Cathedral Window

Originally Posted: May 2010 

Here is my official version of the Cathedral Window. After almost a decade of not making this recipe, I finally conceded to make it one more time to see if I still want to eat it and to check if my picky kids would like it too. This is an adaptation of the old recipe I had.

CATHEDRAL WINDOW

Ingredients:

2 packets Knox gelatin (1/2 ounce)
1/2 cup cold water
1 can condensed milk
2 cups all-purpose cream (500ml or 2 tetra pack Nestle All-Purpose Cream)
colored jellos/gulaman (I used green and red Alsa Mr. Gulaman)

Directions:

1. Prepare your cubed jellies ahead. Simply follow the instructions that comes with the jelly you bought. I used Alsa gulaman in green and red colors only. The gulaman takes about 30-45 minutes to cool down and set. Cut into cubes.

2. Sprinkle 2 packets of Knox gelatin to water and allow to soften for two minutes then melt the gelatin by microwaving for 30 seconds or by slowly heating it over low fire. Once gelatin has melted, mix the rest of the ingredients.

3. Mix the cubed jellies and transfer to your jelly mold. You can use any shape you like, any mold you like. Even glasses will do. Allow to set then chill for a few hours (if you can wait) before eating. If you plan to serve it to your guests, I suggest you use the old school jelly mold, the one that has a removable bottom for easy release.

Enjoy it, it still is the tastiest, yummiest Cathedral Window for me.

Edited: 19 January 2010 for my friend, Anna.

For the colored jellos, I prefer to use the cheap Agar-agar carrying the brand name Mr. Gulaman and the other one, I forgot, similar to the former. These are the ones that requires 6 cups of water per sachet and sets really, really well. Just add a little sugar to make it not to bland.

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My First 5-Tier Wedding Cake

When I accepted this order in September, I couldn't sleep. I was too excited at the same time worried. Three weeks before the event, I was confident I could nail it, and I did. Here is a blurry picture of it.

and a not so blurry one...

Oh boy, was I proud? Oh yeah, baby! There was no panic, everything was a breeze, from preparation to delivery to set up. Whew! I would definitely do it again but it would have been easier, I mean lighter, if some layers are dummy cakes. This was just too heavy. Of course, we did not deliver this stacked but carrying the 3 bottom tiers was back-breaking.

Each layer was doweled with nothing but large bubble straws, no center dowel was used for this one. The bride and groom loved it inside out. That was her word.

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Boiled Icing 2

For quite sometime now, I have been using this Boiled Icing which is the meringue base for the Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) recipe from Joe Pastry's site. The meringue recipe is very similar to the boiled recipe I had posted before except for the amount of sugar that is cooked. In my old boiled icing recipe, all the sugar is cooked while the one below, only a cup is boiled. The sugar in this one is also 3/4 a cup lesser making it less sweet than the previous one. Just read through my notes.


BOILED ICING 2

Ingredients:

5 eggwhites
1 1/2 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

I started to adapt this recipe after my first successful IMBC using their recipe. I had observed that the boiled icing here is more stable and the sugar is cooked faster.

Start off by mixing 1 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Do not stir and make sure there are no specks of sugar on the side of the pan above the water level. Wash them down with drops of water. No need to use pastry brush to do this task. A spoon will do.

Speaking from experience makes me believe that the kind of saucepan you use affects the way the sugar cooks. I have three small stainless saucepans. Two of these are thick-bottomed ones of really good quality while the third one, though not cheap, is a little thinner than the two. Boiling sugar on the last pan always gives me burnt sugar. I won't even make choco fudge icing on this one because it gives me the same result, burnt chocolate. So, I think the kind of saucepan you use has a big role in making a successful boiled icing.

Set the sugar on low heat. Use the smaller burner on your stovetop as much as possible. I don't start heating my sugar on medium -high as opposed to the instruction from Joe Pastry. I did it once on medium heat and it left some crystals on the bottom of my pan.

While waiting for the sugar to boil, start beating your eggwhites with 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. As soon as it gets to softpeak stage (no more big bubbles or you may refer to the photos at Joe Pastry's site), start adding your 1/4 cup sugar gradually and beat it until stiff but not dry. Once you get to that stage, you can left it at that while you wait for the sugar to cook .

