a restaurant behind our office building that we would often go to for Friday lunch, it was called "Weekdays".  It was there where I remember eating this kind of dessert and really loved it.  They called it "icebox".  So from that I made a few tweaks and made it my own.  For those interested on how I made this and would like to try for themselves, here is how it goes....

You will need:

• Graham crackers
• Condensed Milk
• Table Cream (heavy cream)
• Canned sliced peaches
• Fresh ripped mangoes (if not in season you can leave this out and just go with the peaches)

In a medium bowl, mix the heavy cream and the condensed milk together.  My ratio is 3 cans of cream to 1 can of condensed milk.  Make sure that you've blended it well together.

Cut the mango meat into cubes.  Easy way is to make squares while it's still with the peel then just scoop the meat out.

Drain the peaches from the can (save the juice).
Save a few sliced peaches then cut the rest into smaller chunks.

Now we are ready to assemble.

Using a deep container, here I am using a pyrex 11 cups rectangular glassware. First layer is the graham crackers.  Lay each one side by side until you've covered the bottom of the pan.

Next pour the cream and milk mixture over the graham crackers.

Just enough to cover the graham crackers.

Then put the peaches and mangoes on top of the cream.

Repeat the layering of graham, cream/milk, and fruits.  This is my second layer.

Third and last layer, use the sliced peaches for a little presentation.  Not much of a presentation here as you can see. :)

Put in the freezer for about an hour to let it set.

While the cake is in the freezer, prepare some gelatin to put on top of the cake.  Get some no flavor gelatin and follow the instructions on the box using the saved juice from the canned peaches.  Then let it rest and cool down before putting on top of the cake. 

Once the cake has set, pour the cool gelatin mixture on top.  Then put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours so that the gelatin will firm up.  Once the gelatin has firmed up you can put the cake in the freezer if you want the cream to set cold and firmer.

Once it has settled to your liking, slice a piece for you to enjoy!

This is the variation I made,  at Weekdays they didn't put fruits and gelatin on top.  Their final layer was the cream and they only put mangoes.  You too can make your own variation, maybe use a different fruit that you love.  Go give it a try! :)