Vanity is...

...sometimes fun!

This is the vain side of me.. I love :

1) Faberge egg

2) Art Nouveau

3) Gold & Silver

4) Diamonds

5) Shoes

6) Big Curls

7) Pedicures, manicures, & massages..

8) .. of course.. my favorite : a slice of blueberrycheesecake & choco-mint iced coffee! Yummy!

Wedding Order for September!

This will be my first big wedding order for this year!

I am quite excited to to do this wedding & especially nervous because this is super serious stuff wedding order!

She wanted a 2-tier all white wedding cake topped with fresh flowers, & 50 mini wedding cakes (a replica of the big cale).

I am planning on making these on Sunday as practice because my bf's nephew will be christened as a Christian on that day.

I found a perfect mini-wedding cake from Pinkcakebox. Their cakes are totally cool, I keep on staring on them everytime I check their site.

You can click on this link to get to Pinkcakebox''s mini cakes : http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/bridesmaids-mini-cakes-2008-11-13.htm

Beautiful huh? :) I don't think I'm gonna be as good as them, but it's worth a try!

Indian Songs! Finally!

So, finally, I found what site to listen to Hindi/Indian songs from movies!

:) Especially, Biwi No. 1!

Click on the links numbered below :

1) www.smashits.com

2) Biwi No. 1

3) Biwi No. 1 Video

Baby Project : A Warm Welcome!

My partner's sister-in-law just bore his son 6 days ago! Here is our house warming gift for the baby! A 4-tier baby diaper cake!

And here is our cute little bun, fresh out of the oven!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day To All!!!

Project : Perfect Fondant Cake

Before the end of April ended, I already informed everyone that I will not be accepting orders for the month of May.

I wanted to rest for awhile from all the baking and decorating, especially since my shift at work has been changed back to a graveyard schedule. This will give me time to re-adjust to this schedule again before accepting any orders.

And the major reason why I wanted to stop taking orders for this month is because of the cakes I recently baked. I was so bummed because the cakes rises in the oven and then after I take it out, the middle part just fell. Some of them really falls big time, but the others slightly fell in the middle. And it worried me more because the edges of the cake seems to be dry.

And then I tried to remedy this by brushing the dry edges with the filling I put between layers. I covered the whole cake with more buttercream icing than usual, but I made sure that it is not too thick or too much.

So the cake, if it's not eaten right away, is moist and tastes really good. Believe me, I tried the cake. Remember the Batman cake I made? That's what happened with it & the reason why I had to bake a few more cakes.

Before, (I'm using the same recipe, BTW), the cake just grows and it won't fall in the middle part, but everyone would say that it is delicious but dry.

Now I made a cake before the Batman cake. It was for a friend's birthday. She told me that the cake was moist & it wasn't dry anymore. With this cake, I put it in the oven at a low heat and left it there for about 2-3 hours. My partner turned the oven off and when I checked the cake, voila! The middle part didn't fell nor did it rise. It was perfect. It was an evenly perfect round cake. I didn't have to carve it or anything. I just went ahead and decorated the whole cake. Take note, I was using the same recipe.

I also made another birthday cake for my godson. My partner & I thought the cupcakes we made were a failure so we had to make another batch using a different recipe. The next day, I ate one of the cupcakes we thought failed, and it was soft, moist, and very tasty.

I am now confused. Am I improving or am I doing something wrong?

So, I am now on a mission to try the same recipe again. I will make sure that I will get the result that I wanted. And since, I already know now how to put on the fondant, I will now work on how to make the sides of the fondant smooth without making it skirt-like. Just a smooth looking fondant without any tears or cracks.

Wish me luck, guys!!!

"A good person is never alone. One who sows kindness reaps friendship; One who plants thoughtfulness reaps love."

What's For Dinner?

Been thinking of another simple, yet delicious dish for dinner. I listed 3 choices : 1) Chopsuey; (2) Bulalo; (3) Estofado.

However, when I went to our little supermarket, they had so little to offer for my first 2 choices. So I ended up choosing the Estofado dish. I decided to use chicken because we didn't have any pork meat in fridge. (I thought we still had it. Turns out I was wrong. he-he!)

