Late Post: Easter 2014

Easter is a beautiful celebration of life, love and salvation. Thus I decided to honor this holy day by making a zesty, tasty Lemon Bundt Cake and a huge pan of Asian Noodle Salad. We also had lovely Spring weather so I was finally able to wear this beaut of a dress from H&M which I bought eons ago :)

The first time I heard of the bundt cake was from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Here's the hilarious clip to refresh your memory:

Bundt cakes are named so because of the pan they're baked in, which characteristically has a hole/tube in the middle (this provides for a more even heat distribution). They're easier to divide, and everyone will have an equal amount of frosting area/slice! Hurrah! Although I am warning you, if you slather a thick type of frosting on top, it will look like a giant doughnut. More on that in the next post ;)

Alas, dear reader, I forgot which recipe I used, so I'm posting links to similar ones instead. Here's the cake I made :) (so good, you have to try it!)

"Lemme At It" Lemon Bundt Cake

I sprinkled gold sugar and lemon zest on top of the lemon-flavored frosting for a touch of whimsy :)

http://pixelatedcrumb.com/2011/07/17/lemon-bundt-cake/
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/lemon-bliss-cake-recipe
http://foxeslovelemons.com/meyer-lemon-bundt-cake-vanilla-bean-icing/#_a5y_p=1386218

Asian Noodle Salad

I first had this when my Ma took home some leftovers from an Asian-themed lunch party that my little bro had at his old school. It was love at first bite, I can tell you that - I'm a huge fan of noodles, sesame oil and veggies, and this was a wicked combination of those three! I decided to try out the promising "Dang Cold Asian Noodle Salad" recipe by Guy Fieri from the show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" (where he samples food from mom-and-pop places in the ol' US of A). What I love about this dish is that it is so easy to prepare! Soba noodles (made with buckwheat flour) take just 6 minutes to cook, and you basically just mix the noodles with the sauce and veggies. The End. Here it is paired with a drumstick from Bon Chon:

And the link to the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/dang-cold-asian-noodle-salad-recipe.html

That's all for now, my bed is telling me that it's time to catch some Zzz's! I hope I dream of oodles of bowls of noodles and plates of lemony bundt goodness *sigh*

Ta-ta for now and God bless you!

Special thanks to Jomar for being my sous-chef, you were sous-perb!

A Pink Baby Shower

Early last year, I, with the help of my lovely friends, threw a pink themed baby shower for my cousin! It took me a long time to organize, mainly because I wanted to DIY everything (fueled by nonstop Pinterest searches, of course), but the end results and the smile on my cousin's face made all the effort worth it :)

The cake:

I used fresh strawberries for both the cake base and the icing (I didn't need to use pink dye for the icing!), because I wanted to harness the flavor of the actual fruit instead of relying on artificial flavoring. The cake was a bit denser than usual due to the added sugar (the strawberries I used were on the tart side), but it was so lovely to look at and the icing was so delish - I was very, very, very tempted to eat it by the spoonful. Not the greatest idea since I used 100% butter. Mmm.

The cake topper:

I cut up tiny baby clothes out of printed board paper (about $1 each at Joann) and attached matching pink felt shapes to the back to weigh it down. I used cake dowels to anchor the clothesline, clipped the baby clothes on, and voila! A super cute, inexpensive and specially-made cake topper to celebrate my future niece's birth :)

The banner:

Pictured below is the actual spread for the dessert table. I cut out letters from copy paper then pasted them onto the rest of my pink board paper. It's pretty easy and definitely less expensive than pre-made banners at party supply stores :)

The sweets:

My giveaways were marshmallows and pretzels dipped in  pink dye-tinted white chocolate, plus strawberry flavored cookies. Tip: white chocolate tends to harden really fast, so I added a few drops of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate. That gave me enough time to dip and swirl the marshmallows and pretzels into the chocolate then press gold sugar  onto them. I then put the goodies into little plastic baggies and gave them out at the end of the party :)

My co-host (and owner of the house where the party was held) also bakes on the side, and she whipped up vanilla cream cheese cupcakes in an instant. Sooooo good!

