Super Sarap

A Little Update

28 Apr 08 | by Lorraine in: Baking

My grandfather, who I grew up with and loved fiercely, passed away this week. And although he had been sick for quite some time, the “finality” of his death is hard for me to deal with. I miss you, Papa.

However, the good news is that in true Lorraine fashion, I’ve been subliminating my grief by baking up a storm- and will be blogging my successes (and okay, yes, my failures) here in the next few weeks. So don’t cancel your RSS subscription just yet… there will be yumminess coming! I promise.

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Piping Hot

02 Apr 08 | by Lorraine in: Baking, Super Sarap, Sweet Stuff

Much to the horror of my thighs, I’ve started baking again. It began when my sister asked me to bake a cake for her baby’s baptism party on Sunday. I decided that not only would I make my tried-and-tested Chocolate Mousse Cake (from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess), I would surround the latter with vanilla cupcakes in varying sizes. Since I’ve never made vanilla cupcakes before (I know… I’m a chocolate person), I made a test run yesterday, using Billy’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from Martha Stewart.

The cupcakes were delicious. I cut down on the sugar in both the cake and frosting recipes, and they were still fantastic. Soft and moist and very light. But the best part was icing them.

I only have a very old, very cheap hand-me-down plastic icing decorating kit, so it was quite messy, but the cupcakes came out so pretty. Sorry, no photos- but I served some to guests last night, then sent the rest to various family members- and they were all gone before I could remember to photograph them!

Anyway, what I really want to say is that I LOVED piping the frosting. Even with my hot hands, even hotter kitchen, and el cheapo of the cheapest decorating sets, I had such a blast doing it. Now I want to buy a new set- but I need some advice. Should I order one of these?

…or stick to a more traditional set like this?

Your comments and suggestions please!

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Sarap Links

22 Mar 08 | by Lorraine in: Recipes, Super Sarap

I’ve been down with a nasty cold and a nasty toothache- and that plus the heat equals much less kitchen time for me. Still, the deliciousness goes on in the world of food blogs, and I list for you here my favorites this week:

Being sick always brings forth my sweet tooth somehow, and I swear I’ll make Smitten Kitchen’s Caramel Walnut Upside Down Banana Cake as soon as I can bear to be back in the kitchen for more than five minutes. Seriously, this cake looks like it might even be worth airconditioning my kitchen for.

Then, of course, there’s Christine’s Simple Strawberry Trifle, which just oozes coolness and sweetness and tartness, and looks like the perfect summer snack right there.

My favorite Pioneer Woman has a recipe up for Carrot Sheet Cake with pecans in the icing. I don’t own a sheet cake pan (my oven is too small, sigh), but I’m considering making this in several layers and sandwiching them together with more icing… mmm.

And finally, this one has nothing to do with food, but please see this photo over at Dooce. It’s my favorite photo of the week, maybe the year.

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Krispy Kreme Easter

15 Mar 08 | by Lorraine in: Desserts, Food, Sweet Stuff

As if those chocolate bunnies (which I’ve always had a weakness for- especially the giant ones from the hotels!) weren’t bad enough for my diet, Krispy Kreme Philippines is now offering up these special Easter doughnuts:

Krispy Kreme Easter

The springtime colors are adorable, and I would love to set out a bowl much like the one above at our Easter Sunday table. You see, because these doughnuts are Krispy Kreme, you know that they’re not just pretty- they probably taste awesome as well.

Visit Krispy Kreme Philippines’ website or one of their shops at Bonifacio High Street, TriNoma, SM Megamall, Mall of Asia, or Greenhills Shopping Center.

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