Playing Around

Now that I'm finished with my first year of college, I find myself easily getting bored. When I get bored, I sometimes bake or buy things to decorate...

Chocolate covered strawberries. My friends and I originally planned to make these together but they ended up giving me the strawberries and told me to make them myself and to let them know when they were ready. Great friends, huh? :P

White chocolate covered strawberries. Maybe a good idea for Fourth of July? ;) 

Flat bottomed and rounded chocolate cake pops.

Graduation cake pops! I still need to buy square molds to make the caps,  but this was just me playing around to see if I   was capable in making customized cake pops. 

SPRING SPRING SPRING

Spring is here!! ...which for me means it's...SPRING BREAK! Don't worry, I'm not the type that goes out causing mishap around town! In fact, I actually have a midterm in one of my classes after my break is over :( . Anyways, let's keep this post in a happier tune...

This week I...

-Made "Welcome Home" cupcakes! 

A guy I knew from high school wanted to get his mommy something special because she was coming back home after a trip. 

-Made cupcakes for a "Cake Walk!"

A club from my old high school called, "She's the First" invited me to make cupcakes for their "Cake Walk."She's the First is a non-profit organization that helps raise awareness for girls' education in third world countries. For more information on their club, visit their Facebook page and "like" them! :) 

I was asked to color the frostings of the cupcakes to resemble the club's colors (Purple and Teal). 

It was originally planned that I would give the club, regular/frosted cupcakes but, at the last minute I decided to also give them some fondant flowers and letters ("S","T" & "F") in case they wanted to give the cupcakes a bit more flair. Also, thank you to Hannah Pacun for this picture!!

While I was making the cupcakes for them, I had found out that they were giving the cupcakes away so I thought it'd be nice to give the members of the club some mini cupcakes for all their hard work! :) *Thank you again to Hannah Pacun for this picture as well! 

& that's it for now! Upcoming on Monday, March 25th will be, I guess you could say my second year anniversary since working with fondant? For those who are curious, you can see how my first experience with fondant, here. 

**Warning: my first time working with fondant wasn't my finest hour... and I can only hope that I have improved with my fondant work since then!!

I Think I Have a Problem..

These past few days, I have been making myself desserts [chocolate covered strawberries and homemade samoas]. Pathetic, right? The thing is, I randomly get cravings for things, but then when the product is complete, I no longer crave for what I was craving! Help..?!

The first thing I was craving for were chocolate covered strawberries... 

I'm pretty embarrassed to admit this, but I think the main reason I was craving for these were because it was the night of Valentine's Day and... well... I didn't have a Valentine and thought I'd give myself a little treat.. :| [Also pictures of chocolate covered strawberries were all over my Instagram and Facebook feed!]

Off topic - but speaking of Valentine's Day... in my previous post, I mentioned that I went to a taping of the show, Chelsea Lately. The taping I went to happened to be the Valentine's Day episode! In case any of you missed the episode, it turns out that you can see me from the back! Hahaha 

You can see my friend, RV and I in the front, on the right!

Fun fact: the white lace dress and light brown headband I'm wearing was actually hand knitted by me! :) So I guess I can kind of say that my "Kreations" made it onto tv...?! ;)

Okay, now for my last craving [as of now]: Samoas/Caramel DeLites

I actually have made/attempted to make Samoas before. It wasn't the most successful thing ever.. Back when I was a sophomore in high school, my friends, Annalisa, Nicole, and Lindsay thought it'd be a fun idea to make homemade Samoas. To be honest, it wasn't really totally made from scratch though. If my memory is correct, we made the cookie itself from scratch but cheated when it came to the caramel (we simply just bought caramel pieces and melted it). I mean I would say that we also cheated by using chocolate we melted and shredded coconut that we toasted buuuut you can't really make those from scratch...[technically, it's possible but that would be too much..] We also kind of got lazy and just didn't end up making cookies... we ended up making this.... 

What a beaut, eh? :P

Now for what I was able to make last night...

Before.... [& yes, the caramel was made from scratch this time!]

& after!!!!

 I hope it's safe to say that my baking has improved since sophomore year..?

Chelsea Lately Round Dos!

