I wish I could claim that this was among the rolls I baked last night, but it’s not. It’s a classic cinnamon roll from our Cinnabon carb fix from two weeks ago. When you’re near a Cinnabon branch, you will definitely know it. The aroma of freshly baked rolls will definitely get you hooked. Specially at the Trinoma branch where it’s right smack in the middle of some of our favorite shops. You can smell the yummy cinnamon from a floor down.
My favorite from Cinnabon is the chocolate minibon, although now I find it a tad too sweet:
This is so rich, what with the cinnamon, plus the chocolate, and then the glaze. MmmMMMMmmMMmmm! Haha.
We also tried something new on this visit, their new Twist (forgot the full name), and the dulce (if I remember correctly). I liked the latter very much.
The new product Twist is a little too flaky and tough for me. I like my breads soft. The dulce are little bite-sized pieces of heaven. 🙂 Eating this much white bread makes me want to go on a crash diet asap and deprive myself. NOT! I did stay away from food that evening though.
I really was supposed to make cinnamon rolls last night, but found out that the pack of yeast I have in the pantry is already expired. Aw.
A little off topic, but have you guys heard of apple cider vinegar as promoting weight loss? I remember back in highschool mom used to make me this juice with apple cider vinegar. It’s not your normal sweet juice, but I did like having a drink everyday. It’s supposed to be a colon cleanser and also promotes general good health. I just don’t remember how many parts water and apple cider go together for a good combo.
The Biggest Loser Asia Season 2 premiered last night at Diva Universal (formerly the Hallmark channel).
We like watching it, my mom, dad and I, because you get to pick up some weight loss tips. The show’s really quite inspiring for people like me who struggle to lose weight. They’re definitely bigger than me, but they manage to exercise! I just wish I had the trainer to keep pushing me, and the kitchen crew to make sure I ate nothing but healthy food too. 🙂
The show’s website also has resources to help those of us at home who would like to lose weight. There are tips, and an online club. From there you’d also find a way to sign up for a 7-day free trial for a Fitness First club near you. There’s one in our office building, in fact, I used to go there many many years ago. It’s just a tad too expensive and not very effective for me without a trainer.
The show’s premiere would have been a good time to launch my health blog. Oh well, too late for that now.
Tres Leches is officially my new favorite cake to eat and bake! 🙂
Got the recipe from the amazing Pioneer Woman, and her blog posts are awesome to view using the iPad. It definitely beats any recipe card! 😉 I baked this cake twice over the weekend. The first time was for Alfred’s mom’s surprise birthday party. I had never made it before then, and didn’t get to taste it before show time, so I was so relieved and happy that all who got a piece of it were happy with every bite 🙂
It was so moist and yummy that I decided that we had to make another batch the next day so my parents could have it too. The next photos are from Sunday’s baking session.
Tres Leches cake is so easy to make! Preparation doesn’t take too long and there’s not too much to measure. The mixture was so light and fluffy that it won’t stress you out mixing 🙂
I used to be afraid of separating egg whites from the yolks, but I didn’t do so bad. Specially on this second go. It was part of the fun! The real feat? Not getting any of the shells in the cake! haha 🙂 Anyway, the whites had to be separated from the yolks because they needed to be dealt with differently. First went the yolks, beaten until it doubled in volume and turned a pale yellow. Vanilla and some sugar was added in too. I mixed it lightly with the flour mixture first.
Next went the egg whites, this was another fun part even though the mixer pretty much did the work. Beat at high-speed with some sugar, until soft peaks form. Fold it in with the flour and egg yolk mixture. Even back in high school, folding mixtures was my favorite part of the baking process.
As soon as it all combined, I plopped the entire mixture onto one greased pan, and baked it in a 350-degree oven for 35 minutes. Alfred’s my tester, so he’s the one doing the toothpick test on the cakes.
The mixed three milks are then poured all over the cake as soon as it cools. It’s a sponge cake so it’s meant to absorb liquids. Of course, because there’s a lot of liquid to hold in, some of the milk spilled over to the sides of the cake. Not to worry, because in as little as 30minutes later, all that would be gone, re-absorbed by the sponge.
No photo here, but my favorite part is making the icing and putting it on the cake. I hadn’t made icing like that before and it is so easy (both to make and to apply). While waiting for the cake to cool, and then again for the milk to be absorbed, I chopped the maraschino cherries that went on top of the cake. The red is such a nice contrast to the white frosting. We also had some canned strawberries to add variety.
Just as in the previous night, this cake was a hit. It’s all gone now. 🙂
Remember my plans of launching a new blog, this time centered on health topics? Well, I’ve already selected a domain for it, but it’s taking time to get it ready. Okay, I’m taking time to get ready. I only really started prepping it today.
I won’t reveal the domain yet, but it’s something that will be easy to remember, and may have multiple meanings. Because of my domain selection, I now envision the new blog to be not just about my personal health, but also about the health of the community, and of the Earth in general. So it might actually shape up to be a health blog + a green blog as well (whatever that means!). 🙂
Please don’t expect blog posts on weight loss pills that work just yet although who knows, I might actually get to do a real review of those in the future. I will blog about some health supplements that I am currently taking, and those that I have also tried out in the past. In time, I hope to talk about exercise and walking for fitness. That is, if I ever become passionate about adding more movement to my sedentary lifestyle.
