St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all you Irish and non-Irish.

Here's a cake I made for the occasion which isn't exactly the cake I had in mind to make. I was actually aiming to make this cake but then my food colouring wasn't working and didn't darken my cake sponges at all. I didn't also want to add any more colouring as I didn't want it to go bitter so I just left it.

At first I also decided to use the sponge for Victoria sponge cake but I didn't have any self-raising flour so I had to use plain flour and baking powder instead; the cake didn't rise and ended up really tough nearly like a stone (gasp!) and bitter too because of the colouring.

So then I reverted back to what my mind still had fresh in it's stores which is the genoise sponge. We had just finished making these in college and I actually practised this 3-4 times there and if you follow me on Instagram there would be a load of pictures there of those from college.

I used that sponge for this cake and also used sugar syrup to moisten the cake but it's still not as moist so I'm still trying to look for a good liquid that doesn't alter the taste as much unlike orange juice or liquor so any suggestions would be helpful :)

In the end, I just decided to rely on the icing/decoration to make this cake some what St. Patricks related so I coloured my cream with a lot of food colouring and added loads of sugar to make sure it's not bitter (and it's so not :) yay) and as you can see, even with the cream, the colouring didn't really colour much so I think next time I will use gel/paste instead of liquid.

I just piped randomly around the cake to cover it (still practising with my piping and my piping nozzles and this was the first time I used them so excuse my skills haha) and then I got an idea of making shamrock chocolate motifs. Then when the cake was finally in the the fridge all covered with shamrocks and icing, I suddenly got an idea, BAM! Duh? Golden coins of course! Got some gold coins the next day from the market and placed them around the cake and voila!

Definitely going to attempt the ombre cake sometime again in the future but for now, here's my St. Patrick's Day cake.

Happy Mother's Day

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Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and all those that are with the angels now too. 

Just sharing here a few treats I got my mother: some flowers, Krispy Kreme donuts, Scottish short bread cookies and as if all those treats aren't enough to break down the teeth, I also made  Sans Rival (Buttered Cashew Layered Meringue Cake), which is a Filipino dessert and then a Burberry perfume :)

I made this Sans Rival cake as my mum wanted one for a while now so I Googled search a recipe and clicked on the first one and the cake turned out good.

The cake is sweet and soft but the icing is quite liquidy and was actually oozing out of the cake so I put it in the fridge to harden it a bit and re-iced the cake.

It's also really sweet so I only put a thin layer of icing on and more of the cashew.

Very sweet and calorific dessert but forget about calorie counting and being nutritious for a moment, it's Mother's Day so indulge.

Red Velvet

Cake is always a good idea but what's even better is if the cake is chocolate, carrot or red velvet. 

Then what's even better is if it's served with some pretty summer fruit to embrace those short lived glimpses of sunshine we're currently having.

The cake doesn't look as red but the taste makes up for what the colour lacks, after all cake is all about the 'mmmm' and 'OH MY GOD' when you take that first bite.

Valentines Day treats

Valentines Day treats

So what's happening in 4 days? None other than Valentines Day of course, so I've gathered a few treats that  I think would be lovely for the day.

1.) Waffle strawberry and mascarpone easy dessert - a few weeks ago I watched James Martin's 'Sweet' and the episode was called 'Supermarket' where he made easy desserts with supermarket bought items and I literally spent 5 minutes making this beautiful dessert and gave it to my dad. Let's just say he 'OH MY GOD'ed at it at least 3 times. Easy, beautiful and delicious = perfect.

2.) Chocolate cupcakes with cherry toppings and heart shaped shortbread sandwiches with jam filling  - Okay, I may have cheated with these ones since they were made from last year and I just re-used the pictures but I'm planning to make them again so I guess that makes up for it? maybe? Anyway these are pretty easy to make and if you're lazy like me, just buy cupcake/cake mix and then follow the instructions and top with icing and some nice cherries for Valentines touch. For the shortbreads, make sure you don't roll them out too thin since they're not nice crispy or brown at all, fill with jam and you have some nice cookie sandwiches. 

3.) Sweethearts chocolate and hazelnut sandwiches - I made this the other day with the recipe from Good Food's February magazine and my heart shaped cutter was bigger than the brioche bread so I had to make the smaller ones and then made the tiniest hearts as well as to not waste the off cuts and I must say this is a pretty heavenly breakfast. Fill the brioche bread (butter ones are really nice and soft) with Nutella for that hazelnut goodness, dip in egg, milk, vanilla extract and caster sugar mix and dip in chopped hazelnuts for that crunchy texture then fry until brown for that crispiness.

I decided to serve with mascarpone cream instead of ice cream like it said in the recipe as I thought it better with the creaminess and goes well with the strawberries as well :)

You better half would totally love this and it's totally a good start to V Day.

4.) Ferrero Roche cupcakes - who doesn't love Ferrero Roches (you there who just replied 'me' better re-think your answer). Ferreos for me are the ultimate Valentines/Christmas chocolates ever but then my opinion is biased since they're my favourite chocolates but they're just so lovely with the different layers and the surprise nut inside *sigh of love*

Buy a cake mix, follow the instructions, place the Ferrero Roche in the middle before putting in the oven and then bake it and voila = you have the awesomest and easiet cup cakes.

5.) Macarons - macarons are just the ultimate treat, they're light, they're sweet and they're oh so cute with the different colours. I haven't perfected making macarons yet but this batch wasn't so bad. Just use butter cream, add pink/red food colouring for Valentines and tada! You have some pretty nice macarons :)

 I hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day with you loved ones and if you're single then hey, all the better, you can make all these and keep it all to yourself right? Greedy you say? Of course not, not if it's Valentines Day!