I suggest that you set aside anything you wish to do (like checking FB) while waiting for the syrup to reach the softball stage and just focus your attention to it, admiring the entire process :). When the necessary temperature is almost reached you will visibly notice that the sugar turns a little sticky. Start your thread test.

Okay, before discussing this thread test, let me tell you why I don't use my candy thermometers anymore. My digital/instant read thermometer had ran out of battery and I am too lazy to replace it. It was the more accurate thermometer but if you happen to own one, please note that you need to calibrate it. It is the same with the regular candy thermometer. I will put a note at the last part of this post on how to check for accuracy in your thermometers. Okay, main reason why I don't use them is because with the thread test I cannot go wrong. Simply said, I don't trust my thermometers.

I had attempted before to take pictures of this "thread test" but my camera just couldn't focus on the tiny strand of thread. I checked Google and there is non either :D. So for now just use your imagination.

To do the thread test, dip the end of a spoon into your sugar and lift it above the pan and let the syrup drip. If the soft ball stage is nearly reached you should notice a thread starts to hang from spoon. The higher the temperature gets, the longer the thread is, the more cooked your sugar is. What we are looking for is a thread about 4-6" long. If you see that, turn off the heat, start your mixer again and start pouring the sugar in thin streams to the eggwhite. You may want to do it the Joe Pastry way. Add a little, mix a little, add a little, mix a little. This will avoid splattering the sugar on your mixing bowl. Once all the sugar is added, run your mixer on high and keep beating until the meringue is stiff. I do it for 5-8 minutes on my Kitchenaid mixer and maybe 10 minutes in the hand mixer. I found that with this recipe, there is no risk of over beating it.

My college friend who used to bake told me that her mom puts "kalamansi" (small green lime) juice in her icing and when I asked her what it does, though she, herself, was not sure of her answer, said it could be for keeping the icing from crusting. My mom said she used to do it too but could not give me a scientific explanation. Duh!

That's it, your boiled icing is ready to use. For more questions on this type of icing, feel free to leave a comment here. I'd appreciate if you include your first names so I can address you properly rather than having to call you Ms. Anonymous.

And oh! Yeah, the thermometer. I read it from an old recipe book from my Mom and I quote:

"To check candy thermometer for accuracy, let stand 10 minutes in boiling water. Thermometer should read 212 degrees. If there is any variation, subtract or add to make the same degree of allowance in testing candy."

Now please note that the boiling point of water varies depending on your location. The above test is for locations on sea level only. If you happen to be neighbors with Spongebob, that would be a different story.

Let me leave you a photo of my attempt to pipe roses using this boiled icing recipe. They're not perfect (I suck in piping), they softened a bit,  but the roses did not melt.

I was piping still a quarter of the basketweave side and my hand already screamed, "STOP!"

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Tinkerbell Cake - A Super Rush Work

December 1st was my son's birthday. I was not supposed to accept any orders for the next day as I was expecting I'd be so tired. I had one order lined up already. That should have been enough. But here goes this close friend who we are indebted too much who wants a birthday cake for her daughter. I just cannot say no. They gave me freehand on what to make but gave me a tip that her daughter likes Tinkerbell. I started decorating the cake an hour before they'll start the dinner celebration. I told my husband I'd like to play dead (LOL) to give me an excuse not to finish the cake. I was already too tired. Three hours of sleep the previous night, cleaned a big party left-over-mess , finished the cake, cupcake and bars for another customer...blah, blah, blah! So this is what I came up with in an hour. 

Arg, the image wasn't even centered on the cake. Oh well, the face was. I put the face first and made the mistake of putting it in the center, not considering the hair at all.

The cake was 9x3 Moist Chocolate cake filled and frosted with Boiled Icing. The Tink face was cut from my usual 50-50 mixture of gumpaste and classic rolled fondant. To make a flesh colored paste, add a very little red, a little yellow and very little green to your paste. Add a little more of each color to attain the perfect flesh color you like. 

To make the Tinkerbell face, print out a Tink face on a thick (board) paper. Cut out the face and the hair separately. Roll out the flesh gumpaste to your desired thickness then lay the cut out face and cut using a sharp blade. I use a scalpel with # 11 blade. When cutting the top part of the face cut it past the pattern so that the hair will have something to lay down on. I hope you get what I mean.

