Happy 6th Birthday Roxana!

Happy 6th Birthday Roxana! Roxana is having a big princess party and the theme is Tangled, with one of her favorite Disney Princesses, Rapunzel! I made all the letters, Rapunzel's braided golden hair, her pet chameleon Pascal, and the sun symbol flower all out of fondant. I use frosting to pipe on the sun symbol flower itself. I made Rapunzel's tiara by piping royal icing on parchment paper, then letting it dry on the paper towel cardboard roll so that it hardens in that curved shape. I also put on metallic pearls and painted it gold for that extra glamour and bling that every princess needs! This was a huge order of 120 cupcakes, that just shows you how loved Roxana is!! I hope you enjoy your cupcakes and your birthday party and celebration Roxana, and I hope all your wishes come true!

Introducing, our very first signature Sweet Dreams Cupcakes thanks to my wonderful husband who design engineered and produced the fondant impression stamp to make this happen!!! =)

Rose Macarons, Ispahan and Hello Kitty!

Rose macarons, my favorite!! I'm so happy that these came out great, if I do say so myself! The shells came out without a hitch! And then I I started making the rose filling and boy that was a challenge. After searching countless supermarkets of all kind, I finally found rose water (a very KEY ingredient to Rose Macarons) at the Indian supermarket (thanks chi hai!) called Garden Patch in Irvine! I mistakenly bought Rose Syrup and that is NOT the same...and ruined a batch of filling because of that. Alas though, I got my rose water, and I cannot be more excited!
This batch of macarons was for fun, but also to see if my last batch of macarons wasn't just a fluke and so I wanted to see if I truly can get the knack of baking macarons! So to my excitement, these came out great! I decide to take this to the next level and make some Hello Kitty macarons for my cousin Bao (Chi Tu) since she loves Hello Kitty! These were unfortunately not my creative idea, but I'm glad I can be inspired by the many talented people out there to make these for my loved ones! I also made an Ispahan for her as well! It's pretty much a giant macaron stuffed with raspberries and a lychee in the middle! Usually they put a rose petal on top for garnish, but I do not have any so I use a raspberry! This is my absolute favorite dessert of all time so I'm so happy I'm able to make a pretty decent Ispahan! =)
Also, taking my adventures to ANOTHER level, I decided to try my hand at shipping these bad boys...to Virginia! I wanted to surprise my cousin Van (Chi Ba) with some homemade macarons to satisfy some of her sweet tooth cravings, and to learn what's the best way to ship these delicate treats. It's all about trial and error, so Chi Ba please let me know how it goes! I had a lot of fun finding the right box and thinking of ways to nicely package it all up for her! Enjoy Chi Ba!!

So, I learned a whole bunch with this second successful batch of macarons, it's always a great feeling when I get to accomplish things like this and be able to share it with my lovely family and friends!

Bowling Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ken! These are French Toast Bacon cupcakes with a Maple Syrup frosting with crispy bacon bits on top for that extra crunch, also known as a breakfast and savory cupcake! And yes, I did say bacon, REAL BACON! Ken is the master of bowling, and so my work decided to take him out bowling for his birthday and see him in action! I made bowling balls with sun strike marks, bowling pins, bowling shirts, and bowling shoes all out of fondant. I recently got these edible ink markers and boy does it make decorating super fast and easy! The frosting has maple syrup in it so it has more of a runny consistency, but boy does it taste yummy! =) I am proud to have made my first savory cupcake, but I am even more proud for scoring a strike during our bowling game today!!! Yay!! Once again, Happy Birthday Ken! I hope your day is striking!!!

Bowling Humor:
- Why did the bowling pins refuse to fall? Because they were on strike!
How was your bowling game, dear?” asked Jack’s wife Tracy. “Well, I was bowling well, but my eyesight’s gotten so bad I couldn’t see where the ball went.” “But you’re seventy-five years old, Jack!” admonished his wife, “Why don’t you take my brother Scott along?” “But he’s eighty-five and doesn’t even bowl anymore,” protested Jack. “But he’s got perfect eyesight. He could watch your ball,” Tracy pointed out. The next day Jack bowled with Scott looking on. Jack bowled too along jack. “Do you see it?” asked Jack. “Yes,” Scott answered. “Well, where is it?” yelled Jack, peering up the green. “I forgot.”

Green Tea Macarons

Success at last! Third time truly is a charm! I had two prior attempts, both epic fails...but FINALLY, the light at the end of the tunnel!! Just look at those feets!! (If you know macarons, you'll know what I'm talking about, the frilly stuff at the bottom of the macaron shells). I successfully made Green Tea Macarons! =) I wanted to make rose macarons but I have to chill the filling 24 hours ahead of time, so I was impatient and decided to go with green tea inside. So I will try rose next time! The biggest thing that help me succeed was my super awesome macaron book and my super nifty new food scale! Since macarons are French desserts, all the measurements are in grams. The last two attempts I tried to convert it to cups and tbsp, that was not a good idea. But, every thing I do is a learning process! So everybody throw your pillow cushions on the floor and jump for joy with me and lets celebrate my success!!! Now that I have all these yummy macarons, it's time to gobble them up! Sweet Dreams could possibly have a new edge =) Bon apetite!!! YAY!!!!

Birthday Trio 2011!

Audrey:

Andrea:

Jacob:
It's that time of year again for my work to celebrate THREE birthdays this month! So Happy Birthday to Audrey, Andrea, and Jacob!! I made a different theme for each person but all these cupcakes do have one thing in common, the flavor! Since this flavor was such a hit last time, I decided to do it again for this occasion, these are Vanilla Bean cupcakes with Macha Green Tea Buttercream! So tasty! All the decorations are made out of fondant.

