Cielin's Peaches and Almond Cake

Cielin's Cake House has a new dessert and it's called Peaches and Almond Cake. We were deciding whether to try their old bestseller, Mango Torte, or this one and decided to go for their newest creation instead. I have posted before about their Lemon Meringue Torte and I find this cake similar to that except it has peaches in it. I love this one better though because of the almonds! The 'something' missing in the Lemon Meringue Torte I found it here in Peaches and Almond and that is the crispiness! I love that there is a crunch to every bite. I love the cream and I love the peaches. My mom said it probably lacked peaches but I didn't mind. I felt whatever fruit you put inside this cake it will still be great! I really love this new creation!

Cielin's Peaches and Almond Cake

Close up Peaches and Almond Cake

Cross-section of Peaches and Almond Cake

Slide of Peaches and Almond Cake

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Cielin's Mango Cake

Out of the blue we just decided to buy Cielin's Mango Cake since the price isn't that too high unlike the commercial cakes out there.  And we added our favorite cupcakes as well!

This Mango Cake became my older sister's favorite cake. Well  not really favorite but she plans on giving this cake to her friends. She said it's great to give as a gift or for parties. It's refreshing and not too sweet. The icing tastes like whipped cream with mango bits and it served as a filling as well. I actually love the icing and wished there was more of it. It reminds me of my mom's refrigerator cake with lots of cream. The cake itself as usual is soft and fresh as what you would expect of Cielin's. This mango cake might look simple but you can't go wrong with it. I'm sure everybody will love this one.

Cielin's Mango Cake

Cielin's Mango Cake (slice)

Cielin's Mango cake (better view of filling)

Cielin's cupcakes - strawberry (for me), mocha (for younger sis) and cheese tart (for older sis)

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Cielin's Pandan Cake

On my payday I decided to try one of Cielin's cakes to treat my family with and their Pandan Cake is what I chose. I've been wanting to try it ever since I saw it in their Facebook page. I love everything green especially in food and I also love the refreshing taste of pandan so that explains my craving for this one. This particular cake you have to order one day ahead. They don't keep it in stock probably because it taste best fresh. From my experience with it, it taste great even in the next day and the next.

The pandan flavor is in the cake itself and not in the icing. It's not really overpowering but you can taste right away the flavor on the first bite. I was expecting the icing to be refreshing but it's made up of butter with green coloring in it and no pandan so expect the icing to harden a bit when it's cooled. The brown you see on top are grated chocolate. I thought it was muscovado at first or some kind of brown grated coconut hehe. As usual the cake is soft probably because Cielin's cakes are always fresh. So, this was just a simple Pandan cake with butter icing. I guess I was expecting too much of a traditional Filipino dish like buko pandan and expected everything to be refreshing. Also I don't like butter icing too much. When I was a kid our birthday cakes are usually made up of this kind of icing and maybe I got tired of it. But for those who love butter icings or old fashioned cakes this will be a real treat.  My family actually loved this pandan cake and it's become a favorite of my mom and brother. Me? I would buy it again but not anytime soon unless my siblings are craving for it right away. All in all I think this is a fair cake especially for its price and would go great with tea.

Cielin's Cakehouse box

Cielin's Pandan Cake

Cielin's Pandan Cake

Cielin's Pandan Cake (slice)

Cielin's Pandan Cake (cross-section)

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Cielin's cupcakes

Cielin's cupcakes was an instant success in our family. We all have different tastes so everyone found a flavor to their liking. All cakes are soft and just right, the icing not too sweet since I think they're all made of whipped cream (which I dearly love!) unlike the other cupcakes out there that has a towering icing of pure sugar or whatever. I just really don't get that. Anyway below is a pic of the cupcakes. I imagine it would be hard writing down the cupcake flavors saying L-R, clockwise, etc, so I made a pic with the details below.

Cielin's Assorted cupcakes, chicken pie and tarts

I love the Strawberry cupcake most of all. It's not too sweet. The cream on top has a refreshing strawberry flavor and the cake soft with a strawberry filling inside. Whenever I have this cupcake in front of me I have this urge of burying my face in the cream and lick everything afterwards. I just wish I have tasted this during my childhood. I'm pretty sure I would've been the happiest girl back then knowing that a cupcake like this existed (that goes also with Yulo's strawberry shortcake). Lol. I know what I would want for my birthday! My younger sister loves the Mocha cupcake. You can really taste the mocha-ness in this one. The cake is bursting with mocha flavor and goes well with the cream on top. It would be my fave as well if not for my overly fondness of strawberries. My older sister's favorite is the cheese tart. Oh yes not all are cupcakes in this assorted box. We have a chicken pie and tarts as well. The Cheese tart is somewhat similar to the egg tart but oozing with cheesy goodness. Not too salty and not too sweet, just the right amount of cheese. I think everyone in my family loves this tart. The Chicken pie is great for merienda. It doesn't have sauce inside like other chicken pies but it's flavorful and satisfying to the stomach. The Walnut tart is a tart on the sweet side so you would want to eat this one slowly. I love it  especially when I'm craving for something sweet with some crunch. The Mangoes and Cream honestly I can't remember tasting it. I think I have but maybe I was too smitten-ed with the strawberry cupcake I totally ignored this one. It would be one of my favorite flavors as well.  The other cupcakes I find just normal probably because it's not my favorite flavor or there's none left for me to taste it. Next time I'll revise this post and add more pictures of the cupcake fillings. By the way the most expensive one in this box I think is around P24. The price for each cupcake or tart or chicken pie ranges from P18 to P20+. Not bad eh? Enjoy looking at the pics!

