Sunday, June 28, 2009

How to Make Empanada

An empanada is one pastry that crosses income segments. It can be sold to the masses at mall kiosks, or to the well-heeled at Sunday neighborhood markets or even at 5-star hotels! It’s up to you to decide.

Materials needed:

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Mixing bowl
  • Wooden spoon
  • Chopping board
  • Baking tray

For the crust:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1/3 cup ice water

For the filling:

  • 1 medium sized onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 2 tomatoes, peeled
  • 2 cups cooked beef, chopped
  • 1/2 cup beef stock
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 tsp. vinegar
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cumin, P105 for 500 grams
  • Salt and pepper to taste

To make the filling:

  • Saute onions and garlic in hot oil until translucent.
  • Add meat, sauté 5 more minutes. Stir in tomatoes, stock and remaining ingredients.
  • Simmer for 30 minutes.

Getting started

  1. First, make the crust. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

  2. Cut the shortening into the flour as though you were making a pie crust by working it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

  3. Sprinkle dough with just enough cold water so that it will just hold together. Knead together briefly and allow to rest, covered about 10 minutes.

  4. Roll dough out on a lightly floured board to circles about 3-4 inches in diameter.

  5. Place a spoonful of empanada filling of your choice on one side of the circle. Moisten the edges of the circle with a small amount of water and fold the dough over the filling to make a half circle. Press the edges together to seal.

  6. You can opt to make a pattern on the edges of the crust by pressing on it with the tines of a fork. Vary your patterns if you are making empanadas with different fillings to distinguish one from the other.

  7. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes.
source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph

Friday, June 26, 2009

How to Make Puto Kutsinta

Puto kutsinta is a Filipino delicacy that is brown in color, sticky and glutinous. It is made of rice flour and served with grated coconut. It is one of my favorite snacks :)

Materials needed:
  • Mixing bowl
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Wooden spoon
  • Muffin pans or small, shallow bowls
  • 2 cups cassava flour
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tsp. lihia or lye water, P22.50 for 250 grams (available in supermarkets)
  • 2 cups pandan juice
  • 8 tsp. butter
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • Freshly grated coconut as topping

Getting started:
  1. Mix the butter and sugar.
  2. Sift the all-purpose flour and cassava flour.
  3. Combine this with the mixed butter and sugar.
  4. Pour the pandan juice and lihia (lye water) and mix again until it the texture is smooth.
  5. Pour into a muffin pan or shallow bowls, making sure to leave room at the top.
  6. Steam for 20 minutes.
  7. You may sell this with grated coconut on the side.

source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph; photo from http://www.forkpress.com

Monday, June 22, 2009

How to Make Pastillas

Pastillas is so easy to prepare because it can be made with just milk and sugar. You can also make flavored pastillas like ube, nangka, mocha, pinipig etc.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered milk
  • 1/2 cup condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • white sugar (for rolling)
  • cellophane paper

Procedure
  1. Sift powdered milk into the condensed milk and butter.
  2. Mix and blend well.
  3. Knead and set aside 5 to 10 minutes before shaping into small balls or 1/2" thick logs.
  4. Roll in sugar and wrap in cellophane.
See? I'm really fond of sweets! But I make sure not to consume them in just one sitting lol! Takot akong magka-diabetes ;)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

How to Make Chocolate Candies

Chocolate candies are perfect giveaways at weddings, as party favors, as gifts, or simply as desserts. And another good thing is they’re easy to make, as chocolate candy molding involves only a three-step process: melting, pouring, and setting.

Materials needed:

  • Pan
  • Stainless or heatproof bowls
  • Plastic molds (local ones are priced at P90 each while an imported one starts at P120)
  • Wooden and stainless spoons
  • Chopping board
  • Knife
  • Disposable plastic gloves
  • A clean cloth
  • Toothpick, lollipop stick, or plastic straw.
If you have the budget, you may also buy a double boiler and an artist brush for making designs on the chocolate mixture.

To make 44 pieces of almond shaped dark chocolate, you will need:
  • Bittersweet chocolate, P67 per 500 grams
  • Peanuts, P3.12 per 40 grams, for fillings. Other fillings may be raisins, marshmallows, walnut, pecans, almonds, or cashew nuts.
For packaging:
  • Fluted paper cups, P10 per 100 pieces
  • Boxes sized 3.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches, P40 per 10 pieces

Getting started:

  1. Make sure all your utensils are clean and dry. Put on your plastic gloves and cut the chocolate block into small pieces so they melt faster. Place the chocolate blocks in a pan small enough to fit inside the boiler. If you don’t have a boiler, just use a bigger pan that can accommodate the pan for melting chocolate.

