Published in ACD Magazine!

I'm so excited to share with you all that my sweet daughter Lily's 1st birthday party and smash cake session got published in the January-February 2014 issue of the American Cake Decorating Magazine: The Art & Business of Sugar! It showcases the grand display cake that I made for her party, as well as all the other desserts I made for her special celebration!  Right when you open the first page, you see a thumbnail of Lily's cake smash photo, and then when you flip to page 12 and 13, you see the showcase for her party!  How amazing it is to be published in a real life magazine!  The editor who wrote this showcase just happened to stumble upon my blog and fell in love with Lily's birthday theme and party.  She contacted me and asked to do a feature on it and I was more than excited to say yes!  She shipped me a few magazines of this issue right after they were done printing!  I will definitely frame this.  Thank you to D. Park Photography for photographing her party, and for Mieng Saetia for photographing her cake smash session!  Also, special thank you to my husband Khoa for helping me with all her party plannings and for always supporting and believing in me.

You can see more on Lily's 1st Birthday party by clicking here!

Happy 1st Birthday Lily!

Happy 1st birthday to our sweet and precious Lily!!!  I cannot believe it's already been 1 year since our little dragon baby was born!  For her birthday, I wanted to be extra special so I made sure I made almost everything myself!  I made French Vanilla Mini Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Frosting, Oreo Truffles (thanks Natalia for dipping them!!), Cheesecake Brownies, and 6 types of Macarons (rose, mango, lemon, macha green tea, vanilla, and raspberry)!  Since her party was held at the pavilion in front of our house, I made her a display cake instead of a real cake because I didn't want it to melt in the heat.  The display cake is decorated with royal icing piped along the outside so that when it dries, it hardens.  The rest of the decorations are made of fondant.  We ordered a mixed berry cake from Givral, that wasn't decorated since we were just going to cut it up and serve it!  

Lily had a special Smash Cake session a few days before her birthday so we can capture her first time eating cake!  Also, this is convenient because not only do we get super nice photos from it, but it allows Lily to get all frosted up and covered with cake goodness, and then we can hose her down and not worry about time or keeping her party guests waiting while we do so!   I made her cake myself, it's French Vanilla with swiss meringue frosting.  The inside of the cake is 6 layers, with each layer being one color of the rainbow!  I embellished her cupcake cake with some fondant flowers and a butterfly on top.  I added gold trimming to the flowers and butterfly for some added elegance!  We actually did a second smash cake session because we wanted a more white and brighter background, so her second cake that I made her had normal buttercream frosting since it was softer by nature and we hope it'll stick to her face better =P. When we first put her in front of the cake, she literally just ignored it and kept crawling right past it and towards us!  haha.  It's so funny but it made sense since she has NO idea what sweet deliciousness sat right in front of her!  So we had to help her along and took and frosting and put it in her mouth.  She loved it!  However, she didn't "smash" the cake or grab it herself.  She's quite a diva and we ended up having to break apart the cake ourselves and then feed it to her haha.  A few times she did seem quite excited and waved her arms in the air and rubbed the cake all over her arms...Overall, it was a lot of fun memories to watch her enjoy her first birthday cake!!  Thank you SO MUCH to our photographers Drexelle at D. Park Photography, Janet from Purely Capitvating Photography and to Mieng Saetia for taking these beautiful cake smash photos!!!  The turnaround on these photos were amazingly fast and we appreciate all the hard work and accommodations you've made just for our Lily pad!!!  Thank you!!!

Words cannot describe how I feel about our little angel being 1 years old.  She is the joy of our lives and she deserves the very best in everything.  All our hard work, late nights, exhaustion, and stress is all worth it to see our baby have a great time and have a huge smile on her face the whole time!  She also already watched her first Disney movie, only 1/3 of it, and it's The Little Mermaid.  She loves to sit on my lap with and watch while chomping away at cheerios from her snack catcher!  I just watch her in amazing at how she's slowly becoming a little toddler, and I just can't get enough of how cute she does every little thing!  I love that her forehead crinkles every time she takes a bite of her cheerios, more like stuff her mouth with 3-4 cheerios, and how she gives me sweet kisses on the cheek, and how she knows to say "mom" every time she wants something!!  This first year has flown by and so much has happened with so many memories.  She's even has a career as a baby model and has made a good amount towards her college fund already!  We can't wait to see what other adventures Lily has in store for us.  Each day is a blessing with her and we cannot ask for a better life than this!  Happy 1st Birthday our sweet baby Lily!  We love you to pieces, forever and a half times double infinity!!!

UPDATE:  Thank you to D. Park Photography for capturing Lily's 1st Birthday, our party got featured on Hostess with the Mostess, check out the article HERE!

Peppermint Truffle Brownies

'Tis the season for yummy sweets! I saw this recipe online, and I just had to try it! I never made brownies before, but these are one step better than brownies, they're Peppermint Truffle Brownies!! These are brownies that are made from scratch, and I used melted chocolate and butter instead of cocoa powder, and it has a layer of chocolate ganache onto top with crushed peppermint candy on top! These are really rich and dense and tastes super yummy!  It'll satisfy any sweet tooth out there!  My husband, Khoa, doesn't even like sweets and he couldn't get enough of these!  1 batch makes quite a lot so these are great to hand out as special homemade treats for all your loved ones!  Happy Holidays everyone!

Modern Eyes Optometry Grand Opening!

13349 South St., Cerritos, CA 90703
Telephone: (562) 809-2020
Fax: (562) 809-2007
Email: meoptometry@gmail.com
Dr. Jack S. Kim - Optometrist

Come to Cerritos to check out the Grand Opening of Modern Eyes Optometry owned by Dr. Jack Kim, O.D.! You can find these vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting along with some mint truffles at Modern Eyes Optometry only on Saturday, July 17, 2010. Store opens at 10am and closes at 6pm on Saturday!

Modern Eyes Optometry is equipped with modern technology and the latest high fashions in eyeweawr. Dr. Kim offers comprehensive and health eye examinations including contact lenses and prescription and non-prescription sunglasses. Modern Eyes Optometry has all the latest designer brand lenses you can think of so you'll always be able to find the right pair for you, eye guarantee it! So come check out Modern Eye Optometry's Grand Opening event for some tasty treats, eyewear, and more. They take appointments as well so call the number to schedule yours today. It's time you start taking care of your eyes!

Oreo Mint Truffles

My sister gave me a great idea to add truffles to the mix of sweet for my bakery! Since I decided to make these for my friend's mom's birthday, I decided to make mint oreo truffles since I know how much my friend loves mint oreos! =) So this is the final product, I also made some in heart shape as well, it's fun to try different shapes to fit any occasion. One thing's for sure is that these can really satisfy anyone's sweet teeth cravings! Mint, oreos, and milk chocolate, I'd say that's truffle-ly sweet and delightful!