Mother's Day Round 2!

As many of you know, this past Sunday was Mother's Day. Last year's Mother's Day orders were INSANE! Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but yet very very exhausting. Any who, despite me not allowing orders of one cupcake this year, I still somehow managed to get a few orders (thank you to everyone who ordered!!)! So I'll stop blabbing and just show you guys the pictures of the boxes I made....

Thank you so much Eugene for ordering this! These flowers were so fun to make!

Thank you Chloe for ordering these for your mom! :)

Thank you Nicole for ordering this for your mom!

I can't officially say that I'm selling cake pops yet, but I thought I'd make a few for Mother's Day in case anyone wanted to give a little something extra to their mom. (if you were curious from left to right were: chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and carrot)

Coming soon...

*ignore the bottom left dates..the show has been moved to May 30 and 31st due to Star Testing.

I am so happy to announce that I will be baking for Northwood High School's Dance Show yet again! Last year, I was both a dancer in the show, and helped make cupcakes for the bake sale. It was a lot of work but so fun! I am so honored that my teacher asked me to do this again! For more information on the show, you can go here. This is a show you won't want to miss! All of the dancers involved have worked so hard so I hope you guys can come and help support the dance program.
*Part of the proceeds from the cupcake sales will go towards the dance program as well.

It's May!!

Ahhh, 3 more weeks until I'm out of school!! Any who, this week has been an incredibly busy week for me (not that I'm complaining!)! Before I talk about what I did this week, I should probably talk about what I did last week since I didn't have time to make a post... 

Soo last week...

Thursday (April 25th)

One of my mom's friend and former co-worker had e-mailed her asking if I could make cupcakes for their friend, Quyen. All she said was that she wanted 18 vanilla and 18 red velvet cupcakes. I asked my mom if she wanted me to decorate the cupcakes or make them look a little nicer than just normal undecorated cupcakes and all my mom told me to do was to, "make them look pretty." I can only hope that I was able to make the cupcakes, "pretty!" Also, happy late birthday Quyen (or maybe I should say "Lil Quyen..?!") !

This box was my mom's personal favorite. She really liked the white royal icing flowers I did.

 

My mom had another friend that had a birthday last Thursday as well. She told me to do the same thing, which was to make the cupcakes, "pretty". I should probably note that she didn't actually tell me that I had to decorate the cupcakes, but I thought it could be nice if I did. Anyways, happy late birthday Wendy!! Hope you liked the cupcakes! 

Friday (April 26th) 

Last Friday, my mom went out with her friends to celebrate "Lil Quyen's" birthday (& yes this is the same Quyen that got the "pretty" cupcakes the day before). I guess a few weeks ago when my mom and her friends were celebrating another friend's birthday, they really liked the red velvet cake pops that I gave to them so my mom requested that I make some cake pops for "Lil Quyen."

Red velvet cake pops! 

I only made a few of these but these were vanilla cake pops. I tried to be elegant... 

Now for this week!!

Today (May 3) 

I was asked to make banana and red velvet cupcakes for Natalie who was turning 15 years old! She requested that I decorated half of the cupcakes with flowers and a "15" on one of the cupcakes. Note: I did not take a picture of the banana cupcakes, since they didn't look very special. I did however, manage to take a quick picture of the decorated red velvet cupcakes! 

Happy 15th birthday Natalie!!

Tonight, I also attended a charity fashion show. I was asked awhile back if I could help make cupcakes for the event and to donate a gift certificate to their silent auction. I actually wasn't even planning on going to the event, but last night, Northwood had their "Fine Arts Night." While at Fine Arts Night, I was approached by two girls who were involved with the fashion show. They had come up to me to tell me that they were really excited and happy that I decided to help out with the event. They then asked if I was going to watch the fashion show, but I told them that I wasn't aware of any of the details of the actual show. Basically, they told me all the details and said that if I wanted to come, that I was more than welcome to. I decided to take up the offer of going to the show. The show itself was pretty cool and I got to meet some new people! Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take any good pictures of the cupcakes and cake pops I gave.. :|

See? Doesn't look so great, huh? It's definitely not one of the best cupcakes that I've made but I couldn't come empty handed. I also had some mini cupcakes and cake pops as well! I put the purple flowers on top of the cupcakes because the event was specifically to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society (their theme color is purple).

Here's kind of a picture of my cake pops, I guess? I made peanut butter banana cake pops! Also, thank you to Tim and John for being in charge of selling all the baked goods that were there!  

I'd also like to thank these Annette, Crystal, and Hannah for thinking of me to help out with the event tonight!! :)

Happy Earth Day!

