Pineapple Toasted Almond and Rhum Cupcake

How do you cope up with creativity exhaustion?

For the past few weeks my jobs are filling up: marketing materials to make, FB application to develop, shots to take, articles to write, recipes to cook..sigh :-( my deadlines are ticking and I'm inching like a snail. I normally just listen to some upbeat music and eat a bar chocolate to give me some vigor and inspiration but it's not working lately.

I am hundred percent sure that I have some deep seated issues to deal with before getting back on my track. In the meantime enjoy this Pineapple Cupcake my entry to this month's Sugar High Friday Toasted edition hosted by Rivka of Not Derby Pie . SHF is that sweet event created by Jennifer the Domestic Goddess . For the round-up and details please check the link.



Pineapple Toasted Almond Rhum Cupcake

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of toasted almonds
1 medium sized fresh pineapple( peeled and cut in cubes)
1 tablespoon of melted butter
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 jigger of white rhum
cream chantilly (for decoration)

Procedure:
In a pan caramelize the cut pineapple with butter and sugar, once you have that brownish golden color deglaze it with some white rhum. n a large bowl, combine baking soda, flour, sugar and salt. In a measuring cup or small bowl, beat together the eggs and oil. Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fold in the cooked pineapple and toasted almond. Be sure to leave some for decoration. Preheat the oven at 180° celsius. Grease your cupcake pan. ake 15 minutes or until the cupcake looks "ready" and bounces back to touch. Cool on a wire rack. You can decorate your cupcake with some pineapple buttercream but I opted for a faster version I used some cream chantilly.

Chocolate Charlotte with berries

Chocolate Charlotte with different kinds of berries

Making tough decision by definition is never easy nor fun. And I never consider myself a specialist in this domain neither. For I am the type that would probably do a mini myni mo or draw lots in making crucial decisions :-). So yesterday when a good friend of mine asked for my advice on a career decision move, I knew it was way out of my league.

She's one of the talented and intelligent person I know. And for one, she would never occupy that VP post in a big shipping corporation if she'st not well deserving. But she wanted to quit and leave everything she has worked hard for for years. I listened to her most of the time, I knew she needed someone to listen to her. And when it was my time to talk I just told her not to make any hasty move at the height of our emotions that she will regret afterwards. She thanked me and felt relieved afterwards. I am really glad to be of help.

Well she's not called Charlotte, but I do hope this edition of my Friday Dose of Chocolate will give her some dose of encouragement and happy thoughts.

I'll be sending over this Chocolate Charlotte with berries to Susan of Food Blogga, the lovely host of Sugar High Friday, playing along with berries .

Chocolate Charlotte with Berries

about 22 pieces of ladyfinger biscuits
about 15 g of gelatine powder
about 1/4 cup of raspberry coulis
150 g of dark chocolate
25 cl of heavy cream (very cold)
25 g of sugar
some ice
half a cup of raspberry syrup (or any berry syrup)

Start by warming up in a casserole hlaf of the raspberry syrup then add the gelatine powder. Cut the fire and pour in the raspberry coulis, mix well. Melt the chocolate in bain marie set aside. Whisk the cold heavy cream (you can put some ice on it) to make your cream chantilly. Add little by little your sugar. Fold in delicately the melted chocolate and the raspberry mixture. Dip lightly your ladyfinger biscuits on half of the remaining raspberry syrup and assemble it on your charlotte mold. If you prefer you can also make smaller charlotte using ramekin. Line up your dipped biscuits on the side of your mold, then pour your chocolate raspberry mixture. Refrigerate it for 24 hours. Decorate the top with berries of your choice.

Some Charlotte facts:

Charlotte is a typical chilled dessert with sponge cake or biscuits. It is normally serve cold during summer. You can vary you charlotte by putting bavarian cream, purée with gelatin or even chocolate mousse. You can also do some savory if you want. Its origin is vague, some claim it originated from the English word "charlyt" which means a dish of custard. While others claim it was named after Queen Charlotte the wife of King George III.



Try my other berries recipes:

Mango Blueberry Opera Cake
Home-made yogurt with red fruits
Poached pears with wild thymes and raspberries

Peanut butter Chocolate Maple Syrup Marble Cake

How many friends do you have?

