birthday cupcakes for gelli

It was my sister's birthday last March 5. I wanted to surprise her with a birthday cake but seeing that I had no talent whatsoever when it comes to cake decorating, I decided on making some cupcakes instead.



I was suppose to bake the cupcakes before we left for Manila but my oven did not cooperate so I had to bake the cupcakes in Manila one day after her birthday.



I used my trusted chocolate cake recipe but tweaked the frosting a bit. I added cocoa and coffee to half of the frosting. The other half I left plain. I preferred the vanilla frosting but my sisters liked the mocha flavored frosting. Either way, I still have to thank my sister Tanya for taking these photos.

Comfort me with Carrot Cake

My love affair with carrot cake started when I was in college. My good friend Geedes makes scrumptious carrot cakes. I remember helping her bake dozens of carrot cakes in her La Vista kitchen when she was still living here in the Philippines. Her carrot cakes were moist and yummy and generously covered with cream cheese frosting
She's now based in Canada and I miss her and her cooking. On days when I feel sad and start missing friends who are now based halfway around the world, I comfort myself with a hefty chunk of carrot cake and think of the good times I had with them.

Carrot Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans instead of cupcake molds. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and bake the layers for about 40 minutes each, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely. Top cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1-2 tbps milk

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.

Finally! a quick stint in the kitchen

Last Sunday, I joined my family in Manila where our sister is currently based. Since I was already there, I went to Sweet Craft and The Cocoa Pantry to buy some stuffs for me to use this Christmas. After a couple of hours, I found myself in the kitchen with ingredients to make rhum cake.

(my loot)

Let me be the first to tell you that my baking skills are rusty!!! This is what happens when I'm away from the kitchen for a long time. I forgot to preheat the oven. I forgot how to substitute cake flour with all purpose flour (no internet access at that time, so I had to guess!). I couldn't decide between using a regular bundt pan and mini bundt pans. Eventually though, I used the latter but I filled them with way too much cake batter.

(note to self : do not fill pan with way too much cake batter)

(brushing cake with rhum syrup)

(more rhum syrup)

The kitchen gods must love me inspite of my faux pas because after forty minutes, the kitchen smelled so good. Sweet goodies and vanilla heaven! Speaking of vanilla, I used the madagascar bourbon vanilla that my friend Geedes sent me. Made a lot of difference!

( i have two of these from Geedes)

Our house in Bauang is still being renovated. My dad had some people replace the wooden floor with tiles. My room needs repainting but we'll be able to move back home in a couple of days. A few weeks earlier, I had manong Rannie of La Germania check if the oven still works since it was submerged in murky water. He was kind enough to clean the oven. Yay! Baking and cooking galore here I come!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

This post is for dog lovers only...

My blog was named after her. Well sort of. I wanted to use Cuppy Cakes for my blog title but unfortunately that title was already taken so I settled on Cuppy Creme instead.

Anyways, enough about my blog. We've been so busy that we forgot our cuppycupcakey's birthday last November 19. She turned 6. Converted to human years, she's now older than me!

Belated happy birthday Cupcake! We luv luv luv luv you!!!!

what do you do

when things go wrong...

when life throws you a curve ball, one after the other...

when all seem lost...

when you're down...

when the storm rages on ...

when there's nowhere to go but down ...

what do you do?


Pardon the post. I just feel so down right now. Pepeng (the typhoon that devastated Northern Luzon) happened. For the first time, water from the river reached our house, leaving mud and garbage and filthy water and other icky "i-don't-want-to-know-what-that-is" stuff all over. We've been living with our Grandma since October 9 and I am grateful that we have a place to sleep, bathe, wash, eat and be comfortable in, but I miss our house. I miss home.
I miss baking too. I don't know if my oven still works. It was partially submerged, along with our other furniture and appliances.

My friend Chet sent me the following message:

"I’m strong in the Lord. I’m blessed. I’m forgiven. I’m protected. I’m redeemed. I’m
equipped. I’m anointed. Healing flows in my body. New doors will open before me. I’ll
meet the right people, the right opportunities, at the right time, at the right place.
I’ll regain ten times what I lost. In Jesus name!"

I pray.
I thank God for keeping my family safe through the storm.
I pray for strength to get through the day.
I hope for better days ahead.

a doctor a day keeps the sweets away

I paid a visit to my new doctor today. The visit was long overdue actually.
I'm M and I'm what you call a borderline diabetic. Erase that. I'm definitely a diabetic. I come from a long line of diabetics.
So anyways, unlike my past doctors, Dr. R. explained everything to me properly and he told me what foods I should stay the hell away from and what I can consume. So it's bye bye sugar. Bye bye cakes. Bye bye sweets. He said that I have to take care of my pancreas otherwise it's bye bye oral medication and hello insulin shots. He also said that I have 1450 calories a day at my disposal and that I should use it wisely. I also need to monitor my blood sugar regularly.

So today marks the first day of my new routine. Will this routine stop me from baking and cooking? Definitely NOT!!! But I would have to cut back on the sugar bit. Wish me luck!

we need your help

Only days after Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) wreaked havoc in Metro Manila and neighboring towns and provinces, Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) turned back and did more damage than what it inflicted during its first visit last week. As of 6AM this morning in Region 1 alone 25,825 houses were damaged thereby affecting more than 772,285 persons.
Our town of Bauang, La Union was pummeled by Typhoon Pepeng.
According to partial reports as of october 12, 2009 4:30PM the total number of families affected in Bauang reached 2451 The total number of persons affected reached 12,138. Totally damaged houses reached 613 while partially damaged houses reached 1731
Damage to crops reached 200 Million already.

We need many dry clothes, blankets, relief goods, medicines and DRINKING WATER. Please help us in any way you can. You can send your donations (whatever you can spare) to the Office of the Mayor Municipality of Bauang, La Union, Philippines
Thank you very much.