Archive for September, 2008
certified foodie
I’d just like to announce that sublimesweets.com is in the Foodie Blogroll – yay! The Foodie Blogroll is like a directory of food-related blogs from all over the world. Only, it’s better. Aside from connecting with fellow foodies and exchanging ideas in a forum, members get a chance to win prizes and have their blogs featured in the “Finest Foodies Friday”, a list of the best blogs of the week. Ain’t this cool? I haven’t explored the forum yet but I have found some interesting blogs that I will surely bookmark. So if you have a food-related blog, make sure you sign up.
In the meantime, I’m still knee-deep in my cupcake tests for new flavors. I’m still waiting for my matcha powder from the US. Actually, I already have a matcha cupcake developed but I still want to compare matcha powders before I finalize which ingredient to use. Although I’m loving the one I got from Japan (pricey but worth it), I like to try other high-quality but less expensive matcha powders. I just don’t know where I can get it here in Manila, if it is available at all.
Three more cupcake flavors—gingerbread, coconut and mango—are in development and I hope all three will make it to my repertoire.
September 30th, 2008
when dinosaurs ruled the world, part 2
In my previous post, I mentioned about my nephew P._, his love for dinosaurs, the dinosaur cake I made for him on his fifth birthday and my promise to look for the photo of the cake and post it here. I got lucky and was able to retrieve this photo from my other laptop:
This was an experimental cake. If the cake appears lopsided, it really is as it was an attempt to make one of those tilted tiered cakes. This was a small cake, though—the top tier is five-inch round, and the bottom tier, nine-inch. As with all of my cakes (and cupcakes), all decorations are edible. The dinos and the coconut trees are made of hand molded chocolate. The rocks and the eggs are also chocolate bought from a candy store. The cake of course is chocolate.
September 22nd, 2008
Dinos Rule! Cupcakes – cupcakes decorated with miniature dinosaurs made of hand molded chocolate, with a border of malted chocolate candies as “rocks”. Flavors include Devil’s Food Chocolate and Chocolate Chip topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache. Price available upon request.
when dinosaurs ruled the earth *
The chocolate dinosaurs are set off by malted chocolate candies chopped to simulate rocks. The look may be prehistoric but the taste isn’t. Cupcake flavors to choose from include Devil’s Food Chocolate and Chocolate Chip, which so far is becoming a fast favorite with children and adults alike.
I made this cupcake with my nephew P._ in mind. At the age of one, he became so enamored with dinosaurs, the kind that populated our world eons ago, not the familiar purple-hued character on TV—he never truly cared for Barney! He has a collection of different sizes of dinosaur toys (some walk, some growl), books (one even features a 3D t-rex showing the skeleton, innards and all) and even a shirt that has a stuffed dinosaur toy on the chest. When he turned five, I made a two-tiered dinosaur cake for him. I will try to search for the photo in my files and will post it in another entry.
His fascination with these prehistoric animals continues to this day—he is now eight years old—and has announced that he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. I do hope there are still many more dinosaur fossils for him to dig when the time comes! Anyway, over the years his interests have also grown to include Egyptology. So right now, I’m thinking if I will also create a cupcake decorated with an ancient Egyptian character. Just watch out for it.
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*fun trivia – this entry’s title is taken from a 1970s film that I once saw on TV when I was a child (now don’t go calculating my age; I saw this many years after the film was made 
). Anyway, I have forgotten what the film was about but the title stuck with me. All I can recall is that this film must have been the Jurassic Park of the ’70s. Now after surfing the internet, I found out that this film which featured a one-time Playboy centerfold was nominated for an Oscar for its visual effects and was among the pioneers of stop-motion animation. Wow!
September 21st, 2008
Dalmatian Cupcake – tender cupcake studded with Oreo cookie chunks, iced with swirls of slightly sweetened whipped cream and topped with a mini Oreo cookie. Price available upon request.
to crush or not to crush …
This cupcake was dubbed “Dalmatian” because like its namesake, it has adorable black spots made of Oreo cookie chunks. I came up with this name after I saw a picture of a white chocolate cookie studded with mini chocolate chips. I initially added crushed Oreo cookies in the whipped cream but when I piped the cream, the whole thing looked so unappealing. While black flecks look good in ice cream (think Cookies and Cream), the same cannot be said for a cupcake frosting. I don’t know if it’s just me but it looks kind of dirrrty to me. So I just piped slightly sweetened whipped cream and topped it with a mini Oreo cookie. Yum!
September 21st, 2008
Tiramisu Cupcake – ethereal chiffon cake drenched with coffee syrup and topped with Kahlua-spiked cream flecked with grated chocolate. Price available upon request.
who doesn’t love tiramisu?
This is my take on the beloved Italian dessert—a cupcake form. Though the form is different, I did not stray too much from the traditional flavor which includes cream, espresso and chocolate. It is also a bit heady due to the addition of Kahlua, a coffee-flavored liqueur.
The potent and rich flavor of tiramisu is so popular that you can also find it reincarnated in ice cream, cheesecake, blended coffee and even pizza. Recipe variations also include “new” ingredients such as strawberries, green tea, eggnog, and Nutella, the luscious hazelnut spread. I wonder what Italians have to say about the ever evolving twist in their much loved dessert?
September 3rd, 2008
