Here’s how to make “Sweetheart Cupcakes” which is perfect for your Valentine’s Day

Ingredients:

* 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
* 1 1/4 cups water
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 3 egg whites
* 8 drops red food coloring
* 2 drops raspberry candy oil

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
2. Beat the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and egg whites together on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes, until smooth. Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with white batter; set aside.
3. Stir 4 drops of red food coloring into the remaining bowl of batter to make the batter pink, stir in the raspberry oil. Pour 1/3 of pink batter into a resealable plastic bag and set aside.
4. Mix more food coloring into the remaining bowl of pink batter until it is an orange/red color and pour the batter into a resealable plastic bag. Cut a corner off the bag, stick the open tip into the center of each cup of white batter and squeeze in about two tablespoons of red batter.
5. Cut the corner off the bag with the pink batter, stick the open tip into the center of the red batter and squeeze about 1 tablespoon pink batter into each cup.
6. Bake the layered cupcakes in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

This is a yummy, flourless, fail proof chocolate cake – the base and the filling are the same: one is baked while the other is just chilled. Use fresh eggs and good quality chocolate – preferably with 70% cocoa, and don’t over-bake the base.

Here’s how to make a very sweet and special “Black Cake” that is perfect for your Valentine’s Day

Ingredients:

6 eggs
200g caster sugar
200g butter, softened
120g ground walnuts
3 tablespoons cocoa
150g dark chocolate, melted
400ml double cream + sugar to taste (3-4 tablespoons, depending on how sweet you want it to be)
Grated chocolate or walnuts to decorate

Preparation method:

1. In a medium bowl beat yolks and sugar with electric mixer until pale and creamy.
2. In a second bowl beat well together butter, ground walnuts, melted chocolate and cocoa.
3. In a third bowl beat egg whites until they are firm.
4. Gently mix all together and divide in two parts.
5. Place the first part in a greased round (21 cm base) cake pan, base lined with baking paper and bake for 30 min on 180 degrees C.
6. Place the second part of the mixture in the fridge.
7. When the first part is baked and cooled, cover it with the second, and finish all with double cream whipped with sugar.
8. Decorate with extra walnuts and chocolate.
9. Keep in fridge.

Here’s how to cook “Houston Special”

Ingredients:

1 k. pork liempo
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 tbsp. onion, chopped
1/2 cup banana catsup
1/8 cup soy sauce

1 tsp. sili, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. corn starch, dissolved in little water

Directions:

For BBQ Sauce: Sauté garlic in oil, add in onion and cook until it becomes transparent. Add catsup, soy sauce, sugar and sili. Simmer. Add cornstarch while constantly stirring the sauce to avoid lumps.

To grill: Grill pork liempo and brush with BBQ sauce from time to time.