French vs. Italian vs. Swiss Meringue

I've been reading a cookbook that I just bought and I came accross a page where they give a brief explanation on the three types of meringue. Not making meringue often, I always wonder how they are different from one another. Maybe these can help:

Colorful Bread

My cute, colorful bread! :D I was even lucky that I noticed I could form a "heart" as I was taking photos.

I rarely end up with edible breads because they are usually too yeasty or rock-hard, but this one smells right, feels right... EXCEPT, I forgot to put in some salt! lolol. I always forget things. xD Anyways, I guess we should enjoy this bread with some spread or filling. :)

Dinner Rolls

I love these dinner rolls that I make. They're the breads I make best so far - soft, slightly sweet, and buttery.

I was told that they taste like the ones at The French Baker. :D

Pay no attention to how dark its browning is. It's not burnt. :)

Rich Chocolate Cake Recipe

Here's my favorite chocolate cake recipe so far. It is adapted from Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate cake.

It is rich and chocolatey, but is also dense so I'm still looking for a chocolate cake recipe that is lighter.

Ingredients for one 8-inch cake pan:

1 cup sugar
14 tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 177 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a round 8-inch cake pan.
In a bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
In another bowl, mix together all wet ingredients EXCEPT boiling water.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ones. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed, about 2 minutes.
Stir in boiling water. Mix until well combined.
Pour into the floured cake pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool in pan for ten minutes before removing. When completely cooled, frost with frosting of your choice.

Best way to freeze and thaw baked cupcakes

I made a dozen of carrot cupcakes tonight, but don't want to frost them with cream cheese frosting until Friday or Saturday. I thought I should freeze them until then, because simply refrigerating might not preserve them well.

Apple Muffins

This makes about 6 muffins. It's supposed to make 9 but I had six because I used square muffin pans which are a bit large.

Cherry Fudge Cheesecake Recipe

Here's a cheesecake recipe I found on the leaflet of a pan I just bought. I haven't tried it yet, but based on a quick Google search, I think this is a Betty Crocker recipe :)

The "Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix" already includes chocolate syrup, I believe.

Roman Style Chicken (Recipe)

This blog may be called "Pinay Baker" but I want to post recipe of non-baked foods too! :)

You will like this chicken recipe if you like Italian flavors and the tangy taste.

The capers I use are the ones in bottles, soaked vinegar, so that brings the tangy taste to my dish.

Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips (Recipe)

I rarely make anything people like, to be honest, but my friends liked the banana muffins I made yesterday. The muffins were made as gift to a friend who was celebrating her birthday, but I brought a few extras for the others to taste. They said the banana flavor is very rich. I thought so too. The texture is soft, and has a rich buttery banana flavor.

Get the recipe now :D

Chocolate Mousse (Recipe)

Caramel Cream Frosting (Recipe) by Catzie

This is a modified version of the caramel filling I make for my banoffee pie. It is less sweet because I add cream and a pinch of salt, and to stabilize it I add gelatin powder.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
400 ml condensed milk
250 ml chilled all purpose cream
1 tsp vanilla
a pinch of salt
10 grams gelatin powder

Melt butter and then add sugar. Stir until foamy.
Add condensed milk. Simmer 5 minutes then transfer to mixing bowl.
When it is cooled, mix in chilled cream, vanilla, and salt.
Dissolve gelatin powder in as little HOT water as possible and mix into caramel mixture.
Chill the caramel frosting "a bit" and then whip to achieve a lighter texture. I said "chill a bit" because if it is chilled for too long, the gelatin will solidify and you'll get uneven texture when you whip.

Lemon Chiffon Cake (Recipe)

Welcome to my baking and cooking blog - Pinay Baker

Hey :) I had another blog about baking and cooking, which was on WordPress, but I don't like the blog's name anymore and I felt that I couldn't do much customization in WordPress. So here I am, moving in to Blogger to try things out with a brand new blog name - Pinay Baker. The name is pretty simple, but it describes what I am. I'm a Pinay and am a home baker. :) This was inspired by the name of a bakery I like, which is "The French Baker". Even if my blog name includes only the word "baking", I plan to post cooking-related entries too.