Brownies, Cupcakes and MARC friggin' NELSON!!!

I’m scheduled to go to Palawan today and since I had no one to take me to the airport at 10am, I asked my brother to bring me to the airport before he goes to work. Which is usually around 6 in the morning.  So here I am at the airport 5 hours before my flight bound for Puerto Princesa with no other way to kill time.

Before I was even able to begin packing my stuff last night, I had already a ton of things to do. Apart from taking my mom to Greenhills for shopping earlier in the day, I had a cupcake order from Ian due that evening. A dozen vanilla and a dozen and a half of chocolate. The half order, obviously, was for Karrie who is too stingy to buy a dozen (Hehehe!).

The shopping took a big chunk of my day. But after going shopping with my mom, I was able to get some rest before I worked on Ian’s cupcakes.  And since I have been watching DC Cupcakes on cable recently, I decided to make the cupcakes look like the ones sold at Georgetown Cupcakes. I tried my hand at their “signature” frosting which was a simple swirl using a big round piping tip. It wasn’t really difficult to make, but I’m not sure if they look anything like the cupcakes that inspired it. You be the judge. (On second thought, don't be. I just saw photos of Georgetown Cupcakes and they look really really good.)

I almost forgot to mention that two days ago, I was able to try out David Lebovitz’ recipe for Dulce de Leche Brownies. It was a relatively easy recipe to make, with no specal, hard-to-find ingredients. Save for the dulce de leche, perhaps. But it doesn’t take much effort to make, so I don’t think it should be a problem. Lebovitz makes his by taking condensed milk and baking it in a water bath in an oven until the milk is caramelized and thick. Frankly, I think that takes more effort, but I admit, doing the alternative could be scary for a first-timer. The method that I prefer involves boiling unopened cans of condensed milk submerged in water for three hours. I can see why this would scare some people. But as long as the cans are completely submerged in water, you should be fine and you won’t be scraping dulce de leche and shrapnel from your ceiling.  That goes without saying that you should check the water level from time to time and replenish as necessary. I let them cool in the water as well, just to be sure.

Making these brownies does take some planning and prep work. I just happened to have some dulce de leche lying around from my last recipe testing.

These are good!!!

And OH MY EFFIN GOSH, MARC NELSON JUST PASSED BY!!!!!!!!!!

Never mind. I can’t finish this entry. I was blinded by Marc’s porcelain white teeth at na starstruck ako ng bonggang bongga!!!

May 31: Okay, I thought I'd finish this entry anyway since I got over being starstruck by Marc Nelson.
The Dulce de Leche Brownies were really good, but it is a must to underbake it a little bit because mine turned out a little cakey. Nuts are a welcome addition as well, because I like the crunch versus the creaminess of the rich dulce de leche. I also doubled the recipe so it would fit my 11- by 15-inch jelly roll pan (not to mention my family's voracious appetite). Its a great recipe to make if you happen to have some dulce de leche lying around.

David Lebovitz' Dulce de Leche Brownies are gorgeous!!!
(photo from www.davidlebovitz.com)