  2. Place the boiler containing water over the stove and let the water simmer.

  3. When the water simmers, put the pan containing the chocolate blocks inside the boiler, taking care that the water level doesn’t reach the pan’s rim. Stir constantly using the wooden spoon until the chocolate melts completely and becomes smooth and thick.

  4. Pour the melted chocolate onto the mold or heatproof plastic containers. Use the stainless spoon to scrape off the sides of the pan. If you want fillings like nuts, marshmallows, rice crispies, dried fruits, or raisins, pour a tablespoon of chocolate first, then the filling of your choice, and coat with another spoonful of melted chocolate. Tap the mold or use regular straw to fix the fillings and remove air bubbles from the chocolate mold. Make sure the mold is fully covered.

  5. Cool for a few minutes and then put the chocolate mold inside the freezer for three minutes. When the three minutes are up, remove the mold from the freezer. Turn a mold upside down on a flat surface and tap gently to remove the candies. (Another way to find out if the candies are ready is to see if the sides of the mold have turned white or cloudy.) If the chocolate doesn’t come off easily, return the mold to the freezer to allow it to harden more.

  6. Place the candies in fluted paper cups and arrange them in a box. Decorate box with ribbon and card. The chocolates can last up to two weeks.

source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph

How to Make Banana Chips


Believe it or not, good banana chips are highly in-demand overseas. So be patient in perfecting your cooking skills—you may be looking at exporting your products soon!


Materials:

  • 5 to 6 raw bananas
  • Stove
  • Fryer
  • Oil
  • Salt
  • Sugar (optional)

Getting started:
  1. Peel bananas and put them in salted iced water.
  2. Slice bananas into bite-size pieces and lay across a cloth for 10 minutes to remove all moisture.
  3. Heat up the oil in the fryer until smoke is rising.
  4. Fry banana slices in one-layer batches for a minute or two or until crisp.
  5. Lift chips out with slotted spoon and lay on paper towels to remove oil.
  6. If you want to make the sweetened kind, sprinkle sugar heavily on the cooked bananas and leave overnight in a covered container.
  7. Fry again the next day.
source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph

Monday, June 15, 2009

How to make Perfume

Because people love to smell good, making perfume and cologne can be a profitable home-based business for small start-up entrepreneurs. The steps in making them are easy and the profit margins can be as high. You just need to follow a standard formulation to make quality scents.

To start, you will need the following laboratory equipment:

  • 10kg weighing scale or kitchen scale
  • plastic cups
  • stirring rod
  • small beaker and a 1,000 ml beaker
  • volumetric flask with cover.
The raw materials for this project are as follows:
  • 70g triple deodorized alcohol (TDOH) at about P200 per liter
  • 15g fragrance at P500 per 100g
  • 5g muscol (MCL) at P400 per 100g
  • 5g moisturizer (propylene glycol or PPG) at P250 per liter
  • 5g distilled water at P10 per 300 ml.
For packaging, you may use either an atomizer bottle (spray) with a net content of 5 ml (P15 per bottle) or roll-on glass bottles with a net content of 10 ml (P16 per bottle). These are available at the Divisoria Market in Manila.

Procedure:


Step 1:


To start, put all the raw materials-except the alcohol-in small plastic containers or beakers for weighing. The alcohol needs to be weighed last because it easily evaporates when exposed to air. For accuracy, all of the ingredients must be weighed in grams. Getting the exact weight is crucial because If you bungle the measurements, you'll bungle the formulation.


First, weigh the beaker or the plastic cups on the weighing scale. Make sure to adjust the scale to zero before taking your measurements. While on top of the scale, fill the beaker or the plastic cups with the ingredients and weigh.

Step 2:


When the materials are ready, pour the MCL into the beaker containing the alcohol. To make sure that the container of the MCL is thoroughly emptied of the MCL, rinse it with the weighed alcohol, mix the resulting solution with a stirring rod, then add the thoroughly mixed solution to the MCL in the beaker. Stir the contents of the beaker until the MCL is fully dispersed in the alcohol.

