MY very first wedding cake 9/5/09

This was such an experience making a wedding cake, and to make it even more nerve wrecking is that this is my very first one. It's simple but it took a while to make.

I was asked to make this cake a while back, but I never really thought about it, then they asked me again so I said yes. I thought they were just kidding me when they asked me the first time.

This cake was for my husbands cousin, they were having a formal wedding and she wanted something simple and easy. So I came up with this.

They were so happy with it and they said it was very delicious and moist. They loved the frosting underneath the fondant and they were very satisfied.

Although we didn't make it to the wedding (previous engagement) the cake made it through the hour ride to its destination. Thanks to his mom and dad that attended the wedding.

Congratulation to Matt and Beth!!!!

Mama Filipina Lyrics (Apl.de.Ap from Black Eyed Peas)

MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA
MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA

LISTEN EVERYBODY I GOT SOMETHIN TO SAY
ABOUT THE PLACE WHERE I CAME FROM BACK IN THE DAYS
HOW WE USED TO RUN AROUND OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN
AND WE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH BUT WE HAD EVERYTHING

I'M REMINISCING HOW WE USED TO BE
FRESH FRUITS, BLUE SAND BUT NO EQUALITY
WHERE THE RICH STAY RICH
AND THE POOR STAY POOR
BUT IF YOU LOOK INSIDE THERE'S SO MUCH MORE

NOW IT'S A SIMPLE LIFE
CAN'T FORGET WHAT IT'S LIKE
WEATHER SO WARM YOU CAN EVEN SWIM IN THE NIGHT
BUT WE STILL WANT TO TASTE THAT AMERICAN LIFE, LIFE
AMERICAN LIFE

MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA
MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA

I REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO BE
GROWING UP IN THE LAND OF POVERTY
NOW YOU GOTTA LEAVE HOME
TO FEED THE FAMILY
GOTTA MAKE IT IN THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

POLITICIAN CORRUPTING THE ECONOMY
HOW THEY PLAN TO BUY THE LIES OF THE CURRENCIES
AND THEY FAIL TO SEE THE SIGHT AND THE REAL BELEIF
OF MY PHILIPPINE ISLAND, BEACHES WITH WHITE SANDS
HOT SPRINGS MADE FROM VOLCANOES ERUPTING
HOW PEOPLE MAKE LIFE FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING
FILIPINA MAMA RAISING ME RIGHT
FOR SHE STILL WANNA TASTE THAT AMERICAN LIFE

MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA
MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA

I JUST WANNA SHOW YOU THAT I MISSED YA
I JUST GOTTA SHOW YOU THAT I MISSED YA
MISS YA, MISS YA
I JUST WANNA SHOW YOU THAT I MISSED YA
I JUST GOTTA SHOW YOU THAT I MISSED YA
MISS YA, MISS YA
AND I NEVER GONNA LET YOU GOOOO..

MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA
MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICA
MAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP
I HAD TO MOVE TO AMERICAMAMA, MAMA FILIPINA
I NEVER MEANT TO GIVE YOU UP

My 2 new cake book is here!

For my birthday, Josh got me gift card for Amazon and up until now I never really knew what to get. Then the other day my girlfriend asked me if I could make a Tom and Jerry cake. Then she proceeds to tell me, just look online and I found one I want. I told her I would have to see and make sure I would be able to make it before I said yes.

The cake below is the one she wants and to me that's way too advance.

So I remembered about my amazon card and see if they have the book. This is the book cover and I bought it.

Then I didn't want $9.00 left on my card so I decided to look for more books and the Party Cakes book caught my eye. I added in my cart and paid.

I'm so excited that I almost made a cake today from that book, but the heat was going to make our house into an oven, so I changed my mind.

Anyway, I will make something out from that book soon.

Mickey Mouse cake for Cole 8/01/09

I looked all over the place for this cake pan. I searched Ebay, which was a lot of money. I looked in amazon and couldn't find one that was my price range. Finally I googled for "Mickey Mouse pan craigslist" and this was one of them that showed up. It was only $10 plus shipping, which is still cheaper than the one I found in Ebay for $40 bucks plus shipping. The lady that was selling it was from California and she asked me if I felt comfortable to send her the payment in cash and asked for my address. I asked her if she had paypal and then before you know it she emails me back and told me that she shipped the item already and just to wait for it and pay her when I get it. Wow!!! She's super nice too.