It's officially Valentine's Day where I am so happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you all have a great day with your valentine! If you don't have a valentine, don't fret. Just think of all of the chocolates that'll be on sale tomorrow! ;) Heh Anyways, so yesterday (2/1313), I went to yet, another Chelsea Lately taping! The last time I went, I brought Holiday/Christmas themed cupcakes to the Chelsea crew. This time I came and brought Valentine's Day themed cupcakes! Here they are! P.S. if you happen to catch Chelsea Lately tonight, look out for a girl wearing a bright red cardigan and headband! ;) Hehe

Valentine's themed cupcakes!

I'm a girl with an iPhone, it's hard for me to not use instagram to filter/"edit" pictures. [Photographers, you must hate me. I'm sorry! I've tried "editing" pictures on my computer countless amounts of times but they always seem to look very odd...]

Yay Summer!

Wooo! It's finally summertime! I'm finally graduated from high school and I don't have to worry about school until the fall! :D Congrats to the class of 2012! WE DID IT! Nevertheless I am oh so very sorry for lagging with my posts! But don't fret! I'll catch you guys up! ;)


June 15th (Rose themed cupcakes for Mrs. Crowley):

Flavor: Peanut butter chocolate chip with chocolate buttercream

Flavor: Chai with cream cheese buttercream

I'll try to sum this up as much as a I can, but basically Mrs. Crowley was my TA teacher for the past four years and June 15th was my last day of high school so I thought I'd thank her for all of the things she's done for me. :)

P.S. you see that person to the left of me? That's Mrs. Crowley! Isn't she fabulous?! ;)
Also thank you to Allen Chiu for taking this picture!

June 17th (Father's Day):

Flavor: Chocolate with chocolate buttercream

June 29th (Dodgers/baseball themed cake and cupcakes for Sean's birthday):

Flavor: Red velvet with cream cheese buttercream

Once again...

CONGRATS CLASS OF 2012! :D

Mother's Day Weekend

Wow! Word travels fast and in this case, I'm loving it! It's been such a busy weekend! Since last week, I've been passing out flyers at my school about my cupcakes/cakes and with this weekend being mother's day, people decided to order cupcakes from me...22 to be exact! :D I'm still so shocked! I went from basically never getting any orders in one week to 22 orders?! WHAT?! Well I guess I never really advertised that I sell baked goods, but still! I'm beyond amazed! Technically though, four of the orders were for different reasons ;). One was to help someone ask a girl to prom, one was for one of my teacher's daughters who were sick and two were from people who just wanted cupcakes for themselves. However, the rest were for mother's day and all I can ask is that everyone's mother's liked what they got! :)



Most of the things I made this week...

Vanilla and red velvet cupcakes with a Belle and Barney fondant topper for my teacher, Mr. Gates daughters.

Carrot and red velvet mother's day cupcakes for the Orosco family.

Chocolate with vanilla buttercream birthday cake for Garret.  

Vanilla, peanut butter chocolate chip, and a red velvet cupcake for  Mother's Day for the Seaton family.

Mother's day banana cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream for the Shim family.

Banana cupcakes with banana toppers for Arnold to help ask a girl to prom.

Mother's Day red velvet cupcakes for the Chandrans.

Mother's Day vanilla cupcakes for the Jang family.

Mother's Day red velvet cupcakes for the Bui family.

Mother's Day fruit tart for the Li family.

Mother's Day vanilla cupcake for the Nguyen family.

Mrs. Glowacki's Baby Shower/Annalisa

This Thursday has probably been one of the busiest baking days I have had in awhile...BUT I LOVE IT! 

Side note: if there's something that I learned this week (that I continuously forget), it's that I need to take more pictures...So I apologize for the lack of pictures! 

Baking project #1: Mrs. Glowacki's Baby Shower

So about a month ago, I was asked by Mrs. Crowley (my TA teacher) if I would be willing to bake cupcakes for a baby shower for a teacher at my school named Mrs. Glowacki. How could I say no? I will admit though, I was a bit terrified! When I asked her about decorations, she told me that I would have creative freedom to figure it out. She did, however tell me that the baby would be a girl named Ella, and that her room would be periwinkle and have sheeps. I had never been to a baby shower, so I was basically clueless. But after searching Google and Yahoo, I came to the conclusion to make a baby, pacifiers, rattles, crowns, sheeps, ABC blocks, buttons, onesies, and strollers/carriages.