So as you can probably see with my past posts.. I always like trying to incorporate national days/holidays into cupcakes! With today being Earth Day, I couldn't help but think of, "nature." Thinking of that I initially thought of flowers! So in honor to today, I made a bouquet of various flowers I have made out of either fondant or royal icing! 

Wouldn't this also be perfect for Mother's Day...? ;)

I've also failed to update you all on other baking things that I've done since my last post ("Kardashians Take Over Chelsea Lately")... Since that post, I actually went back to Chelsea Lately for the second time this month. My friend and her dorm mates wanted to see Ryan Lochte so I came along with them since my friend didn't know my sister too well. I didn't care for Ryan Lochte too much so I actually didn't even tell my sister and friend that I would officially be coming until the day of. However, after going to the taping, I will admit that he is really really pretty! Hahaha. Any who, I am not sure when that episode should air, given that there were two other guests that were taped that day as well. Okay, I'll stop babbling, and just show you guys what I brought to the taping! Note: the Chelsea crew didn't know that I was bringing anything because I never told my sister anything hahaha (this was also a big factor of why I would or wouldn't come to the taping)

Green Tea cake pops! (turns out that the Chelsea crew REALLY loved the cake pops I brought last time!)

I noticed that whenever I come, a lot of people always want to eat one of my cupcakes but say they'll feel guilty so this time I brought MINI cupcakes! In this box are..
1) Green tea w/ white chocolate green tea buttercream
2) Chocolate w/ chocolate ganache
3) Chocolate w/ chocolate cream cheese buttercream

A few days after I did this...

One of my aunts asked me if I could make a Rugby themed cake for a co-worker of hers. I absolutely knew nothing about the sport but with some research I can only hope that I didn't make any dramatic errors!!! The only direction she told me was to,"make a huntington beach rugby cake like how [I] did for the lakers cake." WIth not too many directions this is what I created! 

That night, I remembered watching a video on YouTube in the past on how to make fondant flowers.. I re-watched it and well... let's just say I got inspired and did....

This is actually just some of the flowers I made.. there's actually quite a few more that I did (some are actually in the bouquet I made for today). The others that aren't pictured are generally the same colors as shown above but just slightly smaller. But I think I might slightly be addicted to making flowers!!! Help?!

Kardashians Take Over Chelsea Lately!

Me, Nickta, and Nicole at the taping of "Kardasians take over Chelsea Lately!"

Okay, okay, I know the Kardashians aren't everyones cup of tea, but I just so happen to like them at some extent. I wouldn't say I look up to them or say that they are my favorite celebrities (?), but I will admit that I do watch their reality shows. Most of you are probably disgusted with me right now but I can't help it! Any who, for the past two months, it had been rumored at my sister's work place that the Kardashians would either be coming as guests or coming to host the show, Chelsea Lately. It wasn't until last week that I found out that they were officially coming to the show. Immediately, I asked my sister if I could come to the show (& also take two friends). Luckily, she was able to let me and my two friends come along! Unfortunately, at most shows, pictures taken inside the studios are not allowed, however, at the end of the taping, I was able to meet Chuy (also known as Chelsea's "little nugget")! Look what happened when we met!!!!

Chuy with one of my cake pops!!! Usually when I come and bring my baked goods to Chelsea Lately, I don't really expect that anyone that's actually on the show will get or see them. Out of pure luck, Chuy happened to pass by my sister and I and so she gave him one of my cake pops and proceeded to point that I was the one who made them. Immediately I wanted to get a picture of him with my cake pop, but I didn't want to say it in front of him because I thought it could be too unprofessional? I should add that he was on his way to the meet and greet that he randomly does after some of the tapings. After getting a cake pop, he rode along in his bike(?) to the meet and greet. When he was somewhat of a far distance I asked if my sister could somehow get a picture of him with the cake pop, however she got the better idea of having me with both him AND the cake pop! So yeah! That's how that happened! I can officially now say that someone on Chelsea Lately finally got to have one of my "kreations!" :) I mean someone else could have during one of the times I've been, but as far as I know, Chuy is the first!

Curious to see what cake pops I brought to Chelsea?

Well, I actually brought an assortment of cake pops. Well, I guess only two different designs but you can have a look of the two designs that I brought!

Cake pop(s) #1 (also the one that Chuy got!!)

Cake pop(s) #2 ! 

I also made a two more cake pop designs that I made for my friend Nickta, in the hopes that she could help raise money and awareness for a fundraiser that she is having. Check them out below!

I tried to be "fancy" and tried to swirl the colors of UCLA (the school Nickta goes to) onto the cake pop.

