Egg-free baking

Up until I was asked for one, I had not baked nor tasted an eggless cake ever.  Eggs have always been a vital part of my cakes especially since I like them light and fluffy (as with chiffon).  I agreed to make one without eggs, though with much reluctance, because I saw this as an opportunity to learn something new.

I found out that there are, in fact, a number of egg substitutes in cooking.  I am not about to list them here as there are already a lot of websites particularly dedicated to this. After doing some research, my inclination was to either use egg replacer or flaxseeds.

I set out to experiment on an eggless carrot cake.  To say the least, my first two attempts were disastrous!  I tried two different recipes but used egg replacer for both.  The first cake was way too oily.  The second, on the other hand, was very heavy, much like pudding. I was so frustrated I fed the cakes to the birds!

On my third attempt, I switched to flaxseeds.  I went back to the first recipe, using much less oil this time (1 cup vegetable oil rather than 1 1/2).

Well, lo and behold, as I took out the cakes from the oven, I saw cakes that looked and felt "normal"...nice smooth tops, soft to the touch.  These had to be it!

I iced the cake with whipped cream stabilized with cream cheese.  I know that carrot cake is traditionally frosted with cream cheese frosting but I just find its taste too overpowering so I switched to something lighter.  It was heavenly!

This was how my finished cake looked like.

I wasn't allowed to use nuts as well so I opted to garnish the cake sides with toasted coconut flakes.
 

I didn't get to taste the cake and was really anxious as to whether it was good or not.  Thankfully, those who got to eat it loved it!  I was told that it tasted no different from the normal carrot cake.  They loved the frosting as well.

So that's it.  Another chapter of my continuing learning experience.  This week, I will be baking for two birthdays, my daughter's and my second son's.  To those who have requested for the recipe of my purple yam (ube) cake, please be patient.  I will get that up on this site soon!  I am also working on a new eBook.  Hopefully, will complete that within a week or so.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Perfect Dinner Rolls

My eldest son had all of his 4 wisdom teeth surgically extracted last Saturday morning.  Except for the normal swelling, he seems to be really recovering very well.  Not a single complaint.

Francis is simply like that.  Very quiet, very much like me.  He just goes about his usual business.  He takes his medications by himself without being told.  He doesn't lie around all day expecting people to look after him. 

Being my first-born, I guess I will always worry about him.  I try not too though.  Afterall, he's 16! 

Yesterday, Francis seemed ready for a bit of chewing (but of course, I consulted him first). I cooked tuna casserole but cut his macaroni into little pieces to make it easier for him.  I also baked some dinner rolls.

Freshly baked bread is always very welcome in our home. Especially my dinner rolls. Just right out of the oven, they are super soft and almost melt in the mouth. My son just pinched off small pieces from his bread and it was a breeze to eat.

I found the original recipe here but I had altered it for KitchenAid use. Below is my version. Use whichever of the two recipes suit you! Enjoy!

Perfect Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

6 - 6 1/2 cups bread flour
2 sachets (8g each) INSTANT dry yeast
1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 t bread improver (optional)
1/2 cup warm water
1 1 /4 cups warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup melted butter

Put all the dry ingredients (first 5) in your mixing bowl and combine, with mixer on speed 2 only and using your dough hook. Add the wet ingredients one by one, mixing well after each addition. Let the mixer run for about 6 minutes or until your dough looks smooth and elastic.  Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and knead just a little bit more.

Place your dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the whole surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and again, turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 24 - 30 rolls (or up to 48 rolls if you want them smaller like me) and place in lightly greased baking pans. Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes.

Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container and simply reheat in the oven for a few minutes to make the rolls soft again.

Just another side of me

I took piano lessons for a number of years when I was young. I suppose I was quite good then because my piano teacher was sort of grooming me to get into the Conservatory of Music when I started college. Unfortunately (for her), I had no such plans. I quit taking lessons about a year before I finished high school. One of my life's poor decisions, I guess.

I completely lost access to a piano when I got married and moved out of our home. Expectedly, my skills turned very rusty. Today, we both have a piano and a keyboard and so now, I get to make music occasionally. I am not that good anymore though. It takes a while before I figure out how the notes are played especially when there are so many sharps or flats involved! I hardly perfect any piece I play. The good thing is though, piano playing is much like riding a bike...you never forget it even though you've gone years without practice.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I thought of taking a video of myself playing a piano piece (well, it's actually just my fingers seen on the camera). This is a side of me that's really unknown to many. I am not out to impress or anything like that. I even made a couple of slight mistakes in the video but I kept playing anyway (shame on me!). I hope you'll consider the fact that I haven't played in front of an audience in like 25 years or so!  Having said all that, don't expect to be blown away, ok?

