white chocolate torte with fresh fruit

I had fun making this cake, although it was a bit complicated. I was inspired by those tall Japanese cream cakes that I've been seeing online mostly in the Japanese food and travel videos I love to watch :-)

The special occasion cake looked impressive and colorful with an assortment of our favorite fresh berries and fruit all piled on top. To start off, the cake itself wasn't too sweet. The fresh fruit and toasted chopped nuts (I used macadamias) made the frosted cake even less sweeter. There was a complete balance of flavors - sweet, creamy and slightly tart. This torte will make an attractive centerpiece for any special celebration.

I plan to make this with a basic sponge cake next time. Perhaps more like a fluffier strawberry shortcake than a dense torte.

The torte was baked in two 9" round cake pans then split to make four layers (shown above). Butter, melted white chocolate and confectioner's sugar were mixed together for the frosting that went along the sides and top. Fresh whipped cream went in between the layers and was also piped on top. I may just try an all whipped cream frosting next time.

The cake recipe was adapted from Land o'Lakes White Chocolate Raspberry Torte. Fruits in season are great to use, however, I may do a tropical version of this cake next time with mango, pineapple and papaya or other available tropical fruits.

more cake donuts

Here are a few more baked cake donuts to brighten up our day :-)

vanilla and nutmeg with glaze and sprinkles

chocolate and vanilla with shiny powdered sugar glaze

chocolate with chocolate glaze :-)

extra moist with pumpkin in the mix

hot coffee and warm donut...the best combination

pumpkin donuts dipped in butter and sugar

gluten-free chocolate cake

Finally, a chocolate cake that my husband will eat :-) It has nothing to do with gluten intolerance. His aversion to chocolate is the issue here :-) However, I'm happy that he found one particular brand he likes, Lindt, which easily became his favorite.

I found this recipe for gluten-free chocolate cake sometime ago and I knew I needed to try making it with Lindt. I used Lindt Milk Chocolate Classic Recipe Bar. Most of the time, I feel guilty (but maybe for a few seconds only :-) that he doesn't get to try any of the chocolate desserts I make. Dark chocolate is ideal for this recipe but I used milk chocolate for milder taste.

For the recipe...

baked cinnamon cake donuts

Baked instead of deep-fried, these donuts turned out light, moist and full of cinnamon flavor! My husband actually prefers cake donuts more than the other yeast-raised variety. I'm glad he bought this pan so we could try it :-)

The non-stick donut pan worked quite well and produced such perfectly shaped treats. I still sprayed each ring mold with baking spray just to make sure they would not stick. They all slid out of the mold easily. Brushing them with oil or melted butter and coating them evenly with flour using a small fine sieve will do the trick as well.

I just love the donut pan :-) It was fun to make donuts the healthier way with absolutely no messy oil to deal with. The shelf life was much better than those that were deep-fried which tend to dry up fast. Any muffin recipe will translate well. I used a simple recipe for Doughnut Muffins that I found long ago. There's a recipe for Pumpkin Donuts at the King Arthur Flour website that I also would like to try next time.

For the recipe...

summer cakes

My favorite past time this summer, staying cool while enjoying these light and fruity cakes :-) I'm still baking despite the seriously hot and humid days we've been having even in the early mornings. Instead of making regular banana bread, my over ripe bananas went into this banana chiffon cake, shown below. I found a good banana chiffon cake recipe at Chew Out Loud website.

One of the first chiffon cakes I learned to bake was pineapple chiffon cake, shown below. It has been my personal favorite for many years. The white mountain frosting may be optional but it just works so well with cake. I very seldom omit the frosting when I make this cake :-)

a slice of the light & fluffy pineapple chiffon cake

This Japanese strawberry shortcake version with a basic sponge cake base was just perfectly refreshing for summer. However, in Japan, this is called Christmas cake. It's traditionally made or sold during the Christmas season. I've seen pictures of other versions of it online. I also learned that the cakes in Japan are usually less sweet. The bakeshops get very creative with the fruit toppings. They use cantaloupe, honeydew melons and other fresh colorful fruits.

Japanese strawberry shortcake 

a birthday request

This was the second time my husband requested burgers and fries for his birthday. I was just happy to make his favorite birthday meal again this year. Ordering burgers and fries from the nearest burger joint in town may be the most convenient option, but we really prefer making them at home.

birthday meal set-up

For the burgers, I like to use lean ground beef mixed with minced mushrooms and onions. To make them tastier, season with salt, pepper and a little worcestershire sauce. It may not be traditional to season the ground beef for the burgers here in the US, but our family in Manila makes burgers this way. Homemade hamburger buns, fries, vegetable and cheese slices completed this make-your-own birthday treat.

