jumanggy

apronstrings: I'm dying to make the cheesecake now that I've seen yours! Finally found it on msnbc. GTO: You totally reminded me I haven't satisfied my craving for plums yet (heh) since you made the plum cake. I think I will skip the cream, though, I don't want to see icing sugar again for at least another month. Joe: I'm surprised there's only 6 tablespoons of butter in the batter! Happy birthday to Jeff! I pirated a recipe for sugarpaste/ rolled fondant from a book I forgot while bored at a bookstore. This is my first (quite unambitious) attempt at using the stuff. I haven't crossed the dark side, don't worry, I don't think I'll use sugarpaste again unless someone pays me a lot of money (which: they probably won't). I still would want to perfect using the pastry bag, somehow. Inspired by Rob's using up his leftovers, the cake is an extra loaf of PH's cocoa cake (someone bought 2 Fauburg Pavés from me, which I find makes 2 loaves and an extra mini-loaf), with a wedge cut off the top to make a "V" on the cross section. I filled the chasm with apricot preserves, then slathered bittersweet chocolate ganache (also leftovers from truffle-making) before enveloping it in sugarpaste.

Oh, looking really, really good, everyone. Expect me to join in with my own muffins soon. Drooool. Marmish, there's something about your muffin that reminds me of gâteau au yaourt (not that I've ever had one), so I began looking for a recipe for yogurt muffins. Now I just have to narrow it down to a dependable recipe.

Sounds (and looks) good, Rob! How did they go about eating the croquettes with the cake? I suddenly remembered the Martha Stewart recipe for Hummingbird Cake, and the pineapple flower decorations that they used. http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/m...nextfmt=default I'm not too familiar with these proper names for cakes, so of course I got it confused with a Bee Sting Cake. Durh..

I haven't been replying as your idea sounds pretty good already, Rob. I looked through my new fancy dessert cookbook from Hong Kong and there's a dessert here of pineapple custard inside chocolate mousse and sponge cake, but it's adulterated with that many flavors. It does look good, though (if standard posh hotel-fare). Just PM me if you want to see a scan

I've never made yeast muffins, like here: http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/L...gerMuffins.html But would certainly be worth a try. I'm not too attracted to its description, though; I do like a cakey muffin. Giant muffins can take a lot of baking powder, like a tablespoon. Make sure the oven is hot enough, also. I wouldn't bother with separating the eggs unless I was running out of ideas

I tried to think about how to set up an integral for the problem, but I must have forgotten much of my college math I've never heard of conversion rules for such a need (maybe it's time for us to set it up? 8" cakes' baking time vs. 3" same cakes' baking time? Graph, make the equation.. x axis= old baking time, y axis= new baking time) I would love to make individual desserts as they seem to get eaten more easily (small pastry rings are expensive, though..). If there's a time for a 13x9" pan, maybe you could punch out the genoise from the sheet instead.

Hi Adam and Christopher, That certainly is reasonable as a point to jump off on, thanks for pointing it out. My understanding from Peter's first post, though, is that one of the major points of the report is regarding the association of food additives and allergy, then another part on antibiotics and immunity. In any case, your points interested me and I went searching for articles (1, 2, 3). Obviously there's no advocacy to let kids be kids and lick their soiled fingers, but deworming strategies here are extremely poor (apparently mothers are afraid a worm might come out of their kids' eye-- oy). In any case, nutritional deficiency is still a bigger problem in a third world country like mine. Anyway, it may have made a more cohesive report, but how would you be able to include earth-shattering topics like "Antibiotics kill your immune system!" Hee. Oops, it's not fair of me to rag on a show I haven't seen. Sorry. I wanted to come up with real numbers as to how much food allergies have increased through the years. I lost the link in a sea of open windows, but one article said twice over the last decade. (There's another article, just for epidemiology). It's too bad I don't have money to subscribe to or buy journals with With regards to food additives, I found only a few articles relating to direct sodium benzoate sensitivity, and annatto and carmine for food colors (quite rare according to the article). I found a few articles on GMO but I've yet to digest them. Yes I think that is very reasonable and so is looking at possible links between vaccination and allergy, changing diets and allergy or lack of GI-parasites and allergy. What is BS is statements like "we have literally destroyed our natural immune system to fight off foreign bacteria by over-use of antibiotics". It is misleading, false and detracts from real and important issues ←

