Monday, April 22, 2013

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?!



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

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.

Friday, April 5, 2013

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...