The Extra Decor:

From the stack of differently-hued pink board paper, I cut up and pasted together these huge paper flowers, which I placed all over my co-host's living room.

The Games:

I had a bunch of games and activities for both the adults and the youngsters.

-Stick the pacifier on the baby. I drew a cartoon of a sleeping baby on copy paper using markers, then drew several pacifiers for each contestant.

-Guess the celebrity baby. Pretty self-explanatory, I used my tablet for the before and after pictures.

-Draw a baby's face on a paper plate. The twist is you put the plate on top of your head, and the cutest (or probably the better word would be comprehensible) drawing wins.

-Write your wishes for the baby. I cut out stars from plain pink board paper, then placed them on a table with a pen and a bowl for the stars that had been written on. You can compile them in a scrapbook for the mommy-to-be after the shower.

-Guess the number of cookies in the jar. This one's for the kids and it kept them occupied for a while. Also works with gumballs, chocolate kisses, etc.

All in all, we had a fun and memorable day. If you're going to plan for a similar party, just remember this: don't sweat the small stuff! Make the best out of any bad situations that will surely pop up (nothing is perfect, after all), and just have a great time with your loved ones :)

Have a blessed day!

<3,

Blueberry Cheesecake Bites!

The first time I had a mini blueberry cheesecake was when my mom's friend started gifting us with a box full of this addicting dessert whenever Christmas rolled by. Ever since that fateful day, I would wait in eager anticipation to sink my teeth into this delectable masterpiece, savoring each and every bite until the box was empty (of course, I had to fight tooth and nail with my older brother for the last piece hehehe!). Little did I know that it was incredibly easy to make, which is a good thing or else I would have spent my lunch money on buying ingredients to bake it myself whenever I craved for its blueberry/cheesy goodness. Make it for a bridal shower (which I did for my friend's surprise tea party-themed shower) and for any other gathering that requires you to bring something sweet :)

Head over to talentadongchef.wordpress.com to get the recipe!

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups crushed graham crackers
1 stick butter, melted
3 T white sugar

Cheesecake:
2 bars of 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
2 t vanilla
1/2 t fine salt
1 21-oz can of blueberry pie filling/topping

Taken during the bridal shower <3

#nofilter #yum #instafood

Happy baking!

<3,

Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

I made this for New Year's Eve upon Mama's request, and let me tell you, it was gone in two days (mostly due to Ma and my lil bro hehehe!). I froze a slice for a friend of mine so it will stay fresh, and he said it was still delish :) The cheesecake part is not too sweet and not too heavy, which will probably make you want to sneak in another slice ;). This recipe's definitely a keeper!

Notes:

-The key to this one is, since you use fresh strawberries, that they be as ripe as possible. If you are going to make this at the last minute like I did, check their ripeness by looking at the color (very vibrant red, minimal yellow area near the stem) and checking their fragrance (they should be REALLY fragrant. I guarantee you, if the scent is very faint, they will be sour and you would need to wait for them to ripen). Goodness knows I've had desserts with sliced fruits that were still tangy/sour, and the lack of sweetness killed what would have been a perfect dessert.

-That's it! The recipe is really easy to follow, and if you want it to have that extra level of YUM, use a chocolate graham cracker crust (mine was from Keebler). Heavenly!

Did you know that strawberries are a member of the rose family?

Glaze. So much sweet, shiny homemade glaze. Yum.

Strawberries are one of God's best creations.

Save a slice for someone. They will definitely smile all day after eating it :)

Recipe from southernfood.about.com

Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

9-inch graham cracker crust, baked

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until thick and light yellow. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and the flour, beating until blended. Pour the egg mixture into a measuring cup.

In the same bowl, beat cream cheese with a small amount of the evaporated milk until smooth. Add remaining milk, the lemon juice, and the grated lemon peel; beat until smooth and well blended. Pour egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture; beat just until blended.

