Gumpaste Baby Shoes or Booties

After making baby Converse shoes, an opportunity came up for me to make another cake for a baby. This time for a girl. I wanted to take that opportunity to learn something new so I decided I'd try making booties. It's a really cute cake topper if you ever need one for baby shower, baptism or a 1st birthday.

You can get really creative on this one and even match any theme. I found the template on CakeCentral and I have to thank grannys3angels for sharing this.

Chocolate Macarons

Macarons (not to be confused with macaroons and pronounced like "macaroni" but without the '-i'), are cookie-like French confections made by sandwiching cream, ganache or almond paste between two wafers made from egg whites, almond powder and confectioner’s and granulated sugars.

A few friends of mine have been craving and gushing over these little goodies which I've never actually tried myself but made me think that maybe I should try learning how to make these for their sakes.

Here's a really good recipe I found online from David Lebovitz - Chocolate macarons filled with chocolate ganache. I've read suggestions that aging the egg whites called for the recipe makes a difference. I'm not too familiar with the science but thought that it won't hurt since I still have to look for Almond Flour and Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder. So, I left it sitting on our counter uncovered for overnight. My husband found the almond flour and cocoa powder at Raley's in the special foods aisle.

How to Make Cake Flour

I feel like it's been forever since the last time I posted. It's past the middle of January and this is my first post of the year. Yey! It's been almost a year since I started baking. And yes, I still feel like I'm a beginner.

But anyway, due to my late post for 2011 and being Valentine's is the closest special celebration happening, I thought I'd share how to make cake flour. Why cake flour? It's the choice ingredient for Red Velvet Cake - a popular baked goodie for the occasion. It makes it light and fluffy with a tender crumb. 

Who ever has cake flour on hand when needed, right? Fortunately, it is so easy to turn all-purpose flour into cake flour. You probably already know how.

Chicken Empanada

Chicken Empanada is a popular Filipino pastry that is stuffed with chicken meat, potatoes, carrots and peas. It's excellent for lunchboxes and snacks to go served hot or cold.

My mother-in-law gave me a tip in making these yummy delights. It's better to make the filling in advance and freeze it. It will be easier to place in the dough and form that empanada shape.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

I have been thinking about what dessert to bring to our first ever Christmas gift exchange this year. I checked out Martha Stewart's website and immediately decided to try making my very first cheesecake. But, what kind? After some soul-searching (right?), I decided on making Red Velvet Cheesecake - perfect color to celebrate Christmas.

I am not a huge cheesecake fan. Actually, I'm not a huge cake fan. Hahaha. Ironic, right? I just love to bake. And nothing's more satisfying for me than to have my creations consumed by people important to me. That's what I love and enjoy about baking - sharing it. But this recipe is amazing that I became a fan! I finished two slices one after the other. It's light and smooth, not too rich - hits you in just the right spots.

Purple Zebra Cake

My niece turned 16 and for her cake she wanted the zebra print incorporated with her favorite color, purple. Her 16th party was just a simple get-together of very close friends and relatives, not that elaborate Sweet 16. Being a Filipino, the big party doesn't get done until our 18th birthday. This is a simple design. I wanted to try my hand in making fondant roses and found a video online on how to make it without tools. I think the cake came out pretty good.

I added 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to my usual Marshmallow Fondant recipe to make brown fondant. And then kneaded in the black icing color to turn it black. You will use up less black icing color that way than turning pure white marshmallow fondant black.

This is a pretty easy cake to make with hardly any tools used. Here's how I put everything together.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Whenever we crave for some chocolate and give in, I end up baking Chocolate Muffins, to save us from too much guilt. It's easy to make and what I usually bake before a long road trip. The whole family can eat it for breakfast on the road and for snacks when we get hungry in between meals. I found a great recipe from joyofbaking.com. My son loves it. He would gobble up a couple of muffins right out of the oven.