Mango Crepe

Mango Crepe

I saw some fresh mangoes on our table so I decided to make crepes, all of a sudden.

I made the crepe batter before lunch to let it rest for a while then cook them around 1.30 pm so that we can eat it as our afternoon snack.

My sisters loved Cafe Breton's La Pinay. It includes mangoes, nutella, chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Since we don't have vanilla ice cream and nutella, I just whipped up some cream and made some chocolate sauce.

My sisters ate all the crepes (there are 9 pieces) and loved it. :)

Brownie Overload

Brownie Overload

I was craving for brownies last Monday so I decided to make a small batch.

This was supposed to be a Rocky Road brownie but I ran out of Marshmallows. :(

But I decided to overload it with choco, butterscotch and mocha chips and also some toasted almonds. And voila brownie overload.

Me and my sister devoured this for a couple of days. I basically loved the butterscotch chips.. too bad it was a gift by the Guittard people when we toured their factory. I wish I could get another box.. I simply love their mint chips too!!

Clay Accessories

Candy Pendant

I know this post is not food related but, I've noticed that my blog has been visited by a lot of people from different parts of the world. So hello to all.

Posted here are two of our clay accessory products. And yes, we're selling them. All of these are handmade by me and my friend. I posted these two because they're my favorites among everything that we've done.

Macaron de Paris Pendants

We accept made to order items too. So feel free to ask me here or in our homepage at Multiply. Also, add us on Facebook!

Here are the links: (ADD US!)

Multiply - Peppermint Trinkets

Facebook - Peppermint Trinkets

Here's our Official logo made by Pam (erised):

Nice huh?

And I've also opened my online baking shop. Please do visit! and order? Haha.

Multiply - Cupcakes Inc.

The logo was also made by Pam (erised). Thank you Pam!!! :)

Cupcakes!

Cupcakes

I'm on a roll! Haha. I know I've posted some cupcake pics before but this is the more recent cupcakes I made. The picture above is where my mom requested me to make some since she loved the one I made for my friend (order). It was halloween that time so I made the icing purple and orange!

This one is an order from a friend of mine I met during my training days in Antipolo. It's his son's birthday so she ordered 25 pieces of cupcakes. She said it's yummy and I'm really happy to hear that. So in case you guys wanna order from me check out: Cupcakes Inc. I can only accept orders in Metro Manila as of the moment, thank you!

Mac and Cheese

Mac and Cheese

I've been craving for mac and cheese for a long time that time so I decided to make one myself since I'm bored and I've got nothing to do. My mom during that time was glaring at me since she doesn't have any idea what is Mac and Cheese is.

When I made them she was instantly delighted and told me it's delicious and grabbed another serving of mac and cheese. My brother and sisters loved it and ate 3 servings. All in all my cravings have been fullfilled, I added some chili garlic sauce just to add some flavor to the regular mac and cheese, I guess that's the reason why my mac and cheese is colored Orange! Haha. Oh I used regular cheddar cheese by the way, since it's cheaper and I'm just trying it! Haha

Chocolate Crinkles

Chocolate Crinkles

I usually love these cookies. I always make our maid to buy them in a nearby local bakery store. Haha. I decided to try and make them. I absolutely love them. This is great as gifts to friends and just for home eating. I absolutely love the chocolate-y goodness and richness of this cookie!!

Chicken Wraps

Chicken Wraps

I blame it on the KFC tvc! So my mom doesn't want to buy the KFC chicken wraps that looks so yummy in TVC... she told me to make one myself. Haha. Mean right? Just joking.

So here goes... bought some whole wheat tortilla wraps, since I couldn't find a regular tortilla. Instead of pizza sauce, I used Prego's tomato sauce with mushrooms, herb and garlic in it. Bought some quickmelt cheese and chicken breasts and off to the kitchen I go when we came home from the grocery!

Everyone loved it... I also made it my dinner. I fried the chicken with Crispy Fry's breading mix. I'm not promoting anything okay? I'm just telling the stuffs that I used. Yummy!

