Tuesday, December 29, 2009

#211_Mamon or Filipino Sponge Cake

What is Mamon?
(pronounced, mah-moon)
When chiffon cake batter or sponge cake batter is baked in those little fluted molds, cup cake style, the finished product becomes mamon. Sometimes they are called mini cakes.

When I was growing up mamon can be purchased from any regular bakery and they were available in just one kind...which was the regular mamon. Nowadays, they have what they call Special Mamon from specialty bake shops. These Special mamon are brushed with melted butter then topped with cheese and sugar. Very calorific!!

Mamon can be made from either Sponge Cake or Chiffon Cake batter. These two types of cakes are very similar to each other in texture and in taste, but one main difference is that Sponge Cake do not contain fat in the form of vegetable oil or butter which makes it a fat-free cake while Chiffon Cake contains fat. It doesn't matter, we Filipinos love both kinds.


Use the Orange Chiffon Cake batter recipe #210,
to make fantastic Mamon....

....or you can use any of your favorite chiffon or sponge cake recipes that you may already have.


Pour batter in 24 greased molds, (I use medium size ensaymada molds) then place these molds in sheet pans. (12 molds in a pan). Bake in pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 18 minutes. (test your oven temp. first)

If you don't have the fluted molds, just simply use muffin pans lined with paper liners.

The author of Joy of Baking who owns this recipe that I'm using said to invert the cake immediately upon taking it out of the oven so the cake will not shrink or lose its volume. I can't do that with the mamon in their individual molds, so I just skipped that process.

Hope you'll give this a try. You won't regret you did!

Note from MaMely:

You can use the mamon as a base for strawberry shortcakes, click here. Just spoon some strawberry filling on top of each mamon and top them with cool whip or whipped topping.

Addendum:

Don't worry if you don't have those fluted molds to make Mamon....

You can save tuna fish cans or collect them from friends. It took me a while to save about 20 cans. Make sure to wash them thoroughly before using. I had to soak them in soapy water for a couple of days before I got rid of the fishy smell, but it it's all worth it because I love the size and shape of the finished product.


Make sure to grease the sides and bottom of the cans really well
before spooning in the batter.

Mamon becomes Taisan
I let the Mamon cooled a little on a wire rack, then brushed them
with melted butter and sprinkled with white sugar.


I used some of the Mamon to make Tres Leches Cake
(click here ), and it was great!

#210_Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon Cake
Adapted from Joy of Baking
with just a couple of adjustments in the ingredients.

Update, 5.14.11(Compare with Japanese Cheesecake
or Cream Cheese Chiffon Cake, recipe #297, click here.)

There are 2 parts to the Orange Chiffon Cake:
Part1: the egg yolk mixture
Part 2: the egg whites mixture or meringue


Separate 7 eggs and set aside

Part 1
Egg Yolk Mixture:


2-1/4 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
3/4 cups castor sugar or superfine sugar*
(white sugar works just fine)
1 tsp salt
1 Tb baking powder
Sift all ingredients in a bowl or as Martha Stewart does,
stir with a wire whip

Make a well in the center and add:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice
7 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla


Using a wire whisk or a hand mixer, blend all ingredients together.
This is the egg yolk mixture, (part 1)
Set aside and make the egg white mixture.



Part 2
Egg Whites Mixture
or Meringue
7 egg whites, room temp
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup caster sugar
(or white sugar will do)

Using a stand mixer with the wire whip attachment, whip egg whites until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar
and continue to beat until soft peaks form
then gradually beat in the sugar
.

Continue to whip until stiff-peaks forms.
This is a critical part of making the Chiffon Cake.
You don't want to neither under beat nor over beat your egg whites.
Here's a link on how to whip egg whites:
http://bakingbites.com/2005/06/cooking-school-how-to-beat-egg-whites/


To make the chiffon cake batter:
With a rubber spatula gently fold (in 3 batches) the egg white mixture(part 2) into the egg yolk mixture (part 1) just until it is well blended together. Do not beat or stir the mixture.

