Chocolate Madness Cake

The past few days saw me in a fit of chocolate craving and baking frenzy.  It was a mad combination.  I have not baked a cake in ages and I managed to bake 8 chocolate cakes, culled from 3 different chocolate cake recipes and bakers, which I switched around and finally came up with my very own version of Chocolate Madness Cake.
First recipe tested was Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake with Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting, recipe found on every can of Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. The cake was too sweet but moist and fluffy.  The frosting not perfect at all.

Second was Nigella Lawson's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake, recipe found on the internet via the Food Network with how-to video on youtube. Again the cake was too sweet, crumbly and dry.   The frosting was a disaster.   But I take full responsibility for the disaster through no fault of the author.

Third was Dorie Greenspan's Devil's Food White-Out Cake, recipe found on page 247 of her book "Baking". The cake was bland and dense, again probably my fault,  but the icing was very good.  Dad even helped me scuplt the design.

Finally, my very own Chocolate Madness Cake.   The cake was a modified Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe with Dorie Greenspan's version of 7-Minute Frosting.  Success!

To break from all the chocolate madness, I managed to squeeze in Martha Stewart's Lemon Squares, recipe found on her website.  It was perfectly sweet and tangy.  

Note this Lemon Squares recipe was developed for very young bakers (kids!).  That should say something about my level of baking.  

Next project - Cupcakes!

Missing Home

Finally, after one week in Shanghai city, I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. It's been a hectic week taking our guests around. One guest's an avid photographer, he and I clicked away while my mom and his wife waited patiently on the side. Check out my photos page in the coming days for some scenic shots of Shanghai.

24 Hours in Cebu 5

Run by Chef Giuseppe Genco and his wife Rachel, Giuseppe Pizzeria & Sicilian Roast lived up to its italian sounding name.  As this was our last stop before we headed back to Manila on an afternoon flight, we figured we should fill up on lunch least our Cebu Pacific flight got delayed and true enough, our flight was delayed. Thank God for hearty and filling italian dishes which sustained us till we reached Manila early evening.

Entering Giuseppe's like entering another era.  The ambiance's quiet elegance but not stuffy, quaint but not cheesy.  I would definitely be a regular if I lived in Cebu.

We started lunch with freshly baked foccasia bread, thinly rolled out like pizza crust, served with tomato salsa.  The foccasia's flavored with herbs and spices that you can eat it as is althought the tomato salsa, light and crisp, was an excellent accompaniment.

Rustica Pizza, baked in a woodfired oven, was perfectly crispy and cheesy with lots of tomato sauce, italian sausages and prosciutto ham.  Try it with a dash of chili flakes or chili oil.

Shrimp Tortolinni in Tomato Sauce was delicious.  The tomato sauce was not acidic rather it was smooth and crisp to taste.  

Seafood Spaghetti was the kids favorite.  I understood after taking a bite that the freshness of the seafood was what made this dish what it is.  Delicious.

A must try was Risotto with Pumpkin, Carabao's milk cheese and Parmigiano.  The sweetness of the pumpkin combined with the tangy taste of carabao's milk cheese and the saltiness of pargiano in risotto was perfect.  Throw in sliced onion and leeks.  Heavenly.

There were no rooms for desserts!

Giuseppe

Pizzeria & Sicilian Roast

Paseo Saturnino

Ma. Luisa Road

Banilad, Cebu City

Tel: (032) 3439901 ; 4159880

24 Hours in Cebu 4

For sweet-tooth or sweet-teeth like me, desserts and coffee are the perfect way to cap the day.  

La Marea Pastry Shop & Lavazza Cafe fits the bill.  Brazo de Mercedes cake and Lavazza cafe latte, what more could I ask for.

La Marea Pastry Shot & Lavazza Cafe

The Walk Asiatown IT Park

24 Hours in Cebu 3

Dinner was at Spice Fusion which offers south east asian cuisine that ranges from Singaporean to Malaysian, from Thai to Indonesian, from Indian to Chinese.

