Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts

Light Yet Delicious Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

20 February 2009 Labels: , , 9 comments

LIGHT CARROT CAKE


Carrot cake is one of my favorite cakes. It somehow lessens the guilt of eating cakes when you know that it has a vegetable in one of the ingredients. Even though this type of cake is good, it still packs a large amount of calories. A typical carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (3 oz slice) contains 425 calories. Yikes! This recipe from Cooking Light magazine is 100 calories less than the regular recipe. It also has coconut flakes, crushed pineapple and pecans (which I omitted since I don't like any kind of nuts in my desserts). Since I didn't have crushed pineapple, I used apple sauce (1 cup). Even with the substitutions, the resulting cake still was delicious. Dh loved it and commented that it is so light and moist. I only used half the amount of confectioner's sugar in the frosting and it was still too sweet for my taste. So next time I make the frosting, I will only use 1 cup confectioner's sugar and omit the butter entirely. I'm sharing the original recipe so you can tweak it to suit your taste.

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot
1 1/2 cups canned crushed pineapple, drained
Cooking spray

Frosting:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Additional grated carrot (optional)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, pecans, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine oil and eggs; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated carrot, and pineapple into flour mixture. Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cake. Garnish each serving with grated carrot, if desired.



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Real Belgian Waffles...Finally!

22 July 2008 Labels: , , 7 comments


All these years of making Belgian waffles from scratch went down the drain. I thought that what I was making was a recipe for Belgian waffles. Boy, was I wrong! As you may know, we spent a month touring in Europe. One of the countries we visited was Belgium and what else do you have to try when you're in Belgium? Belgian waffles of course! We did not go to a restaurant for this or waited for breakfast to try it, why? Belgian waffles are eaten as a snack in Belgium and are available everywhere. Yes, even in a small snack stand in the beautiful Antwerp Hauptbanhof (train station).



I still remember my first bite of this Belgian waffle. It is crispy and the chocolate sauce and fresh whipped cream just melded with the warm waffle. Gosh, was I in heaven! From that moment on, I vowed that I will find the 'authentic Belgian waffle' recipe. My Dutch friends told me that this waffle's batter is unlike the ones we make here in the US. It is not a liquid batter but a soft dough which gives the Belgian waffle it's irregular shape as you can see in the photo. The Belgian waffle is also sweet, you can eat it by itself unlike the US counterpart where one needs Maple syrup on it.

The photo on the left is the beautiful train station of Antwerp.
So now, I am on a quest to find the AUTHENTIC BELGIAN WAFFLE recipe. I found a couple on the internet and will try the first one tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be just as good or at least close enough to the real Mc Coy.

P.S. Do you also know that the French Fries was invented in Belgium? Oui!

This recipe is for the crispy and light Belgian waffle. This is not for the waffle pictured above. I'm still on a quest for the perfect recipe.

Brussels Waffle

10 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon salad oil
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1 ounce fresh yeast or
1½ envelopes granulated yeast
4 cups sifted flour
4 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar

Heat ½ cup of the water to lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in the water. Put the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the egg yolks, the sugar, and the yeast. Beat in the remaining water, the milk, the butter, salt, salad oil, and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth. Beat the egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Fold them into the batter. Let the batter stand for 1 hour, stirring it 4 times. Bake the waffles in a waffle iron as usual. Serve with whipped cream, fruit, jam or sugar.

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Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookies

06 April 2008 Labels: , , , 10 comments

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookies
If you are a brownie and chocolate chip cookie lover, then these cookies are made just for you. :) It is no secret that my kids and dh all have a sweet tooth. After dinner, dessert is always next. Of course, brownies and chocolate chip cookies are just some of their favorites. I found this recipe on the side of the brownie mix box a year ago and decided to try it. They all loved it so instead of making the regular brownies, I make the brownie chocolate chip cookie instead. You can see from the photo that this cookie is fudgy and moist.

I used a dark cookie sheet so I baked it at a lower temperature. It is very important to have a good cookie sheet so your cookie will not spread out too thin. The recipe tells you to grease your cookie sheet. If you are using the non-stick kind, you can omit this step or if you are using a silicone pad like Silpat. If you have the aluminum cookie sheet, I would suggest you use baking paper.

I also added white and chocolate chips. You can also add M&Ms or other chocolate bars that you fancy. Click 'Read More' for the recipe.


Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookies

1 pkg Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
1 large egg
2 tbsp water
1/3 cup vegetable oil


Preheat oven to 375degF.
Grease cookie sheet.
Combine brownie mix, egg, water and oil in large bowl.
Stir until well blended and soft dough forms.
Drop by level measuring tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet.
Bake at 375degF for 7 to 8 minutes or until cookies are set in center. Do not overbake.

Cool 1 minute before removing to cookie rack.

