Classic Tiramisu

I've been itching to bake again... after months and months of not baking at all. This weekend, I finally made something - tiramisu.

I searched the internet for an easy to follow recipe of tiramisu. There are recipes which require adding raw egg yolks to cream or incorporating marsala wine, brandy or rum. Some use pound cake as the base of the tiramisu, some use Italian lady fingers. But one thing is for sure, all tiramisu recipes must have mascarpone cheese and espresso.

Starting last Friday I've been on the hunt for the elusive ingredients of tiramisu. On Friday, I bought a pound of mascarpone at The Market. I was confident will be able to buy all the ingredients on Saturday so by Sunday morning I’ll be able to make the Italian “pull me up” cake.

By Saturday evening, I found myself lacking one ingredient – the lady fingers. By Sunday morning, I was ready to settle for a ready make pound cake or even a taisan from Red Ribbon or Goldilocks. It seems the universe is against me as these too I was unable to find. By Sunday afternoon, I gave up – tiramisu will have to wait till the Christmas vacation. Before going home, we stopped by Amici and consoled ourselves by eating their delicious pasta. When we were about to go out of the restaurant, I suddenly saw a stack of biscuits and took a look at it. Finally!!!! I found the lady fingers!!!

The weekend went well after all.

Pinoy Cupcake: Mango Filled Vanilla Bean Cupcakes Frosted with Cream Cheese and Caramel Crunch

The name's quite a handful isn't it? Its just that I can not seem to name this creation any other way.

When I look for cupcake recipes on the net or in my books it always seems that the ingredients are almost always too "westernized" (not much of a surprise there, whose invention are cupcakes anyway?). Not that I mind, but it wouldn't hurt to incorporate a bit of a Pinoy twist, would it?

For my first venture in infusing Pinoy flavors into cupcakes, I made fluffy classic vanilla cupcakes and filled them with mango jam. Why mangoes? Why not. For me, its the classic Pinoy fruit. No other mango in the world comes close to the succulent flavor ours have.

I remember going home for the summer after a gruelling semester at college and for some reason, our mango trees seems to have overproduced mangoes. Standing in our gate, I could already smell the nice warm scent of ripe mangoes. Well, what's a girl got to do when she has all the time in her hands and a mountain of ripe mangoes as well? Make mango jam of course. (along with mango juice, mango chutney, mango cookies among others).

The mango jam I used for this recipe is from one of the last batches of mango harvest from last summer. It's a good thing there's still some left for my recipe.

I'm in a cream cheese mood these past few weeks so instead of a classic vanilla frosting, I made a cream cheese one instead. It's a good thing because it blended well with the sweetness of the mango jam. Finally I topped my cupcakes with crushed caramel crunch. Mangoes and caramel? Mmmmmmm..... can't think of a better combination to kick off my Pinoy Flavor cupcakes series.

Peaches and Cream ShortCake

I finally found a recipe for a "diner"-style shortcake that I wanted to try. The recipe from Wayne Harley Brachman's Retro Desserts seems simple enough to do. Instead of making use of strawberries, I used peaches for just a wee bit of a
twist.

Half of his recipe is enough to make 2 layers of shortcake baked in two 7-inch pans. After cooling the cakes, I lightly brushed one layer with a simple peach syrup then coated it with a thin layer of peach preserve followed by chunks of peaches and a dollop of whipped cream. I then placed the second layer on top then the real decorating began.

I assembled the sliced peaches on top to make it look like a rossette and used a 22 star tip to do the borders. I had to work fast as the whipped cream might melt before I finished decorating the cake. To prevent the peaches from looking dry, I brushed it with a bit of peach preserve. This way, it would give the cake an extra shine too.

Think Pink Cupcakes

I tried Kaye Hansen's recipe (from the book Little Cakes) for Classic Vanilla cupcakes and they tasted so good! Good thing Gourdo's now have Philippine grown vanilla pods for sale so I was able to use the real vanilla beans for my recipe.

One batch of Kaye's recipe made a whopping 53 mini cupcakes which I iced with Italian buttercream. I think I iced it way to early that it looks like the top is ready to melt!

Green Tea Chiffon Cupcakes with Green Tea Cream Cheese Frosting

Thanks to Kat, I now have an idea where to buy that much elusive Japanese Green Tea powder. Since the Japanese Store in Waltermart Makati is out of my way, my choice would either be Rustan’s, Landmark or Sakura in Glorietta. Luckily, I was able to find one ay Sakura’s! Yey!!! Although, I’m suppose to do just one project this weekend, my eager hands just can’t wait to bake Green Tea Chiffon Cupcakes.

I’ve been toying with the idea of baking cupcakes with a not so “usual” flavor. A green tea flavored one was on the top of my mind. However, I just can’t decide on the frosting. Topping it with a vanilla frosting just won’t do. The lady at Starbucks suggested raspberry syrup with my Green Tea Frappe but somehow I’m not yet that adventurous with my cupcakes. So I decided to ice my green tea mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with a bit of green tea powder topped with white chocolate sprinkles. This batch goes straight to Pagudpud. Hope the box would arrive in one piece!

My No Fail Moist Chocolate Cake

DMU turned five two weeks and I just can’t let it pass without baking a cake. Being a fairly new baker, I decided to be on the safe side and baked my no-fail moist chocolate cake. With such a classic cake, I have to balance it out with an elaborate topsy turvy decoration. I did a basket weave design on the side and used chocolate modeling paste for the bottom border, the pizza shaped top and the roses. Took me two days to do the whole thing but seeing the team’s reaction made me realize it was worth the effort. My sister was so impressed; I did the same cake last week for her officemates.


Post Update: here is the recipe :)