Step 3:


Add the PPG to the mixture and stir. Always stir each time you add another ingredient, and make sure to completely disperse the substance before adding another ingredient to the mixture.

Step 4:


Finally, add the distilled water. To completely clean the empty container of the remainder of its contents, rinse it with water and add the resulting solution to the mixture in the beaker.

Step 5:


Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in the beaker until the perfume solution becomes homogeneous, then get your bottles and fill them with the perfume. Label and package your perfumes as desired, based on where you intend to sell them.

This formulation for 100 grams of perfume yields 12 to 13 roll-on bottles.Your fragrances and perfumes must be kept in dry, cool, and dark places because light can adversely affect their chemical properties. As much as possible, use dark-color bottles for storage and packaging.

Each time you need to get some of your raw fragrances, transfer them into smaller bottles. This is to minimize their contact with air, which may adversely interact with them. By using a volumetric flask with cover, you can keep your perfume intact and well-sealed until you are ready to package it.

The perfume can be sold to friends, families and co-workers; you may also use them as giveaways for weddings and other special occasions. If you are marketing the products to teenagers, it's better to put your perfume in spray bottles. If you are targeting office workers, however, putting the perfume in roll-on bottles would be a better option. Avoid using plastic as packaging material; they have dioxins that may mix or interact with your perfume.

source: http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph; Ronald Barangan of Ultima Entrepinoy

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Benefits of Mutual Fund Investing

The power of a mutual fund lies in its ability to pool together funds from so many different investors. Imagine a thousand investors each with P5,000 to invest who decide to pool their funds together. That’s already a pool of P5 million! Now imagine that instead of just investing P5,000 each, some investors put in P10,000, P100,000 or even P1,000,000. The size of the collective pool would even be bigger. And when it comes to investing, there is strength in numbers. P5,000,000 can gain better access to more diversified investment instruments than P5,000.

A mutual fund is a vehicle that allows investors to combine their resources. Because of this, you don’t need a large amount of money to gain access to a well-diversified portfolio of top-performing investments. A mutual fund makes this possible. Here are some of the key benefits of investing in mutual funds.

Professional Management

A mutual fund is managed by an experienced, full-time fund manager who is focused solely on analyzing the financial markets and seizing market opportunities as they present themselves. By investing in a mutual fund, you benefit from the fund manager’s experience and market insight.

Potentially Higher Returns

By pooling together the funds of thousands of investors, a mutual fund is able to access potentially higher yielding investments that require large minimum investment amounts. Thus, investors are able to access potentially higher yields that may not normally be available to them due to the size of their individual funds. Moreover, the fund manager ensures that the mutual fund generates the best possible returns for the given level of risk of the mutual fund.

Diversification

Simply put, diversification means not putting all your eggs in one basket. This is especially important in investing. Through proper diversification, losses in one investment can be off-set by gains in another. In the process, overall risk is minimized. Investing in a mutual fund provides you with immediate access to a diversified portfolio of funds. By virtue of the size of the pool of funds, the mutual fund is able to purchase many different investment securities and diversify.

Liquidity

You may have your shares in a mutual fund redeemed at any time and just need to wait a maximum of seven (7) banking days to gain access to your funds.

Safety

Mutual fund operations are governed by the Investment Company Act whose implementing rules and regulations specify particular limits and constraints in the investment activities of all mutual funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sees to it that all mutual funds comply with these statutory regulations. Moreover, mutual fund companies are regularly audited by an independent auditor. The assets of the mutual fund are held by a third-party custodian bank.

source: http://www.philequity.net

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

What is a Mutual Fund?

A mutual fund is an investment vehicle that pools together the funds of various investors---both individuals and corporations. The pool of funds is managed by a professional fund manager who uses the funds to create a diversified investment portfolio consisting of various investment instruments such as stocks and bonds.