Color some paste yellowish brown for the hair. Roll it and cut using the cut out hair pattern. Do the same for the eyes using a white paste. For the eyes, I roll a little blue ball then flatten it with my finger and did the same for the black part. Paint the eyebrows and lashes with a very small paint brush and gel colors mixed with a little gin/alcohol.

To make lips I outlined it first using the scalpel then scrape out the gumpaste to make a small indentation.This makes forming out the lips easier.  Rolled out very little pink gumpaste and filled the indentation. That's it. No special tool was used on this one. I'd be glad to make more like this one. Just not rushed please!

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Hello Kitty Cake

Let me just share with you one of my latest project, this Hello Kitty cake.

I never thought I would be happy with the result of this cake. First of all I was frustrated with the pink airbrush color. I did not airbrush this though. I just used a paint brush to apply the color. If you look closely the pink color was uneven (blame it on the airbrush color, I should have never used it) but seeing the overall effect of the cake, it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Then the kitty head. I was to use rice crispy treats on it but there were none available at the only store that sells them here so I baked a 6" cake for this one. I was scared the cake would crumble so what I did was coat the cake first with melted white chocolate instead of the usual buttercream. That served well as the binder.

Overall, I was happy that both the Mom and her daughter loved the cake. By the way, this wasn't an original idea. The design was inspired by a photo sent by the Mom.

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This Makes Me Nervous

I will be doing a 5-tier wedding cake on December 28 and just the thought of it makes me both excited and nervous. Why?

1. It would be my first time to do a super huge cake. The biggest I have done is a three-tier cake. I accepted the order because if I won't I would never have this "first time".

2. My oven is small and can only accommodate a max of 14" cake which means I will be baking several sheet cakes to be assembled for the cakes bigger than 14". Help me God!

3. Rolling a huge fondant, my golly wow! What if the weather does not cooperate? Oh, please!

4. The travel. It is going to travel (unstacked, of course) to Dakak Beach Resort, an hour drive with uphills and downhills and partly bumpy road. I am wishing that by then the concreting of the road is fully done. Oh, please! The travel would be the biggest ordeal.

When the party planner inquired about the cake one thing that was running through my mind... I hope she won't order from me hahaha. Gosh, gives me butterflies...

For now, I will set that aside... When that day comes, let's see what happens.

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Black Forest Cake

Black Forest Cake is a cake of German origin. It is said that the addition of cherry liquor gives the cake its authentic taste. However, to make the cake suitable even for my kids, I omit the liquor and replace it with cherry syrup instead. I simply use the syrup from either the cherry pie filling or from the bottled whole cherries. This recipe is an adaptation of the Black Forest Cake from my favorite (for now) recipe book. If you read my previous post, you will know what it is.

The cake is made by first baking the chocolate chiffon cake then assembled with whipped cream frosting and cherries. Hubby once asked why I don't use our famous chocolate cake as the base. To me, the moist chocolate cake is too dense for such cake. The lightness of the chiffon cake is just perfect for this type of dessert.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – 2TBSP all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp coffee
• 1/4 cup cocoa

• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 eggyolks
• 1/3 cup water

• 4 eggwhites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line the bottom of 2 8x2 round pan with greaseproof paper. Do not grease.
2. Measure, sift and mix the first set of dry ingredients above then make a well in the center. Add in order the oil, eggyolks and water.
3. Mix with a wire whip or wooden spoon until there are no lumps. Do not overmix. It usually just take me about a minute or two to do this. Set aside.
4. Beat the eggwhites with the cream of tartar until frothy then gradually add the sugar and beat on high until stiff but still glossy.
5. Mix 1/3 of the beaten eggwhites to the cake batter and fold gently until fully incorporated. Fold in the remaining eggwhites.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. After removing from the oven, cool the cake in an upside down position in a wire rack.

Prepare the soaking syrup:

SYRUP:

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3 TBSP CHERRY brandy

Boil the sugar and water and let simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add in the cherry brandy.
Spoon or brush this syrup over the surface of the unmolded cake.

For the Fillng & Frosting:

2 cups chilled whipped cream
1/2 c sifted powdered sugar
1 bar Cream Cheese (optional)
Cherry pie filling
Shaved chocolate


First some notes about the frosting:

1. The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup sugar. To me 1/2 cup is enough. The sweetness of the cake, the syrup and the chocolate shavings will make up for that part.