*You can also make sandwich cookies with these.
Cool cookies completely before assembling.
Use 1 can of ready-made vanilla frosting or any frosting of your choice.
Spread frosting on half the cookies.
Top each frosted cookie with another cookie.
Gently press together.

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Chocolate Kahlua Cake Anyone?

04 April 2008 Labels: , , , , , , 8 comments

Chocolate Kahlua Cake We went to my in-laws last weekend for a late Easter Egg Hunt. They just arrived from wintering in Florida last Holy Week, hence the late Easter celebration. I always bring Lumpia Shanghai every time dh's family get together. I serve it as an appetizer and they all like our Lumpia (even the teenagers).

This time though, I didn't have time to make it. So on a fly, I decided to try a new recipe I found online. It is very easy, uses a cake mix, instant chocolate pudding, sour cream, chocolate chips and Kahlua creme. I didn't tell dh that there's Kahlua in the cake but he noticed. You can't really tell unless you've tasted Kahlua creme. I saw one recipe that called for one cup of Kahlua, wow, that will be very strong. In this recipe though, it only calls for one-third cup so the Kahlua flavor doesn't overpower the chocolate.

This is the moistest chocolate cake I've made, very chocolatey and of course, delicious. :) The addition of the sour cream makes it moist. You should try it and you'll know what I mean.

CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 (3 3/4 oz.) pkg. vanilla or chocolate instant pudding mix
2 c. sour cream (16 oz)
4 eggs
3/4 c. oil
1/3 c. Kahlua
6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil, and Kahlua. Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a well-greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

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Lasang Pinoy 24 - Loco over Coco - Buko Custard Pie

29 February 2008 Labels: , , , , , 9 comments

Lasang Pinoy 24

This month's theme for Lasang Pinoy is coconut. There are a lot of recipes using a coconut product. Didn't they say that the coconut is the 'Tree of Life' because every part of the tree can be used in one way or the other.

Living in New England, it is not convenient to get fresh coconut. I miss the wet market in the Philippines where you can buy freshly grated coconut and squeeze it to get the 'kakang gata' or coconut cream or the street vendor pushing a cart full of young coconuts for a refreshing coconut juice drink.Here in the US, you can get a mature coconut from your local grocer but you are on your own when it comes to opening it up. A trip to an Asian grocery will yield a lot of frozen and canned coconut products. These are what I use whenever the recipe calls for one.Coconut products

I had a hard time deciding on what to make since there are a lot of uses for coconut in Philippine cuisine. I only had a week of preparation for this and today is the last day, hooray for Leap Year! LOL

I had the idea of making buko pie but couldn't find a buko pie recipe in the 8(!) Filipino cookbooks I have. While leafing through one cookbook, I came across a recipe for Buko Custard Pie, this is new to me. So, I decided to make this as my contribution for Lasang Pinoy 24.

Buko Custard Pie
BUKO CUSTARD PIE (source: Baking Made EC by Eufemia C. Estrada)

Filling:
1.5 cups shredded buko
0.5 cup sugar
0.75 cup sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp dayap juice

Meringue Topping:
3 egg whites
6 tbsp sugar

1 pie crust

* Bake the pie crust in a preheated 425degF oven for 15-20 minutes until light brown. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Reduce oven temprature to 300degF.

* MAKE THE FILLING: Cook the buko with 1/2 cup sugar until slightly thick. Set aside. Combine 3/4c sugar with the cornstarch and add to the milk. Cook on top of double boiler until slightly thick. Beat egg yolks lightly and add a little of the hot mixture to it then stir into the rest of the hot mixture. Add buko mixture and cook a little longer, until thick, stirring constantly. Set aside and make meringue

*Beat egg whites till frothy, add the sugar gradually and beat to soft peaks.

*ASSEMBLE THE PIE: Pour the hot filling into the cooked pie crust and spread evenly. Top the hot filling with the meringue, taking care to spread the meringue to the sides of the crust to seal it. This will prevent the meringue from weeping.

*Bake in 300degF oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool on wire rack.

This buko custard pie turned out very sweet even though I did not add the syrup from the cooked buko. I suggest reducing the amount of sugar (1/4 cup and maybe 1/2 cup) unless you have a sweet tooth. :) Since I do not have Lime to substitute for Dayap, I omitted it. All in all, this is a good take on the buko pie but nothing beats the original of course.
Buko Pie
2 c young coconut, sliced into strips
1/2 c coconut juice
1/2 c condensed milk
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 ready-made pie crust
Bake one pie crust in 350degF until lightly brown. Set aside.
Combine the filling ingredients except the last two (conrstarch and milk) in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Mix the cornstarch and milk.
When the pie filling starts to boil, add the cornstarch mixture, and stir until it has thickened.
Pour into prepared pie crust.
Top with the other pie crust and bake until light brown.
Let the pie cool and refrigerate for a couple of hours until the pie mixture is set.


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