Most of the decorations

My first attempt at making a baby in fondant...I didn't like how it turned out squared and chubby so I didn't end up using this. 

My second attempt at making a baby! It still turned out a bit chubby but the square-ness was definitely gone! :)
*Thank you to Chef Heather (ROP teacher) for suggesting the idea to plastic wrap and cup and to let the tummy and head rest/dry on them! 

The cupcakes! The flavors made were peanut butter chocolate chip, red velvet, chocolate, and carrot.

Baking Project #2: Annalisa's Birthday

Remember how I said earlier in this post that I really need to take more pictures...? This is where it really becomes problematic... So due to the lack of pictures I will just say that I made my friend, Annalisa chai flavored cupcakes! If there's one thing to know, it's that this girl LOVES her chai tea latte ( with no water, of course ;) )! And like most of the cupcakes I make, they were topped with fondant toppers! There weren't too many and I only have three pictures of some of the toppers I used. Again, I apologize! I did however try to take pictures of when my friends and I took her out to eat! I'm slowly making progress! 

Some of the toppers I used. I actually only used the Ariel and horse topper. My attempt at free handing a Colorado Ram (the school she will be attending next year) just didn't cut it for me..
 

Wooo birthday girl!!

She's finally 18!

PAUSE

So back in February, I was told that my school's ASB nominated me to join a campaign called, "PAUSE." It's not everyday that something like this happens to me, so I gladly accepted the offer. Also, I do actually stand by what the campaign is promoting. I mean, being a senior in high school right now, I see classmates feeling the need to party and what not, but unlike them I just don't feel the need to. But by any means I am not saying that I am against those that do choose to make those actions.

So what exactly is the PAUSE campaign? Well, the PAUSE campaign aims to prevent/reduce underage drinking by promoting the truth about these behaviors. For example, many people overestimate the amount of substance use among teens. These perceived norms, though wrong, may influence a teenager's decision to engage in that behavior. Essentially, the PAUSE campaign tries to change people's way of viewing these behaviors by educating them on what is the truth when it comes to those behaviors. It is not a goal of this campaign to scare people away from using drugs or alcohol. 

It's all about celebrating all that is "positive" in our lives, whether it deals with our relationships, school, sports, arts, extra-curricular activities, hobbies, or any passions you may have. Basically, what is to be encouraged is to focus on whatever makes individuals happy, and influences you to live a healthy lifestyle, that of course being one free of drugs and alcohol.

When I accepted to be apart of the campaign, I was told that someone would come over to my house to take a picture to promote the campaign. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my "PAUSEitive" choice would be to bake! ;) So basically I had no clue what to expect when taking the picture. I wasn't sure if it was expected for me to bake something because...well... I was promoting that my positive choice was baking. Nevertheless, I did anyways! Hahaha. Unfortunately, the things I made never made an appearance in the picture..oh well! 

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla/chocolate italian meringue buttercream

Fruit tarts

My PAUSEitive poster

Also, I forgot to make a post that about 3 weeks ago, I had a "wedding cake day" in ROP. Basically, it was just a day to make a two tiered cake. I foolishly opted to make a very, what I would call elegant cake, however things just didn't go as I had hoped for... 

The cake of the left: my inspiration (ps I do not remember where I found this picture, so to whomever made this cake, YOU ARE A SUPERSTAR!)
The cake on the left: my attempt at trying to the cake on the left...

AHHHHHHHH

It's been a year since I started cake/cupcake decorating! :D Time flies! For those who are curious, this was the first cake I decorated with fondant... I don't normally document myself making the cakes/cupcakes I make but I did this just in case the cake didn't work at all. Hahaha. Basically this is the cake that started it all! I don't know if I'd be baking as much as I do today if I had never made this cake, and I'd have to thank my friend Tiffany for that! Speaking of her, I recently made her another cake (for her 18th birthday) ! That will be posted shortly, as well as late St. Patricks Day cupcakes ;)