Sprinkle Bakes Book Giveaway! (Closed)

If there is an artist-baker-blogger I can totally relate it to, it has got to be Heather of Sprinkle Bakes. Take a looong look at her blog(but please make sure to come back as there is a surprise at the end of this post) and you’ll see what I mean.

See? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G cannot begin to describe the passion she has for her craft. Her work literally leaps out of the pages (or screen or wherever you're viewing) . It just tells so much. Oh wow! (On a different note, I wish I could rock long hair as good as she does. Mine just falls awkwardly flat, that’s why right now, my hair is cut short in a wash and wear kind of way.)

Sometimes, I wish I could pack my bags, and take a vacation onto her very talented mind. Take a peek here and there, visit every nook and cranny, check out every street and every aisle to see where the inspiration comes from.

Luckily, I didn’t have to do that (That sigh I just heard could probably come from Heather, breathing a sigh of relief I didn’t have to spend my vacation time in her mind). Heather recently published a book. Not just any baking book. As the tag line says, it contains Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist. Wanna take a peak?

Here's the Glittering Cookie Tree bursting with colors!

How about these Tuile Cookie Spoons with Peanut Butter Mousse? I think only Heather can think of that.

 Such a classic, these Queen of Hearts Cookies that is.

And this post will not be complete without sharing with you these Mehndi Hand Cookies. What did I tell you? Totally rad she is!

And so for my very first giveaway, I am giving away copies of Heather Baird’s first book Sprinkle Bakes to three very lucky Bake Happy friends! Yup! I'm saying first because I know with the kind of amazing talent she has, there will definitely be a second book, and a third and a fourth... Oh well you know what I mean.

And I know you see four books, but the fourth one is mine okay? I have to save one for me of course! 

Here's your chance to WIN a copy of Sprinkle Bakes of your very own! (Giveaway now closed. Thanks for all who joined!)


Here's how to Enter:
1) Like Bake Happy on Facebook
2) Post the following status on your Facebook wall:

Bake Happy is giving away three copies of Heather Baird's Sprinkle Bakes Book! Join by going to 
http://bakehappy.blogspot.com/2012/07/sprinkle-bakes-book-giveaway.html. Happy baking! 

          Please make sure that Bake Happy is TAGGED and the post is set as PUBLIC.  

3) Deadline for entry is August 3rd, 2012.

4) Winners will be chosen via electronic raffle and contacted via email or whatever contact details stated in their entries. Winners will be announced on this blog and on Facebook
5) Winners may be asked to pick up their prizes at Makati or will receive their prizes by courier, depending on their address.
6) Contest is open to anyone with a valid shipping address covered by LBC or UPS 

7) If you agree to the above and the official rules here, leave a comment to this post with the following info:


          a. Name:
          b. FB Post Link: 
          c. And most importantly, please make sure to leave an email address or some way to reach you if you win!


Note: To get the FB post link, click the timestamp. Example of timestamp: 5 seconds ago


Right click on the timestamp and choose "Copy Link" to get the FB post link 

or 


click on the timestamp and copy the link that appears on the address bar 

Good luck!

Frostings 101: Basic Buttercream and Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi! How have you been? It's been a very busy of August and an even busier September! So now I am catching up writing Bake Happy's Frostings 101, are you ready? 

After the first frostings 101, I thought I'd share with you my basic recipe for buttercream and creamcheese frosting. It's a tweaked version of the Magnolia Bakery Buttercream recipe. I toned down on the sugar. 

Basic Buttercream

adapted from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

Here's what we need:

1 cup / 227 g / 2 sticks butter (straight from the ref) unsalted

454 g / 1 pound (sifted) icing sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tsp Vanilla extract 

1/8 cup of milk (or cream)

Here's how:

1. Cut up butter into small chunks.  

2. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Add sifted confectioner's sugar gradually.

4, At somepoint, the buttercream will look like bread crumbs but don't despair. Just add milk or cream and beat some more.

5. Lastly, add vanilla extract.

This buttercream recipe is the basis for my cream cheese frosting. It basically has the same ingredients with the addition of cream cheese.

The cup of butter is replaced with 1/2 butter and 1/2 cup cream cheese. Or if you want a more tangy frosting, use 1/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup cream cheese. 

Then, add vanilla, sugar and milk and beat until smooth.

Happy cupcaking, 

Aikko

About Bake Happy Blogger

Follow Bake Happy Blogger on Twitter

Like Bake Happy on Facebook

Bake Happy Cupcake Tutorials

Cupcake Baking 101: Cupcake Pans

Cupcake Baking 101: Cupcake Liners

Cupcake Baking 101: How to Evenly Distribute the Batter into Cupcake Cups

Cupcake Baking 101: The Cupcake Scoop Test

Cupcake Baking 101: 10 Cupcake Baking Essentials

Cupcake Baking 101: Vanilla Cupcakes with a Secret Ingredient

Cupcake Baking 101: The Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Frostings 101: Whipped Cream and Ganache

The Daphne Cupcakes: A Mother's Day Post

Daphne reminds me so much of my Ma. I am an avid follower of her blog and I love reading her stories about her girls. Her love for her kids shines in her blog. One of my favorite posts of hers was the time she prepared snack packs for Sophia's classmates to enjoy when she celebrated her birthday at school. She says she's no Martha Stewart but I think she's Martha Stewart and Wonder Woman rolled into one. Just like my Ma. 