For starters, we ordered Roti with Curry Sauce.  Roti was light and crisp with a sweet buttery taste that a perfect compliment to the rich curry sauce.

Next was Fried Calamari with Thai Chili sauce with a twist. I can taste bagoong and sweet syrup which makes the sauce salty and sweet with a kick.  Very interesting.

Fried Tofu with Peanut Sauce.  Tofu was soft and silky like japanese tofu but the sauce I found to be on the sweet side for my taste.  I would hazard a guess that the peanut sauce was made using ground peanut with sugar, that one buys in a chinese deli store used in fresh lumpia.  Hence the sweetness in it.

Siomai, which the kids loved and I found to be quite good, was very meaty with very little fat and yet rather juicy.  Of course, I ate mine with a dallop of chili sauce.

Tom Yang Soup, spicy and rich with lemon grass and ginger to taste.  Just the way I like it. I enjoyed the soup more than the ingredients.

Nasi Goreng.  Unfortunately, I seldom eat rice and this dish did not resonate with me.

Coffee Infused BBQ Pork Belly was a pleasant surprise.  Imagine bbq pork belly but instead of the usual calamansi, soysauce marinade that's salty and tangy, this bbq was smokey and heady with a java after taste.  I would have preferred it spicier but that's just me.  Very good.

Spice Fusion

South East Asian Fusion

Banilad Town Center

Cebu City

24 Hours in Cebu 2

To experience real gelato is to visit Gelatissimo The Real Taste of Italia, located at The Terraces Ayala Center Cebu City.  I must say this is by far the best gelato I've tasted.  A bit pricey, but you get value for money for the quality.

I ordered a scoop of Caramelized Fig, which was so creamy and smooth with swirls of fig syrup in it, together with a scoop of Creme Caramel, which was perfectly caramelly.  

Indescribably heavenly delicious!

Gelatissimo

The Terraces

Lower Ground Level 

Ayala Center, Cebu City

A Day in Cebu City 1

The Queen City of the South, Cebu is a vibrant cosmopolitan city with an old world charm. The last time I was here was about three years ago and now I found new infrastuctures, new entertainment hotspost and most important new good eats.

My host for this business / pleasure trip was a Manileno friend, who migrated to Cebu with his wife and kids about 8 years ago, and now as proud of Cebu’s progress as a true Cebuano.  He drove me and my mom around and took us to dine at some of the best restaurants I've eaten, outside of Manila.  

First stop was lunch at The Gustavian Country Farmers Delicatessen, along Ma. Luisa Road, Banilad.   The restaurant housed an artisan bread shop and european deli.  I loved their rye bread which was rustic in taste with a molasses undertone.   The sesame bread was deliciously crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  Except that, I would have preferred to butter them myself and savor the yeasty taste of bread sans spread.

For starters, we had Mussels & Co., mussels cooked in tomato basil sauce reduction with sliced french breads.  The mussels were deliciously fresh and cooked to perfection.  The tomato basil sauce was perfectly tangy with just a hint of basil and the french breads were there to sop up the sauce.

For my main course, I had the Lamb Osso Bucco, braised lamb shank served on top of a bed of spinach truffle risotto with steamed vegetables  My NZ Lamb Osso Bucco was fork tender, rich and very tasty and the risotto was just the way i liked it, creamy and saucy.Mom had Amparito’s Salmon and Sole Roulade crowned with black caviar also served on top of a bed of spinach truffle risotto with wine sauce.   The roulade was delicate and light with the caviar rounding up the taste.  It was like eating by the beach with the flavors of sea and salt bursting in your mouth.  The sauce was rich and creamy perfectly cut by a hint of wine.  Over all the dish was delicious.

The Gustavian Country Farmers Delicatessen's a must visit in Cebu.  I could not resist bringing home their rye bread, bagel chips, original ensaymada and ube ensaymada.