Cielin's cupcakes including the choco cupcake from my Mother's day post

Cielin's cupcakes (without the text)

Cielin's cupcakes (another view)

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Cielin's Lemon Meringue Torte

My younger sister discovered this cake house at BF, Paranaque and she was able to convince me to try out one of their cakes since the pics in their Facebook page looks appetizing. We also found out that the delicious 'free' chocolate cup cakes we availed from Shopwise during Mother's Day was from them as well. Knowing that, I decided to try one of their cakes since the price is quite reasonable as well. I asked my sister to buy me Lemon Meringue Torte to try one day while she accompanies her three-year-old son to preschool and will be passing by there.

I chose this flavor because I haven't tasted a lemon cake before and I have a soft spot for lemons. Why I ask myself. Hm let me see. When I was a kid I had these pretty pencil translucent erasers that are shaped and colored as lemons, limes and strawberries so I've always thought of them as pretty things. It reminded me of preschool, of soft sunlight, of grass and leaves and the cartoon Strawberry Shortcake! Lemons don't grow in our country so I was only able to taste it when I was older since trade liberalizations only started in the 90s . When I tasted lime I found them too strong. When I tasted lemon and found out about their soft tangy sweet taste it has earned my respect. Strawberries on the other hand... that's another story and will be having a different post for it -- for the perfect cake!

Oh! I have to mention my older sis's lemon squares. She did make one before when she was first trying out her cooking skills. I was so smitten-ed she's making a lemon dessert. But alas she mistakenly put salt instead of sugar so the pastry was a disaster. Imagine eating a sour salty dessert. I think the family still managed to finish it all since it's still food, and we don't waste food, but my sis never recovered from it and hated baking ever since. While me I'm still looking for that perfect lemon dessert.

Cielin's Cakehouse box with address

Cielin's Lemon Meringue Torte

Lemon Meringue Torte

Getting a slice of the torte

 I almost truly love this cake. It just had the right sweetness and tang and I love the nuts and meringue inside. But I think it was lacking crunch and has too much cream. Well actually everybody in our family said it had too much icing and less of a cake. I think if you take a thin slice it would be okay but we're accustomed to slicing as much as we want. lol. Also I think if lemon zest were added to the icing it would just be fine. I just taste too much of the egg whites and it's almost like eating a Brazo de Mercedes without the yellow filling. Well for those who love icings I would say this is for you. I do hope they improve it a little because it's almost perfect.

Me and my sis do plan to try out their other cakes as well. Will keep you posted :).

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Mother's day with Bizu and Cielin's

I've been so busy with work lately I haven't had time updating my blog. Also most of my free time I give it up to reading ever since I bought a Kindle. Even when I finish my work at 2am I still find myself reading before going to bed. Anyway I'll be posting about my Kindle soon enough and all my appreciation about it will be included there :).

So, Mother's day this year was  on May 8, 2011, Sunday. It was a perfect day to celebrate because Pacman Pacquiao's fight was on that day as well (well here in the Philippines that is). Me and my older sister decided to surprise the mothers in our family with a cake, some flowers and a pay per view show of the fight. It was a bit hard concealing about it for a week pretending we've forgotten the date but I could honestly say that we pulled it off beautifully. Both my mom and younger sis were surprised.

We decided to try out Bizu's Mother's Day cake special called Cheesecake Camilla.

Bizu's Cheesecake Camilla with box

Cheesecake Camilla front

Cheesecake Camilla side

Cheesecake Camilla eaten

My mouth is kinda watering now when I look at these pics. I do miss it a little. I say 'little' because I remember I'm not much of a fan of cheesecakes and too sweet desserts. Cheesecake Camilla is both. For those who like sweets like my sister and mom and those that love cheesecakes then this is for you. It's creamy, it's sweet, it's yummy. Hm the taste experience reminded me actually of 'yema' but in a cheesecake form. It does look small at first but we realized it's small for a reason. A little really goes a long way. Usually a cake in our family is gone in one or two eating but Camilla I think it lasted a week. So, I think the price (1k plus) is just right when it comes to quantity.