Here's the Pan I got :-)

Then here's the cake I made (below). As you can see or if you notice that the left side frosting had a little melt down, lol! It got really hot here in the house while I was frosting it and it started to melt. BUt it did stop, phew!!! Anyway, my hands are killing me from doing those stars on the cake but I'm pretty sure Cole's family will love it.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY COLE

MY sincere apology for being gone so long :-(

I don't even know where to begin. Tons have happened since my last post and I'm going to try to sum it up with one blog and hoping I won't bore you to death. One of the reason why I haven't been here it's because I started a DAY CARE, but it's small enough that I don't have to register. I am approved by the state but I'm exempt since I'm only watching 2 kids. Although I should call it NIGHT CARE since I watch them at night (their mom works 2nd shift). So anyway, here I go :-)

I'm going in order from the time I left off to the most recent.

I finally had the chance to bake the Andes Mint Cappuccino Cookies

that I have been meaning to bake. It turned out great and it was a hit. If you want the recipe just click ->HERE<-

I was also happy and so honored to bake a cake for my friends 1st birthday party. She requested a Winnie the Pooh cake and I made her one. Everyone at the party loved it. I made cupcakes as well since the cake is not that big. I matched all the color and topped with pooh theme / icing and jumbo chocolate covered strawberry.

->CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS<-

We even squeezed some time to pick strawberry. We ended up with 2 slats and I got them cleaned and froze most of them for later use.

This one was also special. My friend asked me to make this for her parents 30th Anniversary as a surprise cake. I copied the exact cake color they had on their wedding day. The cake was a Chocolate with raspberry filling and almond buttercream with some fondant flowers. ->CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS<-

Moving on to July, this was I think the most busiest month with the kids off school and my husbands birthday and mine 2 days later. Lots of cakes to make for friends and families. Josh's birthday falls on the 4th of July and mine is on the 6th so we always have our birthday parties together. I made Josh a Lemon Cake with Lemon buttercream frosting.

I made mine Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.

->CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS<-

Funny story on this one. I was making coconut macaroons for a parade we were walking and we actually had to walk to that town so we can be on their parade. The walk was not that far, I would say 8 to 10 miles. So a lot asked me "The Baker" LOL! to make something for the walk. Silly me never even looked if I had small cupcake liner and I didn't. So instead of going to the store I decided to use what I got which is the bigger cupcake liner. The only thing was I didn't want to put a half a cup of coconut macaroon batter so I tried the placing the brownie on the bottom and that's how my Brownie Bottom Coconut Macaroon was born :-) It was a hit and everyone LOVED it.

->CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS<-

Again this was a request by my friend CONY for her husbands surprise party. She told me that Josh likes poker and I told her I would make her a poker cake. She also told me that he loves lemon. The cake is Lemon Butter cake with almond buttercream frosting. She said everyone loved the cake and her husband was very happy.

->CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES<-

Ahhhh the Jumbo Cupcake pan. I wasn't really happy with the outcome since it was my very first time using it. Don't worry the next one will be cuter and much neater, LOL! This was for our nephew Nick's Graduation Party. This was the cake, supposedly, and I made close to 200 regular size cupcakes with purple and gold almond buttercream frosting.

->CLICK HER FOR MORE PICS<-

Last but not the least, my newest addition my discontinued Mickey Mouse pan. I will be making the cake next week for my our Cousins son COLE. He will be turning 1 and they asked me to make the cake for him. I'm so excited and I can't wait to make this cake.

Make sure you come back and check out my Mickey Mouse cake next week or visit my site http://claireabaker.multiply.com/

~~ HAPPY BAKING ~~

Claire :-)

Mint chocolate brownies

A friend of mine from FHO (Filipina Homebakers Online) gave me a recipe for Andes mint cookie and I never really got to it. Then the other day we had to go to our friends house and I usually bring something for desert. I asked them what they want and they said something different. I asked if they like mint and they said yes. My hubby also loves mint so that was a plus.

I wanted something chocolate so I came up with this. I had some Ghirardelli brownie mix laying around and the Andes mint chocolate (for the cookie). I cut up the mints (see picture) and after mixing the batter I added the chopped up mints and pour into a well greased 13x9 pan. BAked it for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick come out clean on a 350F oven.

While baking I made my own mint buttercream. Just any buttercream recipe you have but I split the recipe in half and I ended with a cup which was perfect. I added the mint extract instead of vanilla and green food coloring. Spread on the top of the cooled down brownie.

Melt 1 square of baker's chocolate and drizzle on top. You can also use whatever kind of chocolate you have to drizzle.

Enjoy!

