Following is my New Year’s wish/message as posted on my Facebook wall, which I now say to you:

For you and me, I claim and already am thankful for the rich and bountiful harvest of blessings 2012 will bring. Miracles, big and small, will come at us in more ways than one, in more ways we know possible. Be ready to receive, to embrace, to be pleasantly surprised and to share. Sit back, relax and enjoy what promises to be one heck of an amazing ride. Thank you, God! Happy and Richly Blessed 2012 to us all! Weeee!

There’s no other and no better way to start the year than with an overly generous amount of positivity and good vibes.  Any sign of bad vibes from anyone and I automatically just tune out!  You should perhaps do the same, while we wait for someone  to invent a barcode scanner type of gadget that zaps the bad vibes out of everyone. That’ll be the day!

Happy cooking! Happy eating! Cheers and mabuhay!

Hubby celebrated his birthday on Thanksgiving week. He didn’t want a fondant birthday cake, bless his heart. He wanted either a cheesecake or tiramisu. I chose to make him a cheesecake. After all, almost always, we find ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory after celebratory dinners. I thought it would be nice to save ourselves some serious bucks. Ha! The big question was, what kind of cheesecake to make? I had a few options, Blueberry, Cappuccino and Fudge Truffle. I chose Fudge Truffle, that way, hubby gets his cheesecake and I get my chocolate fix. Win! Win! *wink*

I turned to my tried and tested Hershey’s recipe book for the recipe. For the chocolate cookie crust, I used Oreo cookies instead of the vanilla wafer cookies mixed with cocoa called for in the recipe book. It’s right to say then, that the cheesecake had an Oreo cookie crust.

INGREDIENTS:

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST (recipe follows)

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Note: By all means, please use your chocolate chips brand of choice!)
3  packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare Oreo Cookie Crumb Crust; set aside. Heat oven to 300°F.

2. Place chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50%) for 1-1/2 minutes; stir. If necessary, microwave at medium an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred.

3. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add melted chips, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Pour into prepared crust.

4. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until center is still a little bit jiggly. Remove from oven to wire rack. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Cool completely; remove side of pan. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Garnish as desired.

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST: Stir together 1-1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs (about 2/3 of a packaged tray of Oreos), 1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa and 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

You can find some very helpful tips, techniques and troubleshooting guide on the Hershey’s website.

We loved this cheesecake, specially my little girl! This is quite dense so go easy on the portions! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I haven’t made a cheesecake in a very long time. I’ve forgotten how simple (yet tricky!) it is to make. I am glad this one turned out to be a huge success. Yay!

Back to reality tomorrow. I hope y’all  had a wonderful Thanksgiving break as did we. I hope you’re all back safe and sound where you should be. :) Nobody wants to be bothered with rv repairs right smack in the middle of a vacation or a drive home (or to anywhere!).

Cheers, y’all and have a great week ahead!

My daughter feels “cake envy” almost over each and every one of the birthday cakes for girls that I’ve created since her last birthday.  She thinks they’re better than the birthday cakes I made for her. Well, I know where she’s coming from. I had to explain that over time, I get better and better at what I do. Still, I feel guilty…always.  So I promised her an awesome birthday cake, one that is supposed to be my best cake yet. How’s that for a tall order?

For my girl’s 7th birthday birthday cake, I attempted to make my first topsy turvy cake, which also happened to be my first 3-tier cake…

I can’t even begin to tell you how hard I worked on this cake.  It isn’t perfect but I love love how everything came together!  The cake had a dance theme with a little sprinkling of glitz and glam. How fun and exciting is that?!

The top and bottom tiers were mocha chiffon, while the middle tier was chocolate.  My daughter did wish that it was the other way around – chocolate for the top and bottom tiers and mocha for the middle tier. But more people like the mocha chiffon! She could have had the middle tier all to herself! Hee hee. Oh well.

To add a little more of that dance vibe and feel, I had two blinking lights pointed at the cake.

I’m happy I was able to pull this one off. I got through the day with only an hour of sleep. I wouldn’t mind (ever!) challenging myself again for my daughter’s next birthday cake. :)

Cheers, y’all! Mabuhay!