I just thought it could be fun to attempt making "cake" cake pops! I definitely think I need to work on this design more... 

If you'd like to donate to Nickta's fundraiser, you can donate here. 

Why exactly does Nickta need to fundraise you ask? This summer, she will be a camp counselor for a week for underprivileged youth. She is fundrasing to send kids to camp for a week. Without this money, the kids will not be able to go to camp, the best part of their summer.

Happy Birthday to Me & Oreo!!

Meet Oreo! The love of my life :)

Okay, it's technically not our birthdays today, but yesterday was my 19th and my dog, Oreo's 119th (17 human years) birthday! It also technically wasn't my dog's birthday yesterday either, but to tell you the truth, no one in my family knows her real birthday. All we know is that I was two years old when she was born. However, I like to say that we have the same birthdays just to make everything more simple! I also like to say that everyday is her birthday and that we should treat her like it is but some people might not like that too much..

Left: Oreo's cake 

Right: My cake (also my first ice cream cake! Picture of the inside below.)

For those of you who don't know really know me, you probably don't know how much Oreo means to me. She's basically my best friend (too cliche?). But really, she's always been there for me when I needed her. I didn't always have the greatest luck with friends in school. And yes, I was one of those kids that got bullied in school. Thankfully, I wasn't physically bullied but there were quite a few kids that would really upset me at school daily. Looking back, it was actually really a depressing time for me back then. I was only in sixth grade and was growing up/trying to figure out who I was, so going to school and facing those kids was really hard for me on some days. I won't bother you all with the things they would do to me, but I always knew I could always go back home and Oreo would be there for me. Also, just the fact that we've grown up together has made a big impact on my life. I don't remember the night very clearly, but I was there when she was born (my sister's dog at the time was her birth mom). I was also there when Oreo gave birth to her children... TWICE! She's also been with me through every graduation that I've currently been through (elementary, middle school, & high school). 

My sister and I with Oreo(right) and her mom, Baby(left)

Oreo with her second litter

Us after my elementary, middle school, and high school graduations.

Last summer, I found her coughing/wheezing very abnormally. I was so terrified. I literally was in tears because I had no idea what was going on. I knew that with her age, anything could happen at any moment and I would need to try to be as strong as I could whenever it were to happen. But I couldn't help myself for crying. The next day, when I took her to the vet, she was diagnosed with a heart disease and would have to take a medication called, Pimobendan for the rest of her life. Still being confused with everything that had happened, I went home and researched everything I could about the medication and found that most dogs who take it live at the most 9 months (according the the research done). This really terrifed me. When I calculated when 9 months would be, it was around April which is now :| . Knowing this, I didn't really plan on doing much for my birthday. As the day was approaching, my parents would continuously ask what I would want to do. Seeing that Oreo seemed fine during the month of March, I was hopeful that she would still be here for "our" birthdays.

Oreo waiting to be examined..

Soo what did we do for our birthdays? Well, I was up all night (or I guess technically morning?) making a cake for the two of us (yes, I really did make myself a cake hahaha), but later in the afternoon my parents and I took her to the dog beach. After the beach, we went home to clean up and prepare some food for my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc that were planning on coming later that night. And yeah! Here's some pictures of how it all went down...

"On the way to the dog beach!!"

"We're here! Yippee!!"

"HII EVERYONE! I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!"

"Sup."

Me and my baby girl at the dog beach together :)

"Is that really me?!" 

"Mmm who's ready to eat me?!"

So earlier in the post, I posted the cake I made for myself, but it didn't have anything written on it. I felt too awkward to write happy birthday to myself so my mom said she'd do it. She for the most part doesn't [ever] help me with my baking but I guess she thought she'd give a try with piping a message on the cake! What do you guys think? 

I also said earlier that I'd post what the inside looked like so here it is! 

One of my aunts was very thoughtful and got Oreo her favorite food, Cesar!! Yum!

She's usually pretty good with letting people take pictures of her but after awhile she was getting a bit finicky with everyone yelling her name so that she'd be looking at their cameras.. :|

& that's it! In case you guys were wondering, no, my family did not eat the dog cake. None of us wanted to "cut Oreo." So as of now the cake is sitting in my fridge as we speak. I'm okay if someone wants to eat it, I just ask that I don't have to see it while being cut... 

Happy Easter!

Confession: I've never in my life made cupcakes for Easter. Weird, huh? I mean, I gueeessss my baking has increased quite a bit in the past two years (that's how long it's been since I've used fondant to decorate/cover cakes and cupcakes). Any who, here's my take on Easter themed baked goodies! 

