That Was One Amazing Year!

Hey you!

I like you.

Wanna know why? Because...


You probably follow me on Twitter.
Or my blog could be in your Google Reader list
Or you probably follow me on Blogger.


You don't? Oops... ahem... so maybe... Bake Happy holds a special spot in your bookmark/favorites? Oh how I wish!


But if not, I still want to thank you... because you spend time to visit my little corner in the blogosphere. 


I can't believe I was able to blog for one full year, met new cool friends and got featured in the most amazing sites along the way. Sweet.


So to bid 2010 goodbye and welcome 2011 with gusto, I am stepping out of my comfort zone (subtext: cupcakes). I made bread. Not just any bread but pita bread, a Middle Eastern type of bread I love. It's the one we enjoy eating with tuna spread. This is sooo yummy, the gang finished munching on it the minute I got it out of the oven.


Peppy's Pita Bread
from All Recipes

Ingredients


1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Directions


Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.



Happy New Year everyone!!!


Happy Cupcaking,
Aikko

Wow! Thank You For The Amazing Christmas Gift!

Hey! How are you? Isn't the holidays a blast? I love Christmas!

Anyway, I just want to thank you for the amazing Christmas gift ever!!!

To Viva Filipinas and the amazing Tumblr community, thank you for the 480++ reblogs, notes and likes. 

Rach of All Things Cupcake, a big big big thanks to you! You made my day when I saw my cuppies in your awesome site!

Must Have Cute! I like you. You're cute. Made me realize there could be another story to my sweet little elf. You rock!

Enjoy the holidays everyone!


Have a cupcake-filled holidays!
Aikko

Oops...

Nope, I didn't "did it again". This is not a Britney post. 


It's an "Oops... a little help please?" post. 
You see, I have these little cupcakes. They're smothered in buttercream and dunked in blue sugar. Kinda reminds you of snow right? Yeah!

Then I have these gifts. Yellow wrapped gifts, green wrapped gifts, pink wrapped gifts, you name it. They're even wrapped in little bows.

Snow and gifts? What does it remind you of? Santa's workshop, of course. And Santa's workshop wouldn't be complete without Santa's elves. 
And what might happen when there's a Christmas rush, every elf going here and there, gifts put in sacks everywhere? 
This might...

Yup, an elf might get lost in a sack gifts!

See, it's really a "Oops... a little help please?" post. So... quick! Please help this cute little elf get out of the sack of gifts before he "accidentally" become one the presents!

Happy holidays everyone!!!

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

ps. I will be in Hong Kong for the New Year! I can't wait to find some cupcakes to try there! :)

Celebrate Christmas with Parol Cupcakes!

Hi everyone!

How are your Holiday preparations coming along? How will you spend the Holidays?

Can you feel the magic in the air?

I feel giddy already, I love Christmas!!!

As you can see, I have been blogging about Christmas for sometime now.

So, even though it's still early, I want to greet you a very...

Don't you love parols? I do. Parols are these star-like Christmas ornaments popularized by the Filipinos. It symbolizes the star that guided the Magi to where baby Jesus was born.

In the Philippines, Christmas wouldn't be complete without hanging one over your home's window. Or sometimes your door. . 

This Chrismas, I decided to make parols with a twist. These parols are the edible kind - I made several of the "cupcake topper" kind.

For variety, I made small parols and big parols. Oh so delicate! Good thing they all behaved while I did the photo shoot! 

And all are made from fondant, royal icing, gold luster dust and red sparkling gel. See the red sparkling gel? It almost dripped into the gold lustered royal icing... oops!

I almost wasn't able to put up this post because every idea I thought of making parol cupcake toppers failed - big time. How about some cut out sugar cookie parols filled up with melted green isomalt? Whoa! Whatever happened to that?!

How about some sugar cookie parols? Naaah... too delicate.

At least now I now, fondant and royal icing are two of my dependable best buds.

Happy Cupcaking!

Aikko

Dear Santa, This is For You

Dear Santa, 

I know you receive lots of letters everyday over there at the North Pole. I bet it piles up as the Christmas season nears. I've always wondered how you manage  to read all of those. You don't happen to have a Ghost Reader, do you Santa? 

I am no longer a kid, so you must be wondering why I'm writing you a letter. 

You've been making a lot of nice kids happy for as long as anyone can remember. It's high time we return the favor.

Come Christmas eve, will you come by our home? Pretty please?

No, I won't raid your sackful of gifts. But if you'd invite me to come take a peek, I would. Is there something for me? Tee hee!

I would just to invite you for a little midnight snack. I made these for you.