Types of Mutual Funds in the Philippines

  • Stock or equity funds invest in shares of stock of Philippine corporations listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Equity funds offer the highest possibility of growth among all mutual fund types, but they also have a corresponding high amount or risk.
  • Bond funds invest primarily in fixed-income securities such as bonds or treasury notes issued by the Philippine government and commercial papers issued by reputable Philippine companies. Because these bonds are normally guaranteed, the possibility of loss is very low. Investing in bond funds provide capital preservation while maintaining conservative asset growth.
  • Balanced fund is a mixture of equity and bond funds. The high potential growth of equity investments is tempered by the conservative growth of fixed-income securities. Obviously, the return of a balanced fund is normally somewhere between the return of an equity fund and a bond fund.
  • Money market funds are similar to bond funds because they also invest in fixed-income securities and the growth of the fund is conservative. The main difference lies, however, in the term of money market fund investments, which is usually short-term such as one year or less.

Choosing which mutual funds to invest in ultimately depends on the investor’s growth goal and risk tolerance. If the purpose is capital growth, equity funds are the way to go. Bond funds are chosen, on the other hand, if the investor prefers capital preservation over risky capital growth. For those who want medium risk and medium growth, balanced funds are the best option. Money market funds are for those who wish to earn a conservative amount of return in the short-term.

According to the Investment Company Association of the Philippines, a duly recognized association of investment companies in the country, there are currently a total of 22 mutual funds. Six (6) of these are bond funds, five (5) are equity funds, ten (10) are balanced funds, while one (1) is a money market fund.

What are the benefits of investing in a mutual fund?

For an affordable initial investment amount, you gain access to various potentially higher yielding investments normally available to investors with much larger funds to invest. A mutual fund makes this possible because it pools together the funds of hundreds or even thousands of small investors. The pool of funds is therefore large enough to access these potentially higher yielding investments.

Mutual fund investors also benefit from the investment management expertise and market knowledge of the team of professional fund managers that manages the pool of funds. These fund managers ensure that the funds are optimally invested and diversified at all times. Therefore, you don’t need to watch the markets yourself since there is a team that is already doing it for you.

How much will I earn if I invest?

Mutual funds are not time deposits and therefore do not pay out a fixed rate of return. Mutual funds invest in stocks listed on the stock exchange as well as bonds issued by the government and corporations. As a result, the value of your investment fluctuates daily depending on the performance of the underlying investments. Because of this, your return cannot be guaranteed. Your actual rate of return depends on many factors such as the performance of the underlying investments as well as general market and economic conditions. However, over the long-term, investments in mutual funds outperform traditional time deposit placements.

Is my principal secure? Can I lose money? What are the risks of investing?

As with all other investment instruments, investing in mutual funds involves a certain amount of risk. Stock and bond prices go up and down daily. So as the value of the underlying instruments in which the pool of funds was invested fluctuates, so does the value of your mutual fund investments. Depending on market conditions, there may be periods in which you may lose money. However, until you actually liquidate or withdraw your investment from the fund, these will simply remain “paper losses” which can be recovered when market conditions stabilize.

Moreover, the fund managers of the fund also do several things to control and minimize risk. First, they analyze all investments thoroughly before including any stock or bond in the portfolio. Second, they ensure that the fund is properly diversified, i.e., invested in many different stocks or bonds. As such, a drop in the price of one investment may be off-set by gains in another. Third, the fund managers are subject to regulatory and internal investment restrictions that prevent the fund from being invested from certain speculative investments and encourage proper diversification.

While there are risks in mutual fund investing, the returns can also be rewarding in the long-run. There is always a risk-return trade-off in any investment. What is important is to know how much risk you are willing and able to take and select an investment whose risk profile matches yours.

What is diversification? Why is it important?

Diversification simply means “not putting all your eggs in one basket”. This is especially important in investing. In a well-diversified portfolio, losses from some investments can be off-set by gains in other investments. This reduces the overall fluctuations or volatility of the value of the portfolio. By investing in a mutual fund, you gain instant access to a diversified portfolio of investments. It is, however, also important to realize that not all risk can be diversified away. There are certain economic, market and political factors which may affect all investments adversely.

How do I invest in a mutual fund?

You can participate by buying shares of the mutual fund. The price of these shares, also known as the Net Asset Value Per Share or NAVPS, changes daily depending on the performance of the underlying investment portfolio. As the NAVPS increases, the value of your investment also increases. The mechanics of investing in a mutual fund are very similar to buying shares in the stock market.

What is the net asset value per share, or NAVPS?

The net asset value per share (NAVPS) is the value of each share of a mutual fund. A fund's NAVPS is calculated daily and is the price used when purchasing or selling mutual fund shares. To determine the value of your shares, simply multiply the number of shares you own by the NAVPS.