Light and fluffy Japanese cheesecake, which I've made a few times before, was his birthday cake this year. I'm glad to finally learn how to make this, thanks to some very informative cooking videos I found on youtube. It was a simple but very enjoyable celebration.

ube pandan birthday cake

Another year older, another reason to bake a cake :-) I still remember how much I loved my ube birthday chiffon cake last year, so I thought it would be nice to recreate it with a little twist for my birthday this year.

The marble chiffon cakes I've made it the past were always with chocolate and vanilla. Just one of those basic chiffon cakes my mother taught me to bake. The idea of combining ube and pandan flavors was an experiment. The pandan flavor was light and not overpowering. I still need to learn better techniques to achieve a nicer marbled effect and try to improve the light green pandan color as well for better contrast.

We were happy with the ube, pandan and coconut combination of flavors in this chiffon cake. However, I was a little disappointed that it didn't rise taller and wasn't as light and fluffy. I ran into a problem with the cake batter. As soon as I started mixing it, I immediately noticed that it had a much thicker consistency. It was supposed to flow like pancake batter. I tried to add more liquid but I guess the harm has been done. It has been awhile since I baked a chiffon cake so I completely forgot to sift the cake flour before measuring resulting in a heavier batter. In baking, one single missed step can be disastrous. Everything has to be precise.

Glossy and fluffy white mountain frosting worked very well for this cake. The pastel sprinkles made it look more festive and reminded me of Easter. I'm glad I had a chance to make marble chiffon cake again. I look forward to many more combinations to try.

Enjoy the blessings of EASTER!

For the recipe...

pistachio sansrival

The more common version of this Filipino cake dessert is made with cashews instead of pistachios. It's basically made with crisp layers of nut-filled meringue and buttercream. The cake is very rich and high in calories but it has a remarkable flavor enough to make me crave it every now and then.

The procedure is not that complicated. It just takes time to prepare all the ingredients. Baking the meringue is also time consuming as they need to baked until crispy and almost dry. Shown above (1) measuring the finely chopped toasted pistachios (2) making the meringue and folding in the chopped pistachios (3) baking the meringue layers until crispy (4) golden brown and crispy the meringue layers just out of the oven.

The buttercream requires room temperature butter and all the reserved eggyolks. A candy thermometer is helpful to determine the correct syrup consistency without the guesswork. The amount of butter makes this cake extra rich and delicious!

As soon as the buttercream is done and ready, spread it on the layers then sandwich the layers together. The meringue layers are very fragile and may break easily, but they may still be used by patching them up together.

The edges of the meringue rounds may be trimmed to make them more even, but they can also be left irregularly shaped for a more rustic appearance, as shown above.

After assembling the layers, spread the remaining buttercream evenly on top and all around the cake. Sprinkle the top and side of the cake with more finely chopped pistachios. The cake may be made ahead and stored in the freezer until serving time. Enjoy as a dessert or a special treat with your favorite cup of hot tea.

Based on Heny Sison's Pistachio Sansrival recipe, cashew nuts may also be substituted for the pistachios.

desserts for Valentine's Day

There are many ways to make Valentine's Day memorable. A day of relaxation, a leisurely walk in perfect spring-like weather and simply enjoying quality time together made our Valentine's Day this year quite special. It was also a good opportunity for me to make desserts! I've been curious about these 3D Hearts Cupcakes since I saw them featured on a tv show recently. I think the 3D idea is genius. So off to YouTube I went and as always, I found answers to my questions. After watching the cute video by Ann Reardon, I couldn't wait to give it a try.

The taste of the cupcakes may be improved by replacing the water in the recipe with fruit juice and adding more flavorings. I didn't bother frosting them as I was more interested with the process of making them. Most of the hearts didn't turn out perfectly shaped but it was fun making them :-) The hearts will also look nice in pastel colors. 

The recipe makes smaller size cupcakes but with enough frosting, they will look adorable on the dessert table at parties and other appropriate events.

Shown above (1) the 3D hearts, looking like small marzipan strawberries, were shaped using crumbled cupcakes mixed with a little red food coloring (2) two tablespoons of cupcake batter baked for about 5 minutes with 3D hearts placed in the center (3) the cupcakes from the oven, after covering the 3D hearts with more batter and baking for another 10 minutes (4) the cupcakes cut in the middle to show the heart shapes.

