Get your FREE domain with mail forwarding! Nothing Beats FREE!!!

I used to have my own Dot TK domain, like 2 years ago but nobody visits my blog on Friendster so I eventually lost it. Last night, I made a new account and became a DotTK Ambassador today. It's really exciting because you get 5 virtual fish for every referral. You can exchange those virtual fish for really neat stuff available in the Dot TK Barter Market - Dot TK caps, Dot, TK webcams, Dot TK, shirts and pens, etc. Isn't that cool???

Dot TK relates to the country of Tokelau, a group of islands in the South Pacific. In Tokelau, fishing is considered to be a full time job so fish is a valuable commodity for them. That is why they use "virtual fish" to reward their ambassadors.

Get your FREE Dot TK domain with mail forwarding now and start earning "virtual fish" by referring your friends. Nothing beats FREE!!!


Click on the video below and enter your URL to get your FREE domain:

My Blog's Video

Sorry for the unregistered Hypercam2. Now I have the registered version! Yipee!!!

Lightning Mcqueen Cake

My First Try at a Lightning McQueen Cake

One of my old friends from high school asked me to make a car cake for her nephew. Of course, I confidently said yes, since I've made a few car cakes before.

After a few days, I got a text message from her telling me that the kid's mom is requesting a Lightning McQueen cake. I didn't want to turn anyone down but I knew I just couldn't do a character cake. Just a bit of mistake will make it look like Tigger instead of McQueen ha ha ha kidding! I told her I couldn't do it but she insisted and told me to do something close to McQueen like a plain red car or whatever. Okay, she convinced me! So I didn't sleep the night before the birthday to make the cake. It was so hard to create but I'm quite happy with the results - not that much! We were joking about it that it was a cross between Herbie and Lightning Mcqueen but I'm glad it didn't look like Tigger! :-p



My picture of me and the cake!




I didn't have a Lightning McQueen cake pan so I had to carve it. It's not perfect but I tried my best! It's my first time to do a carved cake. Also, I didn't have a toy Mcqueen to use as a model so I had to guess what he looked like in 3D form.

Instead of Rustee's, I wrote the kid's name and his age - just my idea. Plus, the Rustee's logo is kind of complicated. Everything is edible. It's a dense Devil's Food Cake, filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream, and covered in marshmallow fondant with fondant accents. Wheels were oreos glued with buttercream.

No-bake Cookies

NO-BAKE COOKIES
(picture coming soon...)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk plus 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup instant or quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cocoa powder (sifted)
  
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Procedure:

1. Line cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.
2. 1. Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan.
3. Boil for one minute over 350 degrees F.
4. Drop spoon fulls of mixture on lined cookie sheets.
5. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.
6. Serve with milk.
   

Cake Central

CLICK HERE----->A SHORT REVIEW OF THE SPIDERWEB MARKETING SYSTEM<------CLICK HERE




I've been a member of Cakecentral.com for more than a year now. Check out their website! It's fun, informative and just full of ideas. Join the forum for questions and get answers from moderators and helpful members. I love checking the cake designs every now and then. The designers are just super creative! By the way, I posted some of my designs there. Here's the link: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-photos-by-SarahEnriquez.html

Click on the picture above to go to the website.


CLICK HERE----->A SHORT REVIEW OF THE SPIDERWEB MARKETING SYSTEM<------CLICK HERE

I Choose to be OPTIMISTIC

Upon searching Google on "How to be a Black Widow partner in the Spiderweb Marketing System and how Direct Matches* really works,I found this blog where the author is definitely not a big fan of the system. I guess here are some of his reasons (I'm not really sure, though :-P):

1. That the Spiderweb System is not 100% free.

My comment: The Spiderweb System is 100% free but some of the "streams" are not. Yes, you can sign up on them for free but there is also an option to upgrade to be able to get the most out of those streams. I chose not to upgrade in any of the streams since I was told in the video that it is 100% free and I want to make it work that way. I never paid for anything there and yet I was able to set up most of the accounts.

(To all the people who chose to upgrade in the streams that need to be upgraded, good for you. I wish you all the best!)

2. The automated blogs created for you which makes it appear as though you posted all those. The author calls it "Blog infestation." He says that there is a moral issue because when they visit that blog, the readers assume that it's a real live person's journey.

My comment: I will have to agree with that but I don't see a moral issue here - more like, amoral maybe. I don't want to be a faithful reader of a person's blog and then later on, find out that it's automated. Maybe it's not a big deal to those who are not in the blogging world but to me, personally, it is. I have nothing against those who have automated blogs for the system. It's just my personal opinion as a blogger. On the other hand, if people think that it's the best way on how they can promote their system, then let their conscience decide for them. There might be a bit of "deception" but isn't that what all advertisers do? It's just like making a cookie look bigger on a TV commercial. Oh well, people are different!

3. Spamming members at Direct Matches and Yuwie.

My comment: I hate spammers but I spam my friends and leave a note at the bottom of the message saying, "hey, sorry for spamming." I know it doesn't make sense but it's working for me!

Anyway, I'm not really sure if these are his reasons. One thing I am sure of is that whatever reviews I read about the Spiderweb system, I still choose to be a member of it. I am listening to Kimball Roundy right now on his recorded Telecast and I still think that the system is great. I'm actually glad that I was referred to that system because that's where I found one of the streams that I am happy to become a member of which is Zenzuu. I met some nice people there on my first week of membership.

