NOT a Daring Baker

Its that time of the month where the Daring Bakers' Ladies and gents gather and show off what they did with the challenge for the month.

I'm so disappointed to say that I wasn't able to do my challenge, it look absolutely gorgeous and it would have been definitely a nice challenge for me, its a Strawberry Mirror Cake, unfortunately here in the Philippines, summer season (March til May) is already over so no more strawberries that are readily available unlike before. I was planning to make use of frozen strawberries instead, however, I can't find them in the freezer section of my supermarket. I even tried using canned, well..suffice to saw the canned ones look hideous once I opened the can. They tasted canned and water logged, they definitely DID NOT laste anything remotely like strawberries. I did not want to waste all my other ingredients when the main ingredient that is the start in this recipe isn't that good, so I set aside my recipe and save it for next summer.

I'm so envious of all those other Daring Bakers who were able to complete their challenge...Hopefully, for August, there woudn't be seasonal fruit based again...please!

Cream Cheese + Chocolates

Brownies, who doesn't like brownies? with its rich, dense, gooey center. To make it more decadent and indulging why not top it off with a swirl of cream cheese! Last Thursday, the first time in a few weeks that I got home from work early, I was feeling indulgent and made a scrumptious Cream Cheese Brownie. These are great with a hot cup of coffee or a tall glass of milk. I got this recipe when I attended a class from Heny Sison School years ago, I love attending her classes and watching her shows (unfortunately, he Sunday shows has ended). This particular recipe was taught by non other the Chef Jill Sandique, I actually liked attending her classes, again unfortunately, she doesn't seem to be teaching there anymore.





Anyways, I just love this brownie recipe because it has a slight tang to it coming from the cheesecake mixture swirled into it. Even my brother who doesn't like cheesecake that much gobbled it all up. My sister and dad would probably not a bid fan of it because of the slight tang the cream cheese gives off. I know it looks fattening and would indeed ruin anyone's diet because, you can't just have one, cut into small bite size pieces and indulge to your hearts content :)
Find your dessert buddy, preferable a cheesecake and brownie lover to boot! and make this recipe and share, I tweaked this recipe a bit so please feel free to customize to you hearts content.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownie base:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Cream cheese filling:
1 brick cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Stir together in a small bowl the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray and fit an 18- by-16-inch sheet of foil into the bottom of the pan. Coat foil lightly with cooking spray as well.

Melt together the unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk into the chocolate mixture the sugar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Add dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated.

In a small bowl, beat together all the cream cheese filling ingredients until of smooth.

Pour half the brownie batter into the pan. Drop half the cream cheese mixture, by spoonfuls, over the batter. Repeat, layering remaining batter and filling. Use knife or spoon to gently swirl together the batter and filling, creating a marbled effect and smoothing out the top.

Bake at 325 degrees on the lower middle oven rack for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with several moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool brownies in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then use foil sling "handles" to lift brownies from the pan. Place brownies on wire rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. Cut into squares and serve.

Chocolates Everywhere

Last Friday, my parents when out with their friends in SM MOA (the newest and biggest mall in Manila,so far), my mom ask me to make a small cake to take with them, and enjoy with their coffee.

I decided to make an Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake with Sticky Fudge Frosting. This cake is what Filipino Grandparents use to make and feed us when we were kids. My faternal grandma wasn't a baker but a great chef loved her Chinese dishes that she used to cook all the time. We use to have cake like this, when I was younger by buying in the bakeshops. My family isn't mush of a baker, I guess typical Chinese not into sweets that much. But of course when I started learning how to bake it all change....

This is my family's all time favorite cake whenever there's an occasion like birthdays, I always whipped out this cake. Moreover, chocolate desserts are one of the most universal dessert anyone can make, everybody (almost except those who are allergic, heaven forbid!) loves chocolate. Its quick & easy. What more can you ask for right?

I end up with extra batter having made a small 5" cake, I have lots of extra batter to experiment with. While the cake is busy baking in the oven, I folded in 3 cups of marshmallows and 2 cups of chocolate chips to the chocolate batter. Apart of it I put in individual muffin pans and the other part, I baked it loaf style. I have recently bought a Wilton Jumbo Muffin mold so quite recently I love using this in my baking the problem that I encountered is that I can't find a big enough muffin mold that would fit it perfectly. For the mean time while I'm still on my search for the jumbo muffin liners I used my ensaymada (its a sweet bread with cheese and butter and sugar topping, we, Filipinos love them) liners. They turned out pretty like flowers however, that's not what I'm going for. The loves turn out lovely, its all soft and chewy from the marshmallow. but I think I put too much marshmallow in it bacause I can't be eaten by hand! it does hold its shape that well, whipped out the spoons and dig in!

I'm glad to hear that my parents and their friends love the cake. Hearing simple compliments like that makes me feel a lot special :)

Happy Father's Day!

