Childhood Memories Revisited..

I don't know about you but whenever I think back into my childhood - cupcakes always pop into my mind... well that- & pancakes.

I grew up in the Philippines in the 90s. Life was so slow and simple back then and even now that basic living in here would probably be considered as a luxury!

Summertime when I was younger usually meant that I spend almost all of my days with my grandmother - Lola Star. Of course me being a stubborn child usually meant a lot of disagreements and me getting in trouble with her, but she is such a loving grandma that I usually get away with a lot of things. She had raised me for most of my time as a kid- probably since I was in nursery throughout the middle of my primary school years until she had to go back to Bacolod. One summer, I remember having a guava tree on my backyard and on my school summer break we would both pick the fruits and sell them for a peso or two just outside my house and be happy with what we have earned that day even if it was only a small amount. Another fond memory of her would be the two of us making pancakes - she taught me that when the batter bubbles - you flip them and when the middle starts to rise it's cooked! While she was probably the greatest with pancakes, my grandmother was also known as a "maskipaps" cook (our funny little way of saying improviser) - seeing that she lived a privileged life when she was younger in which she didn't have to cook or do a lot of things in the house as a lot was being done by the help. So when we are both in the kitchen everything and anything could go wrong... fortunately for us though, no major burns had occurred and almost everything we made was edible... Yay!!

But memories of making the Filipino delicacy Puto that my mother and my grandmother taught me when I was about maybe 8-9 yrs old probably tops the list. Although it is not cupcakes - it is probably the closest thing that we have for it. Unfortunately my memory of making such thing needs to be refreshed seeing that it was around 13 or so odd years ago. I remember having such great memories with my grandmother and mother making them together, measuring or not measuring the flours and sugars and eggs & placing them on little foil cupcake containers and then steaming them on bamboo steamers.

My Lola Star - and yes that is her name... only fitting! She is a star!!

So in the memory of such a great women - I dedicate the following to them especially my Lola Star.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Creamcheese Icing... baked one sunny afternoon in winter. The smell in the kitchen was soooo divine! Oh vanilla, vanilla!

These decorated cupcakes were done through a cupcake course that I did with Jan Boon - my goodness she is filled with warmth, knowledge and passion for cakes!