Yema Cake Recipe

baking should be accurate. But measurement conversions also vary online and even the oven temperature depending on the brand. This recipe is based on my conversions during the time of baking and in my oven experience . If it helps, I bake using Bompani model 664.40GGFS gas cooker - on the lowest rack. You can bake  as you please depending on how familiar you are with your oven.  

This is one recipe I just copied online and made some adjustments which got thumbs up from those who tasted it.

Ingredients:

§  For the cake:

Part 1

• 50 g butter stick (or nearly ¼ c butter as ¼ cup butter converts from 55  to 60ml, see what I mean about conversion?)
• 250 g Philadelphia cream cheese spread
• 1 110 ml or 1/3 c + 2 tbsp can evaporated milk 
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Part 2

• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• ¾ c + 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

§  For the icing

• 1 can condensed milk (I used Alaska)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp butter
• grated cheese
• slivered almonds

Cooking Instructions:

1.       Part 1: Over simmering water, melt together cream cheese, butter and milk. Once melted, let cool to room temperature. Using a mixer, add in flour, cornstarch, salt to the cream cheese mixture. Then add in egg yolks and lastly the lemon juice. Set aside.

2.      Part 2: In a separate bowl, mix egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add in vanilla then gradually add sugar and mix until stiff peaks form. Fold in to the cream cheese mixture. Make sure everything is well combined.

3.      Pour batter into a 10.5-inch round cake pan covered with parchment paper. Bake the cake in a water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done at 180° C. (This is based on my available pan and oven temperature. Most recipes call for 8-inch round pan and baking on 375° F, I wonder how tall it is when it rises.)

4.      For the icing:  Combine 1 can of condensed milk and egg yolks and cook in low heat. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Cook until it thickens enough to spread. Add in butter.

5.      Let the cake cool and pour over the icing.  Top with grated cheese and slivered almonds.

Note: I used large cheese grater but the finer one is suggested so it will have smoother finish.

Happy baking!!! 

                                                      

Top 10 Pre-nup Agreements

I have no millions under my name to protect or book royalties to expect, but as we all know living under one roof and sharing one bed means all of you exposed to the other half including your skin pores. Two people no matter how nice will disagree on the smallest issues and the pettiest of things can send them down each other’s throats.

So following my Sweet Assumptions, I am passing my Top 10 Pre-nup Agreements. Sweetie, I know you have yours topped with ‘stop writing about the tiniest details of our lives’ but before that list gets signed and sealed, please refer to below:    

#10

Bookshelves for my books – everything else we can negotiate or can wait, but not this indulgence. I need them to keep sane. ‘Ayt, I promise to give away to college students the romance novels from Book Sale so we will not have to keep those you are ashamed of piled in the cabinets. 

#9

Pressure Cooker – we need kitchen aids to prepare better meals and we need this to tenderize beef!

 

#8

Spacious kitchen. Sweet escape.

#7

***Pressing clothes – sweetie, I can do the laundry without complaining, even hand wash your knitted pullovers if necessary. But please let’s leave to the dependable Mr. Laundryman downstairs the job of pressing your dress shirts, we will make more friends and it will both save us from distress.  

#6

***Let me off to the grocery store alone when we are in a hurry or hungry. You’re just so wonderful accompanying me to the grocery, really. Not all men do that happily more so volunteer, but when it’s lunch or dinner time and we’re dizzy, you know the fastest way is to pick your trusted brand or pick whatever you already have in mind. Deciding which brand of honey doesn’t have to be like making a history. #iloveyou

 

#5

No action thriller movies – like Taken or psychological thriller Orphan. I know watching movies together is one of your ideas of ‘quality time’, thank you. But please, we have it established I have a china heart for torture in any form and we will just end up in a row if you force me to endure movies that stir ultra-heightened emotions. Knowing you are just nearby is already quality time with me. Consider it your ‘me’ time - I’ll chill some Heinekens, pop some corns, you can invite over the boys.

#4

Bad hair days – we will wake up with one or come home with one. Not necessarily because of each other but one will be inevitably pain in the ass to the other. The same way I bombard you with 1 new sms/sec that drives you crazy. Please continue being patient and understanding.   

#3

Understand PMS-ing – Stop sneering, I’m not making it up, promise! Every grown up woman goes through that… every month.

#2

The endless teasing and the bad sport – it’s like cats and dogs,  like cause and effect, the one attracts the other like magnet. So either we end up rolling on the floor laughing, me crying or us fighting. But I guess we have to live with that. We have years of practice.  

