Destine’s Frozen Doll Cake

Before coming home, my daughter Destine has been telling me that she wants a Frozen Birthday theme for her seventh birthday. Her simple request made me think of baking a cake for her. It was not easy though, but that 11-hour preparation was worth the wait. Combining the pressure, patience, perspiration, and most especially prayer made her cake well acknowledged by her visitors and of course her – the birthday celebrant.

In this kind of cake, you’ll need to prepare the (1) cake itself, (2) butter frosting, (3) fondant, and (4) cake design – the doll has to securely stand on the cake and make the frosting her gown. 

 the result of the 11-hour preparation 

Although this does not look so perfect, my daughter appreciated it so much.

What you need:

- mixing bowl

- hand mixer or stand mixer

- spatula

- 1 9 inch round cake pans

- rolling pin

- Frozen Doll

- Cling Fling

I started preparing the cake. But before proceeding make sure to preheat the oven to 350^o F for at least 5 minutes.

- place a round shape wax paper enough to fill in the round cake pan, cut the edges

- grease the wax paper and the side of the cake pan with oil or butter

Cake

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 cups white sugar

- 2/3 cup Strawberry Syrup

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp salt

- 2 raw eggs

- 1 cup fresh milk

- ½ cup cooking oil

Preparing the Cake

- in a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

- make a hole at the center and add eggs, oil, and fresh milk

- pour in the strawberry syrup

- using either hand or stand mixer, beat at medium speed until texture becomes smooth

- pour the batter into the round cake pan

- let stand for few minutes until bubbles disappear

- bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean

- let stand to cool for at least 10 minutes

- repeat the process until you were able to prepare two more round cakes

- set aside

Followed by making the frosting; this will be placed in between cakes.

Frosting 

- 1 cup unsalted butter

- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

- 4 tbsp fresh milk

- 1 ½ tsp vanilla

Preparing the Frosting

- in a clean mixing bowl, cream the cubed butter and add the vanilla extract

- use a hand mixer and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed

- gradually add half of confectioner’s sugar, and 2 tbsp of milk, mix well

- add the remaining confectioner’s sugar, and 2 tbsp of milk, mix well

- set aside

Then, prepare the fondant so it will be fresh before putting on the cake. In this case, I preferred making them than buying one available on the market.

Fondant:

- 450 grams mini marshmallows

- 900 grams confectioners’ sugar

- 1 tbsp water

- Blue food coloring

Preparing the marshmallows

- On a microwave safe bowl, pour in the mini marshmallows and add water

- Place inside the microwave oven and heat for 30 seconds

- Remove and mix with spoon

- Place again the heated marshmallows inside the microwave and heat again for another 30 seconds

- Remove and mix with spoon until everything is melted

Note: in the absence of microwave, place the mini marshmallows in a non-stick pan, heat on low fire for more or less 30 seconds

Preparing the fondant

- Grease your table counter with butter; or place a thick baking plastic sheet greased with butter 

- Pour in half of the confectioner’s sugar on your counter

- Mix the melted marshmallows with the confectioner’s sugar, and knead until both of them are combined well

- While kneading, add a small amount of the blue food color until desired theme color is achieved

Altogether:

Layering the cake

- Get the first round of cake and put as the base

- Spread butter frosting on top of it

- Place the second round of cake on top of the first to make a second layer

- Slowly cut the edges diagonally until the second layer becomes smaller

- Again, spread butter frosting on top of the second layer of cake

- Place the third round of cake on top of the second layer to make the third one

- Just like the second layer, slowly cut the edges diagonally until the third layer becomes smaller

- At this point, get the frozen doll, remove the dress and using a cling fling wrap the body from below the armpit down to the feet, set aside

- Back to the cake, make a hole at the center of the cake starting from the third layer down until the legs of the frozen doll can be covered (do not fix the doll yet, only measure at this point)

- Put frosting on the third layer of the cake, and the sides of the cake

Covering the cake with fondant

- Using a rolling pin, make a 16 inches round fondant by flattening it

- Cover the three layer cake with the fondant

       

- Cut the edges at the base, and design as a gown

- Place the frozen doll on the cake using the hole at the third layer

- Decorate the body of the doll to make a blouse

- Design as preferred

Happy 7th Birthday Destine! 