Chicken Estofado

Ingredients:

1/2 chicken meat (or pork meat)
2 tbsp of brown sugar
2-3 pieces of potatoes, cut in big chunks
2 pieces carrots, cut in big chunks
5 cloves of garlic (if you want), minced
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato sauce
*saba banana, quartered & fried
1/2 cup water
cooking oil (you can use olive oil, vegetable oil, anything that suits you
soy sauce
vinegar
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed in water
1 bay leaf (optional)

Procedure :

1) Marinate chicken in vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, onions, and garlic for an hour. You can marinate the meat for 30mins if you don't want to wait that long.

2) Heat oil in a pan or skillet. Remove pork from marinade and set the marinade sauce aside (to be used later). Fry chicken until lightly brown. Pour excess oil in a container, leaving at least 2-3 oil in the pan.

3) Pour the remaining marinade sauce & 1/2 cup of water over the chicken. Simmer for 15-20mins or until meat or chicken is tender. (Chicken cooks easily)

4) Add tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, & bananas. Cook until vegetables are tender, but still crunchy when you eat one.

5) Pour in cornstarch with water & bay leaf (makes your dish smell better & yummy!). Mix for 2mins.

Serve while still hot. Eaten better with rice.


*saba bananas - we call this cooking bananas because it is firm enough to mix in different dishes like Estofado.

(photo taken from Market Manila blog)

Carousel cake by sugardva

carousel cake, originally uploaded by sugrdva.

This is absolutely one of my dream cakes to make!

I just discovered sugardva's works and they are all great! And I envy her so much, I kept on thinking about her artwork of cakes while in the office.

She is as talented as the people in Rosebud. I hope to make cakes as great & as grand as theirs.

Good luck to me! Hallelujah!

Beef Caldereta - a great food to eat lunch!

Have you ever heard of the food Caldereta? This is a Spanish dish that was learned by the Filipinos. As you all might know, Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards many years back. Thus, we have inherited some words, names, & genes from them. And so were the food.

Caldereta is just one of the food we have inherited from Spain. As far as I can remember, they use goat meat for this recipe, but eventually, any other meat (except for fish) may be used for this dish.

At 9am in the morning, I woke up & wanted to cook something homemade. Everything should be from scratch. I cannot help but feel nostalgic about this dish. My grandfather has the best caldereta I have ever tasted! I had to retrace in my mind what I have learned from his caldereta. My lola (grandmother) was his partner when cooking delicious dishes on occasions. I felt like crying when I was already putting the crackers in the dish to make it a bit a sticky. My lolo (grandfather) used to say that he has the best caldereta in town, & I couldn't agree more. I have tasted so many delicious calderetas, but his always wins. I have never ever tasted anything like his own caldereta from anyone else.

I will share with you the recipe I have come up with. It's not my grandfather's recipe, but it tasted just like it! Delicious! Best when served with cooked rice.

Ingredients :

1/2 kilo beef (or any meat that is available, except fish)
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 onion, sliced
2 red bell peppers, *julienned (you can also use green or yellow bellpepper if you like)
1 garlic
3 potatoes, cut into big chunks
2 carrots, cut into big chunks
1 can of pineappple (chunks, tidbits, any)
green peas (you can use fresh or canned)
1 can of tomato sauce
Skyflakes (or any crackers), crushed (like bread crumbs)
grated cheese
salt
Ajinomoto or MSG or powdered black pepper

Procedure :
Boil the beef, a dash of salt & Ajimoto (or MSG) or powdered black pepper & vinegar, until tender. If you can poke or stick a fork easily into the beef, it is tender. You may put in more water if the beef isn't tender yet.

Once beef is tender, pour the pineapple's juice and 1 more cup of water. Let it simmer for 10mins. After 10mins, just leave the beef heated while you saute your garlic in another pan (big enough to cook the dish in). When almost brown, transfer the beef (only) in the pan. Stir occasionally. Put in the potatoes & carrots in the beef's stock, just to soften it a bit. Add the tomato sauce in the beef. Allow to simmer for 10mins. Transfer beef stock, potatoes, carrots, pineappple, & green peas on the beef. If vegetables are already soft when you stick a fork in, add crushed crackers & cheese. Mix. You can season to taste.

