My Mother's Special Day

I remember the days when I used to buy  Red Ribbon  Chocolate Mousse cake  for my "Mami'" on her birthday.  But always half a cake  'lang kc yun lang kaya ng allowance ko eh!'

It's  her  64th birthday today.  Whilst we are miles and hours apart,  I would love to continue giving her the same cake.  This time,  I will make one!

 According to Red Ribbon's Product description, Chocolate Mousse  is "A bed of rich chocolate pound cake, topped with delicious cream-based mousse and chocolate chips".


I have been scouring the net for recipes however  I cannot find one recipe that is similar to Red Ribbon's.  Some recipes have flourless base, others use a different cake base. I want the cake to be as close as possible to the real deal.  Anyway, I  mixed and matched 3 different recipes. Click the following  links

1st layer - chocolate pound cake

middle layer - mousse

topping - whipped cream

Here's the finished product. 

Artibakes Chocolate Mousse Cake

Eh 'paano kaya makakarating to? ' While on facetime early morning, I told her 'na ipapadeliver ko.'

Eto o she received it in the afternoon, ang bilis daig pa fedex, dhl o superman..ay si Flash nga pala ang naghatid!

Actually, I asked my 'sistah' to buy one for her. Let's have a slice or two.

Artibakes

Red Ribbon

Looks the same, pwede na. Sa lasa na lang magkakatalo. Final verdict?  Taste it and be the judge. How?  Lick na lang the screen ( wag pikon)

 Let's toast to that!

Chocolate Mousse Cake Trifle

 See you next post!

Baby Shower

Shower to Baby Shower! Our team threw a surprise baby shower for the Team Leader.  She has two more weeks before she goes on leave but we decided to do it yesterday to beat other "well wishers".  We did all the works like games and prizes , baby decor and the baby gift.   Someone bought the table cover and serviettes online, another member made the chain decoration until 3am!

The training/meeting room was converted to a 'sit down' lunch. Each team member brought homemade stuff  or bought food.  I brought  paella, 

Filipino version with chicken breast adobo

and as expected, 'The Cake'.  I was not planning of decorating the cake but the team  had a few suggestions. This is my version of all those similar designs out there.

white cake with cream cheese white chocolate frosting. 

I did not want to cover the whole cake with fondant so it was just the top that was made of fondant. It doubled as a souvenir too. Let's have a closer look.

No cake just 'tricks'

We don't know the gender of the baby as the mum-to-be  refused  to find out herself. So 'bi-color' it is. Funny thing is before baking it was the right blue and pink shade. Look at those layers! 

Someone commented that it's scary the layers were so perfect and  asked who taught me to bake.  My reply? It's inborn ! ( nyahahaha bigat naman ng  silya ko)

See you next post!

Goin' Bananas

It's a fact that bananas are very nutritious. It's a very important fruit that a whole  website is dedicated to it. It should always be a part of our diet that's why my hubby always wants me to buy it.  Unfortunately, bananas do not have a long shelf life. Most of the time, I have left over 'rotten" bananas.

I  am a self-confessed tightwad. I hate throwing things that may still be of use. Even if only one banana's left, I refuse to throw it away.  I always found a way to use it. This time, not  one,  not two , but fouurrr  bananas left!

Crazy mode searching for online recipes. I didn't know bananas can make you craaazzzyy! I found two recipes. One of which is   BananaChocolateCupcakes .  Chocolate masking the taste of banana.  A great way to trick kids to eat healthy.

Here's another one -  banana-chocolate-chip-cookies. I didn't have chocolate chips so I replaced it with chopped Reese's mini peanut butter  cups. A classic combination of banana and peanut butter in a cookie!

This Banana Cake  is from a very old recipe book. It reminded me of a Mom friend from my kids' school who  loved it. I didn't have walnuts so I used pecans instead.

Yup I made three  'concoctions'  to match the four bananas. Yeah I hear ya sayin'  "How did I save when  I used  more ingredients?" Let's just appreciate that bananas cost less  now  (approx $3/kilo) than a few years ago ($13/kilo). Lucky these bananas will never be  'bulok'

Banana Fruit Basket bought from SM

Let's eat!

super moist chocolate indulgence with  nutritious banana

crispy outside, gooey chewy inside

super moist cake , look at those fibers!

 See you next post!

Multicultural Lunch

The Social Committee at the  office organised a Multicultural lunch day yesterday.  Everyone was requested to bring any dish that relates to their culture or any favourite dish.  I did not commit  to bring anything as it all depends on my mood.  It turned out I was in the mood to bake the day before.  So I brought this to work...

German Chocolate Brownies

Yeah yeah  I hear ya, it's not anything Filo...but still  another culture's dish though. My daughter said " that's sad" coz I did not even try. Hey I have my reasons. I had little time to prepare and I wanted to make something not using a lot of gadgets and washing it  up afterwards.  This one was just mix and bake. Ezy-peazy. Besides, the 'office' so liked my German Chocolate Cake last time that I created a variation of it.  ( sure winner!)

I first saw this  on the web. Some baked the topping with the brownie base, others put the topping after the brownies was cooked .  Uh  oh,  looked dry and  soggy respectively  for me.  I did not like both  so tweaked  a little two of my  favourite recipes  to make my own version.

Let's have  a closer look..

Hmmm gooey dark chocolate  brownie with coconut and pecan caramel topping.

Anyway it doesn't matter who ever's culture it was  from...it's definitely yummo!! No one can argue with that!

See you next post!

My Team Leader

Where I work,  I am sort of the unofficial 'official baker' of the  team . Evey time a team mate celebrates her/his birthday we chip in and I bake the cake. Well, most of the time if I am in the mood  or I am not sick. Moody baker indeed!

Last 29 July 2013, it was my team leader's birthday. The whole team planned the morning tea surprise and everyone chipped in (money and effort!).

We decorated her pod not with balloons but with paper lanterns to be different. Someone said that our team is setting the bar!

I was in a creative mood and had this cake idea. So I made two cakes,  one big one to share with the team...

German Chocolate Cake

and one mini one for her  to take home...tadaa!

German Chocolate covered in fondant

It's a mini german chocolate cake with pecan and coconut in caramel filling covered in fondant which the whole team signed with edible markers  with a surprise sketch/caricature of her face . Again, a combination of my love of drawing and baking. We didn't show her the big cake so she would think that the small cake had to be shared with 8 other people.

Her reaction?..priceless!

"It's me! I am going to cut my face"

She even took a photo and sent it to her sister who texted back and said "It looks like you".  Here's the proof of the cake-a-like! be the judge!

We eventually gave her the big cake, of course we wanted a  slice too!

See you next post!