How do I withdraw my money from the mutual fund?

You simply need to sell your shares in the mutual fund. The price at which you sell these shares is the NAVPS for the day.

What happens to my investment if something happens to me?

Your shares in the mutual fund will form a part of your estate and will be distributed to your heirs (usually surviving spouse and children) accordingly. Rest assured, your investment will not disappear, or be "taken back". To ease the transfer of the fund shares you may want to consider opening a joint account or trust account.

Is my investment covered by the PDIC?

No. A mutual fund is not a deposit product and is, therefore, not covered by the PDIC. However, when you invest in a mutual fund, you are considered a shareholder and in effect are entitled to your proportional share in the total assets of the fund. The PDIC, on the other hand, only insures up to P250,000 of your total deposits with a bank and not your entire investment amount.

source: http://www.philequity.net/

Beating Inflation through Mutual Fund Investing

Our mother always tell us stories about how they could survive with five peso a day in the old days -- 50 cents for a soda and the rest for food and fare. Now, the same five peso cannot even get us a decent stick of barbecue. One reason for this is inflation.

As a young adult, you wonder how your meager income can help you achieve your financial goals - a roof above your head, education for your children, and a few luxuries. The ever-increasing cost of basic commodities makes a reasonably comfortable future seem like a distant dream. How then can you beat inflation?


If you have modest savings, simply putting your money in the bank is not going to help you beat inflation. For P10,000, commercial banks offer interest rate of roughly 1.6% a year. This is substantially below the 6% - 7% inflation rate expected by the government this year. Directly investing your savings in the stock market also has its own difficulties. What stocks do you buy? When do you buy them? Will my stock investment decisions earn a return higher than inflation?

If you are at a lost as to how you can make your money grow, you should consider investing in a mutual fund. A mutual fund
is a vehicle that allows investors to combine their resources. It is money pooled together from various individuals that are invested by professional investment managers in a diversified portfolio of assets like stocks and bonds.

In exchange for the money you put in, you will receive shares of the mutual funds. The value of the mutual fund shares will depend on the prevailing market price of the underlying assets invested by the mutual fund. If you want out, all you have to do is sell your shares back to the company handling the mutual fund.

When deciding on the specific mutual fund to invest in, you must consider your investment objectives and tolerance to risks. You should also look at the stability of the mutual fund company, the appropriateness of the products, and the expertise of the investment managers.

Check out the list of mutual fund companies in the Philippines and compare their features. Just remember that when you want to invest in a mutual fund, you should think long-term. Most mutual funds in the Philippines require a minimum initial investment amount of only Php 5,000 and minimum additional investments of Php 1,000.

For me, I consider mutual fund as a good inflation hedge.


*Disclaimer: Readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions and should thus conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice.

How to Make Puto Pao

Puto-pao is a bun with asado toppings or fillings.

You‘ll need the following to get started:
  • bowls
  • ladle
  • wooden ladle or whip
  • spatula
  • measuring spoons and cups
  • kitchen weighing scale
  • serving tray
  • pressure cooker or casserole
  • wok or skillet
  • steamer
  • knives
  • gas stove
ingredients:

- 1/2 kg all-purpose flour
- 250 g white sugar
- 1/4 cup baking powder
- 2-1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp or 30g melted butter

For the asado, on the other hand, you’ll need the following ingredients: - 1/2 kg of ground lean pork

- 1 piece laurel leaf
- 1 piece star anise
- 1/2 cup or 112ml of soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup or 125g of white sugar
- 1tsp or 2g cornstarch
- 2 cloves garlic

Start by cooking the asado. While preheating the pan or a skillet over low heat, mince the garlic. Once the pan is hot enough, put all the ingredients together. Mix them to a good blend. Continue mixing until the meat is cooked and becomes tender. Discard the star anise and the laurel once the meat gets tender. (The star anise and laurel leaf are only meant to give a savory aroma to your dish.)

Don't sauté or braise the meat so it won't become crispy. Cook it only in water and soy sauce. Let the meat absorb all the liquid until it dries out. After that, turn off the stove and set the cooked meat or asado aside. This asado can fill four sets of your bun recipe. Let it cool and start doing the buns.