Pour batter into ungreased bundt pans and bake in a pre-heated 325 degrees oven for about 55-60 minutes.



The cake is done when tooth pick (I use bamboo skewer)
inserted in to the cake comes out clean.
Invert pan right away after taking it out from the oven
so the cake will not shrink or lose its volume.


Yields:
With this recipe, you can make
12 mamon and 1 bundt cake
or
24 mamon in medium molds (click here)
or
4 (9" round) cakes for Crema de Fruta
(for recipe click here)
or
2 (9x11) cakes for Crema de Fruta
(for recipe click here)

2 (11x5) loaf pans for Custard Cakes
Click here for recipe

http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/150mango-custard-cake.html

(experiment with the baking time)

Notes from MaMely:*I had used regular white sugar in this recipe and it did not affect the texture, at least i thought so.
Caster sugar is the same as the superfine or ultrafine sugars.



Valuable info: How to "fold in" ingredients

"The basic process is to use a large rubber spatula to reach down through the center of the foam to the bottom of the bowl and lift some of the batter up and on top of the foam. As you turn your wrist to deposit the batter on top of the eggs, you turn the bowl a few degrees. Then reach down to the bottom again and lift more of the batter up and over the foam. As the bowl turns, the batter and foam blend, and when there are no traces of egg white left, you’re done.
There are a few tricks that will help you fold. The first is to take a quarter or so of the beaten egg and mix it into the heavier batter. You lose some of the bubbles, but it brings the consistency of the batter closer to that of the foam so they mix better....." Read the rest of the info here.

Monday, December 28, 2009

#209_Gifts from Cyber Friends

A fellow blogger and cyber friend surprised me with these fabulous Christmas gifts:

.... a jar of my favorite bread and butter pickles which she makes, an awesome Christmas card with her beautiful family picture on it, a very nice letter which I enjoyed reading, and a baking gadget called cream horn molds for making bread cones.

I first tried her bread and butter pickles when she sent me a few jars early this year and they are the best! That motivated me to plant some cucumbers this last summer to make some myself using her recipe, unfortunately I only harvested 2 pieces of cucumbers, which was not worth pickling at all. I will give it another try this summer though.

Thank you very much, Manang for your wonderful friendship! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may the coming New Year will be a great year for everyone in your family!!!



Gifts From a Reader:

A sweet reader of this blog sent me these baking gadgets, which she brought back from France, bless her heart! A silpat mat and a couple of silicon baking molds. How wonderful!! Thank you very much Carolina. I will surely put these into good use. I appreciate you and hope you'll continue to find the recipes in this blog useful.

Merry Christmas to you and to your family and loved ones and hope you have a wonderful New Year!!!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas Greetings


TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND BELOVED
READERS OF THIS BLOG:


HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love, MaMely

Thursday, December 24, 2009

#208_Mr. & Mrs. Santa's Lunch


Day Before Christmas


It is Christmas Eve here on this part of the Western continent... North America to be specific. Outside, it has stopped snowing, but there's plenty of snow on the ground and ohhhh, it is f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g cold, but not that frightful though. In fact, it is perfect for sleigh rides, unfortunately though Santa's sleigh broke down. So he and his wife decided to take a break from the hussle and bussle of the holiday season and to have lunch at home.

Mrs. Santa made some fabulous meatloaf using spaghetti sauce plus ketchup instead of the traditional tomato sauce. Moist and awesome!

Then she made a special treat for Santa: home made French fries. It is Mr. Santa's favorite side dish which he can eat a bucketful of these if Mrs. Claus lets him.


...and Santa likes his meatloaf with tomato glaze on top. The glaze is basically ketchup and brown sugar and some spices cooked on top of the stove. He also likes his meatloaf topped with sharp cheddar cheese.


