Vanillah in Decembah

I truly believe that December is the official month of desserts. The holidays are simply synonymous to sweets (and being chubbier. haha) . That being said, let me begin this month's series of posts with my another baking adventure.

After the success of my first attempt at baking cake from scratch, I got totally inspired. Last week, I baked a batch of heavenly vanilla cupcakes and squares. Okay, I know I sound biased but according to my taste testers (victims), they are really great. At least I am putting my fetish for sweets to good use and a lot of people are benefiting from it. I have been receiving a lot of requests to bake more. Ooooh pressure. Must. not. fail. this. new. addiction.

I chose vanilla because I believe that this flavor, when perfected, can become a base for a whole lot of tasty flavors. It's light and not overly sweet. People have mixed reactions toward this particular flavor. While some may love this simple cake, others may find it boring if it's not done right. Check out the kind of vanilla extract I used. Would you believe the 120-ml bottle only costs about Php10? You got that right! I was actually hesitant to buy this cough-syrup-looking brand but a reliable source told me that it is definitely a good kind. The cheap price has something to do with the fact that it is locally made and that the brand pays no expensive advertising schemes, whatsoever. Shall I take the big risk considering the major role of this particular ingredient? An inexpensive brand of VANILLA extract for my VANILLA cake. My mind told me to buy the imported/expensive but tested kind. However, the stubborn part me won. There, I bought it. haha Can you guess if the cake was a success?

Ahhhh they look so good! I initially planned to top it with something else, but I didn't want the chocolate buttercream frosting to steal the limelight from the vanilla cake. So I decided to pipe a simple vanilla buttercream frosting instead. Not bad. Not bad at all. You'd have to excuse the brownish parts of the cupcake liners. My scooping needs some polishing.

Like my dark choco, vanilla was a hit to everyone who tasted it. Yeah! I think I am getting good at this.

Next cake project: banana.

Wish me luck!

Neekul has left the building.