Get all the dry ingredients and mix them in a bowl. Then add water. Using a wooden ladle or whip, dissolve all the ingredients. Continue mixing them until you achieve a smooth texture. Make sure all the lumps are dissolved. Then add the melted butter (you could also use cooking oil as an alternative). Mix. You’ll know when the mix is ready for steaming when there are no lumps left.

Afterwards, get the ounce-size molds. Pour in the mixture until each mold is three fourths full. Then put one teaspoon of the asado on top. If you want to make it a filling, then fill the mold a quarter full and put one teaspoon of asado. Then pour in the mixture until it’s almost full. Arrange the molds in the steamer, which should contain enough water. Steam for 30 minutes in boiling temperature.

Make sure there’s enough water to steam your puto-paos. After 30 minutes, take off the puto-paos from the molds. Your yield for this set should be 48 pieces, which by then should be ready to be served with other merienda treats.

Josie de Jesus, lecturer at the baking division of Ultima Entrepinoy Forum Center, advises that you shouldn’t re-steam
puto-paos repeatedly. Once re-steamed, they should be consumed at once, she says. Otherwise, the quality and taste of the putopao deteriorates and it becomes prone to spoilage.

source:
Mishell Malabaguio, http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Carrot Yema Balls

Last month, I attended one of my friend's birthday party. She knows most of us have a bit of a sweet tooth so she prepared something new this time. She usually just buys ice cream. She calls this carrot yema balls. I so love yema when I was still a kid. I know I should eat right but when my sweet tooth starts calling, I can't seem to ignore it ;) So I asked for her recipe and here it is:


Ingredients

1 cup carrots, boiled and mashed
1 301 ml condensed milk
6 pieces egg yolks
1/4 cup macapuno in syrup
1/3 cup crushed cornflakes
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tbsp chopped peanuts
1 cup white sugar

Procedure
  1. In a pan, combine all ingredients except the white sugar.
  2. Cook mixture over low heat while stirring until thick enough to hold its shape. Cool.
  3. Form 2 tsp of mixture into balls and roll in sugar. Wrap in colored paper or cellophane.
Yum! yum!

**I just found out she got this recipe from nestle website lol!

How to make icing flowers

For decorating debut and wedding cakes, nothing can beat icing in the form of flowers. And during kiddie parties, who hasn't seen boys and girls quarreling over the four pieces of icing flower from the party cake?

To get started on this project, you need a mixing bowl that can be either plastic or stainless, a flour sifter, a measuring cup, and a pair of scissors. You will also need the other materials listed below, all of which can be bought for around P1,200 from Divisoria in Manila or from the supermarket nearest your place: (prices may not reflect real market conditions)
  • 12" pastry bag (P140), with tips 3, 36, 67, 103 or 104 (P35 each tip)
  • Medium size rubber scraper (P230)
  • No. 7 flower nail (P50/pc)
  • Portable mixer (P500)
  • Code P-100 plastic ware for packaging (P6.50/pc)
  • 12" floral wire (P26/pack of 100 sticks), or magnetic wire #27 (P492/0.5 kg)
  • Toothpicks (P9.50 per pack)
  • Bond paper (P10/20-sheet pack), or wax paper (P500/5-kg roll)
  • 454 g powdered sugar, sifted (P28/box)
  • 1 tsp calamansi extract (P0.50)
  • 2 pcs egg white (P4/pc)
  • 4 colors gel-paste food color (P62/1 oz bottle of primary colors and P75/1 (oz special color)

PROCEDURES


STEP 1.
First, separate the egg white from the yolk by cracking it into halves and letting the yolk stay in one shell while the white drips. Set aside the egg white and extract the juice from the calamansi. Then get the sifted powdered sugar, make a well at the center and pour the egg white and calamansi dew onto it. Circularly blend the three ingredients together using a portable mixer that is set to speed no.

The egg white will serve to bond all the three ingredients together, while the calamansi dew will serve as a stabilizer that can hasten the texture of your icing.

STEP 2.
When the powdered sugar dissolves, turn the mixer to speed no. 2. Continuously mix until it smoothens. You'll notice that as the mixture smoothens, its shine begins to disappear because the egg white is getting mixed well with the powder. Once the three ingredients are well blended, the mix becomes creamy. Your icing is ready if sharp and pointed edges develop as you mix.