Here are the one’s I’ve taken advantage of so far…(Photos were taken with an IPhone, mostly using the Instagram application).

1) Free dessert at Boston Market – I had a choice of chocolate cake, brownie or cookie. I chose chocolate cake. Sorry, no photo of that one! :D Love rotisserie chicken? sign up for the Boston Market VIP Club. You’ll also receive a $3-off coupon after you sign-up.

2) Free 1/3lb Burger at Fuddruckers – What meat-lover says no to a good burger? Not me! For the second consecutive year, I claimed my free juicy burger at Fuddruckers.  If you want a free burger on your birthday, join the Fudds E-club.

3) $5 off ANY purchase at Jason’s Deli – I could have easily gotten something that would have come out free or close to free after the $5 off discount, but I always choose the all-you-can-eat salad bar whenever we go to Jason’s Deli.  That’s $7.29, a good deal at $2.29. ;)

If you’re a Jason’s Deli fan, you can sign up for their email list HERE and get a $5-off certificate in time for your birthday.

4. Free Birthday Bowl at Genghis Grill – You build your own bowl at Genghis Grill. The build-your-own-bowl costs $8.99 for lunch and $9.99 for dinner. For an additional $2, you get a bottom-less bowl (that’s figuratively speaking, of course!).

If you’re a fan of Mongolian stir-fry, join Genghis Grill’s Khan Klub and receive a birthday bowl!

This weekend, we’ll try – try being the operative word – to take advantage of the other presents I have yet to claim. :D  Now, where can I sign-up for birthday diet pills? Hmmm…

Cheers y’all!  Mabuhay!

Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughter’s school was from May 2 to May 6.  On May 6th, the class celebrated their super awesome rockin’ teacher with a simple brownie party and a gift card bonanza of sorts. My little munchkin’s teacher very well deserved it.  We chose brownies over cupcakes because brownies happen to be one of the teacher’s favorite snacks.

For the first time in a very long time, DH helped a great deal with the brownie making. And by DH I don’t mean “dear hubby”.  I was referring to Duncan Hines, who else?  I baked 2 batches of brownies – fudge and milk chocolate.  So I used a brownie mix.  I did, however, make the perfectly chocolate chocolate frosting from scratch. Ha!

The darker brownies are the fudge ones, while the lighter colored ones are milk chocolate.

These brownies are huge at approximately 2.5in x 2.5in each. Instead of using (2) 9in x 13in pans, I used (2) 10in square pans, each of which yielded 16  ginormous pieces.  The kids couldn’t be happier with their larger than normal brownie snacks.

In making the brownies, I deviated just the tiny bit from the ingredients listed on the box. I used soy milk instead of water and melted butter instead of oil.  For  fudgier brownies, I used only 2 eggs instead of 3 (which will make for cake-like brownies).

I’ve almost forgotten just how convenient and easy it is to use boxed mixes.  I don’t think the kids cared at all that the brownies they were served weren’t made from scratch. Haha!  So yes, it’s ok to use boxed mixes.  At least that’s the thought that helped me sleep that night. Kidding! :D

You can find the recipe for the Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting HERE.

Have a great weekend, y’all!  Cheers and mabuhay!

I did not do a very elaborate cake design, as you can see.  You don’t have to tell me it’s a little too simple.  The cake is screaming for a rainbow.

The pony, Twilight Sparkle, and her tail were cut out of gum paste.  I didn’t stick them on the cake until the following morning (we arrived late Friday night), when the recipient was up and about and ready to be surprised.  Hee hee.

Alianna seemed to really like her cake.  She didn’t even look for a rainbow. :)  She and my daughter couldn’t stop touching the pony. Ah, little girls and ponies. Hee hee. :)

Incidentally, Alianna celebrates her birthday next week.  Happy Birthday, Sweetie!  Cheers! *muah*

PS:  Did you notice that this is my 3rd consecutive cake entry? :D  I may be making a lot of cakes but I haven’t really been eating a lot of ‘em.  Having said that, there’s no need to take apidexin and worry about apidexin side effects. I’m just saying. ;)

My daughter celebrated birthday number 6 two weeks ago with an intimate pajama party here at home.  I shall give you more details and ideas from the party on a separate entry.  For now, let me tell you about the cake I made for my daughter.

