My Favorite Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

Hiyeeeee!!!!  I am so glad I am writing a blog post today!

I know, I know, I should be doing a better job managing my blog.  No, I think I should be doing a better job managing my time!

Anyway, life is still the same . . . except the kids seem to have grown up over the last few months and that I have more white hair now, haha!  It is true what they say, they grow up so fast!  You know, I miss them being babies (sniff, sniff). . . ahhh and that baby smell!  (As much as I miss these, I don't see a baby anymore in the future! Haha!)

And speaking of things being "fast", I would like to share with you a cake recipe which I tried the other day.  

It was supposed to be a gift for someone but since it was the first time I tried the recipe, I thought I should taste it first, heehee.  (So yes, you can say I owe her a cake!  Haha!)  

Do you know what I love about this recipe?

1. It is a sheet cake --- you just need a pan to bake it.  I always have disposable cake sheet pans (9" X 13") at home because that means no extra dishes to wash for me, haha!  Aaannnd sheet cakes are the best way to go for potlucks or gifts to family and friends.   

2. You just need a bowl and a wire whisk (yep, no need for an electric mixer!) for this recipe.

3. The recipe is easy, fast and tasty!  I love that it may look simple but is a good chocolate cake!

For the recipe, please click on this link to go to Add a Pinch's blog site.

For the original recipe, the author used chocolate buttercream frosting.  I used a chocolate icing recipe  (given to me by my friend, B) because this icing reminds me of a good old fashioned chocolate cake!  Oh and it's easy to make too, haha!

Trivia:  Ever wondered if there is a difference between a frosting and icing?  Here you go. . .

From www.dailymeal.com

The Williams-Sonoma cookbook Cake states that “icing is generally thinner and glossier,” while its counterpart frosting is “a thick, fluffy mixture, used to coat the outside of a cake.”


For the chocolate icing I used, you need the following:

1 can of condensed milk (14 oz)
1 can of all purpose cream (225 ml / 7.6 fl oz)
1/2 cup of cocoa powder (50 grams)
3 tbsp butter

Just mix everything in a double boiler and stir constantly until everything is well combined.  You would notice that the consistency is a little bit thin.  Let it rest for a few minutes because the icing will thicken up.

If you don't have a double boiler, it is okay (I don't)!  I just improvised for one.  This is exactly what I did ( pls. see photo below).  

Image from www.wikihow.com

Fill the pot with water (half full or less, depending on your pot---I just made sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl) and bring it to a boil.  If it does, adjust heat to make it simmer. Also, please make sure you use a heatproof bowl.


For more details about the double boiler method, please click here.

I hope you enjoy your cake!

Happy Baking and Have a great weekend!

Homemade Chocolate Birthday Cake

And just like that, the first quarter of the year is over!  I wish I've put up more blog posts this March (they are all in my draft folder though, haha!).  I've wanted to write and share so many things with you but I just couldn't find (and make!) time to do so. 

The best part of our March is . . . our little big boy turned three!  He is sweet, adorable and handful (as they say, boys will be boys) at the same time.  He wears his heart on his sleeve, he likes being around kids and has a ready smile for everyone.   He couldn't talk straight yet (if we need an "interpreter", his Ate comes to the rescue, haha) but he can talk in sentences.  And just like me, he loves to eat and loves chocolates!

For his birthday, I wanted to do something special for him.  So I challenged myself to bake a cake (must be chocolate!) for him.  Yep, you read that right!

And I did!  Woohoo!

Thanks to an easy to follow Chocolate Cake recipe given by my friend, B.  Then, I just got buntings, candles and sprinkles to decorate the cake (read: to make it look more fancy, haha)  

I'm so, so, so happy with how this chocolate cake turned out! 

It was so funny that when I showed it to my Mom during our video call. . . she can't (she won't!) believe I made it!  Haha! (Thanks Mom!)  I had to call Hubby and let him tell my Mom because she knows that he can't lie to her, haha!

What I love about this cake is it gets better each day!  I found that it actually tasted better the day after.  I think the next time I'm going to bake, I will bake the cake part a day earlier.

So if you want to take the big leap in baking and bake a chocolate cake, here is a good and easy to follow recipe:

B's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

For the Cake
2 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mayonnaise
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven at 300 degrees.

2. Combine milk, sugar, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan.  Blend well, bring to a boil and then let it cool.

Bringing it to a boil

and then letting it cool  . . .

3. Sift together the following dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Add mayonnaise to the chocolate mixture.  Then beat in eggs one at a time.

5. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture. Mix gently until well blended. Do not overmix.

6. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. (Insert a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out dry, it's done)

Note:  I suggest you weigh your baking ingredients using a scale.  The unit of measurement may be the same but the weight is actually different.  For example, 1 cup of granulated sugar is 225 grams while 1 cup of cocoa powder is 118 grams.  

I used Chocolate Ganache (an icing made of chocolate and cream) for this cake since Hubby prefers this type of icing.  If you like to try this too, please click on this link to go to Bake Happy's site which also features a chocolate cake recipe (which I want to also try one of these days).  

Note: In Bake Happy's directions, she puts the ganache in the refrigerator overnight and whips it the next day.  I've put mine for a couple of hours and it still turned out well.  

Here's the birthday boy enjoying the icing of his cake! =)  

I know, frosting a cake is not really my thing.  I call it a "rustic" way of frosting, haha!

If you want  to try the icing made of condensed milk (which also sounds yumm!) from my friend's recipe, here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup cocoa
3 teaspoons butter
1 can or package of all purpose cream
1 can condensed milk

Just mix all the ingredients in a double boiler and stir constantly.

