Chocolate Velvet, Peppermint Ganache Cake & Last Weeks in Manila

Been awhile! :) my last few months in Manila is occupied by local travels, local cafe hopping, eats, concerts, spending time at home and with friends.... Or some migration errands.

As much as I wanted to update my blog often and feature recipes that are out of the box, competition par  like those in Chefs-Talk and the flocks in Instagram, I just can't find the time. And so, I'm trying to make recipes that are easy to make and to replicate at home, let's be basic for now, after all, I will soon have the opportunity to create beautiful pastries again and share to all of you.

Soon,  I will be off to a better adventure. I will be a different nomad than I already am. My goals in jumping off to this excursion are simple; to become a better pastry chef. To outgrow thy loser self, haha. To meet more experienced chefs. To gain experience as I wanted to become a food historian. To study again, and to earn more so I have the means to invest in future endeavors such as traveling, studying and much more.

Sydney could be a good start. Yes, you read it, a good 'start'...I have so many places to see, so many food to try, so much more to learn. Im excited yet scared. I guess this is the first time I'm officially sharing this, I will be working in Sydney for a year (to start) and then another one if opportunity strikes.Then I will figure where exactly to head next (Stockholm, Seoul or San Francisco are my tight choices, I love places that starts with 'S', yes!)

Nomad life isn't easy for me, if you have some advice how to un-clutter my mess, please be kind to email me. Haha. I  started packing already and packed four boxes of my stuff, I'm re-sorting, throwing away trinkets, til I get just one final, can't live without, box.

I suddenly don't know how to pack light my shit 

While sorting my things, I wanted to also make a recipe that I can run easily in a busy day, I realized how inevitable Chocolate cake is.  I think all pastry chefs, home bakers,  and house wives should have a decent Chocolate cake recipe that we can flex, tweak, and pair with frostings of our hype. And so I created this recipe, I will be honest with all of you, I use chocolate cake premix a lot of time, something I mastered at work for its convenience and low cost. But what if there's no premix ever, this will be one of my Chocolate cake base. One of, yes, many more in the future! (I will share soon my Melt In The Mouth Childhood Chocolate Cake) but for now, let me share this Chocolate Velvet Cake with Peppermint Ganache .

Peppermint Ganache

All Purpose Cream 180ml

Dark Chocolate 500g

Drops of Peppermint Essence (to taste)

Chocolate Velvet Cake

All Purpose Flour 3 c

Cocoa 6 Tbsp (90 ml)

Baking soda 3t

Fresh Milk 1 1/2c

Sugar 21/4c

Vegetable oil 2 1/4c

Eggs 3 pcs

The ingredients are grouped into 3; dry ingredients, oil & sugar, and the liquid ingredients of egg and fresh milk.

Whisk together vegetable oil and sugar until the granules are 

smaller. Add the eggs one at a time and continue whisking til mixture is uniformed.  

Add in the sifted dry ingredients in about two-three batches, mixing the batter until just combined but uniformed.

The mixture has to be a smooth, lump-free and fully combined batter.

Pour into a 10" diameter x 2" height pan, covering til 3/4's full.

Pop in a preheated oven of 375 F and bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake is done.

Rest and cool down the cake before unmolding from the pan... while cooling down, you can prepare the Peppermint Ganache.

Once fully cooled down, slice the Chocolate Velvet sponge into three layers, filling each layer with Peppermint Ganache

To make the Peppermint Ganache, scald cream over low heat, add in chopped dark chocolate off the heat and mix until all the chocolate has completely melted. Add the drops of Peppermint essence, and transfer into another bowl to cool down faster, chill and mix occasionally until thick but spreadable. 

Mask the cake with more Peppermint Ganache and decorate with piped rosettes

Sprinkle with red, white and green dragees for the complete Peppermint feel

Chill before serving, best with strong black brewed coffee on ice!

I gave this cake to my dear friend Vincent, Polar Beer for his past birth day, and decided to use the occasion to share this recipe.

The versatility of this recipe is endless, this Mothers' Day sunday, why don't you spice up the Ganache with chili? Or spiked it with Bailey's?  You can also mask the basic Ganache and Chocolate Velvet Cake in toasted desiccated coconut or chopped Iranian pistachio nuts.  It will be a sweet mom and daughter/son bonding. Or why don't you bake and dedicate it to your mom, I just did.

It's not really her presence that made me who I am now, but her absence. And though she isn't there for more than half of my life already..I'm always trying to be right so that she won't get upset, eh sakit kaya mangurot.

I got this mommmey, keep chillin', kisses to the heavens! <3

Always,

Wasabi, Matcha, and Chocolate Weekend

Hi all! It was a productive long weekend that had been. Not a holiday for me though, but I am glad to be posting again! And so after all the weeks that had passed, I finally reconnected to all of you, bakerlings!

Not. A. Holiday.