Destine's cake table 

Note: It took us 11 hour to prepare because of the failed fondant that we initially prepared; and the absence of extra marshmallows. We still needed to wait for the time the grocery stores open so we can buy again :) 

Ube Halaya

Ube is (my) another favorite from my Lola Dioneng's lists of foods she knows how to prepare, that we enjoy the most. Others call it Ube Halaya. It is made from boiled and mashed purple yam combined with condensed milk, evaporated milk, and sugar. 

 Ube

Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to teach me how to cook any of her recipes :( and that made me search and ask until I found the taste that I used to eat during her time. There are a lot of recipes for Ube available online but I haven’t tried any of those. A friend previously prepared one but the one she prepared was not as the same taste as my Lola’s recipe.

Last week, Rose one of my friends here, prepared Ube and gave me a free taste. Upon tasting it, it was the same taste I was craving for – the same as my Lola’s recipe. So I asked her about the ingredients and how to cook it, and she told me so. I decided to lessen the amount of the ingredients a bit because this is my first time to cook. I’m afraid if I cook many, I might end up losing the ingredients huhu  

Ingredients:

- 1 medium size purple yam

- 1 medium size sweet potato

- 1 cup sugar

- ¾ butter

- ¾ can condensed milk (big can)

- ¾ can evaporated milk (big can)

- 1 tbsp glutinous rice flour

- 1 tsp red food color

- 1 tsp blue food color

The ingredients may seem different because not all ingredients are present here in the Middle East, but I repeat, this is the taste I’ve always enjoyed and wanted :) . The use of glutinous rice flour will make the Ube thick faster so to avoid continuous stirring. Red and Blue food colors will make purple since purple yam here is not really purple :). My combined yam and sweet potato make only less than ½ kilo that is why I reduced the amount of the milk ingredients. You can use one full can each for a kilo of both. 

Procedure:

- Peel and boil yam and sweet potato until good enough for mashing

- Remove from heat, mash after boiling, and set aside

- On a bowl combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, red and blue food color (you may always add or reduce to get your desired color), set aside

- On a cooking pan at low heat, melt the butter

- Add the milk and food color mixture

- Gradually pour in the sugar, mix until melted

- Add in the mashed yam and sweet potato

- Using a whisk, stir continuously until the milk mixture is fully absorbed by the mashed ingredients

- Gradually add in the glutinous rice flour (again this will help the Ube thick faster to refrain you from longer time of stirring)

- Remove from heat when your desired thickness has been achieved

- Transfer to a container, spread with margarine on top

- Cool down, refrigerate for some time, and enjoy :)

 

This may not be the taste others wanted but this is how I want the taste to be. I will always remember the taste of the foods my Lola prepared.

Chocolate Banana Mini Cake

I bought some pieces of fresh banana but it got ripen so easily that I could not enjoy eating it anymore. I don’t want to waste food as much as possible, so I brought out some ingredients and tried making a Chocolate Banana Mini Cake. 

 

Chocolate Banana Mini Cake

Ingredients

- 2 pcs ripe banana, mashed

- ¾ cups all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- ½ cup cocoa powder

- ½ cup sugar

Procedure

- preheat oven for 10 minutes

- combine rice banana and flour in a mixing bowl, mix well

- add sugar and baking powder, mix well

- add cocoa and mix until evenly distributed

- grease mini cup cake molds

- bake for 10 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

Desiccated Coconut Macaroons

In my first version of Coconut Macaroons, I used shredded coconut. In this one, I used desiccated instead. Try this version of desiccated macaroons and know which one suits your taste.

Desiccated Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients

 - 1 cup desiccated coconut

- 1 14 ounces (1 can) condensed milk

- ½ cup melted butter

- ½ cup brown sugar

Procedure:

- preheat oven for 10 mins

- put desiccated coconut and sugar in a bowl, mix evenly

- add the melted butter and milk

- grease mini cup molds

- scoop a tablespoon of the mixture and put into the molds

- bake macaroons until color turns light brown

Mocha Cake

Today is my daughter Destine’s fifth birthday. She is the only girl that I know (so far) who doesn’t like pure chocolate flavored cake and ice cream. Whenever she gets the chance to choose her birthday cake, Mocha is always her first choice. Though she’s far from me, I still wanted to prepare some foods today and I opted to prepare a Mocha cake.