Daphne has three girls, my Ma has two. Boy, we were a handful when we were kids. I don't know where she got all the energy to take care of two energetic girls!

So for Mother's Day, I made these cupcakes. I call them The Daphne Cupcakes.

Inspired by chic chairs from Daphne's furniture line.

I made them in all of the yummy Daphne Chair colors - 

Robin's Egg

Teal

Cotton Candy

Purple

And Ivory - my favorite

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Happy Cupcaking, 

Aikko

ps: Tutorial on how to make the cupcake topper up next

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

Can you doodle with Snickerdoodles?

Apparently not.

But nibble on some you could! And boy did I do just that.

It has been a long day today. At least it is for someone who has been lazying around for the past few days doing nothing short of nothing.

First off to a garage sale near our place, I was quite excited to go and hoping to find cookbooks and some rare kitchen finds. In the back of my mind, I was hoping someone would be selling a slightly used fire engine red Kitchen Aid mixer for a fraction of its cost. A girl can dream, can't she?

However, I wasn't able to find anything. Better luck next time!

Then, we went to Intramuros. I haven't been there to explore the place in awhile. It still is magical. Intramuros, was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century and is the oldest district of the city of Manila. During the Spanish colonial period, Intramuros was considered Manila itself. By the end of World War II, much of Intramuros has been damaged but it has been restored since then.

Then off to lunch. It's just mid day but I'm looking forward to siesta already. But before that, I'd love to get my hands on some cookies first. Snickerdoodles doesn't seem hard to make. After all, who can't resist a cinnamon and sugar combination?

___________

Snickerdoodles

From The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon for sprinkling

In a small bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla, and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Wrap the dough tightly in a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. (The book recommends leaving extra room between these cookies because they spread more than most.) Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon-sugar mixture Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, and the remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko

Green Tea again?!

I can't get enough of green tea.

Let's see, I have paired it with...

Cream Cheese

White Chocolate

Strawberry Yoghurt

So far... so good... but I still want to see how far I can go with this flavor so I decided to pair it with another tea... Red Rose Tea. They are these dried little rose buds which smells so heavenly. You'd only need to steep 2 to 3 buds a cup and you're all set to enjoy an afternoon tea.

Green Tea Cupcakes with Rose Tea Buttercream

Green Tea Cake

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons Matcha green tea powder

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch round pans. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, and green tea powder; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, and eggs until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before turning out of the pans.

Rose Tea Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter

1 pound powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cooled steeped rose tea (from 2-3 rose tea buds steeped from 1 cup hot water)

Steep 2 - 3 rose tea buds in a cup of warm water. Set aside to cool 2 tablespoons and enjoy the rest.

Cream butter for 1 minute and add the powdered sugar slowly.

Add cooled rose tea water until well combined.

Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko

One Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta

It has been rainy week.

The kind of week where you just want to snuggle in bed and pretend you didn't hear the irritating sound that is your alarm clock.The kind of week where you wish it was the weekend so you have the time to make sinigang, sopas or bulalo and finish it off with something sweet. The kind of week where despite the creative ways of motivating yourself to bake something, you simply can't.

So what's a girl to do? Make the Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta.

Crema de Fruta is my all time... let me cross that out... second all time, next to mommy's chocolate cake, dessert. It's fairly simple to make but we usually make it only during the Christmas holidays. But this weekend, I am making an exception. It's my way of celebrating the start of the Christmas season...It's the 'ber months so you know Santa's lurking just around the corner (subtext: Santa? Ahhemmm.... I've been exceptionally good this year. You know how I've always wanted a Kitchen Aid. )

For those of you unfamiliar with this delicious guilty pleasure, it's a dessert made up of soft, light sponge cake (I use Taisan) for a base, with creamy custard spread all over, sprinkled fruit cocktail and poured gelatin.

It's a very refreshing dessert, the type where you can have seconds or thirds (or fourths if you wish) and you still want to have more.

If only we can have this everyday of the year, then everyday would feel like Christmas wouldn't it? Me likey.

______________

One Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta

Ingredients:

Cake Layer:

Store bought Taisan Bread (as many as you want)

Custard and Fruit Cocktail Layers"

1/2 can condensed milk

3/4 cup cold water

1.7 oz Jell O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (that's half an envelope of the 4 1/2 serving box)

1 1/2 cups whipping cream (I use Avoset Pour and Whip.. no need to add sugar)

1 can fruit cocktail (reserve syrup)

Gelatin Layer:

1 box Alsa Gulaman

Directions:

Layer taisan in a pan (rectangle, square or circle... it's your choice)

To make the custard, combine cold water and condensed milk. Mix well. Add pudding to the milk mixture and beat until mixture thickens. In a separate bowl, whip cream until stiff then fold pudding mixture to the whipped cream. Spread custard over the taisan bread.

Open the can of fruit cocktail, drain and reserve the syrup. Assemble the drained fruits over the custard.

Cook the gulaman per package instructions substituting the fruit cocktail syrup for water. Pour gelatin over the fruit cocktail spoonful by spoonful to avoid unwanted bubbles.

Refrigerate for 2 hours, and enjoy!

Happy Cupcaking!
Aikko