Pour mixture into the graham cracker crust. Bake at 325° for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Glaze

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

few drops red food coloring, optional

Cut 10 to 12 strawberries in half; arrange in a single layer, cut side down, over the cooled cheesecake. Crush enough remaining strawberries to make 1/3 cup; put in saucepan. Stir in 1/3 cup water and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Press through a strainer to make 1/2 cup of puree. Return the 1/2 cup puree to the saucepan. Mix together the sugar and cornstarch and stir into the puree in saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened and clear. Add food coloring, if desired. Cool slightly; spoon evenly over strawberries on cheesecake. Cool and store, covered, in refrigerator.

Arrivederci and have a wonderful week ahead! (P.S. it's Restaurant Week next week, there might still be reservations left. Hurry! Go here to check the list of restaurants in your area: ramw.org/restaurantweek)

<3,

Christmas 2013: Family, Food and Fashion

Hi! How was your Christmas break? Mine's been quite fruitful so far, and I'm trying to squeeze in as much bonding time as I can with my family since some of them will be flying back to California on the 4th of January. That's why this is going to be a super quick post since I am also in the middle of doing some errands and spending quality time with them :) I sincerely hope you had a great one and wish that you'll enjoy celebrating the upcoming New Year! I've got a feeling that 2014 will be magical for you and me :)

Food:

I made Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken for our Christmas Eve dinner. The bird was super tender and moist that when Mama was trying to remove one of the legs the meat literally fell right off the bone! I did my own thing with the gravy with chicken drippings, though, because I don't like using packaged chicken broth. It was very flavorful too, and I was smiling all throughout the time I was chopping herbs (thank you God for making them, they smell soooo good!). Follow the instructions for the oven temperature to a T because it's the secret to getting crispy skin and tender meat.

Tweaks:

1. I also roasted carrots and pearl onions with the potatoes. I had no baby potatoes on hand so I used red potatoes instead.

2. I used baby carrots to cut the peeling time by a huge chunk. Just slice them in half and place them in a bowl containing the potatoes and onions, then toss them with a fair amount of salt, pepper, olive oil, and chopped herbs.

3. I also made a paste from olive oil, a bit of melted butter, chopped herbs, salt and pepper. I rubbed a big portion of it between the skin and the breast meat (don't be scared that the skin will be ripped off, it's fairly easy to do and will help you get super moist and flavorful breast meat), then rubbed the rest all around the chicken. Make sure you get it between every nook and cranny to ensure that ALL parts of the chicken will taste delish :)

Here's the result:

The skin was very crispy and tasty. It reminded me of chicken from Max's, a popular restaurant in the Philippines.

Yummy! Oh, and here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/lemon-and-herb-roasted-chicken-with-baby-potatoes-recipe/index.html

For Christmas lunch with the extended family, I baked Chocolate Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese-Butter Pecan Frosting. The cake base lacked a bit of chocolate-y flavor and the frosting was a little on the sweet side, hopefully I'll remember to add more chocolate morsels and reduce the amount of powdered sugar the next time I make it. I might have to add a splash of milk too because the cream cheese flavor might be too much for some people.

Here it is with cake toppers inspired by this blog entry: http://ohhappyday.com/2013/12/christmas-forest-cake-topper/. I seriously wish I made more of these cute trees but I was already running late so I had to make do with just two pieces :( (the sour cream I bought just the other day had mold in it so I had to rush to the nearest grocery, and then in the middle of whipping the cream cheese, one of the whisk attachments on my electronic handheld beater broke. But whatever, I did not let those mishaps ruin my Christmas :) )

Here's the recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-velvet-cake-with-cream-cheese-butter-pecan-frosting-10000000554777/. The toasted pecans in the icing were DIVINE, they were like little crunchy, tasty surprises in every bite. I bought a huge bag of them for a much cheaper price at Costco :)

Fah-shion:

And here I am with a blue Candie's dress I bought from Kohl's during their recent Black Friday sale. The cut and color are very flattering, and the bow at the back adds cuteness without being overbearing. I balanced the girly look by wearing black semi-opaque tights and pairing the dress with black leather wedge booties from Nine West :) The tips of the boots are a little pointy and will help elongate anyone's legs, which is the reason why I love this silhouette so much! <3 Many thanks to Mama who took my pictures hehehe. My purse is from DKNY (c/o TJ Maxx, I love this place) and is reminiscent of Chanel's iconic quilted bag.

