#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.

#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!!!

Christmas Greetings

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND BELOVED
READERS OF THIS BLOG:

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love, MaMely

#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!!!!

#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

#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

#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?

#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.

#203_ International Food Night

Our Ward RS Enrichment night last night was "International Night"
where each of us ladies brought different kinds of food from all over the world.

I represented the Philippines, so guess what I brought?
If you guessed Crema de Fruta, you're right!
It's one of my favorite dessert.

There were so many different varieties of food....
too bad I can't identify all of them for you.

It was so awesome to see so many different goodies,
some of them I've never tried before....

This Sushi Platter stood out

They were made by a couple of young sisters, Caroline and her younger sister, Rose who were originally from the island of Guam. The sushis looked so beautiful arranged in 3 tiers. They did a fantastic job on the presentation.

As I was asking them what's in those sushis, I already made up my mind that I was not going to try one even though the girls were very reassuring that we will like their sushis because they did not contain any fresh fish.

First of all I'm not a big fan of sushi, but I didn't want to offend the girls and did not want to kill their enthusiasm about their masterpiece, so I politely took one, thinking that I can leave it on my plate. I found out that was hard to do when you're sitting with others around a table, so I forced myself to eat the sushi.

The verdict? Surprisingly, I went back to get me a couple more! Yep, I actually liked them....a real surprise!

So, what's in those sushis?! spam and scrambled eggs mix in with the rice then rolled in nori.

Amazingly good after all.

#202_Turkey Sandwich

Super Simple Turkey Sandwich

I always enjoy left over turkeys more than I do the roast turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Aside from making arroz caldo (rice soup), I love making this turkey sandwich. I got the idea from a sandwich that I tried at a restaurant in Camp John Hay, a USAF Base in Bagiuo City many years ago.

Here's how to make this sandwich:

In a heavy skillet, melt a small amount of butter

Toss some shredded turkey (dark meat is best) into the pan with the butter until the meat is just heated through, adding salt and pepper while tossing the meat. Set the hot turkey aside.

Split up a french bread, then butter each side,

grill the buttered sides of bread in a hot pan
(I use cast iron skillet. A toaster oven which i don't own, might work good as well)

spread some mayonnaise on a grilled side (or both sides) of bread

Pile those turkey up as high or as low as you want
on one side of bread, top with cheese slices and cooked bacon (if desired)
then replace the other side of bread on top.

Really good!!
Nothing is better than simple things!

Notes from MaMely:
1) You can use tortillas instead of bread then make Turkey Roll Ups.
2) If you have leftover ham, you might as well throw them in to the pan with the turkey meat.
3) If using bacon and ham, you don't need to use a lot of salt on the turkey meat as the cheese, ham and bacon are loaded with salt already.
4) If using bacon, use the same pan with grease from frying bacon to saute the turkey in....ahh you'll have a flavorful sandwich!!