#1

Happy pills – remember we are stuck with each other: a vase of flowers once in a while can brighten our day, or a pup when we are settled will allow us think of other living things, and space for our own hobbies and interests will give us room to grow individually, etc… etc…  let us not forget those along with dinner dates occasionally.

*** Emergency situations can be negotiated.

My slice of heaven

  

Dubai bound

Beyond that onion-curry-masala-factory scented public transports during summer that you will complain about in Dubai (summer stretches 8 months long and reaches up to 49°C), there are so much in everyday life to love about this city: the cleanliness, the road discipline, the availability of a wide variety of foods etc. Of course, you still have to be watchful for any speeding vehicle that might surprisingly knock you over, which you should be anywhere in the world, but the lighter traffic, dependable Metro (Dubai’s driverless train), designated bus stops and reliable online and phone transactions just make everyday life more convenient in this part of the globe.

snatched somewhere

Ola Manila

The good portion of my early adulthood was generally spent in Manila until I decided to drag my 30-kilo luggage, fly 8 hours and change time zone 4 years ago. And Oh! I so love the Philippine’s busiest city: the anonymity in the university, the busy streets, movie houses, bars, malls, restaurants that can keep you occupied and awake all night. The chlorine-treated water flowing from the faucet, the honking of the rushing vehicles early in the morning and the availability of just any transportation which are unique in the Philippines, they wake my senses into the fast-paced-mode. While the darker side of it also warrants one his own tale of encounter with hold-upers, pick-pocketers and all kinds of easy-money scheming gangs, individuals even police officers, I still love the race and the rush in the country’s capital.

borrowed from: httpwww.panoramio.comphoto51474145

My slice of heaven

But I have my growing up years in the small town in Batangas, somewhere in the southwestern part of the Philippines. Up until spending Christmas holidays requires airplane tickets and management approval, it’s where I spent the holidays and most of my summer breaks. It will always be my home. And from childhood when I used to run around in the streets and during my very limited annual vacation spent, Calatagan will always be my slice of heaven. 

Things I love about small towns and some funny things, at least in my time

• Before too many options, everything has just a name – It would be the Ate Linda if you need some finger nail pampering or ingrown toe nail relief. It’s first name basis and not some faceless and nameless Ates from the X salons.  Mamay Islaw for some dirty ice cream comfort, Carding for quick shoe and umbrella repair, Pitong or Danica if you want your hair cut or permed… so don’t ever wonder if the girls then looked the same.    

•  It was in the 80s before the PSPs, easy access to internet and before kids were given liberty to name their pets, the adults have only 4 names for whatever breed: Whity, Blacky, Brownie and Spotty. And every cat in the house is called Muning. 

• One destination – growing up, there was only one big grocery store in town and quite a few stall owners at the market you would patronize based on your relationship.  So if you say mom went to buy some stuff at ‘Judge’ your nosy neighbor would pick it up where exactly mom was and what time she would be back. 

•  Everybody is connected, branches of family trees are intertwined. In the 80s, you would know by name and genealogy all the registered voters in the municipality and almost everybody in the Barangay was your relative you almost cannot identify how and you wouldn’t even ask why.

• You’ve been to same school - they have Montessories now which I wouldn’t be able to differentiate, but back in my time, kids in town went to the same school and played in the same playground. Your mom was classmates with your friend’s dad or your sister was classmates with your playmate’s s cousin, etc… and chances are, you have the same set of teachers for Science, English and Arts.

• No-fence walls to guard your treasures. It was so easy to crossover your neighbor’s Bermuda grass and easy for moms to gather their skirts, exchange recipes (if ever they do that for simple Pinakbet) and indulge in the latest gossip. 

•  I’ve climbed roofs, fell from trees and ran on the streets before 6 (pm). So I have the regular childhood of having skinned my knees and got dirt under my fingernails.   While I was not that athletically competitive, I remember by name who my playmates were or better yet, those who never wanted me in their team.

• I have my distinct Batangas accent if not that thick which I can swiftly discard to be better understood, but trust it is back along with vocabularies only us understand when I meet a kababayan, and we all have a good hearty laugh.

  

Some people label us ‘probinsyano or probinsyana’ with an air of mocking.  I wonder why? I didn’t see any difference how we explored life, how we chased dreams or how Science explained the evolution of a butterfly and in my small town I had bigger playground while riding somebody else’s bike, we also have  game and watch.  And even if there is any difference, I think I wouldn't mind.