Easter cupcakes! (also my third attempt at making green tea cupcakes)

Cookies and cake pops aren't typically my thing, but I have something coming up where they could [potentially] be useful. Just thought I'd give it a try! 

Alumni Feature!

Screenshots from the feature! (Video link below)

So a couple of posts ago, I said I had an upcoming project coming up. I can now share what the project was!!

Basically, my old high school's film production class contacted me earlier this month. They contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in filming an alumni piece (note: I literally just graduated last year! haha) due to my unique hobby in baking and how I started "Karess's Kreations." I'm pretty sure I didn't hesitate at all to agree to do this right after I had read my messages. Honestly, I've always [secretly] wanted to be somehow featured in an episode of NTV (Northwood Television) hehe. I mean, I guess I can't say that I've never been on NTV. I've been in the background of features in the past, mainly, for spotlights whenever dance shows at my school were coming up, but I'm pretty sure I was the only one who could actually see that I was in the background haha. So I guess it's safe to say that one of my high school dream(s) has been fulfilled, even if it was completed after graduating from high school...?

So yesterday, my friend, Tiffany and I went on campus to view the feature live. *I should add that it was Tiffany's birthday. What a trooper, right?! What kind of friend would wake up early on their birthday just to go to their former high school to see a little mini feature?! Don't worry I made her some cupcakes which I'll show later on in this post! However, a lot of students didn't know that we'd be coming to campus. So when we went to an advisement (we went to Tiffany's brother's advisement.. thank you again, Mrs. Guy!) they all gave us a confused look but continued to proceed in watching the NTV segment. When my feature finally came on, I couldn't help but want to run away like a little girl. I don't know why but I find it extremely uncomfortable to hear myself talk. Am I weird? It took awhile for the students in Mrs. Guy's advisement to realize why Tiffany and I would randomly be in her advisement. However, when the clip of me cutting out a piece of the ombre cake out, students started to flip out. When that happened, Mrs. Guy told them that I was the girl being talked about/talking in the video. Thankfully, most of the confused looks started to fade away haha. By the end of it all a few students started asking me questions such as, "are you going to open a bakery?!" and "wait, you graduated?!"

I still find it funny that people don't necessarily believe me when I say that I graduated from high school already. In fact, last week I came on campus to film with my former advisor, Mrs. Crowley! When I was on campus I had passed out a few cupcakes to random students I didn't even know. I thought it was a nice gesture, no? Turns out that election week was coming up and a few students thought I was actually trying to bribe them to vote for me. I assured them that I had graduated but I don't think I convinced them well enough... Long story short, they took some cupcakes for themselves anyways. Hahaha.

Back to Mrs. Crowley! Soo if you're reading this Mrs. Crowley... I cannot thank you enough for taking the time out to come film!! Honestly, Mrs. Crowley is one of the nicest teachers I've ever had in my life! For the people who aren't aware of what's happened in these past few months.. let me say that Mrs. Crowley was the teacher that I had done the baby shower for back in January. I believe that was the last time I saw her before seeing her again last week? Any who, she had her baby literally I think a month or perhaps even just a couple days shy of a month ago!! Crazy!! I mean, I would have loved if she'd be available to interview for me. Although, I knew that she had just had her baby so I totally would have understood if she could not make it! Being the saint she is, she ended up coming! I don't know how I can ever thank her for this!

Okay, I think I have written waaaaaay more than necessary.. oops..

Any who, here is the video!! 

I was told that the feature will be posted on YouTube within about a month so if a FaceBook account is required in order to view this video I will repost the YouTube version as soon as I can!

I feel like these guys should get some recognition! Without them,  my dream of being on NTV would have never came true! From left to right: Sagarika, Me, Nicole, Nihal. *Missing: Cindy

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that it was Tiffany's birthday as well. This year has been quite the change among my friends and I when it comes to celebrating our birthdays, mainly due to the fact that no one has actually been home during their birthdays. So this was a first for me this year. But I thought it wouldn't be very me if I didn't at least do something for Tiffany! I thought that in order to be somewhat I guess, fair (?) to the rest of my friends (for not being able to bake for their birthdays), I would start with making Tiffany mini sized cupcakes of her favorite flavor (pb chocolate chip)! Why minis? She commented once when I made minis of the flavor and said that because she found the flavor to be too decadent, that she thought mini sized were the perfect size. Luckily I remembered her saying this so that's essentially what I did for her! I also attempted to take a couple of the cupcakes to make a "cupcake cake" that was in the shape of a sun but that didn't look very nice... You can judge for yourself but please don't be too critical! It was my first time trying to attempt the whole "cupcake cake" thing.. :|