Chicken Macaroni Waldorf Salad

Chicken Macaroni Waldorf Salad

I accompanied my mom to the grocery that day when they gave free samples of macaroni salads to promote their Mayonnaise. My mom loved this salad above and told me to make it. Following my mom's wants we bought some chicken breast, macaroni, celery, cashew nuts, apples and mayonnaise, of course.

So while I was making this I got this great idea, that instead of cooking the chicken as it is by just rubbing it with salt and pepper, I tweaked it. I marinated the chicken with salt, pepper, dried rosemary and added a little bit of calamansi (filipino counterpart of lime), then fry it in olive oil.

So i just toasted the cashews, chopped the veggies and fruit, cooked the macaroni and tossed it all together. Added the mayonnaise and chicken and voila! Salad is ready!

The funny thing is, I made a big bowl of this salad and it only lasted for about 3-4 days. Does this mean it's good??? Hehe.

Chicken Galantina

Chicken Galantina

Haha.. okay so I just realized I have lots of stuff to blog since I've been idle since august. Well anyway here it goes..

Chicken Galantina, it's basically deboned chicken stuff with ground pork, raisins, green peas, carrots and pickle relish. The binder of those stuffings inside the chicken is egg. You sew the cavity of the chicken wrap it in aluminum foil and cook it using a steamer for 3 hours to 3 1/2 hours.

After cooking, let it cool, do not slice it while it's hot it will make the stuffs fall apart. :) I did this two days before Christmas so I just placed it in the freezer and defrosted it and sliced it. I fried it a little bit with butter and garlic then the chicken drippings, I made some gravy. I didn't take a picture of the gravy since everyone can make their own gravy anyway.

I love this dish because every Christmas back then, my dad's friend would give us something like this dish only it is made out of Turkey or Chicken depends on them. I fell in love with this dish since it's so yummy, you can make me eat this dish for a month, as long as there's gravy accompanying it! Hehe.

Mamon

Mamon

Mamon is called Spongecake in other countries. It's technically made out of beaten whites (meringue) and yolks then folded together then later added some dry ingredients and oil.

I found this recipe about 8 months ago but just decided to save it in my files for safekeeping. Early this morning, since I've got nothing to do except browse my files, I came across this recipe in my files and decided to make them.

The texture is really soft and it is moist. Not as fluffy as Goldilocks or Red Ribbon's but it is acceptable. I also increased the baking time since the recipe calls for 12-15 mins, it's not done yet. I baked it around 20 minutes and the result was the picture above. I tried baking the last batch for 25 minutes, and I liked the result of the cake. It's golden brown in color, the type of color I was looking for.

I brushed some butter and sprinkled some sugar on top, to add more texture. I think it will also be nice if you substitute the oil for butter, not only it will give you more color but also much tastier flavor and aroma!

Happy 2010!

Green Tea White Chocolate Mousse with Mango Glaze Cake

I apologize for not updating my blog since august! =( The thing is I've been busy with things that :( I don't want to talk about it. Hmm.. I had a three-week training in Antipolo..... :) and I created a modern cake (which is required for my final assessment). The picture above is the modern cake I made, it's made out of Green Tea White Chocolate Mousse with a Mango Pastry Cream in the middle layer (my instructor wanted to have a "surprise" flavor in the middle) and the base is made out of Japonaise and a thin sheet of ribbon sponge. I glazed the top with Mango glaze made straight out from fresh Mango Puree that I made. Funny thing is... my instructor told me to write Japanese characters. I told him I don't know how to write those but I can write Chinese, I guess he was trying to challenge me for it and he couldn't believe I was able to write it Chinese characters inverted so that it will come out of the sponge the right way (look above) lol. Crazy right? I enjoyed my group and added some friends but, to tell you the truth I was in confusion the first time, since from what I've learned from the US and here are different, even the execution of something and besides that, the chef studied in CIA in Napa so... you can see the loyalty. Haha.

Hazelnut Macaroons with Chocolate Ganache

I made these French Macaroons last month. Since I was trying to find something to give for my friends, I tried to search in the web what kind of pastries I can give them, that's when I encountered this recipe in the Food Network. I decided to try it and the results came out good. I was so happy because back where I was in Antipolo, I had an epic fail result of these pastries. So, in the coming days I will try and experiment more so I can come up with different flavors to sell!