Please click on this link on how to make a double boiler at home.

As they say, never under estimate the power of Chocolate! =)

Happy Baking!

My First (Successful!) Chocolate Cupcake

March, I can't believe you are here!!!

I know this sounds cliche but . . . time really, REALLY flies so fast!  

And because I started February with a cake recipe, I thought of starting March with a sweet treat too . . . . Chocolate Cupcake with Milk Chocolate Frosting!!! 

I've tried making chocolate cupcakes before (once) but I wasn't too happy about the recipe.  The cupcakes tasted bland and were dry. 

Sometimes when you try a recipe and fail at it, you get discouraged and scared to try again.  (Parang love lang, haha!)

But then one day, you realize, you ought to give yourself another chance to try other recipes because there are better ones out there, you will find that ONE that would make you happy and make you say that you are glad to have tried again (yes, i'm still talking about cupcakes . . .and love I guess, haha).

There are so many recipes out there but I thought of trying one recipe by Aikko of Bake Happy simply because her blog post title had the following words. . .EASY to make and MOIST!  

Looking at the recipe, I wasn't sure at first because it doesn't have any eggs and butter!  I can't imagine baking something without those two ingredients!  But this recipe had mayonnaise and yogurt in it, which in my "not so expert" opinion replaces the butter and eggs and are the ingredients responsible for making the cupcake moist.  This recipe also got good reviews from Bake Happy's followers so I decided to go for it.

After seeing the batter, I had a good feeling about these cupcakes because the color of the  batter looked nice, haha!

And the cupcakes looked better compared to the first recipe I tried!

The cupcakes were moist and they tasted good (it didn't matter they don't have eggs and butter, haha) If you are a first time baker or if you are just looking for a simple cupcake recipe, I recommend this one.  Also, aren't you curious how cupcakes which have mayonnaise taste like?  =)

As for the chocolate frosting, the original recipe called for Malagos unsweetened chocolate.  I wanted to use the chocolate tablea discs I have but since toddlers have discerning tastes, I just made a Milk Chocolate Frosting (recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction).

And here's the tricky part (for me) . . . frosting the cupcakes!

Because I am not good at it!  So I just went to YouTube and just looked for a simple tutorial on how to frost cupcakes (using an icing spatula).

This is my best, haha. =)   I wish I had sprinkles!

But if there's one thing I love about having to frost a cupcake though . . . it is letting our Princess do her share and seeing her having a good time!

For the Chocolate Cupcake recipe, please click here.

For the Milk Chocolate frosting recipe, please click here.

Happy Baking!  

Tried and Tested: Crinkles Recipe

I love Crinkles!  I have a sweet tooth so anything that has sugar (and chocolate!) is heaven for me! Heehee. . . Some people call them cookies.  How do I describe them?  Eating them is like eating a chocolate cake/fudgy brownie coated in powdery white sugar!  

The best Crinkles I've had (in no particular order) were from Becky's Kitchen (along P. Ocampo St. in Singalong, Manila), HungryPac, and believe it or not. . . from the cafeteria of ADB!  (THE Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong).  So if you have family or friends who work in ADB, consider yourself lucky because you have a way of getting them!  

When we moved to LA, I had a sudden craving for this sweet treat so I googled for a recipe and found this posted at www.allrecipes.com (Thanks to a member, Ingrid!).  I chose this recipe because the ingredients are easy to find and the directions are pretty simple.

These crinkles turned out pretty good and have given them as Christmas gifts to family and friends (which they liked. . . sabi nila, haha!).  But I am still dreaming about those Crinkles which I've mentioned earlier.  

This Crinkles recipe works so I am still keeping it but I would like to still try other recipes for this chocolate treat.  Do you have a favorite Crinkles recipe?  Care to share it? =)

(UPDATE as of June 2016, I found my favorite crinkle recipe for keeps!  Please click here if you want to read about it.)

If you want to try baking Crinkles, you may want to try this recipe =)

Please click on this link to go to the original post at www.allrecipes.com.

*This recipe makes 6 dozen crinkles

Ingredients:

- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

- 2 cups white sugar

- 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 - 4 eggs

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 cup Confectioner's Sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil.  Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture.  Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Roll dough into one inch balls.  I like to use a number 50 size scoop.  Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes.  Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

My Personal Notes:

1. If you are fond of baking and plan to do lots of it, I suggest that you get a digital weighing scale. (Mine wasn't expensive at all, there are reasonably-priced ones out there).  One of the things I learned about baking (unlike cooking) is the importance of accuracy in measuring the ingredients. Also, I suggest googling the right weight for each ingredient.  Case in point, the weight of one cup of sugar (200 grams) is different from a cup of cocoa powder (100 grams). They  may seem the same because they are both "1 cup" but there's actually a big difference in the weight.

2. I read some reviews for this recipe and some of the suggestions I read were:

 - If you don't have 4 hours, freeze the dough for a couple of hours (instead of chilling it)

 - Use Dutch processed cocoa powder for a more intense chocolate taste

- Make sure to really cover your balls with lots of Confectioner's sugar so you get that Crinkle to crack

3. If you don't have a number 50 scoop (like me!) to use for the ball, just eyeball it.=)

4. For lesser mess, just drop the ball directly into a bowl of confectioner's sugar and roll it around.

5. I suggest baking small batches in different times (10, 11 or 12 mins) to know which would give you the Crinkles you like. 

6. In my experience and I don't know if this has a scientific basis (because Baking is Science), I feel that the crinkles---which I baked using a dough that was frozen overnight--- tasted better, haha! (Whew, that was a long sentence! Haha!)

HAPPY BAKING!