Frankly, I think this statement is BS. The problem with this statement is that it implies that antibiotics are the problem and should not be used. ← That's post-9/11 television for you! (Disclaimer: my statement was exaggerated and may not even be true.) Without going too much off-topic food-wise, I think they just went hyperbolic w/r/t emerging antibiotic resistance. (Which I'm all for, since in my country, many can be purchased without a prescription. Yikes.) Now I'm beginning to wonder how NBC tied up those two topics! It just sounds like a disjointed report now.

I've googled "allergy promoting compounds" (admittedly the exact phrase) but have not come up with a link besides the eG forums. I hope someone has a link/ paper/ name of the doctor. I've often wondered about the reports of severe anaphylaxis I've encountered here on the forums, when in my country most allergy-related consults in the ER of the general hospital are due to asthma (and rarely is a severe exacerbation) and urticaria. When I was much younger (primary school, positively medieval times) I made a simple paper about food additives. I found that I couldn't come up with very many from local food products (occasionally I'd see sodium benzoate, nitrates, food coloring and EDTA). I'm eager to see what the connection may be.

When I was a kid, there were plenty of these: powdered milk with sugar, sometimes with Ovaltine/ Milo, chocolate syrup, condensed milk by the spoonful. Now it's just Hershey's Miniatures. (Everything but Mr. Goodbar.)

Really good, Dana.. My family finished it in 24 hours which is rare for my family. But if it were up to me, as I'm not a butter fan, I'd substitute whipped cream for the buttercream, I like the subtlety. I'm not yet well-versed in all the BC recipes to substitute italian meringue buttercream or mousseline. EDIT for Ruth: Milk Buttercream - is milk syrup (1/2 cup milk and 1 cup sugar boiled to 220°F) added to the eggs (1 yolk and 1 egg to be exact) instead of plain sugar syrup. Then 1-1/2 cups butter. Then throw in your aorta. Anyway, it's supposed to maintain its satiny consistency when whipped even after refrigeration, which is true, but I don't know if regular BC doesn't do that..

Today is GTO's birthday, everyone (happy birthday)! I made cake (did I really just need an excuse just to make cake?). It's La Fleur from Flo Braker (Honey Genoise filled with Pears and frosted with Milk Buttercream). It was my first time to make buttercream, so I was hoping I'd do something right and it wouldn't taste like sweet butter. It did. So I was a bit turned off for a while, but applied thinly on the cake, it strangely works. Also, I learned to ice with buttercream in an air-conditioned room, because it was starting to melt on me while I was making my really grungy "basketweave" on the side, in an effort to hide an even grungier application of icing. I also learned to start lining the side of my cake pans from now on.. Nina: someone touched your camera lens! Anyway, what's in the pies on top? I don't know what's in them, but I feel like they could go directly into my mouth just about now Joe: I'm not a big fan of biscotti or pistachios (except when they're roasted and salted), and lavender doesn't exist here, but I think your biscotti may make me want to try them! Ruth: I looked at your website, everything looks good! (There's an abundance of zucchini I see ) I see you're close to your goal of $3,000, keep up the good work. I hope you and your family are well.