In my family we love celebrations birthdays, anniversaries, christmas, new year, mother's days and of course lets not forget father's day! (Yeah yeah I know this post is months delayed and I'm sorry for that but life got in the way, but I still want to share this to everyone.)

I love making cakes for special occassions like this, I love the planning stage, buying of ingredients and such and of course the baking process. My biggest problem that I encountered in making cake this time is that: what kind of cake? Papa is a really huge fan of chocolate, so its only practical that I make a chocolate cake. But with all the many chocolate recipes to choose from I'm getting confuse!?! I, myself have more than a hundred recipes of chocolate cake from my 8 or 10 baking books that are solely about chocolates. I always make a Chocolate Fudge Cake, however, I want something different and unique, something that I've never made before that everyone will love. So I turn to the authority in chocolate, non other than Tish Boyle!

Tish Boyle is the editor of Chocolatier magazine and Pastry and Design magazine, she have published tons of books like Chocolate Passion (which is in my wish list), Diner Desserts, & much much more the most recent is The Cake book(this I have).

While browsing through this book, I thought what could be more chocolatey than a flourless chocolate cake, right? Unfortunately The Cake Book doesn't have any flourless chocolate cake recipe so I turn to the next best thing, I search the internet. I found this recipe in the Pastrywiz website.

Flourless Bittersweet Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Drizzle

by Tish Boyle and Timothy MoriartyAuthors of Chocolate Passion

Yield: 12 servings

Prepare this cake, and you can promise your guests the ultimate chocolate experience; they will not be disappointed. A simple but straightforward exercise in sweet surrender, this flourless cake is glazed with dark chocolate and further drizzled with milk chocolate. The raspberry jam and kiss of cognac add intriguing flavor notes.
Preparation: 50 minutes, plus baking and chilling times

Flourless Chocolate Cake

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons cognac

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

Chocolate Glaze

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons honey

Assembly

1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves

Garnish

3 ounces milk chocolate, melted

Make the flourless chocolate cake
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper, butter the paper

In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate and butter. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the chocolate and butter are melted. Gently whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the cognac. Let cool.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar until well blended. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In the 4 1/2-quart bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, using the wire whip attachment, beat the egg whites at medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. One tablespoon at a time, beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is puffed and a tester inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, cut around the sides of the cake to loosen it. Release the panside. Invert the cake onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper and cool the cake completely. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Make the chocolate glaze

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a gentle boil. Using a wire whisk, stir in the honey. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let the mixture stand for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Whisk the mixture until smooth. Cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Assemble the cake

Remove the cake from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap from the cake. Place the cake on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Using a metal spatula, spread the raspberry preserves evenly over the top and sides of the cake. Pour the chocolate glaze over the cake, covering it completely; spread evenly with a metal spatula. Drizzle the top of the glazed cake with the melted milk chocolate. Serve the cake immediately, or refrigerate. Bring the cake to room temperature before serving.

For this Father's Day cake I want it to be special, so I bought special chocolate that goes with my special chocolate cake I use a Callebaut bittersweet chocolate for the cake and the glaze and I use Valhrona milk chocolate for the drizzles. This is actually the first time I bought very expensive chocolates to make cake with. Hmmm...this cake better be great not good but great.

Another great this about this recipe is that it looks quite easy and it truly is that easy, it was a breeze. My only disappointment in this recipe is that that the cake souffled up during the baking due to the eggwhite folded in and as the cake cools the middle fell so I got a big crater in the middle. Since nobody knows that it wasn't suppose to look like that right? so why tell them. I still think it looks sexy and delicious not as pretty as a level cake but still looks okay for me :)

Try this recipe its really good! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

To all the fathers and would-be fathers everywhere.... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Going 17.....

This is a long overdue entry that was suppose to up a month ago, but life got in the way. Now, I'm back! This was taken during my little brother's birthday (well...now he's not so little any more he is way taller than me!), since he hates having is photo taken and shown to other people, I opted to cut him off the picture and center on his cake. More often than not, when we think of birthday cakes, we tend to think of a tall sponge encased in a rich fluffy buttercream frosting. Since this his more special birthday because he's now a college student I thought of combining 2 of his favorite flavors, peanut butter and chocolate. For this I pulled out Tish Boyle's The Cake Book I chosed her Bitter Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse, it taste so smooth and silky hmmm...
The bottom crust is composed of butter and crushed chocolate wafer cookies, layered with a peanut butter-cream cheese filling and on top of that a generous amount of bitter chocolate mousse. Its supposed to be finished off with another thin layer of chocolate gananche but I opted not too, for chocaholic like me that is very rare that I skip a step that deals with chocolate. Its THAT RICH! This is definitely a recipe that I would so again. Its easy and taste good what more can we wasked for right?

Hell's Kitchen

Having no cable is a bore and an utter punishment, luckily our internet connection is running very smoothly so I downloaded Gordon Ramsey's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen. Its very enjoyable and funny! The show really let viewers how hard it is in a professional restaurant kitchen.

For wanna be chefs, Is highly recommended very entertaining!