cake decoration | I Love. Therefore, I Cook.

Monsees Cafe will be undergoing renovations because we’re expanding the dining area to accommodate more guests. We’re also coming up with more products and we’re very excited with the launch of the bigger, better, and improved Monsees Cafe!

Incidentally, we’re currently selling some of the things that we won’t be using after renovations. Oh yeah, we have an on-going SALE!

Here are the items on SALE:

~o~

CUPS, MUGS, BOWLS

Demitasse Cups - Php10 each (in white only)

Demitasse Cups (with swirl design) - Php10 each (in white only)

Bowls - P35 each

Pottery Barn Soup Bowls (in two sizes). Smaller - Php25 each. Bigger - Php30 each.

SOLD

Big Bowl - Php35 each

Medium Bowl - Php25 each

Small - Php15 each

ROYAL ICING CAKE/CUPCAKE DECORATIONS

For Christmas - Php85 per pack

Flowers - Php145 per pack

Butterflies - Php145 per pack

Baby Girl/Baby Boy - Php145 per pack

Teddy Bear - Php145 per pack

Plants vs. Zombies - Php145 per pack

If you’re interested to buy any of these products, feel free to drop a comment here or send me an email or better yet, visit Monsees Cafe at 118 Katipunan Ave., Brgy. White Plains, Quezon City and look for Epi.

Lastly, we might be holding a GARAGE SALE so please stay tuned!

: the class with Chef Mario

If you noticed, I’ve been doing savory dishes for some time and haven’t really ventured much into baking. Baking has always been a hit or miss thing for me and I’m just not confident every time I bake. At least when it comes to cakes.

Actually, I’ve baked cupcakes, brownies and bars, muffins, savory (and some pastry) pies, cookies, loaf cakes and breads and I’m a little comfortable with them. As with cakes however, it’s really always a hit or miss affair. And I want consistency. I want to learn what really is out there to learn.

I decided to join a basic cake & cake decoration class hosted by Chef Jen Elizalde of H&J Baker’s Choice. The class was held last April 9 at the H&J Baker’s Choice kitchen in Makati and our instructor was Chef Mario. It was a whole-day class (from 10:30AM to 5:30PM) and the fee was only P1,200 (roughly US$27). So price-wise, it was a really attractive deal

: man, look at my grip!

As regards baking the cake, we had a mixed hands-on/demo style of baking. Chef Mario baked a basic chiffon cake and we assisted him with the measurements. He also let us “feel the batter.” He taught us some techniques on how to achieve the perfect batter and he allowed us to feel the difference between a heavy batter and a runny batter. All throughout the class, we were free to throw in questions. I was really hoping that we get to do our own cake though, even if that means paying for the cost of ingredients.

As for the cake decoration part, we were totally hands-on there. We made boiled icing and buttercream icing and used them in decorating our cakes. Each of us were given dummy cakes to decorate and that was really the more exciting part. Chef Mario taught us how to make apple blossoms and rose and what looked so easy was actually very hard!

: the first flower-looking flower i made!

So, how was the cake? The cake sank a bit at the center. The oven was opened too early to take out the leftover batter we baked in a small loaf pan. But, it was super soft and moist. Although I couldn’t totally claim that it’s MY cake but since I’ve been there seeing seeing how it’s done, I think I can say that it’s the softest and most moist cake I HAVE baked The cake wasn’t too sweet and didn’t leave any starchy taste. It was a really great chiffon cake that’s comparable with a Goldilock’s cake.

Chef Mario shared us the recipe and gave us some pointers on how to vary the cake. I’ll be sharing that plus my class takeaways in a separate post. I’m really excited to show you my very first cake complete with icing!

I just need to gather all my creative juices so stay tuned For now, let me leave you with a very short viedo I made on how to make a rose using boiled icing. Enjoy!