Without further ado, here I am, attempting to play David Benoit's classic Kei's Song from 1987. It's a rather short version for two reasons: 1) because I do not know how to adlib; and 2) I did not want to play the difficult part twice.

Anyway, enjoy!



And here's the real version. I am nowhere close!

Tips re Water Bottle Carrier pattern

A couple of ladies have emailed me recently asking for some help with my water bottle carrier pattern.  I've decided to make this post to give some tips not only for them but for others who have bought the eBook from me as well or for those who are thinking of doing so in the future.

The main concern has been how to pin the circle base to the cylinder body so it will fit neatly.  Before I proceed, it is my assumption that: 1) the required seam allowance for the cylinder was followed strictly, and 2) the circle base diameter was correctly obtained using the formula in the eBook.

Why does the circumference of the circle base seem bigger than it should be?

The answer is...because it really should.  The unsewn circle base includes the seam allowance, therefore, it's circumference is slightly bigger than the circumference of the already sewn cylinder.

When aligning the circle base to the cylinder, do not attempt to pin together along the edges because it will not work.  What you should be aligning to the cylinder is the (imaginary) stitching line, as shown in the photo above.  To do this, press the edges together, push the center of the circle in and pin where the stitching line would be.  You may not find the exact fit immediately but as you adjust the pins, it should end up fitting correctly.

After you have sewn the pieces together, you will see (as in the photo below) that the circle base is pushed in.  The final circumference of this circle is now exactly the same as the body of the carrier.

When you turn the bag to its right side, you should have a nice circle bottom with no tucks (or if there is any, it shouldn't be noticeable).

I don't know if my explanation was clear enough, but again, with accurate seam allowances and correct circle diameter, you shouldn't have any more problems.

Let me know how it works out for you.

Copycat

Here are a couple of things you've probably seen elsewhere that I recently made my own versions of. I do not mean to be a copycat but sometimes it's just nice to know that, rather than buying, I can just make them myself...

Fruit/Vegetable Shopping Bags

You've seen these around, haven't you?

Each fruit/vegetable pouch opens up to reveal a shopping bag scrunched within. Neat, huh?

A few days ago, I found a great tutorial on how to make one of these cuties! While I didn't need another shopping bag (I already have heaps!), I nevertheless tried to make one, just for the fun of it.

I made my pouch a little bigger since my fabric was thicker...alas, it still wasn't roomy enough. I see now that it was a bad idea using medium-weight fabric since I really had to squish the bag into the pouch. I ended up making it very wrinkly, which is not great at all. But it was worth the try anyway. I would probably do this again once I find out where to buy the right material.

Purple Yam (Ube) Cake ala Red Ribbon Bakeshop

We had a small gathering last night to remember my brother Rey on the 40th day since his passing. I made another purple yam (ube) cake for our after dinner dessert. This is one cake I have been trying to perfect for a while now.

Red Ribbon Bakeshop makes the best commercially available ube cake in the Philippines. They have branches in the USA but none here in Australia, so there is really no way I would be able to satisfy my craving for this kind of cake than by baking it myself. I have in fact already come up with a recipe that more or less approximates the same taste and texture. But what I really wanted was something comparable to the Red Ribbon ube cake look. So that is what I set out to do. I think I finally did it!

The cakes on the left are file photos of Red Ribbon ube cakes on the web. The one on the right is mine. Both versions are three-layered chiffon cakes covered with whipped cream frosting and ube cake crumbs. Both have piped rosettes on the top too but I added the stars in the bottom because I had leftover frosting. I know my cake looks more like indigo (deep blue purple) in the photos but really, in person, both cakes are very similar in colour. Both vibrantly purple!

Instead of using the same whipped cream frosting as filling, I made an ube/macapuno pastry cream to spread in between the cake layers.(Macapuno is basically young coconut that is simmered in water and sugar until the mixture becomes syrupy. It is readily purchased in bottles.)

Did my cake taste like Red Ribbon's? Absolutely! It was super moist and turned out as beautiful as I had imagined it to be. The pastry cream made it so much richer...too rich for my taste actually...I think I will just stick to whipped cream and keep it simple...

My copies weren't perfect...but they were in fact quite good. For sure, I can only do better next time around.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Tutorial: How to Make a Patchwork Pillow

A long overdue tutorial!  I say this because I had planned on doing this a good six months ago when I made my first patchwork pillow.  Thankfully, I still had all the materials in my stash, most of which are simply leftovers from previous projects.