Pain Au Lait with Ube filling and Ube roll

Ever since I saw Manang's ube roll I have been wanting to make one. Right after I saw her super super easy recipe I new I had to make one. So I did :-) not only that I made one, I actually made 5. NO! I didn't eat them all, LOL! I gave them away to my family. As you can see that my little one got it off the counter and tried to have it all to himself. I had to take a picture before taking it away from him.

I also made Pain Au Lait (also known as milk bread) Recipe courtesy of my friend

MRs. RUSTY from Canada. She is an amazing baker and very creative, she is also pregnant on her second child. Normally the bread is made just as is and the sesame seed but I put some ube filling before I rolled it. Everyone said it was so good :-)

I'm a damn good bargain hunter :-)

If you are like me I Loveeeee SALES :-) When I see clearance you bet your bottom dollars that I will go see what the clearance stuffs are. I also love coupons and rebates.

Either its groceries, house stuff or clothing if it's on sale I will buy it (WELL ONLY IF NEEDED).

Let me rewind! When I was younger, I used to be an impulse buyer. Ever since I got my first job that's all I did was spent my paycheck on whatever. I didn't have to worry about rent money or any of those stuff coz I was living with my mom. So needless to say when I was finally on my own I never really had any money saved. I worked 2 full time jobs just to support myself.

So now that I'm older (not that old, LOL!) I'm much wiser and more conservative with the money we have. Specially since I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom). I do all the shopping in the family from food to clothing. On summer time we love yard sales (come on who doesn't?) I also love thrift stores and outlet malls (although sometimes they are more expensive than just going to the regular store). I have learned how to clip coupons and try to get things that are on sale. Also, before I buy something I always ask myself do I need this or do I want this? If it's needed then I get it but if it's just something I want because it's on sale then I won't get it.

One thing that my friends know about me is that I'm not much into buying clothes either. The only time I buy clothes is when I really really need to. I have lots of clothes but I'm not like some that will buy it because they might wear it some time. YAh! but I know A LOTTTTT of people that has tons of clothes (BINS and BINS) that was bought 2-3 years ago and it's still sitting on the bin with tags. To me that's a waste of money.

Anyway, when I do go out and shop I get a bunch so I have something new once in a while. So the other day I went and got some clothes at Fashion Bug and it was my lucky day coz they were having a $5.98 sale. Pretty much everything in the store was that price and normally their clothing are $20 and UP. I needed something new for a banquet that we will be going to so I got a couple of blouses. I also needed a new dress coat and some jewelry to match my blouse. Then I ended up buying some bras, winter clearance stuff for next year and some shoes. So I got to the register and my total was $300 something (before the sale) so after the coupon I had for $10 and after all the sale discount I paid $25 something. The lady that rung me up couldn't even believe it and I was shocked, happy shock but I was shocked. The dress coat alone was $140 and I paid $30 for it after the sale.

So needless to say I was one HAPPY PERSON :-)

I've been on hiatus or maybe I'm just addicted to Facebook?

I know it's been so long since I've posted anything. I have been neglecting all my other sites as well. Multiply has been slow lately and everyone has been so busy with their lives. I have tons of pics but just don't have the energy to post them anymore.

The reason really why I haven't been in here is because I have been on FB (facebook). Ever since I opened my FB again I just couldn't stay away from it. Every chance I get I'm in there. IS that BAD? LOL!

It's funny how it reminds me when I first sign up in multiply and I was there every single moment then it died down. I mean u can only upload so many pictures, lol! Maybe this is the same thing, maybe I just have the FB fever and sooner or later it will die down as well.

Who knows, We'll see won't we?

I just want to say, even though I haven't posted anything or left anyone comments doesn't mean I haven't visit ur sites :-)

Pink Eye Anyone?

When I was growing up I had a lot of pink eye (also known as buwenget in Bisaya. I used to get it everytime we visit my grandparents in the country.  We ride the big buses and then it's so dusty that by the time we get to the destination my eyes would start itching and before you know it I have pink eye. I don't ever get it when I'm home, it's only when we travel and it involves dust, a lot of dust.

So when we moved in NY I never got it anymore. Unless I clean and vacuum and then I would accidentally itch or scratch my eyes without washing my hands and then before you know it, my eyes would be all red and itchy.  Just like last night grrrrrrr!!!  I was vacuuming and then I had to empty the dust bin and I had a little itch in my eye so, DUH me! that I scratched it and then BOOM! I had pink eye. 

Anyway, does this happen to you too?