Baking 101: Chocolate Cupcake

My search for the chocolate fudgy frosting ala goldilocks is over. I sooo love the frosting that it almost did not make it to the cupcakes...oh well, I am not telling the truth. But really, I think i was able to consume 4 teaspoons of the frosting.


When I saw the recipe from here, I was quite challenged with the frosting. A lot of readers were not able to make the fudgy consistency...theirs was runny. I proved that patience is really a virtue. I had a good 25 minutes of stirring the frosting to achieve the spreadable consistency. But it was really worth it!

The cake itself was also good. It's not that sweet...it complements the sweetness of the frosting. But i'll experiment the next time buy adding half cup more of sugar.


These cupcakes are my post birthday cuppies. I'll bring them to the office tomorrow...

Some of these are dry, around 6 pieces, I overbaked them...sorry hehehe!.  

You can try making your own...here's the recipe. Very easy to make.

Ingredients for the Cake
1 cup Hershey's Cocoa
2 cups boiling water
2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter softened
2 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 pcs eggs, large
1/2 tsp vanilla

Procedure

1. Mix the Cocoa and boiling water until well incorporated and lumps free. Set aside and cool.
2. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder,and salt)
3. In another bowl again, cream butter, gradually add sugar, beat with mixer until light and fluffy.
4. With mixer at low speed, add eggs one at a time, mix thoroughly after each addition.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the cocoa mixture. Mix thoroughly after each addition. Make sure to begin and end with dry ingredients.
7. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

Fudgy Frosting
1 can condensed milk
1/2cup cocoa
1/4 cup butter

1. Mix the milk and cocoa powder with wire whisk until you see no lumps
2. Cook in a double broiler (i used an improvised double broiler -- a smaller saucepan on top of a bigger saucepan half filled with boiling water). Continue stirring until thick, but not the yema thickness.It should still be spreadable.

3. Remove from fire, cool a little and spread it in the cupcakes.

Try this recipe and hope you'll like them.

Liver Paté

Wikipedia describes paté as a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Common additions include vegetables, herbs, spices, and wine. The first time I tasted the home made liver spread or paté was 8 years ago. It was made by my former boss' stepdad. He patiently cooked the chicken liver in the improvised "pugon" (kiln). It was so flavorful that you can taste all the herbs in it.

Eversince that first encounter with the paté, I've been searching for easy to make recipes that involves minimal ingredients. So far, my first attempt to make this, was OK. Mom and Dad liked it...also did I! I got this recipe from here. I did not include some of the ingredients since they were not available when i made this, but nevertheless, it turned out well. Not bad for a first timer.

If you want to try this recipe, here's my version...

Makes 2 1/2 cups of paté

Ingredients
250g chicken liver, hearts and membranes removed
1/2 of a medium sized onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp thyme
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup all purpose cream
Salt and pepper.

Procedure:
1. Boil the liver with a little salt, until tender.
2. Mash and remove the membranes. Put in the blender or food processor.
3. Chop the onion and garlic, put in the food processor together with the rest of the ingredients except for the melted butter, salt and pepper.
4. Blend until smooth.
5. Transfer the mixture in a small mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, mix until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Transfer in ramekins. Put ramekins in a bigger baking pan half-filled with water.
7. Bake at 160degrees C for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool. You can keep it in the fridge once completely cooled.

Enjoy with crackers, pandesal and toasts.

Chicken with Pickles (Manok sa Pickles)

Mom brought out the chicken from the ref and asked me to cook tinola. But we just ate tinola 2 days ago! I asked her if we have pickle relish in the ref, she said yes..."OK teach me how to cook manok sa pickles!" 


It's official, I can now add this to my "I know how to cook that" list! heheheh!

It's like cooking pineapple chicken, but instead of using pineapple, we used pickles (of course!)

Best serve with hot rice! Here's the recipe.

Serves four.


Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken
50g sweet pickle relish (yes, I weighed it!)
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
half of a carrot, chopped (optional)
fish sauce / patis (adjust according to taste)
pepper
small amount of oil


Instruction:
1. Heat oil, saute onion and garlic. Add carrot, chicken meat. Season with fish sauce and pepper.
2. Add the pickles. Stir fry for about 3 minutes. The meat will absorb the flavor of the pickles.
3. Add a cup of water, and then simmer until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced to half. 
4. You can adjust the saltiness according to your taste by adding fish sauce or salt.


Bon Appetit!

Crispy Bacon Cut Pork Belly (Liempo)

I saw this bacon-thin liempo (pork belly) last week and I asked hubby if he'll eat it. He said yes but as a palaman (sandwich filling)...huh as palaman? But it's not the processed bacon...

I still bought it while dreaming of a wonderful breakfast for the next day. I kept it in the freezer.

A week later, yes, I forgot about this, I took the poor liempo from the freezer, thawed and marinated it with my favorite fried liempo marinade...very easy to make, you only need 10 minutes of your time to prepare the marinade. The marinade was fully absorbed by the thin meat, and the taste was divine...i love crispy liempos and all its cholesterols hihihi!!!

Served with fried egg, steamed rice, and vinegar for dipping, i had a very filling breakfast.

....but I'm still thinking for other ways to cook this meat aside from frying it.

For those who want to try this yummy liempo, here's the recipe.

Serves 2.

Ingredients
250g bacon cut liempo (pork belly)
1/4 cup vinegar
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and Pepper

1. Combine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Marinate the meat for at least 30-40 minutes
2. Fry until crispy.
3. Serve with egg and hot rice

Enjoy!

Baking 101: Cheesecake Brownies

I love brownies as much as I love cheesecakes…whoever invented or accidentally combined both desserts is a genius!

I got my first recipe from my friend Rowena. I tried it once and it was a hit! But I got so lazy making brownies from scratch, and switched to the brownie mix available in the groceries. Then after a couple of years, an FB friend posted a picture of her version of this treat, my mouth watered and I immediately looked for my notebook where I wrote my precious recipe…unfortunately, I didn’t find the notebook! Grrr! I called my friend and she lost hers na. (double grrrr!)

After a week of browsing the net, I finally found a recipe that looked closely the same as ours.

Here’s the recipe.

Brownie Batter5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
A pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder

Cheesecake Batter
2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:
For Brownies
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Grease and line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
3. Melt butter and chocolate in the microwave, whisk occasionally.
4. Pour the butter and chocolate mixture into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until well combined.
5. Mix flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients until just combined. I did not user the mixer, coz it will make the batter bread-y.
6. Pour the batter in the pan, and reserved a cup of the brownie batter for swirling.

For Cheesecake
1. Using a mixer, mix all the ingredients until smooth.
2. Pour the mixture over the brownie mixture.

Mixing of the 2 batters
1. Scoop spoonfuls of the remaining brownie batter over the cheesecake batter. Cheesecake should have a polka dot effect.
2. Using a toothpick or a knife, swirl the brownie batter.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cheesecake is set.

This recipe can fill two 8x8 inches pans. Or about 50 pcs of 1.5x1.5 inches squares

Like what I’ve said in my profile, I'm not professional when it comes to cooking. In fact, I am a trial and error type of cook. If I want something, I’ll look for the recipe and I’ll try it.

I can bake by following the recipes. I can also cook basic Filipino ulam (main dish?) . And I want to learn more...that's the reason why I put up this blog - to document my cooking adventures.

A lot of new wives out there are clueless when it comes to cooking. And I'm here to share my cooking experiences to you wifeys. Yes it is disappointing to hear the husbands, not liking the food that we cook...that's part of learning...and it's a challenge!

So with this blog, sabay sabay tayo matutong magluto...

and welcome to my kitchen (mis)adventures! I'll post everything here, successful or not! ; )