I’m actually a little embarrassed to show you the cake photos and you’ll see why in a moment.  But what the heck, the birthday girl loved it and I must say that so did I.

So what’s wrong with the cake?  I made the figure a tad too sunburnt.  Hee hee. :)  The little girl didn’t seem to mind.  I don’t even think she noticed.  Well, I only noticed how dark the figure was when the cake’s all done.  And with dishes to cook and a house to get ready for the arrival of guests, I just didn’t have the time to sculpt another one. :P

I had a blast putting this cake together.  I actually enjoy making miniature elements from real life.  It’s a lot of fun, believe you me!   I’m very relieved, not to mention very thankful to the cake gods that save for the color of the figurine, I didn’t encounter any problems while making this cake.  Everything ran ever so smoothly.  In fact, I was done by 12:30pm.  Party time was 6pm. ;)  This cake, by the way, is Mocha Chiffon Marble Cake with Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream.

The use of the color pink was very minimal because my daughter claims her favorite color at the moment is blue.  I don’t really believe that to be true, but I played along anyway.  The girl is wearing blue pajamas with pink polka dots.  To her right is a cup of cocoa, a bowl of popcorn and a slice of cake. ;)  I wasn’t sure if I did the popcorn justice.  So while I was making it, I called the celebrant and asked her what I was making.  She immediately said popcorn.  That’s all the assurance I needed to proceed. :)

I’m not what you might call a bag hag, but I seem to like making purses out of fondant.  I made one for this cake and a pair of bunny slippers, too! :)

There are lines on the quilt the figure is lying on.  It’s just too bad they’re not visible in the picture.  This ensemble won’t be complete without pillows.  I made 2. :)  Oh, and let’s not forget the eyemask!

This is the first fondant cake I ever made for a member of my family and is easily my favorite.  Next year, when Abby turns 7, I hope to make a bigger and better cake for her. :)

She had several small birthday parties with different sets of friends and we had so much fun in every single one of them.  The birthday girl was also happy to have her birthday wish granted. Too bad we were not able to get our hands on cyberpowerpc coupons before we bought the present. Hee hee.

I hope your week was off to a good start! Cheers!

I’ve baked and decorated 3 cakes since my last entry.  This week, I will do 1 or 2 more cakes and a couple of cupcakes.  My stand mixer will definitely get a good workout this week, that’s for sure! ;)

Last July 24th, a good friend of mine, her son and I had a triple birthday celebration.  It was our 2nd Annual Pink Party.   I made the birthday cakes for mother and son.  My cake, on the other hand, was made by my cake decorating guru of a friend.  For this entry, the spotlight’s on the Yogi Boston Cream Cake I made for my yoga-junkie friend. :D  Presenting, Camille’s Yogi cake…

Camille is into yoga, hence, the Yogi cake.  She’s also kinda watching her sugar, so I searched for a low-sugar cake recipe.  I found two recipes that I wanted to try and when presented with the cake options, Camille chose the Boston Cream Cake.

This was my first attempt at molding people out of fondant. It turned out to be a lot of fun! I love how the yogi came out..and the bag…and the roll of towel. :)

You can barely see the texture on the yoga mat, if at all.  But believe me when I say that it is a textured mat. :)

The cake turned out nicely, getting the thumbs up of the birthday celebrant and our friends.  Hubby, however, thought the cake was a little dense. Hmp!  Well, he was right.  The cake was a little pound cake-ish. :)  The custard filling and the chocolate glaze were oh-so good, if I may say so myself. ;)  You can find the recipe here.

After I molded my first person cake-topper out of fondant, there was no stopping me from making cake toppers out of fondant for my next cakes. You’ll see them in upcoming posts.  Hopefully, it will not take me another full month to update. :P

Cheers y’all!

Decorations for this second cake were slices of fresh strawberries and mini marshmallows…

I couldn’t be happier that I always keep ” instant cake decorations” that  I can grab anytime from the fridge and the pantry for speed cake decorating.  Hee hee.