I hope you love mint chocolate chip cookies, I do. Maybe we can share them when you get here. I'd love to hear some of your wild adventures while I wash down the cookies with the glass of yummy cold milk. Oops, I forgot, that was also for you. I'll just get some from the fridge.

Instead of chocolate chips, I used coarsely chopped dark mint chocolate bars. It made the cookies way chunkier. Why dark mint chocolate, you ask? Coz you're special. I even bought the chocolate from the best chocolate cafe in Manila, Chocolate Fire. 

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies
(not sure if indeed this recipe is from Mrs. Field's. There's an urban legend that says it's not, but never the less, this cookie recipe rocks!)



1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 package chocolate chips (6oz)


Cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
Put small amounts of oatmeal in blender; blend until it turns to powder; set aside.


Mix powdered oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Combine all of the above ingredients except chocolate; mix well.
Add chocolate chips
Make golf ball sized cookies (about 2"), spaced 2" apart.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes at 400'F.

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

ps. We don't have a chimney. But you can use the big window by my bed. I'll be waiting...

The Usual Suspects, a Not So Usual Gift

What do you do when you have...

cute jars 

plump vanilla pods

heaps of oh-so-sweet sugar and

only 27 days to go before Christmas?

If you ask me, I'll make extra special, home made, personalized gifts for family and friends.

Here's the plan:

(1) Round up the usual suspects: jar, sugar, vanilla pods and fancy ribbons and gift tags

(2) Pour sugar into jar

(3) Split vanilla pod into half, add to the sugar

(4) Finish it up with the fancy ribbons and gift tags to give it the Christmassy feel.

But wait...

Maybe we can still jazz it up a little bit...

How about using red and green colored sugar instead of the plain ole white? Now Christmas is definitely around the corner!

Vanilla flavored sugar. That would add a kick to your morning coffee, nightly hot cocoa and, since it's already the Christmas season, your creamy egg nog. 

Reds and greens definitely scream Christmas. Throw in a green metallic ribbon  plus gold and silver strings... now that's what I call pulling out all the stops.

Home made, hand written gift tag. Now you see my overly girly handwriting. 

Love the alternating red and green colored sugar. It reminds me of Santa's elves socks. Kinda adds to the Christmassy feel, doesn't it?

Happy Cupcaking, 

Aikko

ps. have you noticed how many times I mentioned Christmas? Forgive me but the Christmas bug bit me. Well.. not literally, you know what I mean :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

You know it's Christmas when 
... you hear Christmas Carols playing on the radio
... crisp cold breeze greets you when you go out at night
... Christmas decors are all over the shopping malls
... parols hung on every window
... bibingka and puto bumbong become a part of your early morning habit

there are probably a lot more, but for a foodie like me, I know Christmas is definitely around the corner when 

... the fragrant smell of baked goods laden with spices are wafting in the air.

Oh boy, thinking of Christmas makes me giddy like a five year old. I guess one is never to old for Christmas. Dearest Santa, did you hear that? 


Anyway, here's a Coffee Spice Cake to start off this year's Christmas Season. 


Coffee...
Spice...
and everything nice...


It can't get yummier than that!

Coffee Spice Cake

from All Cakes Considered

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cold strong coffee

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

3 large eggs

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground gloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Procedure:

1. Obtain coffee. This is the dark roasted stuff, not watered-down diner coffee.

2. Center a rack and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the cake pan.

3. Cream the butter with the mixer on medium speed, and add the brown sugar gradually. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, roughly 3 minutes.

4. Shift the mixer to low speed. Add the molasses, then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together.

6. Add a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beat, then add 1/4 cup of the coffee and beat on medium until well blended. Repeat two more times.

7. Pour the batter into a 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake tests done.

8. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, unmold onto a cake rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients:

2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons cold strong coffee

1. In the top of a double broiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate over water at a medium boil until smooth.

2. Add the sweetened condensed milk. Stir until fully incorporated, and continue stirring for about 5 minnutes, until the mixture has thickened. Then add the coffee.

3. Remove from heat and stir occasionally until it's time to drizzle over the cooled cake.

Happy cupcaking,

Aikko

Re-cake: Tiramisu

Aside from cupcakes, I have another obsession.
I love tiramisu. 
But I guess you know that already, don't you?
It's the only dessert that I like that's not overly sweet. The tangy flavor of the mascaropone cheese and the rich taste of espresso complement the sweet essence of Kahlua and Marsala. 

I love tiramisu. If I can eat it everyday, I would. But I already said that of mint and chocolates, didn't I? I guess there are a lot of sweet treats I can eat everyday, tee hee!

