Fig Butter

Butter is for every one.
I've been fascinated by making everything seem butter lately.
From nut butters to fruit butters, I'm pretty sure there will be another kind of butter soon.

This is my first attempt to make a fruit butter and it turned out pretty well. The better part is that it's not difficult to make at all, and it has less sugar than that of the most commonly bought jams in the market. Fruit jams and fruit butters are two different things but I take it that they have the same concept. 

I used dried figs in this recipe mainly because we do not have some fresh ones available in the Philippines, well, none that I know of. So I make do with whatever I have.


Fig Butter Recipe

100 g Dried Figs
1 cup Water
Zest of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 cup Honey Cider
Pinch of Salt


In a pan, add the dried figs, lemon zest, and water. Simmer until figs look slightly plump. Figs will absorb most of the water. Remove from heat.

If using an immersion blender, transfer to a deep container, add the honey cider and salt and blend until smooth and with a pastey consistency, about 3 minutes. Seeds will be visible

If using a food processor, pulse everything and until smooth.

You can serve this as it is, smear generously over a slice of toast if you're going for a rustic snack or serve with some cheese and crackers to go with your wine for a fancy aperetif. 

If you want a really smooth consistency, go ahead and run the mixture through a sieve. I like my fig butter with those specks of seeds. 

A Prelude to Japan

In 2 days time, I will be traveling Osaka with my family. It will not be that long of a trip, like i would want to so much to immerse myself into their culture, more so get to try the best Japanese food of my existence. But it should be enough, well, it has to be enough for me to taste bits and bobs of their awesome cuisine.

Ukokkei's Ramen has got to be the best ramen in Manila I have tried to so far and I am looking forward to tasting something better than what I have already considered best. And hopefully this upcoming Osaka trip would land me to my best Japanese experience yet. Of course that includes all sorts of sushi, the freshest sashimi, tempura, unagi and unagi and more unagi. (Love those stuff)

I cannot wait to visit the land of Morimoto and the world renowned Japanese cuisine.

Last Cake of 2012

Made this cake as a favor for my work mate who apparently got married last year. The wedding dates were not final up until two months before. And it was not exactly the best time for me to make a cake. It was Christmas Eve that they decided to tie the knot. Happy for them, no doubt about that. It was just a pretty stressful day to make a cake. And it was not all pretty and fun to make as well. A series of unfortunate events occurred. Fondant was not perfectly smooth and neat to paint on, ran out of fondant when i wanted to salvage the cake, ran out of powdered sugar when i wanted to make marshmallow fondant instead. No stores were open because fyi, it was 2 am hat these things happened. Anyway, out with these hapless incidents, it still turned out well. And I'm happy with how I managed to make it work from its really crappy original state. I'm just a little bummed it was not the actual design that we both wanted but nonetheless it was perfect.

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Birthday Cakes

Made this Rainbow Cake for my boss' grandaughter, Justine's 7th birthday, who is by the way too cute and charming.

I remember doing this on the day of my birthday. Such the eager beaver that I was, I actually gave myself stress on my own birthday. It was fun though, and I'm happy it turned out well, and I was given great comments about it.

Since it was my birthday too, and my parents were actually throwing a small party for me at home, it just seemed logical that I get a cake too, right. So I made myself a cake, lame, right? Well I sort of helped in making the cake, as my boyfriend claims he's the one who did it, when in fact, he just put the icing on the cake. Well, I got to give credit to him.

Chocolate Almond Torte

Pinoys at Heart.

Ah, Weddings! Always a delight! Plus the fact that I am part of the entourage is twice as exciting.

Notwithstanding the fact that behind this very lovely wedding lies an extremely stressful 6 months, more so an exhausting Christmas and New Years, it always is worth it.

A 3 tier cake, 3 days in the making. Where, one day was totally allotted for baking all the cakes to make sure it has completely cooled, and the rest for decorating the cake. The "rest" pertains to the stolen free time that I get, when I'm actually not being either a tour guide, a personal aid, driver, at work, or sleeping. I'm not complaining though. I found myself working on the cake at 3 in the morning, beause that was the only time that I get to work by myself, quiet, relax, not distracted by anybody. 

The wedding was lovely. Few guests, mostly family members since the couple have lived in the States with their 2 children for so long. It was indeed vacation worth remembering, for the couple and for every one else.

Cowgirl turns Eighteen

Just recently, our dentist asked me to make a cake for her turning 18 year old daughter, which is quite a big deal if you ask any girl in this country. It is that day when the little girl turns into a lady in everybody's eyes, most especially the parents. It is that age that a girl becomes "of legal age" and has the license to most things adult-like. 

Cake/Cupcake Tower went well. The only thing i would say that killed me was making the cowgirl hats. Originally planned on making 100pcs but I really didn't have enough time - day job hits, but aside from that I enjoyed doing the rest. I loved the lolly cupcake toppers. It made the whole act livelier and prettier. Also the pink sugar, I think i just looked very pretty to me.

I love love love doing cakes. It's a learning process for me. I'm self thought. I imagine myself playing with clay when I was a little kid, which by the way, I was never really great at but seems to me I get quite fancy results for fondant and gumpaste. 

Cake making is as tedious as it looks like. But for me, it all boils down to satisfying the people who trusted you the cake on their special moments and more importantly satisfying myself, knowing that after every cake made, I get better, know better, and ready for the next one.

Gumpaste Cowgirl Hats

As requested, Red Velvet Cupcakes!

With Cream Cheese Frosting

Confetti Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream. The pink sugar makes it look like it glitters.

Cupcake Tower