Jennifer's Dessert Table & Tejas's Big Bird Cake

About a month ago, a woman named, Jennifer had contacted me about setting up a dessert table for her birthday party that was this past Friday. This was the first time anyone had asked me to set up a dessert table. Because this was a larger event than I am normally used to (100+ guests), I asked my baking teacher if she would help me. Thankfully, she did! Here's how it all went...

The whole dessert table completed! As you scroll down to the other pictures, you will notice a lot of the desserts will contain alcohol... this is also why I was thankful that my baking teacher was able to help me. She's more knowledgeable when making alcohol infused desserts so having her there to show me how much of what to put in each dessert was very helpful. *Note: everything on the table was made by both my baking teacher and I except the cake and macarons. 

Pink Champagne cupcakes topped with St. Germain Swiss Meringue buttercream 

Kahlua Chocolate cupcakes topped with Coffee cream and chocolate swirly designs 

Pink and gold red velvet cake balls

Truffle spoons (white chocolate ganache filling dipped in chocolate) adorned with edible gold leaflets

Tiramisu cups 

Chocolate covered strawberries infused with Martell

Mini pink champagne cupcakes (gold wrappers) and mini kahlua chocolate cupcakes (silver wrappers)

Top picture: Jennifer's dessert table vision that she emailed me

Bottom picture: the table completed 

My teacher insisted that I pose while setting up the table hahah

Just casually placing the truffle spoons onto the platter...

My teacher and I with Jennifer! *This picture was taken before she put on her birthday dress.

Jennifer in her dress with the completed dessert table! Hope you had a wonderful 30th Jennifer! 

This past weekend I also got asked to make a cake for a former classmate of mine, Tejas. I was instructed to try to find out things that he liked/enjoyed so I found out from his friend that his nickname was "Big Bird." Sooo any guesses on how I might of decorated the cake as? :P

If you guessed "Big Bird" then you're correct!!!!!

Along with the cake, I was also asked to make cake pops.  Tejas's favorite color is blue so I was told to just decorate the cake pops in blue (no specifics). I had seen some people on Instagram do marbling designs onto cake pops so I thought I'd give it a try... ehh I'll need to work on it more (this was one of the more "better" looking ones that I made)

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. 

The Next Chapter

This past Thursday and Friday was Northwood high school's annual Dance Theatre spring dance show. The theme of the show changes every year (last years was "Dance Dance Evolution"), with this year's being, "The Next Chapter." With this theme, choreographers were asked to choreographed pieces inspired by stories. Dances that were influenced in the show varied from Peter Pan, Twilight, Harry Potter, Romeo and Juliet, and so much more! This theme was so unique that it even caught the OC Register's attention! The article can be found here.

I had baked for the show's bake sale last year so I was honored to be asked to do it again this year (Thank you Mrs. Scialpi!). Although, since I was no longer a member of the dance program, this meant that I had to be outside the theater selling my baked goods. This was all new to me. I had always been performing in the shows so I didn't really know how things worked. I hope all in all I did okay..?! Luckily, one of my friends had finished her first year of college and was able to help me out as much as she could for the bake sale. She was a bit scared to bake some cupcakes for me but that was okay since instead, she was able to help me package cake pops and cupcakes, along with making a few mini fondant flower decorations. I can't thank her enough for helping me! Thank you Nicole!!

Unlike last year's cupcakes, I focused on providing more flavors of cupcakes to the bake sale (last year's were all red velvet), rather than making fondant decorations for most of the dances in the show. I was able to make a few, but it definitely wasn't as much as last year's show. I've also noticed that a lot of people are loving cake pops, so I added those to the mix as well!

The cake pops I made for the show. From left to right: chocolate, vanilla bean, and red velvet.

My table for the bake sale.

Mini cupcakes (flavors: vanilla bean, chocolate, and red velvet)

Cake pops (flavors: vanilla bean, chocolate and red velvet)

 Regular sized cupcakes (flavors: vanilla bean, chocolate, and red velvet)

Both regular and dance themed cupcakes

"Dream" (Wendy Darling/Peter Pan) cupcake

"Faith, Dust, and Pixie Dust" cupcake

"Twilight" (Bella and Edward's wedding) cupcake

"Mermaid Lagoon" (Peter Pan) cupcake

"Time for Tea" (Alice in Wonderland) cupcake

"Thief of the Night" (Little Red Riding Hood) cupcake

The Next Chapter themed cupcakes/dance gram cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes 

White flower bunch dance gram cupcake

Red, white, and pink flower bunch dance gram cupcake

"A DIfferent Fairytale" dance gram cupcake

Meet my friend, Nicole! Without her help, I probably wouldn't be able to provide as many baked goods as I did. So thank you again!

Good job to all of the dancers who performed! I hope you guys had a blast! And for all of the graduating seniors - I hope you cherished every moment! I remember being really sad when I realized it would be my last time performing for Northwood. To everyone who came to the show and/or bought a cupcake or cake pop - thank you so much!!

Skylander and a USC Short Film

A little less than a week and a half ago I was asked to make cupcakes for two different occasions...

1) Skylander themed cupcakes for a birthday. When I first got the email about making Skylander cupcakes, I could honestly say that I had never heard of it or had known that it was a popular game. I now know a liiiiittle bit about Skylander, but that's basically me saying I know what their symbols look like.. A big fear of mine was that I might have ruined/messed up the symbols but Jamie (the woman who ordered them), emailed me a couple of days after thanking me and saying that all the boys at the birthday party were able to recognize the symbols. Phew! 

My take on "Skylander" cupcakes! I tried as best as I could do remake the symbols onto fondant!

Thanks again for the email, Jamie! It was really thoughtful of you to take out your time to let me know that the cupcakes went over well! :)

2) Cupcakes for a USC short film called, "The Party Dress"
I was emailed the same week to make cupcakes for a USC short film called, "The Party Dress." I still don't know much about it, so I can't say much. However, I was told to make cupcakes that said "Party Dress" and to have three cupcakes with dresses so here's my take on them!

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!! :)