Enjoy your meal!!!


*Julienne is a food preparation in which state a food item is cut into long thin strips. (Wikipedia definition)

Fondant Success

After the wedding cake, my mind keeps on going back to fondant. It looks so easy when you watch someone make it and cover the cake with it, but it's never easy when you're the one making it. I had a terrible experience with fondant the 2nd time I made it so I wanted to try it again.

I tested it on the cake my office mate ordered from me. There was no particular design because she only ordered for her kids to snack on. So it was an opportunity I wanted to take advantage of. Of course, I bought a bigger & better rolling pin for better results. he-he! I was really glad it turned out right. I call it my Fondant Success. =)

Just a simple design on the cake.

Kherby's Birthday!

This has been a very delayed post, but I am not going to pass this up. It was Kherby's 4th birthday & I made the cake for his special day. He wanted a Batman cake & I did my best to make it look as good as everyone wanted it to be.

I was so worried & nervous because the cakes I was baking were not turning out right the way I used to do it. This problem started a week before I did the wedding cake. Remember the bad times I blogged about the wedding cake? It was exactly the same thing with Kherby's birthday cake. The cake had a bread-like texture and the edges were drying out. Too dry. And the middle keeps on slumping down. I really don't know what I was doing wrong because I am following the exact same recipe and used the same ingredients for my chocolate cake.

After several tries, I was able to bake a good cake (but not good enough for me, though) and decorated it with black and blue. Juby, his yaya (nanny) helped by making all those fondant circles to be put around the cake. All day, I was worried that everyone will not find the cake tasty once they eat it.

At the end of the day, the cake was cut for the birthday boy and everyone else. To my surprise, the cake was not dry. I believe it was because of the filling I put on the cake & the fact that it was not stored in the fridge made it a moist chocolate cake. Everyone said that the cake tasted really good. I was definitely surprised & relieved that it worked out fine.

Anyway, check out the cake I made below. Happy looking!

To Em's Surprise!

When I checked on my calendar, I have a reminder there that it's Ate (big sister) Em's Birthday. That was days before May 1. I already told myself that I will make her a birthday cake. Ate Em is my manicurista. A manicurista in Filipino is someone who does your nails. All the nail cleaning, putting on colors on your nails to make it beautiful to look at. That stuff. If you have a trusted manicurista, you don't have to go to beauty parlors anymore. You just ask them to come to your house and do your nails.

So anyway, I wanted to make a cake that looks like a nail polish. Unfortunately, it didn't look like one. They can never guess what the cake was when I asked them what it looked like. I should have made the top round cake bigger. She loved chocolate so the cake was Chocolate Devil's Food Cake with minty buttercream filling & dark chocolate buttercream frosting. It was just a simple cake.

On her birthday, I greet her through text and asked her to come by my house to do my nails at 4pm. So she did. I gave her the cake & the surprise look on her face was enough to make me happy. She was brought to tears just for a few seconds before she came to her senses and wiped her tears away. I was so happy. I didn't think I could make someone that happy ever again in my whole life.

Thank God for everything! =)

First Wedding Cake

Last week, I had my first try on a wedding cake. The experience was very frustrating, tiring, & pressuring moment of my life that it brought me to tears, but it turned out great in the end.

Actually, it was my 2nd try to make rolled fondant from scratch. I had to make a 4-tier wedding cake + 2 more small cakes to put the stairs on for support. I didn't sleep at all until the next day for the wedding day. It's a good thing that the reception was near because it was easy for me to deliver the wedding cake. My partner was very patient when I had bad moments while making the cake. We had about 4, 5 or 6 cakes that weren't good enough so we gave it to our neighbors, who in turn, loved the free stuff. He-he! I had some help from my partner's younger brother & wife. (Thanks a lot!)