Once you notice those pointed edges, you can now put color to your icing. To do that, get a half-cup of icing using a rubber scraper and put it in a bowl. Cover the remaining icing with a damp cloth and set it aside. Then, apply your desired color to the half-cup of icing by dipping a toothpick in the color container and spread the color. Three dips are usually enough for this amount of icing, but you can reduce or add more color based on your preference.

STEP 3.
Mix until the color is evenly distributed throughout the icing. Make sure there's no dull or pale portion left. After that, get the pastry bag, cut its tip using scissors, and insert the tip 67 for leaf making. Then, transfer the colored icing to the pastry bag. You can now color the remaining icing and put them in bowls that are covered with damp cloth.

Lay down a clean sheet of bond or wax paper on the table. To make a leaf, position your tip 67 at a 45-degree angle; the tip should lightly touch the surface of the paper and the wide opening of the tip should lie parallel to the paper. Squeeze out hard the icing to build a base and lift the tip slightly. Continuously squeeze while pulling steadily. Once you achieve the length you want, stop squeezing the pastry bag and lift away from the surface. You'll notice that the tip of the leaf is created as you pull the bag towards you. Do this repeatedly until you have emptied your pastry bag.

STEP 4
. Now you can start making full-bloom flowers, like roses. Make flower buds first for your roses by using tip 36 for the shell design or tip 3 for the plain design. Insert a half-inch of the floral wire inside the tip. Squeeze out the icing while you are slowly pulling out the wire. Before doing that, however, make sure that you have arched the tip of your floral wire so it can serve as anchor for your flower. Stop squeezing once you have completely pulled out the wire. Place your flower bud in a Styrofoam to let it dry for an hour.

While waiting for the buds to dry, prepare the icing for the petals. You may use pink or purple colored icing, and tip 103 or 104 for making petals. When the buds are set, get one and start putting the first layer of petals. Hold the bud on your left hand, and the bag on the other hand. Position your tip 103 parallel to the lower part of the bud, with the wide opening of the tip touching the cone of the bud.

STEP 5.
Make sure that the narrow opening points up and slightly inward. Now squeeze out the icing as you slowly rotate the bud counterclockwise, then move the tip up and down to cover the peak of the flower bud with another layer of icing. Don't loop the tip to the bud; just move it slowly up and down to create a swirling effect. Let it dry again for about an hour. Do this to other buds.

For the wild rose, however, you can directly make its petals as soon as the buds have hardened. Just hold the bud with your left hand again and the bag with your right hand. Position your tip 103 or 104 at a 45-degree angle to the bud. The wide opening of the tip should slightly touch the bud.

STEP 6. Then squeeze out the icing and hold as you slowly turn the bud clockwise, such that the icing is stretched. Then move the tip closer to the bud before lifting it away; this way, you can stick the end of the petal to the bud. Do it five times to complete the flower. To replicate your wild rose, just do the same procedure.

After an hour, you can go back to your rose base. To add petals, do the same procedure just like when you were doing the wild rose. The only difference is that you'll do three petals for the first layer and they will be in a closer position. Then you'll add another layer of petals-four in all-after one hour or when the first layer have dried. And for the last layer of petals, you'll need to do five that are in full-bloom position.

Keep your icing flowers in dry and airtight containers. After drying for 24 hours, you can bunch the leaves together with the flowers or put them in your cakes.

STORAGE

Icing flowers last long when they are kept dry. Rosario Tan, sales manager of Penco Powdered Sugar, suggests that you improvise a light box that can serve as a dryer and storage facility. Just make a box using plywood, providing it with a door and incandescent light bulbs at the opposite side. Put layers of chicken wire where you could hang your icing flowers. The incandescent bulb provides heat when it is turned on, so you can be sure that your icings are keep dry and moisture-free.

Because icing flowers are brittle, it is recommended that you use a square or cylindrical plastic jar with a screw-type cap. A P-100 square plastic jar can contain about 100 icing flowers, which is ideal if you're going to supply icing candies to grocery stores, school canteens, or sari-sari stores. Your yield for this recipe is around 500 pieces of icing flowers. If you're doing only drop flowers or leaves, your yield would be much higher.

source: http://entrepreneur.com.ph; Erlinda Ferrer, Resource Speaker from ESF Cakes and Bread House







Is Your Career at Risk in the Age of AI?

The rise of AI is reshaping industries, and it's time to ask the tough question: Is your career future-proof or on shaky ground ? While...