Chocolate Crinkles Recipe

When I was younger (make that way, way, waaay younger)... there were three things I thought were true -

• Iced tea that has a frothy top has whipped cream on it. (I know, what was I thinking?!)
• When the fruitcake recipe says add orange rind, the white bitter part should be added also. I haven't baked a fruitcake since.
• Chocolate Crinkles are cake crumbs rolled into flattened balls then coated with confectioner's sugar. Oh wait... now I know that is not true, I now know they are baked.

I first tasted crinkles at a canteen in high school and for a chocolate lover, every bite is chocolate cookie heaven. So when someone requested a I feature a Chocolate Crinkles recipe, I went straight to work at it. Want to see how it goes? 

Chocolate Crinkles Recipe
from All Recipes
350F/72 cookies

What we need:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Here's how:

(1) Combine cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil a bowl. Mix well. 

 (2)  Add in eggs one at a time. Then stir in the vanilla. 

 (3) Sift together all dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, and salt then add into the cocoa mixture.

(4) The dough will still be soft at this stage. Cover the bowl with clink wrap and refrigerate for four hours.

(5) Use a 1.5 oz ice cream scoop to roll the dough into balls then coat it with confectioner's sugar before before baking for 10-12 minutes. Remember not to overbake so the cookies will still be chewy. 

How to Make Nail Polish Cupcake Topper

And here I am thinking March is my "book phase". March is the one month of the year where I voraciously read all the books I want to read - non-stop. I read as if I have been stuck in a deserted island for 11 months so I'm sort of making up for lost time. It's the one month I made Amazon a very happy company and my wallet the saddest place on earth. Strangely enough, it only happens March of every year. I know, I'm weird that way.

For some totally inexplicable reason, May is becoming my "baking book phase". Help me, I can't stop. Perhaps if I start spending more time making posts for this blog I'll be able to distract myself. 

Okay, so let's concentrate on this one for now. Today, we're making Nail Polish Cupcake Toppers. You still with me? Yes! Let's start.

Nail Polish Cupcake Topper Tutorial

What we need:
Fondant in pink (or any color you want), white and black
Rolling pin
Knife
Heart plunger
Toothpick
Water and brush to paste things together

Here's how:
(1) Roll pink fondant into a ball.

(2) Shape it into a thick short cylinder with the top narrow than the bottom part

(3) Roll black fondant into a tall thin cylinder.With the edges defined.

(3) Roll a small amount of white fondant into a thin rectangle and place it on one end of the black cylinder.

(4) Arrange the nail polish like so. An option would be to add a heart design on to the nail polish bottle for a cute decoration.

Oops! As an added effect, I made an extra nail polish bottle someone forgot to put the cap on so when someone reached for it, it spilled. Whew, that was one long explanation for that small bottle below.

Hope you like it everyone!

My First Ever Teaching Experience!

Exciting.

Fulfilling.

Something I can do over and over again... (I think!)

Honestly, I didn't know I had it in me to teach. But last weekend, I had the opportunity to do so when I taught a series of classes in Bacolod over at Chefs and Bakers. And wow, it was loads of fun! 

I would like to thank Jenno, JP, Hillary and Ely of Chefs and Bakers for the huge amount of blind faith that I can pull the whole thing off despite my lack of teaching experience (first time teacher here). You guys are the best! And thank you so much for taking good care of me while in Bacolod.

I'd also like to thank everyone who attended the classes! You all are the best students ever! You made the whole experience fun! Love how you made the classes very engaging!

Thank you so much for those who came all the way from Cebu, Ilo-Ilo and to those who traveled hours just to make it the classes. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

A special shout out to all who made an effort to come and meet the person behind Bake Happy the blog, especially Girlie, Liza and Tita Melanie. You just don't know how happy you made me. Meeting you all was the highlight of my trip! It was really heartwarming to know that the long hours, the effort in documenting every step for every post, the passion I put into baking is very much appreciated. I would love to hug you over and over again :)

Want to know how the classes went? Here it goes!