Oh, and by the way. I just opened my online shop: Cupcakes Inc. and Peppermint Trinkets.

Cupcakes Inc. - it's not only cupcakes but I also sell different types of cakes and pastries. I can also take orders for birthday (birthday cupcakes, weddings, valentine's day, etc.)

Peppermint Trinkets - by Pam and me. We sell clay accessories and Pam's beaded ones (Cellphone accesory, rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, keychains, small figurines). We will also try to push thru our resin products hopefully we can find the resin stuff!

Happy 2010 guys. I hope our year will be full of blessings~ :D till my next post! :)

Blueberry Cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake

I made this yesterday. It's a no-bake cheesecake meaning I used gelatin instead of eggs to combine all the ingredients together. My mom prefers this rather than your traditional baked cheesecake but me? I prefer the latter.

I guess this is good when you want to have a hassle free and quick dessert. It saves a lot of time too. Baked cheesecakes are baked under water bath and it usually bakes for about an hour or so. Then you have to cool it down and put it in the fridge overnight for it to set. Unlike no-bake ones, gelatin is your only ingredient to combine everything then you let it set in the fridge for at least three hours and you can eat it after.

The difference between the two is that baked cheesecakes used eggs to coagulate and binds all the ingredients togehter, aside from that, a little bit amount of flour is used too. In no-bake cheesecakes as I've said earlier the cream cheese mixture is gelatinized together by pouring over the gelatin-sugar liquid over the cream cheese mixture and mixing it thoroughly. Both methods also use cream and sour cream too. We do not use eggs in no-bake cheesecakes since the cake is not cooked, and it may cause Salmonella right? Very scientific! Haha!

I guess I should stop blabbering now. Hehe.

Caramel Apples

Caramel Apples

I made these yesterday since my sister has been bugging me about Caramel Apples. Me and my youngest sister are fond of SanFo Treats shop in SM (ShoeMart) that whenever we decided to hang out there we buy at least an apple to share. But the thing is, it is no longer there so yeah. Then I came across this recipe in the Food Network website and decided to make it.

It's really funny since my mom had this weird expression in her face when I told her I'm going to make some caramel apples for us. In the end, she also wanted one. I even joked saying I thought she didn't like the idea, then she replied back by saying she didn't say anything.

I decorated some of the apples with sprinkles and nonpareils. I love the ones with sprinkles/nonpareils, it made the apples more crunchier. And to tell you the truth, even with lots of sweets in that caramel, (maple syrup, brown sugar and corn syrup) it's not that sweet. Even my brother who rarely eats desserts except for cheesecakes, ate one. I guess the apples' tartness contemplates the sweetness of the caramel that makes the taste just right. So yeah, my mom ate two apples, I ate three, my sisters well I dunno. I made 11 caramel apples yesterday and there's only one left. Go figure. Haha.

Matcha/Green Tea Cheesecake

Matcha/Green Tea Cheesecake

I made these yesterday! Yay. Finally! But I didn't use the exact amount of matcha needed in the recipe, thinking that matcha is too expensive and it might be too much, and may become bitter in the end. I trusted my instincts and used only a teaspoon of matcha.

I know that matcha has a strong flavor and I'm right. Once the cheesecake was baked and I opened the oven, the aroma of matcha already invaded my nose. It smelled really good.

I love matcha, when in Starbucks, I usually order Green tea frappe, I drink green tea when I'm sick and I love Green Tea Ice Cream (it comes second from my all-time favorite Mint Chocolate Chip).

But I shouldn't have unmolded the cheesecake right away though, it made the sides messy. I should've waited for it to cool down and set nicely (overnight) then unmold it.

My mom gave me a thumbs up yesterday while smelling the cake, she haven't tasted it yet since she went out today. So maybe later.

I tasted it this morning since I placed it in the fridge overnight. All I can say is that it is good. It's tart-y, green tea flavored cheesecake heaven. I love it!