This pillow can be sewn even by beginners and will take only an hour or two to whip up.  Interested?  Let's get to it then!

How to make a Patchwork Pillow

Finished pillow size: 16 3/4" square
Seam allowance: 3/8" throughout

Requirements:

18  - 5" by 5" quilting cotton squares in assorted prints
approximately 18" (H) by 25" (W) plain cotton fabric (I used natural linen)
polyester filling
sewing essentials such as thread, needle, sewing machine, ruler, marker, pins, etc.
basic sewing skills

Procedure:

1.  Cut plain cotton fabric in the following manner:
     4 pieces - 2 3/4" (H) by 13 1/2" (W) for top and bottom edges of pillow
     4 pieces - 17 1/2" (H) by 2 3/4" (W) for right and left sides of pillow

2.  Position nine squares into 3 rows of 3 squares each row until desired layout is achieved.

3.  Assemble top row by stitching the squares right sides together.  Press the seams down to the right.

4.  Stitch the middle and bottom rows in the same way.  Press the seams down in alternating directions.

5.  Stitch rows right sides together along the long sides to complete the 3 by 3 patchwork square.  Be sure that all seamlines are aligned.  Press the horizontal seams open.

6.  With right sides together, sew top and bottom strips to patchwork square.  Press top seam upward and bottom seam downward.

7.  With right sides together, sew right and left strips to the patchwork square.  Press right seam to the right and left seam to the left.

8.  Repeat steps 2 to 7 for the other side of the pillow using the remaining squares and strips.

9.  With right sides together, sew front and back of pillow all around but leave a 3" opening in the bottom for turning.  Clip corners.

10.  Turn pillowcase right side out, pushing corners out well.  Stuff firmly with polyester filling.

11.  Slipstitch the opening closed.

There you have it, you're all done! Easy, wasn't it?  Enjoy your new, one-of-a-kind patchwork pillow!

Hope you all found the tutorial helpful.  Have fun sewing!

PS.  I will make a PDF version of this tutorial available shortly. DONE! Download it here.

Goodbye my brother

I just returned from a short trip to the Philippines.  I went home to say goodbye to my dear brother Rey, who passed away on the 11th of May.

In Rey's obituary, his children quoted the chorus from Dan Fogelberg's song, Leader of the Band....

The leader of the band is tired

And his eyes are growing old

But his blood runs through

My instrument

And his song is in my soul --

My life has been a poor attempt

To imitate the man

I'm just a living legacy

To the leader of the band.

Clearly, the reason why they included these words was because of their dad's deep passion for music and the great influence he has had on their own love for it.  I, however, see these words in a completely different light...

You see, for 25 years, Rey lived a very troubled life.  He was distressingly into drugs and alcohol.  He was in and out of rehabilitation.  He went from being very successful to jobless, being healthy and handsome to wasted and haggard, from being so materially blessed to poor, from being number one in everything to hitting rock bottom.  I was young then and though I witnessed what was going on, I could not fully understand it.  I can honestly say that at that time, I did not feel any hatred for my brother, even though he caused so much pain and heartache to my parents and to his wife and children.  What I really felt was pity. I could not comprehend why I was seeing my brother suffer while we, his family, lived our lives comfortably.  I did not know how to help him.

Rey often labelled himself as the black sheep of the family.  I now realize that he wasn't the black sheep at all...he was in truth, the chosen one.

The Lord chose Rey for His mission...His mission to bring us all closer to Him.  Rey had to tread the difficult path in order for us to experience, through him, God's faithfulness, His perfect love, kindness and mercy.  We learned to pray hard because of him.  In the last 20 years of his life, Rey made a miraculous journey to conversion and in the process, led a lot of other people to conversion as well. The Lord gave him a new life and he lived it so well. I believe that his passing is the Lord's way of telling us that his earthly mission has already been accomplished. The Leader of the Band for Rey was actually Jesus Christ and his legacy is his own life story, which in his own words he said, was a testimony of how "astonishing Jesus' power is".  He truly saves!

Before I left the Philippines, I found this photo of my mom and Rey, taken years ago during one of our many family outings.

 

I was overcome with great sadness at this sight, but at the same time, I also felt consolation when I imagined what it might have been like when my mom welcomed Rey with open arms as he entered heaven.  What a joyful reunion that must have been!

Before I end, I would like to request that you may so kindly say this short prayer for my brother... 

May the choir of angels come to greet you

May they speed you to paradise

May the Lord enfold you, Rey, in his mercy

May you find eternal life

Until we all meet again.

May Rey finally rest after a job well done. Thank you all.