So. Though I really hoped to have posted a reveal for my new baby today, let me just tell you instead of a new money making site that I signed up for. Note that I make no claims to the legitimacy of the site, although I have not found any post or info contesting the same. As far as I can tell, the people behind the site are up front in saying that you can’t really use any of the money you are supposed to be earning NOW just yet, because cash out won’t be available until the service has fully launched in December 2011. They do seem to be brewing a way for you to somehow use that money lying around in your account in a few months. What’s good about the site is that at this stage, it does not require you to provide any personally identifiable information apart from your email address, a username and a password. They don’t ask for your bank account, or your Paypal details. There’s also no software to download. In my opinion, it is harmless to sign up now and get the $50 dollar bonus added to your account balance. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on the site either. There are a few surveys to answer and you may earn from that. I hear that simply logging on to the site helps you accumulate cents.
Simply put, I see no risks for signing up at this time. If after a few days you decide that it’s a waste of time, then you can simply forget about it. But do check it out. What am I talking about? PayBox! That is my referral link, and joining from there earns me $5 per referral. Just click the link and check it out, do not feel obliged to sign up unless you’re really interested. 🙂
Okay, enough about these shameless plugs. Tomorrow, I shall post more food photos! 🙂
Grr! I went to sleep this afternoon because I just could not keep my eyes open. Now, I’m awake and would like to live my online life, but my Internet connection’s being buggy. The intermittent connectivity issues has kept me from dropping ECs, so sorry for my droppers for not returning the drops. I did visit though, but the connection times out before I get to leave a comment, or your widgets are not even displaying. 🙁 Tomorrow, I’ll double up on my rounds. 🙂
I also wanted to join in with Music Monday, but I can’t even preview the YouTube video I wanted to show. It’s a video of Firewoman, written and performed by local band Hungry Young Poets. The band is no longer together and the lead singer is now doing a solo act. They launched when I was in highschool, and this particular song came out on my freshman year at university. A friend who also loves music gave me the lyrics to this song, and I sang it to audition for a music (based) organization. I love singing this song. If you’d like to check it out, do so here: Firewoman. (remember, I haven’t previewed the video but a friend shared it on his Facebook wall. I hope it plays well and does the song justice) Let me know what you think, ok?
For some reason though, Baking Life on Facebook is working just fine. Hirap mag load ng ibang sites, but the application goes on without any hitch. Haha! 🙂
But enough of my Internet woes.
Remember the chocolate sheet cake I made on Friday? Well, the recipe calls for Buttermilk. It’s something that’s not available in the smaller groceries around here. Good thing the Pioneer Woman also shared the substitute for buttermilk!
Click picture to go the Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe!
The Pioneer Woman already has step by step photos along with the recipe so I won’t be posting similar ones. I do have to show these though, my favorite steps in the making of chocolate sheet cake:
See that buttery goodness? In making the cake, we had to melt butter twice. Once for the cake itself, cocoa powder is added to this. And second, for the icing. Mmmmm, I love the smell of melted butter. This was one of the boyfriend’s jobs for the day, butter melter, haha 🙂
Finally, wet and dry ingredients mix! I used to dread this part when baking brownies because the mixture tends to get quite heavy. If you do it by hand, it can get pretty tiring. For this cake though, it’s very light and easy. I didn’t have to use my mixer for this one.
It was so easy to bake this cake but it didn’t exactly turn out perfect. Our floor is uneven, hence, the oven’s uneven too. We ended up with a sheet cake that was thinner on one end, and thicker on the other. A friend of Alfred’s cousin who got to taste the cake at Theo’s birthday bash commented that it had a tad too much of vanilla. I personally couldn’t detect it, but I think it’s because I was using vanilla oil and we put a little too much considering there was vanilla on the cake and the icing as well. My version also doesn’t have pecans on it. Not because we’re allergic to nuts, but because we didn’t have any. I think the nuts would balance the sweetness so we’re definitely going to get some for next time.
But the biggest thing is this: I didn’t feel like it was the best chocolate sheet cake ever. 🙁 I used to make chocolate cake and cupcakes with a recipe I modified and I remember that tasting more richer, chocolatier. Probably because it has some coffee in it. But I refuse to give up on this recipe, so I’ll give it another shot some other time. Don’t get me wrong though, it tasted great! I packed a few slices for Theo (Alfred’s cousin), and also a few for my cousin Candy. They share the same birthday 🙂 I also gave slices to the kids downstairs, specially Hannah whose birthday was the next day, September 18th.
Mabilis naman naubos, so I’m sure it was yummy. Not perfect, but good. Maybe the next time I try it, it would be perfect. Haha 🙂
The next day, I baked the yummiest thing I’d baked in a long time. That was a perfect cake. Haha 🙂 But I’ll share that some other time. For now, let’s just pay tribute to my chocolate sheet cake:
