Black Bottom Cupcakes

Hasan, my colleague and a dear friend of mine was asking me what's next on my cupcake adventure. He showed me a website of Joy of Baking wherein I can find different kinds of cupcake. I chose the black bottom cupcake since I have already most of their ingredients.
The following day I shared it to all my colleagues in HR and got a lot of positive feedback.

I experimented a little bit and added some chocolate chip to the cream cheese mixture.

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese

12 oz cream cheese
1 large egg
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 pack of chocolate chips (mini kisses)

Cupcake:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2/3 cups dutch process unsweetened cocoa
1 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
2/3 cups vegetable/canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Direction:

Cream Cheese:
1. Beat the cream cheese until soft and add sugar
2. Add the egg and mix well
3. Spoon in the chocolate chips and set aside

Cupcake:
1. Preheat the oven at 180 C
2. Sift all the dry ingredient, Flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt
3. Add in the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla
4. Mix until well blended
5. Prepare the cupcake liner and fill in the cups until 3/4 of the mixture.
6. Spoon in on top a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture.
7. bake for 20 minutes

You can make 30 cupcakes with this mixture. Enjoy!! :)

Hubby's Birthday present for me: KitchenAid

Hubby gave me a KitchenAid mixer for my 28th birthday. To be honest, having a normal mixer was okay for me but getting a KitchenAid makes my baking life so easy. I wanted to have a pink color mixer but unfortunately, they don't have it here in Dubai so I just decided on taking white KithchenAid.

I will start my cross training in our Pastry department at Grand Hyatt Dubai this coming Thursday, October 7, 2010. I am excited and 'lil bit nervous. It feels like going back to school.

Wish me luck! I hope I can come up with something new and delicious after my training. :)

Butterscotch

Hmmm.. I love butterscotch. I remember the first time I saw the recipe and tried it for the first time.. Galing.. I feel like professional na rin ako. Mama used to baked brownies so I can sell it sa school and I thought of adding another product sa binibenta ko. I was browsing her recipe book and thought making it. Naalala ko nakatikim na ako ng butterscotch noon and I fell in love with it but I don't know how to make it. The first butterscotch was really yummy but I want something chewy so we add and minus some ingredients.

My bengkong friends really love this. I used to give them for free every time nagbabake ako nito but they become abusive :). They want it everyday so I shared my recipe to mama so she can bake while I was studying nursing. My butterscotch and mama's brownies became a hit it EAC. People are calling me brownies instead of Iya because of my benta.

I am going to share my most precious recipe so my friends can also make them even though we are miles apart. I know how much you miss it and I will always be thankful for your patronage..

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tablespoons Baking powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
3 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Direction:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.


2. Cream the butter and sugar one at a time


3. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients


4. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter mixture


5. Add the eggs one at a time


6. Add the vanilla


7. Bake for about 45 mins in a square pan.

Pata Tim

Ingredients
500 ml Pineapple Juice

1 cup water

1/2 cup soy sacuce

1/3 cup sugar

bayleaf

1 tablespoon whole pepper

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients in a stockpot. Cook over high heat until mixture comes to a boil.
2. Lower heat to simmering until and continue to cook pata is tneder. About 2 hours.
3. Add water if necessary and adjust the mixture.

Leche Flan

This is my first time to make a leche flan. I normally ask my mom to make one during special occassion. 2 days ago I was invited by a friend to have a dinner at their place. She served leche flan as a dessert and I love it. I searched in goggle and you tube on how to make the leche flan and come up with a recipe on my own.



Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
2 cans of condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or dayap

Caramelized sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Direction:

1.) Preheat the ovena t 160 F
2.) In a large bowl, mix the egg yolk together with the condensed and evaportaed milk.
3.) add in the vanilla and lemon juice.
4.) Mix for about 3 minutes.

Caramelized Sugar

1.) On a pan, mix the sugar and water and wait until boiled.
2.) add the vanilla and lemon zest.

Dark Chocolate Cake Balls

The first time I saw Cake Balls... I fell in love. I want to try it..

I found the recipe from Bakerella. She used the prepacked chocolate cake mix and cream cheese frosting. Whaalah!!

We don't have candy melts here in Dubai so I used cooking chocolate mix with cadbury milk chocolate.. Not bad..

1 pack Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Cake Mix

16 0z cream cheese frosting

chocolate melts or cooking chocolate

Direction:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)

4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.

6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Today is the birthday of my dear friend Kathleen Bitgue-Damasin. I promised her that I will make cupcakes on her birthday. She loves pink and she loves chocolate so I made the Perfectly Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cupcake mix

+

Strawberry Buttercream frosting

1 cup butter
6-8 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon starwberry puree
1 teaspoon starwberry flavoring

Happy Birthday Kit!