There were a total of four classes I was scheduled to teach that weekend. First up, the fashion themed toppers class. Here I am explaining how to make my version of Marshmallow Fondant. Don't let my stern face fool you, I am nervous! :)

 Here's one of the students - making a fondant shoe. 

 Our finished products!

 Saturday afternoon was dedicated to teaching the fondant animals class. Here are some of the students' works. Aren't they amazing? :)

 All of us hard at work!

At the classroom, there's a mirror on the side/top! You can see all of us in the middle of making a cute version of a giraffe in fondant. 

Then on Sunday, it's back to back Cupcake Baking for Beginners Class. Here we are making some red velvet cupcakes. Recipe here :)

 Everyone helping out filling the pans with liners.

 And they also tried their hands at piping frosting into the cupcakes! This must have been the most fun part! The students even came up with their own very impressive designs!!! So cool!!! 

 Here I am helping out piping frosting into the cupcakes :)

 Here's a pic from the afternoon class, we're making Red Velvet - the second batch for the day.

 Time for some group picture!!! With the morning class :)

 And with the afternoon class!

 Look at the amount of cupcakes we made in just a few hours!!! So many! :)

Sa uulitin!!! :)

Tiramisu Cupcakes

I have to say, this is the first time Tiramisu made an appearance here on Bake Happy. It really didn't tickle my fancy. Nope, not one tiny bit. 

And now I feel the need to explain. 

You: So... how did this post come into existence? [http://bakehappy.blogspot.com/2010/11/re-cake-tiramisu.html]
Me: An alien hacked my blog and posted that one.
You: And this one? [http://bakehappy.blogspot.com/2009/09/pinoy-cupcake-tiramoko.html]
Me: A totally unknown evil twin time traveled to 2009 and made this one.
You: How can you possibly deny making this one? [http://bakehappy.blogspot.com/2008/12/classic-tiramisu.html]
Me:  Okay you got me. I ran out of excuses. 

I love tiramisu (who doesn't?)
Especially in cupcake form. 
Irrisistable.
Totally.

Tiramisu Cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart
325F/makes 18 cupcakes

What we need:

For the cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 cup sugar

For the Coffee-Marsala Syrup
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly brewed very strong coffee
1 ounce Marsala (can be bought at liquor stores)
1/4 cup sugar

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Here's how:
(1) Sift or dry whisk cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk just until bubbles appear around the edge add in butter until melted. Let milk mixture cool.

(2) Set a mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water. With an electric mixer, mix eggs, yolks, and sugar until just sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth (no grainy texture felt) and warm which is about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. 

(3) With an electric mixer, whisk until mixture is fluffy, thick and is pale yellow. Fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches. 

(4) Stir 1/2 cup of the batter into the milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.

(4) Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes at 325F.
(5) To make the Coffee-Marsala Syrup, combine all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Brush all cupcakes with the syrup. Let it cool.

(6) To make the frosting, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form. 

(7) In a separate bowl, mix together cream chesse and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until well combined. Use immediately.

(8) Pipe frosting into the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle cocoa on top for extra chocolate-y goodness and enjoy.

Bake Happy Classes at Chefs & Bakers in Bacolod!

Hey everyone! 

I am very excited to announce that I will be in Bacolod to teach baking and fondant molding classes at Chefs  & Bakers. Though, I'm pretty sure if you follow me on Facebook, you might have already known about it. :)

Posting here on my blog as well in case you fall in the below category:

• you love cupcakes, would love to bake some but don't know where to start 
• fondant molding interests you and want to learn more (especially fashion and animal themed figures)
• you happen to be in Bacolod on May 11 and 12.
• you just want to have a good time while learning something new.

Here are the classes I'll be teaching at Chefs & Bakers:

May 11: Fondant Fashionista Figure Molding - 9AM onwards

May 12: Fondant Animals Figure Molding - 2PM onwards 

]

May 12: Cupcake Baking for Beginners - 9AM and 2PM 

Sharing one of the sweetest write-ups I have read about my blog :) 

Hope to see you all there!

For anyone interested, please contact Chefs & Bakers at (034) 435-1356; text us at +63918 965 9453; and/or message us at http://facebook.com/chefsandbakers for more information.