My granddad popped us this question when we were kids. I proudly claimed that I have plenty. He looked at me and smiled and told me he only have very few. Why is that so we asked him. And he replied to us by telling that it is not the number that counts but the quality. He told us that he had very few friends but they were real and sincere friends. He then recounted the story way back during WWII of how his american friend saved the life of my granddad's family one night when a group of a Japanese soldiers attacked their village. He told us with teary eyes, you see if weren't for him I wouldn't be here to tell you this story. And this happened long long time ago. Everytime I look back at this moment, I know that this have served its purpose. Because I grew up with lots of friends. And I can proudly claim that they are real and sincere. For all the ups and downs of my life, they were there. I feel so lucky :-)

And as I type this post I am on my way to meet up with some bloggers. Well you see I thought of writing about friendship because never I would imagine to develop real friendship too through blogging. So this Friday edition of my Friday Dose of Chocolate I'll concocted this special peanut butter chocolate marble cake for them. See you later guys!

Peanut butter Chocolate Maple Syrup Marble Cake

3 eggs
120 g of sugar
175 g of flour
165 g of butter
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of peanut butter (put more if you are a great fan)
1 tablespoon of Nutella choco spread
50 g of dark chocolate
a pinch of salt
1 table spoon of baking powder
10 g of butter to grease the baking dish

Start by separating the yolk and white of your three eggs. Cream the yolks with your sugar, melted butter and maple syrup until it becomes creamy. Add the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Beat the egg whites until they become stiff and fold in gently the mixture. Divide this cake mixture into two. Mix your melted chocolate and nutella spread on the other half and your peanut butter on the one. Pour the two flavors at the same time on a greased baking dish of your choice, or you can pour them alternately to make that marble effect that you want. Preheat the oven at 180° celsius and bake it for thirty to forty minutes. To avoid burning the top you can put an alluminum paper on the top of your cake during the last ten minutes of its cooking time.


Here are my other chocolate recipes:

Chocolate clafoutis muffin style
Sacher Torte
Toblerone Molten Cake

Orange soufflé

« Daig ng maagap ang masipag ».

This is my mom’s favorite Tagalog proverb. This literally means «Quickness is better than hardworking”. I never believed her until yesterday when I tried doing an orange soufflé recipe. I have seen a lot of French highly acclaimed chefs giving tips on making this light and fluffy dessert; the way you butter your ramekin, the way you powder it with flour, the way you beat your white eggs, well all the right jest to make it rise (as soufflé means to blow up in French). And for the first time I followed the recipe to the letter. When I saw my soufflé bloating slowly like balloons in the oven, I got really excited. I saw them rise really high thanks to the help of the baking paper sheet I put around the ramekin to support it. And when they were done they look absolutely gorgeous.

I took them and put them on the table. I went to my room to get my camera but I couldn’t find it. As I was busy searching for it the phone rang. I took and answer it. Of course it’s one of those “exhausting” commercial calls (someone must have sold my phone number to these people for I get minimum of three calls per day). I tried to cut the conversation as fast as I could but you know how they are. I don’t want to be impolite after all. I hurried back to the kitchen with my camera and enthusiasm but to my surprise I was shocked that my soufflé have already deflated. I am really disappointed. I guess it pays well to be organized and quick.

I hope Helen of Tartellette will still love my Orange soufflé even they are deflated for I am sending her this for Sugar High Friday that she is hosting with the theme, citrus. This is an event created by Jennifer of Domestic Goddess.

Orange soufflé

for the orange reduction: half lemon, 10 g of sugar, zest of 1 orange (organic), 4 oranges

for the soufflé:5 egg whites, 200 g of sugar, and 1 tsp of Grand Marnier, 1 tsp of butter and flour for the ramekin, confectioners ’ sugar for dusting

In a casserole boil the juice of 4 oranges and half a lemon together with the orange zest. Wait until the liquid becomes thick. In a separate bowl whisk the white eggs and add little by little the sugar. Add slowly the reduced orange juice in the mixture and the Grand Marnier. Butter the ramekin and powder all parts of it lightly with flour. Shake off excess flour. Preheat the oven at 180° and bake the soufflé for about ten minutes.

"Orange is the happiest color"
- Frank Sinatra