Another dessert I made post-Valentine's Day was Cathedral Windows Gelatine, shown above, which is popular in Manila. It's usually made with a combination of colorful gelatine, supposedly to resemble the stained glass art in gothic cathedrals and churches. However, I only had two boxes of gelatine, cherry and strawberry flavors, that are both red. They were exactly the colors I needed for Valentine's Day :-) The marbling effect wasn't intentional but my husband had very favorable comments when he saw it.

Make ahead assorted colors of gelatine and cut them into 1" squares. The creamy gelatine was supposed to cool down and allowed to thicken in the fridge for a few hours before mixing in the pre-made cubes of colorful gelatine. Since I was using only red gelatine, I went ahead and arranged the squares in a plastic mold. I cooked the creamy gelatine mixture in a small pot then, without letting it cool down, I carefully spooned the hot mixture directly over the red cubes of gelatine. The hot mixture melted some of the red cubes of gelatine resulting in a marbled effect. It was an error that didn't turn out so bad after all. I have to try this using other colors next time.

cross section of the Cathedral Gelatine dessert, served with strawberries

Happy Valentine's Day!

For the recipe...

cotton soft Japanese cheesecake

I've never made cheesecake before so it took me awhile to gain enough confidence to make this. This was the result of my attempt at making this version popularly called cotton soft Japanese cheesecake. It's also known as souffle cheesecake because of its fluffy and light texture. There are so much information available online so I had no problem researching about it. I went to YouTube, my favorite source of cooking and baking videos, to find demos on making it. As I've mentioned a few times before, the videos are very helpful. It will definitely not be the last time I bake this.

Using just one 8 oz block of cream cheese, this was not heavy and dense at all like regular cheesecakes. Gradually folding the beaten eggwhites into the cream cheese, butter and milk mixture resulted in a light-textured cake dessert.

Cotton soft Japanese cheesecake served with fresh sweet strawberries :-)

(1) The springform pan was greased and lined with parchment paper. (2) Just to make sure the water doesn't seep inside the pan while baking bain marie (hot water bath), wrap it in heavy-duty foil. (3) The light and fluffy mixture and (4) the finished product with very lightly browned top, shown in the pictures below. The technique of folding the beaten eggwhites into the cheesecake batter was very much like that of making chiffon cakes.

Interested in the recipe?

ube chiffon birthday cake

Birthdays when I was growing up in Manila were simple occasions made special with the presence of close family members and my mother's chiffon cakes. Traditionally for many Filipinos, birthdays are not complete without pancit (stir-fried noodles with meat and vegetables), cake and ice cream. Having them on the table equals instant party and celebration. Perhaps I crave cakes particularly chiffon cakes because my mother used to bake them all the time so I've grown to love them. I'm also a fan of airy and fluffy cakes and not so much of the dense and heavy pound cakes.

For my birthday this year, it took me awhile to finally decide on what kind of cake to make as I had a few ideas in mind. Feeling a bit sentimental, I finally decided to revive our family's traditional birthday chiffon cake. However, instead of the usual flavors like pineapple or orange, I chose to do this ube chiffon cake. In Manila, ube can easily be bought at any local market. Although frozen ube is available here at the nearby Filipino store,  I used my favorite ube flavoring instead. I also substituted coconut milk for the evaporated milk in our basic chiffon cake recipe. The frosting was the classic white mountain frosting from the Betty Crocker website.

Interested in the ube chiffon cake recipe? Next page please, thanks!

semolina cake

I got inspired to make this cake while watching a travel show filmed in Dubai featuring traditional Middle Eastern desserts. The cakes and other sweets all glistened with syrup and looked so beautiful with pistachios and almonds. It was enough temptation for me to start hunting for the recipes. 

sweet semolina cake was perfect with afternoon tea

I recently bought some fine semolina from King Arthur FLour primarily for pasta but I thought there must be other recipes I can make with it. I have a weakness for all kinds of cake and semolina cake sounds great. I found many recipes online but this particular one caught my attention. The cardamom spice in the cake and the rosewater syrup that was poured over the warm cake took it to another level. It's very unique with more complex flavors which I like.

grinding the cardamom in a mortar and pestle, pouring the rosewater syrup over the warm cake

Thanks to Cooking Melangery blog for this recipe for Cardamom Semolina Cake with Rosewater Syrup. I can't wait to try to make a version of it, perhaps with ground pistachios mixed into the cake batter and sprinkled on top.