The cake wasn't at all perfect but I gotta admit, it was beautiful! There were bumps on the cake but probably because I had too much icing on the cake before I put on the fondant, or the fondant was not too thick when I put it on the cake, or maybe both. Whatevz. (Yeah, I'll be more careful next time!) After a few hours, the bumps weren't so noticeable anymore. There were little tearing on the fondant, too. It's a good thing that butterflies were the accents of the cake so it was easy to cover them with it. I didn't get to see how the cake was "sabotaged" because I slept for the rest of the day after we assembled the cake, but everyone kept on telling me that there were a lot of them who took second helpings, even bigger portions of the cake.

More cake details here.

Who Am I by Casting Crowns

I was supposed to blog something about the cake I made, but I bumped into one of my friend's blogs and found her post about the song.

I clicked on the link, and I listened to the song which touched me very much and made me teary-eyed again. I still remember my personal experience with God's love and I believe this song fully explains how grateful I am to Jesus up until today.

Just click on this link here site. To downloand, click here.

Check on the video below!

Graduation Cake on Flickr!

cake, originally uploaded by iMaria.

I found the most adorable & beautiful cake here on Flickr while looking through graduation cakes for ideas..

The chocolate is cleanly done as a covering for the cake.. It looks smooth and the design is simple yet I cannot help but stare at it.. Not to mention that it look so good to eat!

What a lucky graduating student! =)

YUM, yum!!!

A Little Angel's Cake

This cake was ordered by our neighbor who was a nanny to a couple's youngest daughter, Trixie. She died last year because of a truck accident.

The reason why she ordered the cake because she dreamed of Trixie. Trixie asked her if she will get a cake on her birthday, so the next morning, her nanny went to me and told me about the dream. My partner and I both knew the little girl and the nanny was my partner's aunt. We made the cake extra special. Trixie was known to love pink and red.

Through this cake, I discovered how a real buttercream should taste. I really didn't like the taste of buttercream. Sure I read a lot of information about buttercream icing, but not until now I have come to know how good it tasted if I add a little more of the butter. And, the red icing? It was perfect! After my disaster with the Spiderman cake's red icing, I searched through forums in Cakecentral. I couldn't find anything about it so I posted a forum.

In the forum, I told them about Americolor's Red Red coloring. I included in the forum that I was making buttercream and I wanted to know how much of the Americolor Red Red should I put in the icing. You can read the forum here : http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-622772.html

The cake for Trixie looked fine & tasted real good! I will have to be consistent on my icing though. The one I made for her birthday cake is so much good! =)

Here are the pictures of the cake! Hope you'll enjoy!


More at : inspiredandindulge.multiply.com

The Spiderman Cake

Front View

Top View

So a friend of mine ordered a cake with a superhero theme. I asked her what superhero does his nephew wants. She gave me 3 choices : Superman, Batman, & Spiderman. So I already decided to make a Batman theme because it was easier. You know, just an all black or yellow cake with batman on top and chocolate skyline. Well, you guess it right, I didn't get to make it because it turns out that his nephew's favorite superhero is Spiderman. I was a little panick-y because I didn't know how am I suppose to make a Spiderman theme. I looked up some Spiderman-themed cakes and found good pictures to get an idea on how to design the cake.

Oh, yeah, it didn't turn out as easy as I had hoped it would be. I bought a Spiderman topper so I don't have to fuss on fondant/gumpaste, especially since I am not good with making toppers out of scratch. In fact, I don't know how to start making one.

Now making the red icing was quite difficult. I melted 1/4 grams of chocolate with butter. I mixed it with shortening already colored in pink. What happened next was a disaster! The icing didn't turn out smooth as I expected but it was the red color that I wanted. It was so grainy that I was ready to cry. So I made another batch with more shortening, mixed the one I had already made, gradually and it turned out fine & smooth. But, it wasn't that red anymore. It was light red almost pink. Since, I didn't have much choice, I decided right away to use it on the cake. My partner, Zybone, made spiderwebs out of chocolate and it turned out right though.

Everything just fell into place and now I have these pictures to show you what we created. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Tagged ako ni Jaydee!

Yan si Jaydee, bestfriend ko since high school!
I've been tagged! By Jaydee! (Nakup! kaw talaga Jaydee ka o!)