This entry is my take on homemade Chocolate Pralines, and it will be, I bet it, easy. Not all of you know that I don’t appreciate Green tea, I used to describe it as "fish food", although I am fascinated with teas, Green tea is out of my range.

My mandatory Mise En Place shot.

And then while working on my pile of R&D's for OVN, a little eureka of baking happened, I gave life to a Green tea dessert that like all biological mothers do, gave a handful fondness for my creation, I suddenly outgrew my Intolerance of Green tea profile −I am now a Green tea convert!

Another interesting history of this recipe is while I was researching and purchasing items for my run of R&D's, I stumbled upon this plastic chocolate mold with Kitkat shape during my occasional store visits. How God given!

Cutesie Kitkat chocolate, plastic mold

Now this is sort of Asian..

Just three and basic; Matcha powder, crushed Oreo cookies and White Chocolate

 Matcha Oreo "Kitkat" Bars

200g Tempered White Chocolate

50g Green tea Powder,  you may add more on your preference.

100g Oreo, crushed

A well balanced diet is Chocolate in both hands

Since I am an advocate of home baking, please don’t freak out whenever you read “Tempered” in Chocoate recipes, you may use compound chocolate which don't require tempering, I recommend Tulip which you can source in Chocolate Lovers, Sweetcraft, Cooks Exchange and Gourdo’s.

If you have a hard time finding Green tea powder, you can find it in All About Baking (formerly Chocolate Lover’s satellite store near Welcome Rotonda), you may also go to Fuji Mart in Timog, Rustan’s supermarket and SM Supermarket along the Japanese products’ aisle.

First step is heating water for bain-marie or double boiler

Then melt the chocolate over hot water, make sure to use a stainless, dry and clean bowl

Temper White Chocolate to 28C then slowly add Matcha powder, in each additions notice that the color is changing into deeper olive green. Since the Matcha powder that I used has some sugar in it, I only used about 50g. You may add some more, I bet my tolerance for now is just for a hint of green tea and not a K-POW GREEN TEA! which I find fish food :P

Mix some Green tea Chocolate  for the crushed oreo (about 20 to 30g)

Now, you can see the illustration of a basic filled Praline making; Pour ample amount of Green tea Chocolate in the mold and drop off excess chocolate by tapping the mold facing down. (make sure a bowl catches the drippings and you may re-use it again). Then clean the surface and let the shell to set in 22 C room temeprature or in the fridge. Once the shell is dry, fill the mold with prepared Green tea Oreo filling until 3/4's full. let it set and lastly, seal the mold with remaining Green tea Chocolate.

The end product will be shiny, crisp  "Kitkat" bars if done properly. Let the Chocolate set completely before unmolding on parchment lined tray.

And for that rustic strokes, drizzle thin White Chocolate on circular, then different directions

The second part of my featured recipe is my long overdue Wasabi Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips. Well this is not my original concept because nowadays, we are welcoming the idea of Perplexed, which ever, is the bandwagon I am delighted to ride on.

Wasabi Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips

200g Tempered Dark Chocolate

30g Wasabi powder

250g or MORE Salted Potato Chips (Use your favorite brand)

Of course I ate more than a cupful :)

Melt the Dark Chocolate on double boiler and temper to 32C

Then slowly add Wasabi powder...

more. more.

Dip the Potato Chips into the melted, tempered Dark Chocolate and dry on parchment lined tray. Sprinkle some more Wasabi before it dries completely.

Crisp, Spicy, Chocolatey and Salty

Chocolateries offer Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips, but have you ever had that feeling, while watching a Korean Drama-Comedy, Miss Granny perhaps...that you wish, just wish, you have something to munch, something different, something salty, crisp and chocolatey out of your usual bag of Potato Chips. That hit me well and deep... Like I can buy it in Royce, but wait.. I can make my own, eat more and be more creative of it.

Wasabi Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips

Wasabi Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips

Wasabi Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips and Matcha Oreo "Kitkat" Bars

Lastly, I would like to share you, as I have learned that my blog has a beautiful circle of bakerling followers, that "Creativity is a process" -Humans Of New York

The world is an open wide hole of ideas, sometimes it's hard to come up with an original idea, my job drains me sometimes, it doesn't make me sleep well a lot of times, It scares me at night when I feel hesitant of my own skills and talent, it upsets my stomach in the mornings of my presentations. The competition is rough; it's never easy to be a creator. But to create is a process; to be able to create a great product is hard work, a lot of research, time and a lot of positivity. Believe in your ideas, my friends, borrow ideas, get inspirations and remind yourself that in this industry, sometimes all we need to be successful is a cupful of guts.

I dedicate this entry to my late Aunt, on her first birth day after her passing, I am always grateful that I had two mothers in one lifetime; you are my epitome of Aunthood. And up to the sweet heavens where you belong now, I pray that your love continuous to shine on me whenever my path is dark and stormy.

Happy Chocolate making! Let's celebrate Home baking!

 Love and even better,