On the other hand, Mrs. Claus likes her meatloaf with just ketchup on top and NO cheese.
She enjoys her meatloaf with garlic fried rice and some bread and butter pickles sent to her by Manang.

Santa's little wify must be a Filipino?!

Now, their bellies are full and Santa sits comfortably in his favorite chair while Mrs. Claus is back in the kitchen making some goodies to take to a Noche Buena party at a friend's house tonight. Yes, Mrs. Santa must be a Filipino to be going to a Noche Buena ( Christmas Eve midnight feast).

From the kitchen, Mrs. Claus can hear loud burps, aside from the other thing, from Mr. Santa emanating from the other room before he finally dozed off followed by sounds of his signature snores. Yes, Santa is as real as anybody else! and that is a much needed nap for Santa as he has been working hard.

He will then be preparing for more coming events, like the following:

An open house with their family on Christmas day where the children and g'children will partake of some yummy desserts and plenty of hors d'oervres or in plain word, munchies.

A trip to an smorgasbord place called Chuck-A-Rama with the whole family and some friends the day after Christmas is on his agenda.

Then Santa will be treating his grand kids to a movie and to McDonalds a few days after that.

Then...hopefully, Mr. Santa can go back in his favorite chair to take a little longer rest and enjoy the coming of NEW YEAR!!

and more hopefully, he can fill up his sack once again with more coins as his fund is running low by now...at least this Santa.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Monday, December 21, 2009

#207_Christmas Treats


Christmas 2009 giveaway treats to friends and neighbors


Crema de fruta or fruit cocktail cakes
for recipe, click here


Cinnabuns
Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Buttercream Frosting
Here are the links for recipes:
click here for buns,
click here or here

Caramel Popcorn Snack Mix
for recipe click here

Sunday, December 20, 2009

#206_Jeremiah & Mandy's Wedding

There are no recipes on this post, but I just wanted to show off pictures of our g'son and his beautiful bride who got married for time and all eternity on the 17th this month in SL temple.

JUST MARRIED
Congratulations to you Jere and Amanda!!!!


G'son Jeremiah and his new bride, at the reception line

A beautiful bride!


More pix on FaceBook.

I moved most of the pictures to the other blog:
http://pinayinutah.blogspot.com/2010/01/jeremiah-and-mandys-wedding-reception.html

Sunday, December 13, 2009

#205_Filipino Christmas Dinner 2009

Friends for 24 years
Aida, me and Erlinda

My friend, Aida has been hosting Filipino Christmas dinners at her home every year for many years now. Today she made my two favorite dishes: Kare-kare and pork paksiw among many other awesome dishes. Si-nuerte ako! Gosh, I thought I died and went to Heaven! I truly enjoyed these two dishes that I didn't allow room for the other good food.

A plate of kare-kare with rice

I was not able to take pictures of all the wonderful goodies she made, but here's a few of them. (more pictures on FaceBook).

Buffet line started here.


Hamonado

Pork Paksiw....walang kaparis
One of my faves
(click here for the recipe)

Pancit

Kare-Kare
My #1 favorite. Aida makes the best kare-kare!
Ang saraaaaaaaap!!!!


Lumpia Shanghai

Mmmmm, shrimps. Sayang I'm allergic to seafood.

Got drunk with diet Coke!

A party without a pot of rice is not a Filipino party.

From me and hubby:
MARAMING SALAMAT, AIDA AND FAMILY!!!
SA UULITIN, HAH?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

#204_Bridal Shower

Please meet our beautiful future G'daughter, Mandy.
She is going to be married for time and all eternity
to our G'son, Jeremiah on the Thursday, 18th


Today, Saturday the 12th was her bridal shower given by her
mom and Jeremiah's mom.

The luncheon was an "all-American" with menu consisting of:
punch, sandwiches, veggie trays with dips, green salad, pasta salad,
chips and dips.


More pictures on FaceBook.