THE LETTER A- Baked!

A is for A P P L E Pie ** This pie is what I always want to make once in a while. That homey feeling of munching a heaping spoon of warm apple pie reminds me of those dayswhen I worked as an apprentice at my college's cafe-The Apple Pie Cafe & Bakery! We use to make a lots of these for the day's consumption. The "EG" label served as a gift for a good friend of my dad,his initials. So I thought of just making the excess pie dough for the labels which also edible. I could have made my own initials-"KC".
You can serve this a la mode -or topped with vanilla ice cream. Yummy! I know that granny smith is the typical variety to make this treat and I only have Fuji in my fruit basket. I did make it ,only reducing the liquid component of the filling recipe. Well, this is still good for you!

THE LETTER A- Fresh!

A is for A P P L E ! This versatile fruit is available year round especially in the Philippines. I remember having my Product Identification Class at CIA,gave me quite a challenge in knowing the varieties of apples:granny smith-the cooking apple,Fuji,comice,red delicious and the like. Each kind has it's owncharacteristics. It is highy important for you to know these facts especailly when you are into baking.
"An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away". Remember that saying?! I still believe that consuming atleast 3-5 kinds of fruits everyday aides in having a healthy body. You feel lighter and beautiful if you eat more fruits and vegetables than that of meat. Well, eating desserts after every meal personally perks me up and I must say it is really included in my own food pyramid.
This is a photo of fresh Fuji apples all line up on a almond-shaped wooden bowl. Yes they really look delicious and can be served as simple as it isHave some apple!

D E S E R T Cake

I just arrived from Hong Kong and dad helped me gain back my work momentum. He wanted a box of simple cake. I have so much chocolate bars stuck in the fridge. Pre-heat the oven at 350F. Grease your square pan with softened butter and flour the surface.This cake which is made of Genoise Sponge which is eggs, sugar whisked in bain marie or in adouble boiler until it feels body temperature,straight to the kitchenaide mixer,beat the egg-and-sugar mixture until ribbon stage or just until it leaves a trail when the attachment is lifted up. Gradually add the sieved cake flour and fold it in. Double checking if there are lumps in the bottom of the bowl. Bake for 20-30 minutes. After baking, invert the sponge on tray with white sugar to avoid it from sticking and let it cool.
The buttercream is made of eggs and sugar also cooked in a double boiler until body temperature. Then whip the mixture until the bowl feels cool and looks pale on high speed. Whip in the softened butter at very low speed.You will notice thatthe buttercream looks broken but increasing the speed to medium then to high will reconstitute the volume of the icing. Set it asidecovered.
The filling is just melted dark chocolate bar with a little unsweetened chocolate. For the garnish ,I always have a bowl of chocolate ganache which is a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream which I store in the fridge. I rolled this into balls and dredged it in chopped cashew nuts.Then the name of the cake was born then, I call this the D E S E R T Cake. I just dusted the top with toasted graham flour as the sand, the truffles depicts the rocks. The cake's edge was to plain so instead of putting the usual thin acetate , I used this printed glossy piece of wrapper which complemented the cake well.

Pineapple Lighthouse

This treat is perfectly right to end the summer. It is still humid and all I needed was a refreshing sorbet. This is simply pineapple juice and simple syrup. It can also be served as Granita but it looks good straight out from the plastic cup. If you are to use sweetened pineapple juice, simple syrup can then be omitted. Quenching!

This is my next attempt to use my new camera given by my sister Korina! Ate, I really appreciate it!! The recent post wasalso to discover the features of blog tool. It is not that expensive but I think I will be able to use this for my photo shooting formy upcoming business-school and cafe!
This bowl of cookies was especially made for the family's trip to Hong Kong. I wanted to prepare atleast three kinds that everybody loves.Ofcourse chococlate chip-raisin, easy macaroons and oatjacks. I also thought of creating a lunch box with these treats to highlight thespecial textures cookies and bars have. I used half cake flour and half all purpose flour for the choco chip wich give a very soft and chewy texture.The mini-star-shaped macaroons is a mixture of condensed milk, dessicated coconut and cake flour which is semi-chewy and crunchy. Oatjacks is aa good blend of natural honey,toasted oats,butter and brown sugar. Yummy!
I call the choco-chip-raisin cookie shot, the Tower and Domino. Just applying what I have learned from my food styling class.