Have your Carrots...and eat it too!

I can't believe I have never tried carrot cake before! ( I'm filling you in on my little secret.........)
I've never been a fan.
Don't even know how it turned up on my list of recipes to try.
Maybe my subconscious was telling me to.
So if you've never tried one, you should.

It's satisfying to know that it is both nutritious and delicious.
Fine, the only healthy thing in this cake is its name.=)
Need I say anything about the frosting this cake calls for?
Soft? Smooth? A little cloud of heaven here on earth.
You could try and eat it sans the icing but I must say cream cheese and carrot cake is the way to go!

 
So if you're going to ask about my first experience of making and eating carrot cake, it was good................g-o-o-o-o-o-o-d! ( to the tune of God played by Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty )
And it seemed that God was entirely pleased with the aroma coming from my oven that He has then turned my kitchen into a carrot cake factory.=)

Making the cake is surprisingly easy.
The only time consuming part and perhaps the hardest step is grating the carrots.

The addition of walnuts, raisins and crushed pineapples make this cake all the more delicious.
But if you have a family member with nut allergy then you can skip the walnuts and still end up with a delectable cake.

For the frosting, I wanted something a tad bit tart so you will see sour cream and lemon juice added.

This recipe is just enough for a single 8" cake pan.  Feel free to double the recipe should you intend to make layered cakes.

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CARROT CAKE RECIPE

Preheat oven to 170C.  Grease bottom and sides of your pan 8" baking pan and line with parchment paper ( bottom only ).

DRY INGREDIENTS :  Sift everything together in a bowl.

1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash of salt ( optional )

WET INGREDIENTS : In another bowl, beat the following together till light yellow in color :

1 cup Vanilla sugar ( or granulated sugar will do )
2 eggs
1/2 cup Vegetable oil ( I used Wesson's )

Then mix the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients but be careful not to over mix.

Another bowl, mix the following together :

1 cup freshly grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup crushed pineapple ( don't worry about adding the syrup, it helps keep the cake moist )
1/4 cup raisins

Once mixed, fold it into your batter.
Pour mixture to prepare baking pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 8oz cream cheese ( I used Philadelphia )
1/4 cup butter ( I prefer unsalted )
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 tbsp sour cream (** optional )
1 tsp lemon juice

Start by creaming together butter and confectioners sugar until smooth.  Add the lemon juice and **sour cream. Then add your cream cheese. And beat until smooth in consistency.

NOTE :  I was able to cut cake to 2 layers so frosting recipe above is enough to frost layers and cover the cake as well.  I used fondant carrots and sprinkles to add a little decoration.
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 And since I have been making a lot of this lately, I had the opportunity to tweak the recipe many times.

This recipe is not meant to be kept ( in the baul as they say here in the Philippines ), so I am sharing it to the world.
Now I can proudly say that this is the BEST CARROT CAKE ever...........at least by me.=)


Enjoy!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Who makes these from scratch when it is more convenient to buy from the supermarket?

I do!=)
And I made it twice already.

Peanut butter cups ala Reese's has been on my "everything homemade" list to make but have never gotten around to do till now.
Recipe was so easy and taste just as good if not better than the store bought kind.
And the ingredients are so easy to find....in fact you might have some in your pantry right now.

Just 3 ingredients and you're good to go.

Chocolate ( I used Callebaut soft bake chips )
Peanut butter - I used our local favorite Lily's but go ahead if you want to try Jif's
Confectioners sugar

I know, I know....baking success depends on precise measurement.
But for this one, I did'nt follow any recipe and just went with my instincts.=)

I just melted the chocolate chips, combined peanut butter with the sugar and tada...peanut butter cups!

That's homemade for you - fresh, fast and versatile.

Either devour it as it is or top it over ice cream like I did. ***talk about overload!***

This is so yummy my husband and I could finish this in one sitting and still crave for more.

***Uhmm...since a trip to the grocery to get another tub is just not on my "to-do" list now, maybe I'm gonna have to make me homemade ice cream next time.


Enjoy!

Hello Kitty cakes

Who can't resist Hello Kitty?
It has been a favorite among little girls for so many years.

I have had a lot of inquiries on Hello Kitty cakes and have made quite a few.
I must say it was one of the easiest cake to make - with or without a cutter.

Here's the first Hello Kitty cake I made.

Told you it was easy!.....I did'nt need a cutter for this one.=)
Lucky me the client wanted a non-edible topper.......and that was the hard part - finding the perfect Hello Kitty head.

Thanks to my friend Globelle and the ever reliable Clem who kept me company throughout my search, we finally found one.

I won't tell where Partner and you can guess why.=)

 And it was perfect!

Then a lot of other cakes followed after that......

All these were hand molded.  As of this writing I have never purchased a cutter for myself.

Who's going to Japan? Please buy me one.=) Just kidding.
I know just where to find it, in fact I'm heading there now.......

Enjoy!

Our dear Sofia...

Yes, she's our dear Sofia - everyone's favorite Ate.=)
And she turns 11 today.

Not many are aware, I am a stepmother to a bubbly 11 year old.

Happy Birthday Sofia!

Her family is now based in Prince Albert, Canada.

She came last month to stay for the summer and have left already. **sniff** **sniff**
But we were fortunate to be able to spend more than a month doing a lot of things together.
A lot of firsts in it actually.......for me.

First dine out with both our families together

 And a lot of.....

I promised Ian that I would limit cake orders for this month to give time for her.
But this one cake order from my high school friend Fria was an exception.