Audrey: For Audrey's cupcakes, I made cute little penguins because Penguins are one of her favorite animals! Instead of trying to make the penguins look realistic in proportions, I wanted to make them out of ball shapes to make it more stylized. I created a girl penguin with a flower on her head, a boy penguin with a bow tie, and a party penguin with a party hat to celebrate Audrey's birthday!!

Andrea: Andrea has many talents and one of them is the talent of knitting! I just had to recreate the balls of yarn for her birthday cupcakes, and I also added a knitted sweater, and a knitted scarf in the making! Andrea can do way more than just sweaters and scarfs, but now she can also eat these! Happy Birthday Andrea and I hope you have a stitchin' time celebrating!

Jacob: One of Jacob's many hidden talents is knife throwing, so I decided to go with the ninja theme because lets face it, who else can do it better than ninjas? I made ninja throwing stars and a super stealth ninja. Then I had to consult my ninja expert (Khoa, my husband) and he helped me find reference to create the throwing knife (I did not know what they looked like...)! I used some silver luster dust to give the knives a metallic look. I can confidently say I won't mind throwing these sharp objects into my belly! Happy Birthday Jacob, go crazy!

Jumbled Humor:
- Why do penguins carry fish in their beaks? Because they haven't got any pockets!
- What do penguins have for lunch? Icebergers!
- What do you call a penguin in the desert? Lost!
- Why did the monster knit herself 3 socks? She grew another foot!
- Three pregnant women are sitting chatting and knitting jumpers for their expected kids. The first one says, "I hope that I have a baby boy, because I'm knitting a blue jumper." The second says, "Well I hope that I have a girl because I'm knitting a pink jumper." The third woman says "I hope that my kid is a spastic, because I've F@*%! up the arms!"
- Ninjas do not sleep, they wait. Ninjas CAN believe it's not butter. Ninjas can divide by zero.
- Ninjas invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices, but nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear.
- Ninjas don't shower, they only take blood baths!

Jennifer's Bridal Shower!

My little sister is getting all grown up! As maid of honor it is my duty to pull together a great bridal shower for my favorite sister, so that also means I am in charge of making the best sweets for the bride to be! So I made Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Matcha Green Tea Buttercream (thanks Chi Hai for the recipe!!!) For the decorations, I made wedding dresses, heart, flower and wedding cakes out of fondant and luster dust for a splash of elegance. We celebrated Jennifer's shower at my house for some appetizers and fun games, then made our way to dinner at Las Brisas in Laguna! We then enjoyed these sweet treats afterwards to end the wonderful of pampering and spoiling the bride to be!! We hope we created some great lasting memories for you Jennifer, congratulations to the bride to be! Can't wait to see you walk down the aisle, I betcha a gazillion bucks you'll look breathe taking =)!!! (and that Andrew will cry because he, unlike you, is not "Ironman" =P)

Humor for all you ladies out there!
- Men are like computers... hard to figure out and never have enough memory.
- Men are like coolers... load them with beer and you can take them anywhere.
- Men are like horoscopes.... they always tell you what to do and are usually wrong.
- Men are like plungers... they spend most of their lives in a hard ware store or the bathroom.
- "A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong." -Milton Berle
- If a man is in the forest, and there isn't a woman around, is he still wrong?

Lastly, "Nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them."

Happy Bridal Shower Jennifer!!! I hope you feel all the love we have for you and more and happy early congratulations to you and your future with Andrew! =) Love you sissy!

OC Fair 2011

OC Fair Cupcakes 2011- Faux Cupcakes: 1st Place!
This year for the fair I initially registered to do the same amount of entries that I did last year, which was 2 cake (Formal and Theme Cake, and Faux Cupcakes), but due to lack of time and energy, I am only entering in the Faux Cupcakes category this year! That's still something! =) So I thought long and hard for a theme for my cupcakes this year and I decided to go with a crafty sewing theme. All the decorations are made out of fondant with some metallic pearls and flower stamens for the push pins in the pin cushion cupcakes. I had a lot of fun make the ball of yarn and knitted scarf, the needles for the knitting sticks are toothpicks with some fondant at the ends. I used silver luster dust to give the thimble, needle, scissors, end of the measuring tape, and some buttons the metallic look. I really wanted to focus on detail this year so I hope that showed! I added stitching onto the cupcakes with the buttons to make it look like some buttons are sewn onto the cupcakes, and i also painted black stitching onto the ribbon and peonies flower to give it a fabric/cloth effect. Special thanks to all my friends and family and everyone reading and following my blog for all your love, faith, and support!! Also, special love to my husband Khoa for always looking after my health and mental sanity! You are the best! Wish me luck on these stitchin' cakes! The OC Fair opens July 15 and ends August 14, 2011. Come out and play! These cupcakes were a big spool of fun to make, enjoy!

Sew Humorous!
- What kind of needle work is always angry? Cross stitch!
- A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see the blonde behind the wheel was knitting. Realizing she was oblivious to his flashing light and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "Pull over!" "No!" the blonde yelled back, "It's a scarf!"
- There was once a man and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. Nothing was held back. Well, almost nothing. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of money totaling $250,000. Holy Moley! He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she started, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." The old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were inside the box! She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doilies, but.... what about all this money? Where did it all come from?" "Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the doilies.

Results are in! I am excited and happy to tell you all that I won 1st place on these Faux Cupcakes! Yay! Thanks everyone for all your faith and encouragement, love and support!!!