I also made the crust by myself! Hehe.

Always remember- cheesecakes are baked in Baine-Marie (water bath) for even cooking. Always use a good gelatin when making no-bake cheesecakes.

I also have a can of blueberry Comstock here at home. My mom bought it weeks ago telling me to bake a cheesecake. So yeah, I might bake another cheesecake and it's my other favorite! Blueberry!

Matcha Powder

I was able to buy Matcha (Green Tea Powder). Finally! I've been looking for this since I came back here in the Philippines. Tomorrow I'll be baking Matcha Cheesecake for the family. And I'm going to try to use this little by little. Why? Because it's so expensive! It costs Php 160.00 for every container. It only weighs 25 grams so technically it costs Php 6.40 per gram.

There are two convenient stores that sells Matcha, I bought this from a small cafe called Kozui which is located in Quezon City. The other one is in Ortigas and it's a Japanese convenient store named Konbini.

Kozui is located at 258 B Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City. Telphone number is 4132705. Click here to go to their site.

Ube Pandan Cake

Ube Pandan Cake

I made this cake last Friday, my mom told me to do it so I did. Haha. Actually, my mom has a lot of cakes she wanted to try out. So yeah, I have a lot of cake lined up for baking.

This cake is basically speaks for it's own. Ube (Purple Yam) and Pandan Chiffon Cake is used, the fillings are made of ube and pandan as well. I even made pandan water for this recipe.

I'm not fond of ube and pandan that much so I guess I didn't appreciate the taste and all. For people who are ube and pandan lovers, I guess they would love this cake. My mom told me it was okay, being an ube and pandan lover she is, she said it was only okay. So yeah.

I finally found the store that sells Matcha Powder. I've been looking for this thing ages ago and I'm happy that I've found it. I might go there tomorrow and then try to bake the Matcha Cheesecake I've been itching to bake!

Chocolate Custard Cake

Chocolate Custard Cake

My mom was ecstatic with this cake since she simply loves Creme Caramel or Leche Flan here in the Philippines. So when she saw this in the food magazine I bought a week ago, she immediately told me to make one. So I made one the other day for her and for the family also a taste test to see if this cake will benefit for my cake business. My mom loved it. So yeah, I also gave some to her bestfriend and she ordered one for tomorrow! Yay me.

The picture I took from the first one is not nice so I decided to take another picture earlier, this looks more presentable. So the picture you see above is the finished product. To tell you the truth, I was actually scared of making this cake because you're dealing with three types of things here, first is the caramel, where you cook the sugar and water mixture to the caramel point or when the sugar turns into golden brown or honey brown in color. Once it's done, you pour the caramel sauce into the cake pan. Then to make the flan or custard, mix egg yolks, evaporated and condensed milk, and cocoa powder together. Once mixed, pour it into the same cake pan by straining it to remove unnecessary solids that are annoying. Then make the chocolate sponge cake and also pour it into the same pan. Do not tap the pan, the tendency for tapping is mixing the custard and sponge batter together resulting to a not pleasurable thing? I don't know, I don't have the heart and money to waste a cake. Then bake it over Baine-Marie (just like cheesecake) until done. Remove it from the oven and let it stay in water bath until cool. Then unmold it.

I learned a really big lesson the other day too. Never-ever leave your phone away from you especially when you're starting this business and clients are there to call you. Since my friends knew that I don't like to text, or call anyone, I simply sometimes leave my mobile phone unattended back in my room and where am I? In the dining area. When I checked my phone the other night, I saw two missed calls. Then I SMSed the number and asked who is he/she? I didn't get any reply. The next day around 8 am in the morning, I received the call from the same number, I woke up from the ring of my phone haha! And asked if the number is from my small company. I told her yes and she asked me if there's any available cakes. I told her no since I bake prior to order. So yeah. I'm still waiting for her call again. Hahaha! I wish she would. So the lesson is, always keep your mobile phone beside you at all times and do not be lazy bringing them anywhere. Hehe.

For inquiries or orders, please contact Cupcakes Inc., the contact numbers are listed there. Cupcakes Inc. is only available for Metro Manila area orders only. Thank you!