Whew! Now off I go to finish some other stuff and maybe put in some time watching Regular Show episodes with my not-so-lil bro :)

Toodle-oo!

<3,

Scrumptious Sunday: Lemon Pound Cake / A Baking Mishap

When I made these cupcakes I was left with four egg yolks (just using egg whites for baking a cake, like in angel food cake, makes it fluffier, hence the leftover yolks). I had no desire to throw them out (that would be such a waste!), so I used them as an excuse to bake again. As luck would have it, the first result for my google inquiry of "four yolks" led me to a page from www.fortysomething.ca which lists links to recipes on other blogs that use one yolk up to twelve yolks! Clever, really, and now I have it bookmarked just in case I have leftover yolk again (or the next time I bake vanilla cupcakes, which will be pretty soon!)

Click here so you can bookmark it too :) "Recipes to Use Up Extra Egg Yolks"

I settled on the Lemon Pound Cake because it sounded easy to make and I had most of the ingredients on hand. Granted, I used an 8"x8" pan, which resulted in a denser cake (I miss my equipment! I have a loaf pan that I used once to make banana bread before it was put into storage), but it's delicious as promised by the author that it is almost gone. Mostly eaten by me. Hahaha, Winter is definitely coming :)

Baking mishap: On hindsight I should have cut the baking time by a couple of minutes since the pan I used has a larger surface area than a loaf pan, but I was about to be late for an SFC meeting and thus wasn't thinking all too clearly (thank God my roomie was there to take it out once the timer went off), which resulted in a drier cake. My bad! Good thing the texture was similar to toasted mamon (with a hint of lemon), so that made up for my mistake (I looove toasted mamon). The next time I bake this, it'll be in an actual loaf pan, and it would be soooo good it would be gone in a day. And not just by me ;)

Click here for the recipe --> Lemon Pound Cake by italian-dessert-recipes.com :)

Happy baking (or eating, if you can bribe someone else to make this for you hehehe)

and have a great and blessed week ahead!

<3,

Scrumptious Sunday: Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

So... I used a real vanilla bean in making cupcakes for the very first time, and it brought the cupcakes' yum factor into a whole new level. Seriously. Thank goodness the beans were on sale though (I hoarded 3! They usually sell for $5 PER PIECE, yikes!), so that made it a little easier on my wallet. My latest mini-project was for a friend's baby shower, and of course it's pretty obvious if the baby's a girl or a boy ;) A dash each of white pearls and gold sprinkles completed the look. Voilà!

Sooo pretty <3 Those little black specks are vanilla seeds and a sign of "scrumptiousness" to come! lol

Click HERE to see the recipe and for some more information about vanilla on vanilla cupcakes. Check out www.mybakingaddiction.com for more delish recipes <3 This is now my go-to recipe for vanilla cupcakes.

Notes:

-I only used one bean for the entire recipe (1/2 for the cake, 1/2 for the icing) and it turned out pretty well. If you can afford it, then by all means use two whole beans :)

-I was able to make 24 cupcakes from the recipe, and the icing was more than enough for all of those cupcakes. I would suggest to cut the icing recipe by 1/2.

-Save the yolks! You can still use them to make a lot of other baked goods, and for multiple cupcake batches I think there will be enough to make flan. Almost everybody loves flan!
-The recipe called for sifted flour (to get the lumps out and make the cupcake fluffier), but since I didn't have my sifter with me (it's in storage, along with most of my baking equipment) I improvised by fluffing the flour with a fork (some suggest using a whisk), which resulted in a teeny-bit dense cupcake.

Happy baking!