Sunday's Treat

Sunday's Treat

(Banana split with hot chocolate sauce, Hershey's sauce, ferrero roche, raspberries and Halo-Halo ice cream)

Ever since being health conscious, I decided that I will only have proper treats every Sunday and this Sunday  I made banana splits. 

Not the typical ordinary banana split with just bananas, chocolate sauce and ice cream but I went the extra mile and added Ferrero Roches as well to add that crunchy texture on top of the halo-halo ice cream. If you don't know what halo-halo is, click here. It's this amazing Filipino dessert made into ice cream and it's just so heavenly. I'm so glad China Town stocks it because its the closest I will come to having it here in the UK.

Also used Hershey's sauce on top of the hot chocolate sauce I already made since the hot chocolate sauce wasn't quite dark enough to my liking. I added raspberries to add colour (this part was inspired by the recipe in Rosemary Conley's low fat cookbook)

Still deciding on what Sunday treat to have for next week, any suggestions?

A Mosaic of Food

A Mosaic of Food

 A part of my New Year's Resolution this year is to cook more as well as to lose weight and be healthier and  I know it's a big battle to lose weight especially if you love food but then this year I've started to touch on and learn a lot of ways I can still enjoy food.

Here are some of my dinner meals I have made, nearly all of them from the recipes of the Hairy Dieters which are healthy approved but at the same time oh so good.

I find that my taking snap shots of my meals, I also feel better looking back at them and also realising I am meeting my resolution of cook more and also blog here more.

Follow me on Instagram: @marieljanina where I post my meals before I indulge in them :) 

Chocolate sponge cake in chocolate sauce

Chocolate sponge cakes with chocolate sauce and bananas that we had to create in college last Monday except the bananas of course. I added that and the chocolate sprinkles and icing sugar for the pictures.

I love chocolate and hopefully tomorrow, we'll be making these again so I can have more of it :)

Tagliatelle with Beef and Tomato Sauce topped with 4 Cheese Sauce

Tagliatelle with Beef and Tomato Sauce, which was supposed to be Cream Tomato Sauce but then I forgot the cream so I just had to make the sauce plain, topped with 4 Cheese Sauce, cheeses including:

• cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Garlic and Herb Cheese, just to add a little extra taste)
• stilton cheese (just a little bit, because it has a really strong taste)
• Gloucester Cheese (for sprinkling on top of the dish before baking to give it that orange topped melted cheese look
• Cheddar Cheese (like the Gloucester cheese, it is also used for the top base to crisp the top layer and give the dish that golden brown melted cheese colour

For the 4 Cheese Sauce, the cream cheese and stilton cheese would have to be heated with milk and cornflour to melth them and this would them be poured over the pasta and beef with tomato sauce. And finally, the Gloucester and Cheddar, sprinkled on top to melt in the oven.

Made by Mariel Parton for a school coursework.

finger lickin' good

Here is my newest creation: Halloween Cookie Fingers

I planned to make these along with Ghost Meringues, which didn't turn out as expected. So I created these yesterday, 4 days late from Holloween.

The recipe I used came from Asda monthly/seasonal magazine. The process was easy and the cookies turned out quite well. It tasted cheesy however, a bit dry.

Also, I thought they didn't look like fingers but my sister definitely did, that she even said she was scared to eat them because they looked terrifying.

Polvorons

Few weeks ago, I made some *polvorons because my mom and sister asked me to make some; I don't have the slightest clue why, but my sister started it all, she must've seen a picture from Tumblr. When she started asking me, my mom followed her then and so I tried it.

I found a recipe from Google, the recipe, I presume, was written by a fellow Filipino as she mentioned going back to the Philippines. It was really easy but time consuming when moulding it, if you don't own polvoron moulder like I do. You could use a measuring spoon or small measuring cup like I did, or anything you think can mould them. The moulds can break easily, so if you are a perfectionist, you may have to do them again but if not, then its less time wasted.

The polvorons turned out good, but could be better because the flour was a bit burned so it had a slight taste of burn but it still worked out with the other flavours.

*Polvoron - is a type of Andalusian (a community of Spain) shortbread made with flour, sugar, milk and nuts

(description courtesy of Wikipedia)

Saturday cake day

chocolate indulgence

With a load of free time and inspiration, I decided to one day re-do my failed cupcakes due to lack of colour. I followed Jawo's recipe for cupcake and icing but changed the main icing ingredient from cream cheese to chocolate to create this chocolate indulgence cupcakes.

With limited garnishing ingredients, I decided to use chocolate sprinkles and peanuts; classic cupcake decorators.


The cupcakes turned out better than the first ones I created however, like the first ones they are still a bit dry and so another trial seems to be echoing in my head.

Mariel's Chocolate Brownies

Moist, chocolatey, chrunchy,brownie! Bursting with heavenly flavours of chocolate, peanut and the unique taste of cinnamon present in the dark chocolate among the ingredients of the cake.

Proud of baking the best cake I have created so far Chocolate Brownie. The anomalous taste of the dark chocolate filling made from cocoa produced in Ghana mixed with cinnamon and orange making its powerful alcohol-like taste. Within the boundaries of the chocolate circulates the strong taste that makes the whole cake's taste powering.

Within tasting it the first time can be alienating however, as you eat it with rehasing the taste, you then discovers the unique taste of the cake produced by the chocolate filling that overpowers the taste of the main cake.

Father and sister, liked the cake for it's original taste of what sort they seem to describe as alcohol-like taste and smell and the taste of the cake with cream makes it better and makes it more likeable.

It has been the best cake so far. With the overall presentation and taste it can be classified as average on my scale meter within my baking and cooking.