it should've been a cake.

I have promised to bake a cake for myself in celebration of my birthday.

I was supposed to bake Devil's Food Cake or Choco Lava Cake today. Yeah, I'm ambitious. Haha.

I spent the whole day cleaning (kinda) my place and after my weekly visit to the supermarket, I was ready to take on the Cake Challenge.

I started with baking remaining batter for the cheese cupcake and chocolate chip cookies, then started with the Revel Bars I was dying to try. What supposed to be an hour's worth of experiment turned out longer. I have been meaning to buy a hand mixer and have since failed cos the model I wanted is always out of stock. So, to challenge myself, I have bought a manual egg beater, thinking that it's easier than what I'm usually doing. I thought wrong. It was harder! I ended up with a cut on my finger and going back to my more manual beating, creaming, and mixing procedure.

I'd like to think that the Revel Bars turned out to be a success despite the mishaps earlier. I am still cooling the pan on the wire rack and I want to chill it before cutting them into squares. (EDIT: I already cut and wrapped the bars. I can't say it's successful cos I totally missed out the condensed milk! The end result? It's still okay, but not as gooey and yummy had I included the milk. Argh.)

I still want to make a cake, any cake would do. I have the basic ingredients, but I'm too tired. Ahh, frustrating.

Maybe a good night's sleep would do me some good.


*PS: I'll post the picture and recipe of the Revel Bars later -- if it's successful. Hehe.

cheese cupcakes.

Sometime ago, I was debating on whether to bake cheese cupcakes or tres leches cupcakes for dessert. (I was supposed to post this last month, but I forgot that I left it in my drafts folder. Haha.)

I decided to do the former - less work for me. Hehe.

I got the recipe from Kusina ni Manang and I'm glad I tried it out cos it was so easy. And the cupcakes turned out close-to-perfect. :)

Here's the recipe:

1 bar (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar 
4 eggs
2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk
3-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
cheddar cheese, finely grated, for topping


Line 2 muffin pans with paper cups.


Preheat oven to 350 ° F


Mix flour and baking powder well in a bowl.


Cream butter and sugar together on medium speed. Turn speed to slow and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually increase speed to medium and beat well. (Since I didn't have a mixer, I manually creamed the butter and sugar using a fork. I guess it would've turned out nicer had I used a real mixer. Hmm.)


Turn speed to slow and slowly add the condensed milk. Beat well on medium speed for about a minute.


Turn to slow again and add the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and add oil. Beat well for about another minute. Add vanilla and beat to blend.


Fold in grated cheese for that additional cheesy goodness. (This wasn't part of the original recipe, I just decided to mix the cheese in. Hehe, cheese fan here.)


Transfer batter to a piping bag and pipe into the muffin cups, leaving about 1/4 inch space at the top. (I normally use an ice cream scooper to transfer cupcake/muffin batter to muffin cups.)


Top with grated cheese.


Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans for even baking. (If you want, you may add some more cheese at this point).Bake for another 10 minutes. Enjoy with maple syrup or condensed milk if desired.


Transfer to cooling rack and completely cool before storing in ziploc bags those that you will not be able to consume right away.

I halved the recipe cos I wasn't sure it would come out perfect. I made around 10-15 mini-cupcakes. I normally use baking cups with 2in bases so that the cupcakes would be in bite-size sizes.

that's the cupcake with some brownies and oatmeal cookies.

25th and then some more wish list items.

So yes, I turned 25 today. *gasp!*

How did I spend err am spending it?

Well, I have taken a two-day leave from work (again, haha). I slept the whole day yesterday and when I woke up, I cooked the lunch orders for the people at work. Fish curry with kangkong leaves was on the menu. I didn't know it was such an easy recipe, except for the fact that I had a hard time looking for some of the ingredients. Anyway, I'll remind myself to post the recipe later. :)

I received my birthday cake 10 minutes before the clock struck 12. Hehe. It was a chocolate carrot cake from Homemade Cakes. You know, the bakeshop with a carrot logo? Yes, that one. They actually have one of the yummiest carrot cakes I have ever tasted. I am not a fan of carrot cake, so it's really something when I say that I like their cake. :)

Since I wasn't scheduled to work, I just dropped of the lunches at the office at around 2am last night, or this morning.

I was craving for lechon kawali or crispy pata, so we scouted the Greenhills/Addition Hills area for some open food stops. We ended up eating at Andok's hahaha. To be fair to them, masarap nga naman ang lechon kawali and Bicol Express. :)

When I got home around 3am, I started fixing my cabinet haha. What's up with me? It's my birthday and I was cleaning? Hahaha. Yeah, I had to cos my place is just so cluttered!

It's all better now, but I still have to clean and do the laundry. Argh.

Anyway, since my phone's camera has gone bonkers, I have been thinking of getting a new phone with a decent camera. No, I have given up the hope of getting LG Optimus One. Instead, here's what I want:

Sony Ericsson J10i2 ELM

I want the pink one!

I think this phone would work well for me. And it's just for Php 7,500.00. Whaddyathink?

Or maybe this one:

 

Alcatel OT-980 Omni

Although I'm not a fan of QWERTY phones, but it has pretty good specs and it's just around Php 10,000.00. But if that's the case, then I'll prolly get the LG Optimus One instead. Haha, fickle-minded me.

Yung Elm na nga lang!

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That's about it for now. I have to go to the kitchen and start baking goodies for my sibs! :)