Tabliya Cake with Tabliya Fudge Frosting

recipe is taken from FLAVORS Magazine, Vol.10, No.105 (page29)

A Delicious chocolate cake that makes full use of tabliya (also spelled tablea or tableya), a local chocolate made from cacao, as whipped up by talented Davao-based pastry chef - Erwina Maramba

For the Cake:
1 cup hot water
120 grams unsweetened tabliya chocolate, grated
1-1/3 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 cup salted butter
1-1/4 cups white sugar
3 large eggs

1.)preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. line 8x8x2 inch square pan or 8inch round pan with baking paper

2.)pour hot water and grated chocolate into a bowl. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. let it cool.

3.)sift together flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt. set aside.

*and i was stupid enough to include the sugar in the sifitng coz it's a mind set of mine to sift all together the dry ingredients
4.)cream together butter and sugar. add eggs, one at a time. beat well. alternatively, add the sifted dry ingredients and the melted chocolate, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

*so i creamed only the butter and added the eggs. i kinda messed up with the mixing of the prepared dry and wet ingredients. what i did was alternately added the butter&egg mixture and the melted chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients. but it was still good though.

4.)pour into prepared pan, bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes. let cool.

*i did mine for 30 minutes in an oven toaster 200 degrees Celcius

for the fudge frosting:
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup condensed milk
1/4 cup all purpose cream
60 grams unsweetened tabliya chocolate grated
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1.)in a wok, combine all ingredients, except butter and vanilla extract. cook mixture over medium heat and stir until consistency is good for spreading.

*you can combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and wait for the cake to be done before doing this, coz the fudge frosting takes 10-15 minutes only to make (while waiting for the cake to cool)

2.)switch off heat and add butter and vanilla extract. spread immediately over the cooled cake

 what i love about this cake is, it might look so sinful -- but it's not very sweet, suits me and my not-so-into-sweets tastebuds. i love the moist texture and the bittersweet taste! im so proud of myself for baking my first cake...all by myself!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

the recipe is from the Vol.10 No.107 issue of FLAVORS Magazine. the author of this recipe (Norma Cikiamco)actually published her own cookbook (The Recipes I Love) where one can find the recipe of this cupcake.

Norma Cikiamco "These cupcakes contain no butter or eggs, and the batter can just be stirred manually with a whisk or wooden spoon, and yet they come out so moist ans sinfully rich"

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (i bought a small repacked Dutch Cocoa powder)

1 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups All-Purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup water

1/3 cup Baguio Vegetable Oil (I used Canola oil, coz that's the oil available here)

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Procedure:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2.) In a bowl, sift together cocoa powder,sugar,flour,salt and baking soda. Slowly pour in water, vegetable oil,vinegar and vanilla. Stir just until all ingredients are evenly combined, about 50 strokes. Add Chocolate Chips

*for some reasons, the chocolate chips melted on the baking process and it created like holes (check the pic above) so I'm thinking of reducing the chocolate chips, or i just don't know where i went wrong. All I know is when I was mixing the batter, there were sort of bubbles, asked my Mom how to get rid of it, she said just sort of drop the bowl with batter (sort of banging) it on the table top to release the air. 

3.)Line a muffin pan with paper baking cups. Pour batter into baking cups around two-thirds full, making sure there are enough chocolate chips in each cups.

*even half full coz the cupcake rises during the baking process.

4.)Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool.

*again, im not using an oven so i baked mine in an oven, 200 degrees Celcius for 10 minutes. Made the 1st batch 20 minutes and it sticked to the baking cups. So you can only eat the soft part which is less than half of the whole cupcake. the last batch which i did for 10 minutes turned out the best of all batches -- and i baked them using a silicon cupcake container/cups.

5.)If desired, top cupcakes with your favorite frosting.

*since there were HOLES on my cupcakes, i sifted powdered sugar and cinnamon powder on the cupcakes, trying to hide the holes.

the best batch would definitely be the one on top. i even placed banana as toppings

D-I-Y Cheese Rolls

got the recipe from the August2010 issue of YUMMY Magazine (page88)

so basically what i do is follow the recipe from the magz doing some changes in the ingredients, sizing, temperature and all to have a sort of "my version" of the recipe. check on the RED marks, those are the changes i made in this recipe or my suggestions for the recipe

WHAT YOU NEED

1 Tbsp Yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1/3 cup lukewarm water

For the Dough

2 eggs

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup melted butter

4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered milk (i used powdered skimmed milk i bought from the baking store)

1 tsp salt

softened butter for greasing and spreading

500 grams Cheddar cheese, sliced into sticks (but a regular bar, which weighs around 225grams is ok)

sugar for sprinkling

WHAT TO DO:

1.) In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and lukewarm water. Let stand for 5 minutes to let bubbles form on top.

2.)In a large bowl, mix together eggs,yolks,water and butter. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix. (or the other way around coz the yeast mixture is in a smaller bowl)

3.)In another large bowl, mix together the flour,sugar,powdered milk and salt. Pour in the liquid mix. Dough will be quite sticky

4.)Grease your work area with butter. Knead the dough until smooth. (To check for the right consistency, dough should be easily stretched into a think film without breaking)

5.)Form dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

6.)Remove plastic and punch down dough to release air.

7.)Form dough into a log and divide equally into 40 (50-gram) pieces.

*I did 30grams around 38 pcs, i tried 40grams but the bread is kinda thick and heavy

8.)Using a rolling pin, flatten each piece; spread with softened butter.

*if you are using a wooden rolling pin, wrap it with a plastic wrap since the dough can be very sticky.

9.)Place a cheese stick in the center of each piece; roll. Pinch ends and seal.

*first time i made this cheese rolls, i placed big/thick sticks of cheese but it was kinda heavy on cheese, a small stick is ok, or i'll try quickmelt cheese next time, maybe it would taste better!

10.)Arrange rolls on a greased baking sheet and proof until they double in size. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

*since im using a big toaster, coz our oven just died on us, after being abandoned for a long time, i do it at 200 degrees Celcius for 8 minutes.

11.)Brush Cheese rolls with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

this is the first batch of the cheese rolls i made last week

the second batch i made which i gave to my friends Doc Mayang and Allene (thanks for the pic!)

julie and julia

i watched julie and julia few hours ago, and it made me realize something. my blogging and the story of the book somehow has its similarity. but unlike the movie, i don't stick to one cookbook and cook the recipe and put my review, i do food magazine (well as for now) but will eventually dig into the books  bought from booksale, it's been an addiction for quiet a while, and now i realized i have over 20 cookbooks but never really got the chance to read them.

what i will be doing will be sort if making "my own version" of a recipe ive read and tried, more of changing some ingredients (the volume/measurement) perhaps temperature. i've seen ina garten of the famous cooking show barefoot contessa do the same. she printed a recipe and adjusted some steps and ingredients and it became her recipe. i will take credits though on the author/chef/mag - date - page where i got the said recipe. over the weekend i baked cheese rolls and choco cupcakes, and...well it was good...i can do it better though...so watch out for my next posts, i took pics of the food i made :)

my first blog

I'm not really new to this world of blogging, in fact, this is like a come back. I used to have...lots and lots of blog but mostly, my blog pages are for random non-sense -- more on venting out what I feel.rants, rants and more rants!

This blog is for my food addiction, either reviews on the restos where I've been to, or the cooking shows I recently watch or the food magazines and recipe books from book sale I bought (which most of the time, I don't get to read) and the food I've been experimenting on. 

I can share recipes and pics of the food I've cooked in the past and will be cooking.

I've been cooking since I was -- i think 9 years old. I learned the basic from my Manang Lalang (our family nanny). Everytime she would prepare dinner, I watched and observed her in the kitchen, the saute'ng of garlic then onion then add the meat, soysauce, a little water then veggies -- yes the basic.

I guess the experimenting in the kitchen happened later on, influenced by the different restos I've been to and the food mags and different cook shows I see on TV (my favorite were Caprial's Cafe, Cooking with the Urban Peasant, and the 3rd one I forgot and I even forgot the channel! It was shown in the 90s so forgive me!)

I'm so fascinated with experimenting in the kitchen and seeing an ingredient for the first time excites me (like spices,herbs and some condiments). I love cooking the food I love to eat like pasta and Mexican food. I cook them many times until I perfect that certain dish. I'm not into baking -- and it's a joke in our culinary class as well as to people who cooks with me -- but I admit, I'm beginning to love baking, but not necessarily pastries. I don't like eating sweets so I guess I'll try to master the bread making instead.

I just finished my 8-month course in Culinary Arts with Holistic Nutrition and I'm belong to the Pioneering batch from the Culinary Institute of Cagayan de Oro (the first in Northern Mindanao) due for graduation on July 2, 2011. I did a 2-months OJT at the MACROASIA Inflight Catering Services in Manila. I gained not only knowledge about the world of food, but I gained friends who are like a family and who shares the same passion for food as I do.

So this is my so-called first blog and I hope I can share a lot to you guys --  especially if you're like me -- loves eating and cooking!