Singaporean Rolls / Salted Fish Fried Rice

Singaporean Rolls

Our made made these earlier for our lunch. I thought it was just some ordinary veggie roll that I like to eat. Turns out it was a new thing she made.. Singaporean Rolls! I never had one of these before I have eaten different types of spring rolls so I'm ecstatic. Haha. Silly me, being ecstatic with a simple food. I love comfort food I guess. This is one of my so-called comfort foods at home.

The filling was made out of ground pork, cooked vermicelli noodles and carrots. A little bit of Salt and Pepper to taste I guess. It's really yummy!

Fish Sauce and Calamansi (Calamondin)

According to our maid, this spring roll is paired up with Fish sauce and Calamansi. And I have to agree, it really paired up well.

Take a look inside the spring roll.... Haha

Salted Fish Fried Rice

I have been eating this for quite sometime already. I haven't gotten any opportunity to take some pictures of it since my old phone doesn't take nice pictures. So here it is. I managed to have a sumptuous lunch earlier and I even told our maid to save the leftovers (which is a lot) for dinner and I also had a really happy dinner since I ate the same thing. Haha. Yeah, I'm not picky.

Chocolate Beehives

Chocolate Beehives

I've been spending time in the kitchen almost everyday recently. Either I'm baking cakes for orders or my mom is making me bake some stuff we found in Food Magazines I bought a few days ago (and I think I should buy more). Anyway, yeah. I found these in one of the food magazines I've bought. I've seen this type of dessert around the mall while I was window shopping. Hehe.

I followed the recipe itself and I'm pretty satisfied with the results, all except for one. I will tell you later.

The brownies' texture are pretty good, it's not all too fudgy, it's just right. I like it. I sliced them in 2" squares.

After baking and slicing the brownies, you need to do the Italian Meringue. I have to admit at first I was kind of nervous making it since it's been months since I last made Italian meringue. I got lucky and it turned out well. So pipe the meringue on top of the brownies in swirling motion for several times until it resembles like a beehive.

And last but not the least pour ganache over the top. I don't like the ganache of this recipe. Did you see the first picture? It's so thin. I should've used my own ganache recipe. But heck, I wanna try this recipe so I did. Whatever.

I put sprinkles on top since I don't have sliced almonds stocked at home. My sisters loved this dessert. The meringue is marshmallow-y in texture I must say! :D

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I just remembered that I haven't updated for weeks now. Haha. I've been busy baking in my kitchen since I'm starting to introduce my line of cakes. So I need to have some taste tests that's what's been keeping me up from blogging. Aside from that, I'm just a pure lazy girl who didn't want to update.

So I made this cake three times already, one for my taste test, another one for my mom's bff's her taste test and finally my mom's bff's order for her client's birthday. She works in a bank so yeah, I hope in the future, I could sell a lot of cakes.

I found this recipe on the food magazine I bought a few days ago, and my mom told me to try and make this recipe. So I made it last Sunday and it turns out really yummy. The only problem is, if you have no experience in baking and you just trust what the recipe says you'd be tricked. Since the magazine says that you bake the cake for 35 minutes, when I checked mine it's still a batter. I set my timer for another ten minutes, it's still the same, I did this three times until it became a cake and has cooked thoroughly. So it took about 1 hour and 5 minutes for the cake to bake perfectly. So yeah, those inexperienced bakers will be frustrated and won't try baking again since they give some false time. I think it depends on the oven or I think they purposely did that? I have no idea. But be careful!

Another thing is that the frosting requires a pound of powedered sugar, when I looked at it and thought about it for quite sometime I decided it's too sweet. I lessened the sugar content which is good since my mom said it's a little bit sweet but all in all it's good. So yeah, my judgement is right. So people, be always careful when measuring or just dumping all the ingredients all together, try to think the amount given and try to analyze if it will become too sweet or not. That's all! You can substitute any nuts as a topping, I prefer Hazelnuts, since I love hazelnuts. :D

So that's it for now. Wait for my next entry. I'm baking/cooking up something in the kitchen again. I might post it one of these days!