<3,

Baby Shower Cake

“One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed.” - Julia Child

Wise advice from the lady who, with her jolly demeanor and easygoing attitude, demystified French cuisine and made it accessible for American audiences.

Sometimes, you just have to accept the fact that there is a bigger reason behind things not going the way you planned them to. Take, for example, the cake that I made for my friend/co-worker's and his wife's baby shower two Fridays ago. It was supposed to be a blue-turning-white  ombré cake topped with a clothesline clipped with tiny baby clothes cut out from patterned paper. I forgot that if I used pure butter instead of crisco (ew, crisco, butter is so much better!) the icing would be off-white instead of white - adieu, ombré! Then when I started making the mini clothesline, I forgot to offset the weight of the mini clothespins, which made the paper baby clothes turn upside-down on the clothesline (or I should have used wire since it won't turn like string does)! I had no time to cry over these mistakes (by then it was already 1am) so I mulled over my options, looked at pictures on google for inspiration, and came up with these changes:

1. Instead of making an ombré cake, I used my star tip to cover the entire cake with star-shaped frosting. Only problem was I ran out of frosting (whoops!) so I was only able to cover the top of the cake. Good thing that happened, because I used the leftover chocolate frosting from the middle layer to cover the sides, and it turns out that that frosting was everyone's favorite part of the cake.

2. I changed the mini clothes into a banner saying "Baby Boy." Lesson learned: do a test run! If I had done that, I would have made a cleaner-looking banner.

I got hugs and thank yous from the parents-to-be plus a lot of compliments for my made-from-scratch cake which helped me get through my running-on-two-hours-of-sleep day. After work, I went home to take an hour of nap, then headed off to DC to eat dinner with some friends at Hot N Juicy (couldn't eat any seafood as I was allergic to them, but the wings I got were good albeit spicy <for me, that is, since I don't eat spicy food often enough to build tolerance to them>). More on that in another post, but first, here's the cake:

Speaking of banners on cakes, if you want to spend hours looking at gorgeous/adorable ones, head over to Pinterest! I'll make it easier for you by putting this link lol http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=banner+cake
Hopefully they will inspire you to make your own version someday ;)

Here are my favorite ones:

From lookatthebirds.com

Progress?

For posterity's sake, a compilation of my creations:

03/2011: Ma's birthday, Red Velvet cupcakes

Dirt Track Racing Cake!

Yesterday was a double celebration as it was both Easter and my nephew's 4th birthday! So of course I had double the food hahaha jk but not really, I definitely felt the aftereffect earlier today (was really groggy and sluggish). Easter morning was spent on whipping up a car themed birthday cake from scratch, based on a recipe from Hershey's website and a basic buttercream recipe I found online. Are you ready to see it? Here it is! (Controlled sloppiness is key to this cake: it's supposed to emulate dirt track racing, after all!)

The dirt track is made out of crushed chocolate cookies while the grass is tinted vanilla buttercream frosting (kelly green gel tint, lots and lots of it)

Pre-Oscars: Best Food Scenes in Movies

Pretty straightforward, I compiled a list of movies wherein I could almost taste the food on the screen or where I felt my stomach growling. Comment with your favorite food scene below :D

1. Ratatouille - My little brother, who normally doesn't eat vegetables, asked Ma to cook Ratatouille for him after we watched it in the cinema. She obliged, wanting to try it out too, but my brother bailed at the last second (to which I said, "More for me!"). Whenever I feel uninspired to cook/bake but have to, I remember this film and encourage myself with the quote "Anyone can cook!"

Here's a recipe for Ratatouille that's based on the movie:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/

Ratatouille from smittenkitchen.com

I miss baking!

Sorry, but this blog post is a thinly-veiled attempt to bookmark a scrumptious looking recipe for a fudge-filled pastry from cakespy.com. I'm hoping that I will have the time to make it in the future <3

Click on the link for the recipe! The author said it's delish and easy to make :)

Fudge Filled Dessert Strips

A screen grab/preview:

 

Images are owned by Cakespy

Happy baking!

<3,