Uncommon here in the Philippines. Usually people eating alone are out for a quick lunch away from the office or while on the run. And even more usual is having a buddy during those times. In the evening, usually the people I see dining alone are foreigners I'm not sure what people here think of people eating alone. I think they're a little surprised to hear that I ate alone most of the time when I was in university, like I didn't have friends or anything. Actually I don't like waiting for people to get dressed, decide on a restaurant/ order when usually I am very hungry and impatient w/r/t food. (Very nauseatingly Sex and the City) The downside of eating alone for me is that you can't go to those family style restaurants and have a wide variety of food.. That cuts my Italian choices down to Sbarro There's not usually a choice of the bar or a table, though, as bars in restaurants (at least with seating) are rare, which is too bad because I like it when people strike up a conversation with me. It's just not something I miss or feel bad about when it's absent.

Also on cherries: I had a slice of Black Forest Cake and saved the cherry for last. How unfortunate that my last bite turned out to be what I imagined raw perfume would taste like. I recently had a slice of French Apple Pie that tasted like water. I think they might have used Chayotes or something. Gross. First time I ate streusel so heartily.

That looks really cute, Hiroyuki (happy birthday to your daughter)! It's kind of inspiring me now to make a "Pocky"ed-up cake. (I'll have to search for non-chocolate Pocky.)

Oops-- reversing the terms a bit gave this other result, by Mark Foy: Amaretto Peach Upside Down Chocolate Cake

This is the only google link that came up exactly: http://www.recipequick.com/recipe/Chocolat...-Cake-2361.html I hope it's what you're looking for!

Cool. I've never thought to give line art to a commercial bakery that has photo-cake capabilities. Maybe I should try that.. (I'm not sure how many people would enjoy a dollar bill cake though I love the sewing machine and anatomy book cakes.

Rob: Oh, I KNOW! Regular cassava cake topping is dizzying. My family's a big fan of cassava cake and not-to-sweet desserts, so I may adapt your version someday (you're right... egg roll wrapper could find so many more uses here). Thanks so much for the desserts, I'm kind of humbled that you've made more indigenous fare than I have in my life! Thanks also for the congratulations and support. It's been a while since I've been in a hospital setting, a scrawny kid barking out orders like something out of a Pixar film. I hope it still gives me space to be a foodie like docsconz. I'll wait for your entry on Blogquat. Rona: someday I may have to index the many confusing kinds of bibingka. Some are gelatinous and sticky, some are spongey and cakey, some are like blocks of rice porridge, depending on the region. Brazo de Mercedes (soft meringue roll filled with a neon-yellow custard) is something I planned on making, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to give it a chocolate twist or if that would destroy it. I've only ever seen or tasted the condensed milk version (10 egg yolks with sugar and a can of condensed milk).

Ooh, I just had Sans Rival a week ago. (That's peanut or cashew dacquoise layered with egg yolk buttercream and chopped peanuts/ cashews.) I'm not a butter fan (shocking I know) but it did taste good... What kind of Bibingka do you prefer, Rona? It's as confusing to me as simply the word "pudding" must be to the British... But no mind, I like most of them if not all. Tri2Cook, I knew you were gonna come up with something very original. I'm very curious about legume-based desserts, especially how the Japanese use adzuki beans (I've seen the Haagen-Dazs ice cream but I've never coughed up the money for it..). I'm only familiar with Hopia (not Haupia, this one's a moon cake-like thing filled with sweetened mung bean paste usually). I served the desserts with lots of potato chips for saltiness. Ling, that looks great... The mousse looks sorbet-y.

GTO: Thanks! I think, the treadmill for me. And just fish (FISH!) and vegetables.. (but I'm watching Heroes and I can't help myself eating potato chips...) Rob: Thanks you so much! I can't wait! For Filipino desserts, since most people don't have ovens, steamers are invaluable. I'm intrigued to find out what you baked.