2. Most Black Forest Cake recipe don't call for cream cheese but I tell you the cream cheese will make it the best BFC you've ever had. I divide my BFC cakes into two categories: Regular and Premium. The cream cheese is added to the latter.

3. Whipped cream must be chilled overnight or at least 3 hours but I now use Bakersfield Whippit non-dairy cream so I do not have to chill it.

4. If you are in the Philippines and find the imported "whipping" cream expensive or live in a place where there are no whipping cream (like here, ugh), do not worry, the Alaska All-Purpose Creamer can do the job. I find it better smelling than Nestle. Do I sound like I'm endorsing?

To make the frosting, whip your chilled cream with the powdered sugar using an electric beater until it doubles in volume. In a separate bowl beat the creamcheese until light and fluffy. Fold this into the whipped cream.

If you want a more stable whipped cream frosting, you can add gelatin to it. Do this as your first step. Sprinkle a tablespoon (1 packet Knox) to 4 tablespoons cold water. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. Microwave at half power for 10-30 seconds to melt the gelatin or you can melt it using the double boiler method. Let cool but do not allow it to set. Add this after the cream has attained the necessary volume and continue beating the cream until soft peaks are formed.

To assemble the cake, fill it with the whipped cream frosting, spoon cherry pie filling over the whipped cream. I process my cherry pie filling in the food processor because I do not want whole cherries in the filling. Top the iced layer with the second cake. Frost the entire cake. Pipe some rosettes on top of the cake, spoon some more pie filling on top. Garnish with whole cherries and chocolate shavings.

More notes:

For the garnish, I buy the whole cherries with stem. For the chocolate shavings, I use a thin knife if I want to make curls and run it over a chocolate bar. When I am lazy, I use a peeler.

If you want a four-layer BFC, double the cake recipe and bake it in 2 9" pan then just torte each cake to make 4 layers.

After discovering Bakersfield Whippit, I feel in love with it. It is a very stable whipped cream. I just have to add water to the paste and whip it. It whips beautifully. Heaven. It is very stable and doesn't melt. It gives very beautiful result. When using Whippit, I omit the sugar because it is already slightly sweetened.

Hope you like it. Enjoy!

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Sans Rival

Sans Rival literally translated as "no rival" is a meringue cake layered with cashew (or any other nut) nuts and french buttercream. Why french buttercream? It's because it is the way to use up the eggyolks from the meringue. The recipe is very simple. I got this from my ever favorite baking book, "Dorothy's Cooking School Cookbook 1". I have adapted the recipe and procedure.

Meringue Layer:

1 cup eggwhites (I used 9 eggwhites)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup ground cashew nuts (I toasted it before grounding)

French Buttercream:

4.5 oz (or 9 Tablespoons) water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
9 eggyolks
1 1/2 cups butter
4 tsps dark rum (optional)

Garnishings:
1 cup coarsely chopped cashew nuts

Note:

For the ground cashew nuts, I used a food processor to grind it. You can use a blender, too.

For the garnishing, I ran the food processor for a few seconds to chop the nuts. Makes the job so much easier.

I halved the recipe for the meringue and made it in two batches because my oven is small and can only accommodate two small cookie sheets.

Note that the colored text below is my adaptation.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 300 deg F. Line the underside of 3 8x12x2 pan with aluminum foil. Set aside

(I used two jelly roll pans, lined it with parchment paper (not waxed paper) and outlined it using 9x13 pan (that's the only one I have).

Beat the eggwhites with the cream of tartar until frothy. At medium speed, gradually add the sugar. Once all the sugar is added, beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold the vanilla and ground nuts.

Divide the mixture equally among the baking pans and spread it evenly. I used the outline of the pan on the parchment as guide. Do not spread it too thick. The second batch I made was too thick and went soggy after cooling down because the inner part of the meringue wasn't yet thoroughly baked. Do not spread it too thin either.

Bake for 45 minutes to one hour or until meringue is evenly colored. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing the paper.

Prepare your frosting:

Combine water, sugar and cream of tartar in a small saucepan. Let it boil on low-med heat until it spins a thread. While sugar is boiling, beat the eggyolks using an electric mixer until thick and lemon colored. As soon as the sugar spins a thread, add the syrup in thin streams to the beaten eggyolks.