Since this is a re-cake, I tried to make it differently from the tiramisu I made before. This time, I used Italian Sponge Cake from scratch and pulled out all the stops by generously adding Kahlua and Marsala wine for the much needed pick me up. 

First, the Italian sponge cake must be made, cut up into three layers, then I proceeded using Megan's Tiramisu recipe, substituting the lady fingers with the sponge cake.

Italian Sponge Cake

adapted from The Golden Book of Desserts

1 cup (150g) cake flour

¼ teaspoon salt

6 large eggs, separated

1 ¼ cups (250 g) sugar

½ vanilla pod,

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F

Butter a 10-inch spring form pan, line with parchment paper.

Sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Split vanilla pod into two, scrape beans and add to the egg-sugar mixture.

Beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla beans with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and very thick.

Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.

Use a large rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture. Carefully fold in the beaten whites.

Working quickly, spoon the batter into the prepared pan

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until springy to touch and the cake shrinks from the pan sides.

Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen and remove the pan sides. Invert the cake onto the rack. Loosen and remove the pan bottom. Carefully remove the paper. Turn the cake top-side up and let cool completely.

Megan's Tiramisu Recipe

Ingredients List:
8 large eggs yolks (or 9 smaller yolks)
½ cup Caster Sugar + 2 tbsp (Caster sugar is just fine white sugar)
1½ cups Marsala Wine - Creamy
750g Mascarpone Cheese
500ml Cream 
2 cups strong Espresso Coffee
3 tbsp Kahlua (or other liqueur that you like)
2 packets Savoiardi Sponge Finger Biscuits
Cocoa
Large Lasagne Dish


Note: Cups used are metric - 250ml. The tablespoon is 15ml.


Zabaglione:
Whisk the egg yolks and ½ cup caster sugar together until pale and thick.


Over simmering water in a double boiler slowly add ½ cup Marsala to the yolk/sugar mixture. Keep on stirring until it thickens like custard (this takes about 7-8 minutes). Set aside to cool and whisk it occasionally as it cools so it is thick and creamy. I have some cold water ready in the sink so I can dip the bowl in it and stop the cooking quickly once the zabaglione is ready.


Tiramisu Cream
Stir (but do not beat) the mascarpone until well blended and smooth.


Whip the cream until thick - just past the soft peak stage.


Fold together the mascarpone, whipped cream and zabaglione one at a time (for example, add zabaglione to the mascarpone, and then add the cream to that mix).


A variation on this recipe keeps each of the three ingredients above separate and layers them up individually on top of the dipped biscuits. Try it both ways!


Dipping Mixture
Mix together the coffee, 2 tbsp of caster sugar, 1 cup of Marsala wine and 3 tbsp of Kahlua. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.


Assembly
Dip Savoiardi sponge finger biscuits into the cooled dipping mixture until they are moist but not sodden and line the bottom of the dish with them. The time varies due to variation in the sponge fingers.


Layer half of the Tiramisu Cream over the top of the biscuits.


Repeat another layer of dipped Savoiardi biscuits and Tiramisu Cream. Bang the dish firmly to make the Tiramisu Cream settle into the gaps between the biscuits. Cover and chill overnight.


Just before serving dust liberally with cocoa. If you want to be more lavish some grated chocolate is nice too.

Happy Cupcaking!

Aikko

The Little Monsters

You know, Lady Gaga calls her fans "Little Monsters".

This is not about them (actually it's not "them", it's "us"). I am a Little Monster... see?

But they could be... 

These are little monsters... Oops, I said that before didn't I?

These are little space monsters actually. I was inspired by Liz who found my Sesame Cupcakes so cute she whipped up a batch for her son's classmates. Liz wasn't able to find any single-colored sprinkles so she used colored sugar for her cupcakes. Amazing isn't it? So instead of sprinkles, I'm following her lead. Colored sugar it is!

These little monsters are pretty easy to do.

1. Whip up a batch of cupcakes

2. Make vanilla frosting

3. Make colored sugar - super easy, it's sugar mixed with a drop or two of coloring

4. Pipe a big dot of vanilla frosting onto your cupcake

5. Dunk the cupcake to the colored sugar. Clark Gable once said "Dunking is an art" to Claudette Colbert once. That was one of my favorite movies.

6. Pipe the eyes - can't be any easier than that!

These little monsters may not know who Lady Gaga is, I'm betting my bottom dollar they will be Lady Gaga's Little Monsters once they hear her amazing music.  Rah rah rah ah ah....!!!

Happy Cupcaking!
Aikko