Toy Story cake theme

I remember her comment very well. " Tita, it's a cowboy in Woody's costume"..........haha
Thank you Sofia for going with me when I delivered the cake.=)

Of course, vacation would'nt be complete without the Chickenjoy she so craves for.

 Whew!  Looking back, you have made this summer very memorable.

The family left for Canada last May 13 - our wedding anniversary.
It was sad to have to say goodbye to our dear Sofia at the airport....

BUT the way I see it, we were blessed to have spent our Anniversary day with her.=)

Not only that, I was able to make her a cake for her birthday/send off party with family and relatives.

So there.  It was all fun, fun, fun.=)

Happy Birthday to a beautiful, bright, funny, smart, kind, cool, wonderful and amazing girl.
You could do anything you ever wanted to do in your life.  Just stay focused and grow in prayer.

Your life will be as sweet for you as you have made it for us.
Dada and I will miss you Sofia.
I love you and care so much about you.

 2014 is not that long..........hopefully we will see each other sooner than that. **wink**

Oh, I almost forgot.  Her mom makes VERY GOOD cheesecake.

See????!!!!

Maybe I could borrow her recipe and blog about it on my next post.
Hmmm........

Homemade Honeycomb

Hi there.

Been trying a lot of homemade stuff this past few weeks.
Some were a success and some literally went down the drain.

Last week, I tried making honeycomb candy.
You know those sugary toffee that looks like a sponge?

I just wanted something sweet to nibble or just an after dinner accompaniment to go with my coffee.

Remember Violet Crumble or Crunchie bar?  Hard to find those candies these days.

I learned its known by a wide variety of names :


Cinder toffee in the UK,
Hokey Pokey in New Zealand
Sea Foam in the US
Sponge Candy in Canada

It looks like Tira-tira to me.....it's the closest candy I could associate with honeycomb here in the Philippines.
Widely sold in stores when I was a kid.

Anyway, this recipe happens so quickly so its best to prepare all the ingredients first as you'll be ready.

Though I burned two fingers preparing these, I found them amazing to make.

So let's get started!

INGREDIENTS :


Vegetable oil to grease the pan
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla extract


***If you are using a cake pan, grease with the vegetable oil.
I used my square silicone pan so I guess sticking is not a problem.

In a deep saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the baking soda. Bring to a boil and refrain from stirring.  I don't have a candy thermometer so I just waited for the mixture to turn golden or light amber in color.

Once it reaches that color, turn off the heat and immediately pour the baking soda.
You have to work quickly at this point.  The caramel can go from perfect to burnt FAST!

Adding the baking soda will cause it to bubble quite a bit, a lot.

Pan should be quite large or it will also bubble over the sides.

The trick is to combine the soda without bursting the bubble as little as possible.  This gives it its light and airy texture.

Transfer to your greased pan.

Let cool till it hardens then crack to pieces.

Once made, it cannot be left out in the open for a long time as it will attract moisture and become a sticky mess.  An airtight container is much better than a ziploc bag.

If you enjoy a chocolatey morsel, just melt some chocolate over a bain marie dip the chunks in and let firm on a sheet of parchment paper.

I could have done that but I refused to move my fingers after it was burned....OUCH!!!

Enjoy!

Let's talk sour....

Sour cream that is.
The addition of sour cream in any of my baked goodies is something I have never tried before today.
Probably the word "sour" scares me off, let alone add it in my ingredients.

So before I proceeded trying out this recipe I stumbled upon, I read a bit about sour cream.
For me, its enough to know that it is a product of fermenting regular cream with lactic acid bacteria - parang Yakult lang.=)

I'm getting into my cookie baking phase.
If you love chocolate chip cookies, you will love sour cream chocolate cookies even more.
These are darn good.=)

Nice, soft, and moist and with a little bit of tang ( which I like ).

The recipe calls for only a few ingredients.

But these I think made all the difference : Sour cream of course, Vanilla extract ( The Vanilla Company works well for me ) and pecans.

And the usual  :   butter, sugar, egg, and all purpose flour.

I'll let you in on a few observations I noted in making them.

First, I found them a bit cake-y ( maybe because of the sour cream ) and not really cookie-y.

I wonder if it would turn out great too baked in a muffin tin? 

Next, unlike the dough of cookies I made way back, this one has a paste-like dough which is kinda hard to work with.
But hey, where's the fun in baking if you can't lick the spoon right?=)
Uh huh, I tasted the dough and I must admit the texture and flavor was appealing to me.

CAVEAT.  These are not cookies you could eat right away!
Don't be like me grabbing a piece right after it came out of the oven.
They need to set for a few minutes otherwise you will end up with bits and pieces like what happened to the first batch I made.
It does'nt matter how good the cookies look coming out of the oven if you can't get them out of the baking sheet.
Next to KitchenAid, I think I better get myself a Silpat non-stick baking mat.

It's supposed to look chubby and rounded but mine came out thin.
But what the heck.

This is not your average chocolate cookie!

Grab a big glass of milk or in my case I want it with tea.

Try making some, you will never know just how good a chocolate cookie can be.
Let me know how yours turned out.

And since I had such a success with this, I am now on the look out for new ways to use sour cream.


SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Yield    :  20 cookies ( Mine were not of consistent sizes )

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts ( optional )

This is how I made it   :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
Pour in sour cream and mix until incorporated.
In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop batter to parchment paper lined baking tray. Space at least 2 inches apart.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the sides brown a little.
Let cool on rack.

Enjoy.