1. Where is your cellphone – in front of me!
2. Your hair - Long hair ako! hahaha..
3. Your father – nasa Davao po!
4. Your favorite thing - oven ko?! hehhehee
5. Your dream last night – wla.. blank lang talaga.. in short, tulog na tulog!
6. Your favorite drink - Sting (yung red!)
7. Your dream goal – Successful sa cake biz ko! Financially tsaka sana famous na din ok.. lubos lubosin nalang natin ...
8. The room you is -nasa left side ng bahay? (not sure hehehee)
9. Your fear - snakes!
10. Where do you want to be in 6 years – andito pa rin sa Pinas pero successful na nga!
11. Muffins – wla.. akong alam..
12. One of your wish list items – a set of big piping tips!
13. Where you grew up – Davao City, Davao City
14. The last thing you did – taking out my cake from the oven...
15. What are you wearing - white duster po.. (lola na nga ako.. huhuhuhu!)
16. Your TV - maliit lang.. surplus! hehehee
17. Your pets- i hate pets po.
18. Your computer- wala akong PC pero ako may ari ng internet connection (whahahaha!)
19. Your life – Quiet lang.. in short, boring.. pero medyo complicated..
20. Your mood - Neutral
21. Missing someone – oo, si Aicah..
22. Your car – nasa isipan lang..
23. Favorite store – Wilton (online!)
24. Your summer – wla pang plano as of now..
25. Your favorite color - purple & pink
26. When was the last time you laughed – kanina lang.. at the office..
27. When was the last time you cried – last month..
28. Last person who emailed you – Charish
29. Your favorite food - blueberrycheese cake
30. A place you would rather be right now – Bantayan beach or sa moalboal resort

I would like to pass this tag to 5 of my favorite bloggers, namely:
naku! hindi ko alam? hahaa.. ai oo nga!
1) si CHAI!!!!
2) Not counted ka Jade?!
wla na talaga.. kung sino makakahanap ng blog na ito, swerte ka sa isang buong araw (at gabi! *wink*)

Nhed's Birthday

An officemate ordered a birthday cake for her daughter, Nhed, and some cupcakes. These are buttercake with food colorings in it as requested by my client. She loved it! It's my 1st to make a castle cake so I don't think it's any good. But I am hoping that her daughter will enjoy it today!

Birthdays! Birthdays!

Well, I had a busy week and I love every minute of it!

As time passes, I have been improving little by little on my decorating skills. Ok, so I am not a professional yet, but who cares? I can be one, I just need more practice and more orders to practice better! ha-ha!

Anyways, here are the cakes I have made and I hope you like it! Enjoy!

My Valentine's Day!

I've been delayed posting this blog! This happened last Valentine's day and I was so happy to earn something out of my baking & decorating!

I brought 5 bags of sweet goodies (1 bag not pictured) & brought them to our office. . All bags were big & heavy containing orders and some more extras sold at the office.

I was hesitant to bring these all to the office because it'll be my very first to bring out my products. I am a little bit insecure of my work, not to mention, I have other big competitions there. They sell bouquets of flowers & bears all professionally arrange. These guys are already experienced in the field. Besides, I also have Betty's to worry about. What if people would rather buy from these stores? They are more known & already established. I am still trying to penetrate the market. The office is the best place I could advertise my skill as baker & cake decorator.

I was praying to God that people will buy my stuff. And thanks to Him, everything went well & smooth. My individual cupcakes sold out fast & some were evern asking for more of my 8 cuppies in a box. I am happy that they bought the other stuff I offered them as an alternative. I really thank God for this opportunity. I answered some queries, too. Some emailed me if I also make cakes for other special events. I said yes to them & they would like to order from me on other special events or occassions. Thank God!

I am happy to for I have gotten a return from the investment I made with my partner, Mr. Zybone Nacilla, on the products. He makes cakes, too. His specialty are chocolate cupcakes, leche flan, & cookies.

I wasn't able to take pictures of the products we all made because we didn't have much time especially when I got sick 2 days for the big day. All turned out well & again, thank you to those who patronized our products!

