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.