Oboy! Rob, when I saw the champorado, my jaw dropped-- I had made the same thing! Awesome. Did you use arborio rice? Good job on the Ensaymada too. I've never tasted brioche, but I imagine that's almost what it would taste like (does it?)-- and the reason I've never tried making it. I don't have a mixer and it's very easy to procure it at the nearest neighborhood store. The Turon looks excellent. I could eat those all day. (Not a fan of purple yam, though.) Okay. Here's everything I made this weekend. I won't be able to add to it, not because I don't have any more steam in me, but my friends have all gone and I can't eat any more. (By the way, the reason I held a dessert party was because me and all my friends passed the medical boards, so yay! Now, time to go look for a job/ residency. Groan.) Here's everything from the party. Everything will slowly appear on my blog over the next few weeks. This is Pineapple Pie, Filipino-style. One of my favorite things. Blueberry Cheesecake Napoleons. I've never used puff pastry before so I was really amazed by this. Also my first time to make Diplomat Cream (+ Cream Cheese.) Awesome (subtle) taste. I knew I said I would never use canned pie filling again, but when it comes to blueberries, I have little choice. Got the idea from that Japanese pastry site. Blancmanger and strawberry gelée. 'Cause you wanna give an option to those who want something less rich... Fruit salad lemonade pavlovas. I used a meringue recipe from Chocolatier magazine, and I accidentally used 6 times the indicated amount of lemon juice (the recipe wasn't written very well... excuses). So they came out quite zesty, but still nice (hence I sneaked in "lemonade" up there, haha). I don't know why all pavlova recipes use too much sugar. Still too sweet. The fruits at least balanced it.. White Chocolate Mousse with Dark Chocolate Mousse. Even with barely any sugar added, still too sweet. (I'm a subtle guy..) St. Lily Peach Cake, from Flo Braker. Brown sugar génoise filled with peaches and whipped cream all over. Flo Braker has never steered me wrong recipe-wise. Great birthday cake for my friend who also celebrated her birthday a few days ago. The Concorde. From Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé. The meringue recipe yield was low for me, so I didn't have enough for a full third disk (it was smaller than the other two) and I barely had some for the meringue pillars. So yeah, 'tis an ugly concorde. But it did taste great... In the dark, my friends didn't care. Banana Brochettes with Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles, also from Chocolate Desserts. That pineapple thing is a standard method for serving bamboo skewers at a Filipino party. If you want to do it, don't do what I did and use a whole pineapple; cut it in half so it won't topple over as your guests take skewers from one side Triple Chocolate Eclairs. Choux pastry is Pichet Ong's with 3 tablespoons Valrhona Cocoa mixed in with the flour. Here's some I did the day after for me and my brother: White Chocolate Lasagna with Double Dutch Ice Cream and Dark Chocolate Ganache. Not original; I picked it up from a Food and Wine magazine I saw when I was 9 years old. So.... 16 years later, I thought I'd finally give it a try, but I cheated and used White Chocolate plastic, so the cooking gods got mad at me and melted the lasagna "ridges" (my plastic had too much/bad corn syrup mixed with it). Also, did not spend a lot of time making everything uniform and rectangular. I would have served this with raspberry coulis "marinara," but my brother's not a fan of berries. Pear Tempura with Champorado. That's maple(-flavored) syrup on the side. I'm not a fan of pears but was pleasantly surprised by this. I had to tempura them twice, though, to get a good "look." The glutinous rice I used for the porridge had an incredibly short grain so it doesn't look as good as Rob's. Whew!

HEY! That's pretty cool! You managed to get palm sugar too! I suddenly wish I had a "gfron1" collection to return the compliment to my heritage (if these represent the "early years," I tremble with fear on the complexity of the succeeding desserts! GTO was right-- you are a dessert machine!) Thankfully, the typhoon subsided intermittently so that I could take decent pictures.. It's now 1:30AM and I've been eating desserts and chatting with my friends since 8:30PM, so I'm really tired (and almost in a diabetic coma)! I'll post my whole party after a good night's sleep. *collapses*

Yeah, it is Friday here (and I've already made 3 of my ___ desserts), but there's a typhoon and I don't wanna photograph them yet in the chill for now.

Awesome. I'm so jealous. It's hard to keep chocolate in temper here (not that I've tried, ha ha...). Nice photo too, ready to stick in the menu of your nearest snooty restaurant