Mocha is a combination of coffee, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder. It is a flavor made from coffee mixed with chocolates. This version that I made, its ingredients, taste, and texture are almost similar to chocolate brownies. What makes them different is the presence of black coffee which is not in the latter. 

Mocha Cake prepared for my daughter Destine's 5th Birthday

I was actually imagining a fluffy light brown mocha cake with creamy butter icing but it seems it turned out to be a sweet chocolate brownies. Still, I enjoyed it.

Ingredients: 

Cake

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 2 cups white sugar

- 2/3 cup unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa powder

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp salt

- 1 tbsp instant coffee powder

- ½ cup cooking oil

- 2 raw eggs

- 1 cup fresh milk

- 1 cup hot water

Frosting

- 1 cup unsalted butter

- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar

- 1 cup white sugar

- ¾ cup unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa powder

- 1 tbsp instant coffee

- 4 tbsp fresh milk

- 1 ½ tsp vanilla

- 1 cup hot water

What you need:

- mixer (I don't have stand mixer so I used hand mixer)

- mixing bowl

- 1 9 inch round cake pans

Procedure:

- preheat oven to 350^o F for at least 5 minutes

- place a round shape wax paper enough to fill in the round cake pan, cut the edges

- grease the wax paper and the side of the cake pan with oil or butter

Preparing the Cake

- in a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt

- make a hole in the center and add eggs, oil, and fresh milk

- dissolve instant coffee powder in hot water and pour into the mixing bowl

- beat at medium speed until texture becomes smooth

- pour the batter into the round pan

- let stand for few minutes until bubbles disappear, you may tap to help the bubbles fade

- bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean (photo)

- let stand to cool for at least 10 minutes

Preparing the Frosting

- in a clean mixing bowl, cream the cubed butter and add the vanilla extract

- use a hand mixer and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed

- gradually add half of confectioner’s sugar, and 2 tbsp of milk, mix well

- add the remaining confectioner’s sugar, and 2 tbsp of milk, mix well

- gradually add half of cocoa powder, mix well

- dissolve coffee powder to hot water, and gradually add to the mixture while mixing

- add in the remaining cocoa powder, mix well until mixture becomes thick (photo)

- cool in the freezer for 5 minutes

Combining

- divide the cake into three parts: base, center, and top (thinner part should be the top) 

- remove the top portion and break it into small pieces making crumbs

- use as the cake stand a round tray (real cake tray is not available), cover with aluminum foil

- place first the center part of the cake on the round tray, evenly pour frosting on top

- using the center part of the cake, evenly pour frosting on top too

- place it on top of the base part by flipping, making its bottom as its top this time

- evenly pour frosting on top again, this time make sure frosting reaches side of the cake  

- distribute the crumbs at the edge of the cake, and at the edge of the tray

- top with M&M chocolate to design

Fruit Salad

Today is my Nanay’s 60^th birthday and I often hear her say buko or fruit salad will make her day, even without any other food on the table. So this one is prepared for her (though I’m far), for me to celebrate her birthday. I never tried preparing something like this so I asked her about the ingredients.

 My version of Fruit Salad :)

Ingredients:

 

- 420g fruit cocktail

- 234g pineapple chunks

- 160g nestle cream

- about 10tbsp condensed milk

- 42.5g raisins

- 125g cheddar cheese

- about 5 tbsp mayonnaise

- pinch of salt

Procedure:

- drain the fruit cocktail and pineapple chunks and place in a container

- add the nestle cream and mix well

- add the mayonnaise and salt and mix well

- cut the cheese in small cubes and combine together with the raisins

- add the condensed milk

- serve immediately or cool inside the refrigerator before serving :)

Classic Mamon

Mamon (or Filipino Sponge Cake) is a kind of soft bread which is sometimes classified as a dessert because of its sweeter taste. Its main ingredients contain egg and butter which make it creamier in taste than the other breads.

Local bakeries in the Philippines serve classic Mamon with only the basic ingredients included. However, there are variants with different fillings such as strawberry or orange extracts.

 Mamon

I was actually planning to prepare the variant which I normally buy from our neighboring bakery back home. Unfortunately this is what I made – but still tasty, creamy, and sweet.