I decorated this cake 30 minutes before my family left the house to meet our friends.  I, of course, shared this cake with them.  And because I didn’t have to stay up late decorating, I didn’t have to worry about bumps that could have appeared the following day and needed acne treatment.  *wink*

The cake recipe can be found HERE.

Postscript: Cheers, y’all! :D

On Father’s Day we had a most wonderful buffet brunch at Dulces, a newly opened Mexican restaurant that was rather upscale, located at the Lakeline Mall.  We’ve been curious about this restaurant for quite some time already and we’re glad we didn’t let the the $26.00 per person price tag on the buffet scare us.  And besides, we had a 20% off coupon. ;)

We entered the restaurant with an open mind but expectations were high.  We were informed by our server that drinks from the bar, soda, iced tea, mimosas and champagne were included in the buffet price.  From the kitchen, we can request for freshly made waffles.  Grilled meat -lamb, chicken and sausage- will also be brought to our table.  All these were included in the buffet.  $26.00 wasn’t so bad after all, we came to realize.  Oh, and the dessert table.  It was just gorgeous!

Hubby and I took full advantage of the open bar.  We each ordered a  mimosa, which was 75% champagne and 25% orange juice (or is it the other way around?).

It was refreshing, all right, but I regretted having alcohol so early in the day because alcohol makes me turn a bright crimson.  So I looked like an overripe tomato in most of our photos at Dulces. :D

There was a salad bar, which we practically ignored, because we wanted to make sure we had room for the more important dishes.  There was an assortment of cheeses and breads, all of which, we also ignored.

There was a table for cold appetizers: mussels,oysters, clams, shrimps and fruit kebabs.  This, we embraced. Hee hee. :)

Around the same time we were having appetizers, grilled meat on huge steel skewers were brought to our table one by one.  This brought back memories of Brazilian buffets we enjoyed back home.  First to reach our table were the racks of lamb…

That steel skewer is so big it looks like it can be used in the construction of a metal building.  Anyway, after the lamb came the chicken…

Here’s a better photo…

And then came the sausage wrapped in bacon…

Oohlala!  Given that hubby and I only eat beef/pork one meal a week if not at all, this was practically heaven on steel skewers for hubby.  Well, Happy Father’s Day!  :)  We loved all the grilled meat.  If only for these, we’ll come back to Dulces every so often.

Then, we moved on to the warm dishes of fish, pork, chicken, beef and meatballs in rich sauces…

Now, this is where you’ll probably have a bit of trouble if you’re not fond of spicy dishes, because most of these dishes, save for one or two, have quite a kick of spiciness to them.  But we are fond of spicy dishes so keep ‘em coming!  If only there was a teeny tiny bit more salt to the dishes.

Because I have such a sweet tooth, I have the highest expectation for the desserts.  It is the dessert table that welcomes diners toDulces and it was so nicely laid out.  It’s the best looking dessert table/s I’ve seen so far.  You can probably say that I don’t get around so much. Hee hee.

My daughter couldn’t concentrate on her lunch because she couldn’t wait to get her share of sweets.  Her eyes were twinkling as soon as we made a stop at the dessert table.

We were thrilled to see a chocolate fountain and I realized other diners were just as thrilled, adults and children alike.

We all enjoyed taking skewered marshmallows and fruits and giving them a chocolate bath at the fountain. Yum!

Of all the choices on the table, this is what I liked the best, the white chocolate mousse, all the best, I’m sorry to say, didn’t quite float my dessert boat. Huhuhu.

The flan, for instance, was pretty.  But I’ve tasted better. ;)  The chocolate cakes, on the other hand, were too dry for my taste. Sad, sad, sad.

The rice pudding could have a used just a tad more sugar…

I would have loved a glass of champagne but I was already too red from the mimosa. Hee hee.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience for us, a very welcome change from the mediocrity of cheap attractively priced Chinese buffets.  We love the wait staff of Dulces.  They were so friendly and attentive.  The ambiance was nice, too, and the art pieces all over the restaurant.

In spite the disappointment the desserts turned out to be, we’ll still come back to Dulces.  The call of grilled meats will just be too hard to ignore.  But, and here’s the big but, we’ll have to reserve brunches like this for special occasions or for when cravings become intolerable, whichever comes first. :)

Cheers to decent buffets! :)