The easier way to do this is to add a little sugar to the eggyolks, beat a little, add a little, beat a little until all the sugar has been added. It prevents the sugar from splattering around your bowl. I got this tip from this site.

When all the sugar is added, beat at high speed until mixture has thickened. Refrigerate to cool down completely.

What I do is NOT refrigerate but beat the mixture is at room temperature. I test this by touching the mixing bowl. If it is lukewarm I start adding the butter. (If using a heavy duty mixer, switch to paddle attachment before adding the butter. I use a handheld mixer all throughout and the result is just perfect). Make sure the butter is not very cold but not melted either. I use a still cold but soft butter. Add it a little at a time. If you don't let the mixture cool down, it will become soupy when you add the butter. When all the butter has been added, beat at high speed for a few minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the cold eggyolk mixture to the butter while beating at medium speed.Wait for the butter to absorb the eggyolk mixture before adding the next spoonful.

To assemble, position a layer of meringue on a serving plate. Spread buttercream and sprinkle with chopped cashew nuts. Continue the layering process. Cover the top and sides and garnish with more chopped nuts. Refrigerate or freeze to allow the buttercream to firm up.

Eat moderately. Take note that you are like eating 80% sugar and butter and eggs. 

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Frozen Bananas

Frozen bananas are the simplest to make or so I thought. I desperately wanted to make one as soon as the word hit me, but it took me two weeks to finally make it because of busy schedules. Once I got the chance, I hastily cut up some lakatan (cavendish) bananas in half, stuck popsicle sticks on the cut up sides, froze it for an hour.

As I was too excited, right before the timer rung, started to prepare for the chocolate coating. That's when I scrambled to look for the recipe that I found online. One that would not get crispy once frozen. All attempts were in vain. "The next time, bookmark it", I told myself. So I just made it with the most common frosting for frozen bananas. That is by melting chocolate and butter together. I used two tablespoons of butter for 150grams of bittersweet chocolate.

Was I successful? I wouldn't ask it if I was. Okay, okay, for that part only. The chocolate sizzled. I think it was because some condensation from the butter wrapper got into my hand and eventually into the butter. That is how sensitive the chocolate is which is why when melting chocolates, make sure that not even a teeny tiny drop of water gets in contact with it. To not put the chocolate into waste, I heated up a little cream and melted the chocolate again. I ended up coating the frozen bananas with ganache. Allowed to cool and thicken a bit, it made a perfect coating.

I coated a few pieces with sprinkles which gave a good crunch to it.

Wait, the story doesn't end here. Let me continue for you will learn something especially if it is the first time you will make it. Read on.

Freezing bananas for an hour doesn't harden it. Just not yet. Frozen delights are hard. Yet it was harder for me to imagine biting a hard banana so I ate one stick after the chocolate coating had set. Yummy. Soft. Then I went to sleep.

The first thing I thought and uhm, did upon waking, was to eat one. That was the real frozen banana. Hard. Cold. Very cold. Yummy? No, it was superbly yummy. It tasted like frozen banana ice cream with chocolate coating. Heaven. Really. At least for me. I lied when I said I ate one. I ate two. Promise, just two. My housemates ate the rest. In short, bitin ako. Still the story does not end there.

Three days after, I made a new batch. I decided to freeze the bananas for two hours to allow it to harden. I had my reasons. I wanted to immediately eat a literally frozen banana right after I coat it with chocolate. Epic fail. I forgot to stuck some popsicle sticks before freezing them and I could not do it anymore without breaking the bananas. Arg. I ate them using a fork.

Learn from it. Peel and cut the bananas. Stick the sticks. Freeze. Coat with melted chocolate and roll in some sprinkles or nuts or leave 'em plain. I still have a lot to write about this heavenly dessert but I am too sleepy to do it. This post will probably have a part two. Goodnight for now. I will dream of FROZEN BANANAS.

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Bloody S'Mores

I am trying to get rid of half a kilo of red and half a kilo of white chocolate that I couldn't get to melt. The red one was perfect to make these S'mores. Aint they bloody?This was adapted from the S'more's recipe of Joy of Baking and just substituted the chocolate part with some red chocolate I have on hand. Make sure to brush your teeth after eating these or you will look like you just came from a vampire initiation.

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