ablosh

Yuuum...that picture just made my cravings for the old classic stronger!

On the left with just a bite left is a New York style cheesecake that wasn't worth the price...but I was hungry...so...And the one on the right is half of the strawberry shortcake with a chocolate ganache topping my sister and I shared. Both were disappointments as they looked far more delicious than they tasted...

I had an intense cheesecake craving... so I took the time out and baked a big niner with a graham crust. AAHHHH...I ate 3/4 of it and shared small portions with my family!

Chocolate Cupcakes Checkered with Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache

Here's a picture of me biting into a lemon chiffon cake slice! YUUUMMMY! Shared them with my family without any icing at all. They were that good! Fluffy and light but very flavorful as I used twice the amount of lemon! Heehee!

Whahahahaha!!! That's a wedding to remember, alright!

Looking great Michelle! It's a good thing I can't reach them...or else... Hehehe...

...Oops...I ate it all before the camera came.

I wonder...is there a big change from subbing white with brown sugar? Like, is the moistness, texture, taste affected?

Great advice to top off all the others! I'm also considering, actually begging my Dad, to study a culinary course after I get my degree in March. But he wants me to just apply for a job and learn stuff from there, as I self-studied my way to baking. So I guess since I'm not sure I'll be getting into a culinary school anytime soon, I also am going to practice my "guns." Will tack your advice up on my mental corkboard.

Fantastic work with the rainbow colors! These inspire me to make one in our next family occasion...hopefully they'll be entranced by these colors too! Haha!

WOW! Creative play with textures, vibrant colors and various shapes! These are all great pictures that I can only dream of making... Maybe in a far someday I will.

I second that. That's probably my favorite lemon cake. ← Sounds heavenly... Can anyone post that recipe?

Can anyone help me with a recipe to use up maybe 2/3 Cups of lemon juice? I have a few lemons in the fridge, sitting idly for two weeks now...

Oh my gawsh! I love those egg tarts here! There's a specialty bakery famous in our city for baking them...they're called Lord Stow's. One bite into them and my mouth is flooded with yellow goodness. Love them! Some chinese restaurants here offer these goodies too... A few gets the light texture right...but others make them dense and almost-jello. Does anyone know a connection or explanation why these Portugese tarts ended up on Chinese menus?

That's great especially for huge liquid batters, but when pouring in wet ingredients using my big stainless bowl, I'm afraid it still "encourages" a lot of spills and powdery dust in the air. I wonder if I can get that here in the Philippines... Thanks Beanie!

Ling, if you're not going to make huge quantities, I'd suggest the tilt-head Kitchenaid mixer, which I personally think is much easier/convenient to use than the bowl-lift mixer, especially for baking since we put in ingredients one after the other... Less messy for the hands too since you just tilt the head back and don't have to dig in and twist for the paddle/whisk like I have to do with the bowl-lift one. However, since I wasn't the one who bought our mixer here at home, we have the 5-quart bowl-lift Kitchenaid which I have grown to love... Although I was really annoyed during the first dozen times I was using it. Hehe... Sorry that's my only recommendations since they're the only ones I have experienced using.

Only the best wishes for you and your wife! I hope that your venture be ultimately successful. Someday, when I get to go to Philly, I'll make it a point to drop by. Hehe!

Mine's two kinds of brownies--peanut butter swirled and mint glazed. Then, I made a red velvet cake topped with my own strawberry buttercream. Yuuummm... Calories!!! LOL.

I could not agree with you more. We agreed before opening this restaurant, that it would not be a fraternity. The matcho, male dominated kitchens we have worked in the past are enough for us. We try to make sure the staff is as proportional as possible. There are times when a position just has to be filled and there arent enogh female resumes., and We do have to hire the most capable person at any given time. My point being, we are concious of a male - female ratio. I have just hired a female today as a matter of fact, and to be honest, all the male candidates were at a lose due to the fact that I did want a female to fill the position. So, dont get me wrong I do agree that it is a tough professio for a woman, but it isnt like that everywhere, and Im sure alanamoana could tell a few raunchy stories that would set me back in my seat........................ ← I am very pleased to read that. Although I've always tried to look at success in the industry as dependent on hard work, drive and passion, I've realized every lately that it is indeed an "unfair game" (for lack of a better phrase) for women, especially when it comes to the top positions. In my country, most of those jobs aren't even handled by local fellows. Rather, executive chef positions are landed by men imported from France, Germany, China, Japan etc. So it really makes me happy to read that there are great chefs like yourself who does not discriminate.

I have personally only tried baking a chiffon cake once and did the invert cooling as the recipe stated. But my sister who has more experience with baking dozens or maybe even a hundred chiffon cakes does not follow the method and her cakes still remain fabulous in looks (height and volume) and in taste! So maybe it does depend on the recipe...

I agree. Since most of these muffins don't have that much fat, they tend to dry up a little quicker than other good, but fattening stuff. By the way, does anyone have a tried and tested LEMON MUFFIN recipe?

I'm also new to this and have only tried equal proportions of cream and chocolate. After reading this I think mine could use a bit more "shine" to it though. Can anyone provide a great chocolate ganache with glucose in the recipe?

I live in the Philippines, Southeast Asia. I don't know where to get pork lard here though... Supermarkets don't even carry them and I live in our country's city of cities. I find it hard to find several baking or cooking ingredients here since most western baked goods aren't quite so common here, except maybe for brownies and cakes. (Even homebaked cookies are hard to find, with the exception of VERY EXPENSIVE Mrs. Fields! )

I'm not sure but when it comes to cookies, lessening an egg white (and using just the yolk) of one of those required eggs make them chewier. I guess, you can also experiment with the baking time as most "well-done" brownies tend to be crispier/harder than fudgy and chewy. I have a confession to make. Even though I've already baked about a dozen batches of brownies... I've never made one with real chocolate. *gasp* What would be the difference of recipes that use cocoa powder and then, melted chocolate?