Another treat we had for Mother's day was chocolate cupcakes from Shopwise. It was a free gift from them for the mothers who are members of their store.

A gift from Shopwise on Mother's Day

How sweet

This is actually from Cielin's Cakehouse where a branch can be found in Shopwise

Since we have two mothers we got two gifts ^^

I really love this chocolate cupcake. They're moist, chocolatey and not too sweet. Their moistness is quite surprising I guess since most cupcakes nowadays are a bit exaggerated on the toppings and don't focus much on the cupcake itself. I don't even like the big toppings on those other cupcakes. Most of the time they're too sweet. Anyway this one from Cielin's is just right! I can't wait to try their other cupcakes as well. I'll be uploading a post soon with another Cielin cake.



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Kenji Tei

First time I saw Kenji Tei Ramen House I blurted, "How cute that is!" And when I said 'cute' it meant that it was a really small restaurant. It's one of the smallest restaurants I've ever seen actually. So, I just look at it and smile whenever I pass by it along President's Avenue in BF, Paranaque. That is until my younger sister and her husband told me to try it out because they said the ramen there is good. Also they said that the place opens at noon, closes in the afternoon, then opens again in the evening. That really made me smile because it sounded like a real ramen house. Well I'm not that experienced but I have watched a fair amount of anime throughout my couch potato life to be familiar with ramen.

So one day my friend Therese suddenly asked me out to have lunch around BF and said maybe we could try Kenji Tei. I was happy of course. I have mentioned the place to her before but I thought she wasn't interested. It was a Saturday that we went, the third Saturday of the month. We both agreed to meet in the resto. I arrived first around 11 and I was the first customer they had. The place had about 20 chairs I think, more or less. I've lived in Batangas before and the fast food places there can be really small but I was tickled with the size of this place. It's pretty cool inside even with the hot mid-noon sun outside. I thought at first it would be warm because of all the glass windows but it was comfortably cold. Therese arrived and had a hard time with the sliding door. She didn't notice it was a sliding door at first. I think other people would have the same predicament also since there's no indication that the door slides. Anyway, we ordered Crispy Chicken Teriyaki, Cheese Gyoza and Shoyu Ramen.

Cheese Gyoza (left) and Crispy Chicken Teriyaki (center)

By the time our order arrived the place was already getting packed. A family of seven came in then a couple then another couple and so on. I love the Crispy Chicken Teriyaki but wished that I have ordered the Chicken Teriyakidon which is the same dish but was made a topping on a bowl of rice. The one I ordered was ala carte so the rice was insufficient for me and the chicken serving was too much. I wished I had taken it home and grabbed a lot of rice there. The Cheese Gyoza I'm not much of a fan. When it comes to fried dumplings I guess the one in Kaya I like best. Therese said the ramen was so, so. As you can see in this pic she separated her noodles from the soup. She was trying out something but in the end she put the noodles in the soup as well. Well I can't really comment on the ramen since I have to taste it myself. Maybe next time when the world becomes a little cooler :).



food

Chocolate Mint Spa

My first post here will be a review about a spa place. I'm not much of a spa person myself but I decided to give my sister and my mom a treat since they've worked hard this past few weeks when our helpers took a vacation. I searched the internet for a good massage place and found one that's near called Chocolate Mint Spa in BF, Paranaque. The price is just right for a good massage and the place is really nice, very professional. Well like I said I'm not a spa person so I didn't go with my sis and mom. I just gave them funds for their treat which is a two-hour massage and body scrub. Before they went mom was saying things like it's too expensive, maybe she should just call Jun, the reflexologist who does home service. I kept convincing her that it's fine. They should try it out for me, etc, etc. You know moms right?

Anyway they finally got there. Three hours later they told me how satisfying it was. They said the place was really neat, relaxing and quiet. I thought at first it was located inside a house or something but it was located in a building establishment. They also said it had the nicest bathroom they ever went to. Lol! They both had the body scrub first for one hour then they went in the sauna (which is free by the way every time you visit) and had the two-hour massage. My sis had the Swedish and mom had the Chocolate Mint massage. They were both satisfied with it. This is coming from two ladies who are addicted to massages. My sister always wanted the hard massage and mom wants the light one. I was happy to hear they were both satisfied :). The body scrub they're satisfied as well but mom said the airconditioning was too cold and she felt uncomfortable while doing the scrub. They were able to adjust the temperature anyway so it was fine. When they got home the first thing they said was, "Ang sarap!"

I think they want to go back when I have extra cash again. Well I'm happy that they're happy. And mom learned that it's better to try out other things to know which is better. By the way, I found the spa through sulit.com.ph. Here's the link: click here