Ingredients):

- 2/3 cup all purpose flour

- 2/3 cup granulated sugar

- 100 grams salted margarine

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 3 eggs

- ½ tsp vanilla extract

What you will need: 

 

- muffin cups

 

- muffin tray

Procedure:

- preheat oven for 5minutes

- put the margarine in a mixing bowl

- using an electric mixer, cream the margarine

- gradually add the sugar, mix well

- add vanilla extract

- add eggs one at a time, beat until texture becomes smooth

- using a strainer, sift the flour and baking powder to the butter and sugar mixture

- using a spatula, gradually mix them together

- prepare the muffin tray and put muffin cups over each space

- scoop a tablespoon of the mixture over each muffin cups, repeat until all spaces are occupied

- bake for 20minutes over 170^o C

- serve and enjoy

Macaroons using Flour

I’ve been thinking about how to use some condiments left over before going home next month. It will be wasted if I won’t do anything with those. I still have paper cups, brown sugar, and small amount of sweetened coconut flakes which I still don’t know what to do with, until I thought of combining them to make some macaroons – once more. I became interested in knowing if it is possible to make macaroons using a microwave oven (the only thing we have) so I read some forums explaining such. Very timely that a colleague’s wife was able to bake banana cake using a microwave so I thought of doing mine as well. Since I just had to consume what is in the kitchen without buying other ingredients (saving money, time, and energy as well), in this version, I made use of flour as an extender. Here is another macaroon recipe which fits microwave cooking.

Flour Version of Macaroon cooked in Microwave Oven

Ingredients:
- one egg
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/3 of 198gms of sweetened coconut flakes (left over)
- 1 tbsp butter

Directions:
- place the butter into a bowl and cream using a fork
- add all purpose flour, sugar and mix well
- add egg and mix well
- add the sweetened coconut flakes
- scoop 1 ½ teaspoon of the mixture and place in a paper cup (repeat until all the mixture is placed)
- get a microwavable plate and place the macaroons
- microwave in medium heat for 1 ½ minute
- cool down and enjoy!

Creamy Leche Flan

Leche Flan is a Filipino sweet made of egg yolks and milk. At first, it can be thought of as creamy caramel but Leche Flan is sweeter than creamy caramel. It has been my favorite dessert since elementary. My grandmother used to prepare it for special occasions like Fiestas. Since it’s my favorite, I took the risk of preparing the same since I became interested in cooking. Whenever I prepare Leche Flan, I do not normally add caramel because I do not remember my grandmother prepared Leche Flan with caramel. You may think that I am just an imitator and never an innovator in this case but honestly speaking, I consider caramel as a sweetener-extender. But my grandmother’s version is also delicious even without the caramel and I can consider mine delicious as well (bragging?! :) )

It’s been a challenge for me to prepare one with caramel because I’ve been tasting similar ones and it is more tempting to see and delicious to taste as well. I tried the first time but over cooked it and found my caramel and aluminum container so charcoal like after. Second time, I searched for online recipe and found out that water can be added. My ratio may not be appropriate with each and every ingredient making it watery like and never made caramel at all. Though I asked some caramel experts about how they do it, still I never tried and just contented with my version of Leche Flan without caramel, until today that I decided to try it once more.

First attempt of Leche Flan with Caramel

(texture may not be perfect yet)

Ingredients:
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 small evaporated milk
- 1 small condensed milk
- 1 cup of sugar

What you need:
- steamer
- aluminum container

Directions:
- make sure that containers are ready before you start with the mixture
- on a mixing bowl, separate egg yolks from white
- add condensed and evaporated milk
- mix well until fully blended
- on a pan, heat sugar on a low fire until caramelized
- remove from heat and pour directly to aluminum containers before it cools down
- using a strainer, pour in the egg yolk and milk mixture to the aluminum container with the caramel, making it ¾ high
- cover with plastic or aluminum foil
- steam for 20mins
- remove from heat and place on a plate upside down
- enjoy :)

Excited to have caramel, I added another cup to my one cup preference so it ended up too sweet. I'd better stick to one cup next time.

Buchi

Long time no update, been busy with other things that refrains me from cooking something new. Thanks to another Wednesday group food trip that I’m able to cook once more – this time, another ‘first time’ for me – Buchi!

Buchi is a rice flour cake made and molded into shape with a sweet filling usually red bean or monggo, and coated with sesame seed. This is then deep fried before serving. This is often categorized as dessert. Back home, one of the famous Chinese food chains called Chowking offers the best Buchi which is loved by a lot of people.