A Great Opportunity : A Challenge to Prove My Skill

Ok, so i had this crazy idea last Friday (Jan 16, 2009). I thought of making about 3 dozen cupcakes ala Valentine's Day look. This was like an introduction and at the same time, advertisement so I get to book orders from my officemates before Valentine's Day. And of course, another excuse for me to bake in my little kitchen and give it to my friends who are forever asking for a (another) sample of my works.

So, last December, I received this great recipe book from a friend. It was a totally great book because there are recipes on how to make fondant icing, chocolate ganache, buttercream icing, and the best chocolate cake (so far) I have made. I was (and still am) totally grateful to Chai for it!

Anyway, I brought them at the office & with God's blessing, I was able to get a few orders. 2 box of cupcakes from TL Joan Cavan, 2 boxes from Madam Arlyn, 5 boxes from Jen, 1 valentine's cake & leche flan (custard) from Dessa. Here are the cupcakes that I made that day...

Php 165.00 / box (8 cuppies)

But the best part is yet to come. I gave one to my TL and he suggested to give one to Ms. Joanne Rivera, our Account Manager. Hmm.. not a bad idea, BUT I went totally shy and said so. So my TL (Ritchie) and Dessa escorted me to Ms. Grace's workstation (near Ms. Rivera's station) strategically first and then offered one to Ms. Rivera after Ms. Grace took one and ate it. Ms. Rivera suddenly said she's going to order. (OMG!) She ordered 40 cupcakes! It was for Mr. Jeremy Lim's birthday, I believe one of the oldest and most respected Account Managers in the office, this coming Tuesday night. Came Monday, I already baked & decorated the cupcakes in advance. The next day my previous TL, Ms. Elle Genosolango, ordered a cake. At first, she wanted a chocolate cake with a heart-shaped icing on top. Later, she called me and asked me to make the biggest possible cake I could make! Of course, I was excited! I almost choked and for a second, forgot to give her an answer . A big cake for Mr. Lim! I agreed immediately. She wanted all chocolate, with blue icing, and a MAC icon on top of the cake. It took me the whole day to finish it. I was only able to sleep for 2 hours and then got ready to go to the office and deliver them. The real suspense came. I was waiting.

Later, an hour before my shift ended, Mr. Jeremy Lim approached me and thanked me for the cake. Oh, I almost forgot that I wrote him a letter thanking him for hiring me last 2006. He was the last interviewer at that time (after the nth interview for the week) and asked me about networking. He told me that he remembered that interview with me. Oh, joy! I was really thanking God for everything. *whew!* What a day.

To God be the glory and honor for the success of this day. I am sure it wouldn't be possible without Him. So I thank you, Lord for being always kind to me. You are always there, faithful, and true. =)

Oh, here are the sweets, guys! Hope you like 'em!

P.S. Thanks Ms. Elle & Ms. Rivera for the orders! You really gave me the opportunity and the challenge to make this a very good cake. I was able to prove myself as a cake decorator and baker. Hope to get more orders like these!

I would also like to thank Zybone because he assisted me in everything. He made the MAC MMFondant icon, the box to put the cakes in. Of course, washing the equipments and cleaning up my kitchen. *grin*

A New Year to Make History Better

I will be a little busy in the next 3 months (assuming there are uncontrolled events that's gonna happen) and I am hoping the God will allow my plans with an overflowing blessing. I will be enrolling myself in a few classes again to enhance my skill as a decorator. And also, since I've been looking forever for a class where I can learn about chocolates, I have to grab this chance.

I am planning to quit my job in the next 2 or 3 years so I could put all my time in this cake business. I have to start sometime anyway...

So, anyway, here's my schedule :

January 29 - Basic Chocolate Artistry

February 2 to 6 - Basic Cake Decorating (this will include 4 icing recipes, 12 cake designs & we will be required to dercoate a birthday and a 2-tier wedding cake.

March 4 - Cookies

March 11 - Art of Color Flow (for cookies, cupcakes, cake, etc.)

And to all Cebuanos, after my chocolate and deco classes, you can order from me for VALENTINES DAY! *happy grin*