I choose to be optimistic because I've got nothing to lose. If in the end, the system fails (which I doubt), then I can go on with life with no regrets.

NOTE: I have nothing against the author. Actually, I just bookmarked his page as it is very informative. You might want to check it out. Click on this: http://online-social-networking.com

Posting a review of someone or something

I really want to post a review of my favorite cake designer artist and some of her designs however, I'm not sure how I will not violate some copyright policies (or whatever you call that). I left a message on her site, asking for permission if I can post some of her designs and that I will surely include her name, her company's name and a link to her website... and of course, some text that says, "POSTED WITH PERMISSION." I hope she approves. I don't know if the message will get to her. I guess she has a crew who does that for her.

Oh well, I really don't know any of the rules on making a review of a product or person. If any of you reads this and know anything on how I can post a review without breaking the "rules" please leave a comment. As of now, the best way that I can think of for posting a review of something or someone is to ask the person who owns the content if he/she wants it to be featured in my blog.

Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!

Mom's Butterscotch Brownies

I got this recipe from my mom's recipe collection notebook.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup dessicated coconut or oatmeal

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease one 9x13 rectangular pan.
2. Melt margarine in microwave for about 40 seconds. Cool slightly.
3. Add in brown sugar and mix with a wooden spoon.
4. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
   
5. Add vanilla. Mix.
   
6. Sift flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a separate medium sized. Add in dessicated coconut or oatmeal with dry ingredients and mix well.
7. Mix dry ingredients with the butter-egg mixture and mix until everything has moistened.
8. Pour into greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted at the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
9. Cool slightly and cut into squares.

(picture coming soon...)

Dark, Dense Chocolate Cake

Makes three 9x2 inch round pans or 24 cupcakes.


Ingredients:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1-1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 cup all purpose cream
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups room temperature strong coffee

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9x2 round pans and line with parchment or wax paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Whisk to incorporate well.
3. In a liquid measuring cup, mix cream with vinegar and extracts and set aside.
4. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugar and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. With the mixer on low, add in eggs one at a time.
6. Stop the mixer and scrape bottom and sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
7. Add in dry ingredients alternately with cream mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
8. In a thin stream, pour in strong coffee and beat until well combined.
9. Divide batter evenly between pans and bake for 23-25 minutes. 12 minutes for cupcakes.
10. Cool completely before removing from pan. Refrigerate before frosting.
11. Frost with Easy-to-make Bakeshop Frosting.
    

Easy-to-make Bakeshop Frosting


Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup shortening (do not use lard)
• 1 cup confectioner's or powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup warm milk
• food color (optional)

Procedure:

1. Mix cornstarch with warm milk and allow to cool.
2. Meanwhile, cream butter and shortening in a medium-sized mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. In a thin stream, pour milk-cornstarch mixture at the side of the bowl. Add in three batches. Allow to thicken a bit before pouring again. (Sounds complicated? Post a comment so I can post a picture or a video.)
4. Continue mixing until it looks like "frosting."

Frosting Disaster Cake Story

Last week, I made a batch of dark, dense chocolate cupcakes for my sister on her recital. The cakes were good but a cake is nothing without frosting. Well, at least most cakes... but not all.

I made a batch of Easy-to-make bake shop icing and it was a disaster! I didn't add the milk-cornstarch mixture gradually so I ended up with a soupy thing. It definitely didn't look like icing. I tried to "redeem" it by putting it in the fridge for a few minutes hoping it'll come together so I can whip it. When I took it out it was still soupy. I mixed it for another five minutes and decided to add more cornstarch to it then placed it back in the fridge. After 10 minutes, it wasn't soupy anymore but the mixture looked more like cake batter than frosting.

I placed the Cake-batter-looking frosting in the fridge and decided to make half a batch (I lost my confidence in making a whole batch so I had to divide the ingredients in half.) . This time, I added the liquid gradually and it turned out well. Whew! I tinted the icing light peach and the cupcakes were cute when decorated. Well, not THAT cute, as we were running late for the recital so they were a bit messy ha ha ha! Here, I'll show you a picture:




We're not really cupcake experts so we came up with these designs. My sister and niece (22 years old; older cousin's daughter) made these.

So going back to the disaster frosting, I thought about it the whole evening. Should I throw it away and charge it to experience? Should I feed it to the dog? No!

A lot of crazy ideas passed my mind until I came up with a good one. Remember when I said it looked like cake batter? Well I decided to make it into a butter cake. I added eggs, flour, baking powder and shaved chocolate into it and mixed it. Then I baked it for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F with my fingers crossed. Actually, I even asked my sister to pray for it before I put it in the oven.



The cake turned out well! It had a soft crumb and fine texture. The combination of shaved chocolate and buttery flavor was awesome. I'll definitely make that again. I'm glad I was able to formulate a good butter cake recipe out of a frosting disaster! :-)

Click here for the recipe ------> Frosting Disaster Cake Recipe

P.S.

I decided to call it "Frosting Disaster Cake." It may not sound appealing but I'll stick with that name. Of course, every time someone hears that name, I will have to explain it to them why I came up with that. Or better yet, ask them to visit my blog so they would know the story behind it! ;-p