My first attempt was a complete waste. It did not turn out to be what I expected so I ended up with nothing :) First research tells that I can use rice flour as dough but it won’t attract the sesame seeds, glutinous rice flour is the best for this menu.

For the filing, two varieties can be used: red bean or monggo bean. I couldn’t find red bean from the nearby supermarkets so I opted in using monggo bean.
Sweet Buchi

Ingredients:
Dough
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup water
Filling
- 2 cups mashed monggo bean
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp butter
- Salt

Procedure:








Filling
- boil monggo bean for 20-30mins or until soft
- drain excess liquid and using a food processor, mash the beans
- measure 2 cups of mashed beans, combine with 1 cup of sugar, 2 tbsp of butter and a pinch of salt
- cook on low heat, stir continuously until the sugar are dissolved
- remove from heat and set aside

Dough
- combine glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water then mix well to form a dough
- get a small amount of dough and roll until a round shape is formed (repeat until all dough is consumed)
- press the center of the dough to form a bowl-shaped dough
- scoop the monggo filling then fill it in the center of the dough
- make sure that the filling is sealed inside the dough
- roll the filled dough in sesame seeds making sure that the seeds stick on the dough
- heat the pan and pour in the cooking oil
- deep fry the dough for 2-3 minutes or until the color of the sesame seed turns golden brown
- remove from the pan and drain excess oil
- enjoy

Makes 10-15 pcs of Buchi!

Brazo De Mercedes

Whenever I go to any Goldilocks branch, I’m always tempted with Brazo De Mercedes. I never tried buying one because I find it impractical – how can that very soft bread of less than a kilo in weight could be given a price that is almost similar with the other cake? Unfortunately, they do not sell in slice.

Now that I’m into cooking, I want to try some of most people’s favorite foods that we see in different food chains like this Brazo De Mercedes of Goldilocks.

My second attempt :) (first attempt was not successful)

Good thing that I depend on Panlasang Pinoy website and all their recipes are truly wonderful and easy to prepare. I tried Brazo at first using the ingredients that they gave but since I couldn’t find any wax paper that time, I used the alternative – parchment. It was hard to use especially if it was not greased as instructed. To make it short, my first trial wasn’t as perfect as I expected it to be. The only fulfilling is the taste but the presentation was not as good to see as that in the advertisements of Goldilocks :). But still, my friends and I consumed all :)

This time, I was able to see wax paper so it was easier for me to prepare. Though the picture looks so perfect, the preparation made me crazy once more. For how many times should I tell myself to follow the instruction from top to bottom so I get the things done in good results? Sometimes I do it in shortcut way. The thing is, if I do it, it wouldn’t give me the desired result.

Ingredients:
-10 raw eggs, separate yolks from whites
-½ teaspoon cream of tartar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
-14 ounces (1 can) condensed milk

Cooking Tips:

- if cream of tartar is not available in the market, you may use an alternative, in my case I used 1 ½ tsp of baking powder instead as I could not find any cream of tartar

You will need:

-2 baking trays with wax papers
-Stand mixer

-Spatula
Procedure:

Preparing the Meringue
- Combine egg whites and cream of tartar then beat using an electric stand mixer until soft peaks form (or meringue)
- Make the meringue by gradually adding the granulated sugar while mixing the ingredients. Continue mixing until the texture is semi-firm. This will take for about 10mins of continuous stirring
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place wax paper on top of a rectangular baking pan and grease the surface
- Place the meringue on top of the greased wax paper then spread evenly using a spatula
- Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until the color of the top part turns light to medium brown

Cooking the Filling
- Meanwhile, make the filling by combining the egg yolks and condensed milk in a small cooking pot
- Add the vanilla extract to the mixture
- Apply low to medium heat and cook the mixture while continuously stirring until the texture becomes thick
- Turn off the heat and set aside.

Combining the Meringue and the Filling
- Remove the meringue from the oven and cool down for a few minutes until it sags
- Sprinkle the confectioners’ sugar on top of the meringue
- Place wax paper on the top part of the meringue followed by a similar sized baking tray
- Flip the meringue
- Remove the baking tray and the wax paper (you should now see the opposite side of the baked meringue)
- Spread the filling over the meringue.
- Roll the meringue side to side starting at the longest side (the layer with filling must be inward)
- Share and enjoy!
Credits: PanlasangPinoy, Google Images for the You will need photos