Beach Sandals Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Mimi! She originally wanted to have a beach party with all her friends and family, but we ended up celebrating at a restaurant instead. So I decided to bring the beach to her! She requested for banana cupcakes, so guess what I made? That's right! Banana Cupcakes! I topped it off with basic buttercream frosting and graham crackers and fondant sandals. The whites of the sandals are piped on with buttercream. Happy birthday cousin and I hope you have a great wonderful day! All is know is that I'll be flip flopping on whether I should eat the frosting or the cupcake first...or just both at the same time! Either way, I'll have a sweet time eatting these fun in the sun delights!

Housewarming Cupcakes

Alvina and Will got a townhouse and what better way to celebrate than with a housewarming party! I baked her favorite Red Velvet Chocolate Chip cupcakes with basic buttercream frosting. All the decorations are made out of fondant with edible pearls. She wanted the theme of red and pink flowers and houses, so this is what I came up with! My sister also helped me make those pretty flowers as well! Congratulations Alvina and Will on your new home sweet home!

Congratulations Dr. Steve Le!

What's up Doc? hehehe... My cousin is official Dr. Steven Le now and for his graduation from UCI Medical School celebration, I made him red velvet cupcakes filled with cream cheese frosting. I used basic buttercream for the top frosting because my cream cheese frosting wasn't stiff enough to keep it's form. I made all the decorations (the bandaid, pills, blood pressure tester, stethsoscope, and letters) out of fondant, except for the graduation cap, I used bite size Reeses Pieces and a Ghirardelli Mint Chocolate Squares (not caramel since he doesn't like caramel! weird I know! who doesn't like caramel??) for the cap with fondant tassles. Props go out to my sister Jennifer for cutting up the awesome letters! I also used a metallic pearl for the center of the tunable diaphragm of the stethoscope and in the middle of the bow on the diploma. Also, Steve likes the colors blue (midnight blue to be exact, but it's a tinsy bit hard to get that color with frosting...) and yellow to fit his graduation theme so that's why I chose the colors I did. I also used silver luster dust on the letters to give it some pizazz.

Congratulations once again Dr. Le! You worked so incredibly hard to get to this point and it is only the beginning! We are all so very proud of you and I'm so glad for being able to witness all your accomplishments and success. You're a true inspiration of dedication, hard work, and pure genuisness....haha. You know what I mean... Anyways, congratulations, and I know you'll be able to patch me up whenever I'm broken. These sweet treats don't cure cancer, but Dr Le might some day! Congrats Cuz!

Happy Birthday Carolina

My friend Lan asked me to make a birthday cake for her friend Carolina and the theme was a red, black and white, two-tiered cake! So this is what I came up with. This cake is Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse covered with basic buttercream frosting. The roses, leaves and piping are from frosting while the black trim is make of black vanilla fondant. I also added a touch of gold luster dust on the top tier for some pizazz! I decided to make the roses black rather than the typical red roses to have a dramatic effect! Happy birthday Carolina, I hope you enjoy your sweet cake! Don't forget to stop and smell the roses, or in this case, eat them! =P

Alvina in Wonderland

It's Alvina's birthday and she loves Alice in Wonderland, so I decided to make her Alvina in Wonderland cupcakes. These are red velvet chocolate chip cupcakes with plain frosting. All the decorations from the teapots, flowers, mad hatter, to the Cheshire cat are make of fondant and metallic pearls. Of course, Khoa contributed his fabulous letters which are made of black vanilla satin ice fondant as well. It's so much fun creating such fun and yummy decorated sweets for special occasions! Everyday is always someone's birthday but rather than celebrating a very merry un-birthday today, we celebrate Alvina's birthday! So happy birthday Alvina and to everyone else out there that's born today! Hurry up and eat them cause they're tea-lightful!

Goodbye CAP Cadets

I was asked to make these goodbye/goodluck cupcakes for some CAP Cadets (Civil Air Patrol) who are leaving CA to move to the east coast! Fly away with these German Chocolate Chip cupcakes with basic frosting topped with vanilla and chocolate sprinkles. The stars and flags are sugar decorations and I made the little toy airplanes out of fondant, and the banner is gum paste with food coloring text. I thought it would be easier and faster to write the text with a brush, but I think next time I'll use piping gel or use cut out letterings, it'll look better that way. Every cake is a learning process! =) Anyways, have a safe trip, good luck Seth, Noah, and Bruccoleri!

Iron Man Birthday Cake

My company was having a surprise birthday party for my boss and the theme was Iron Man since Iron Man 2 recently came out. I was asked to make the birthday cake, so it was only fitting to make the Iron Man helmet for the cake! This is a simple design, I tried to mix some gold luster dust with corn syrup to make the yellow part of the helmet look more gold...but it's hard to see it in the photo. I think overall it didnt turn out too bad! This cake is a French Vanilla cake with basic buttercream frosting, covered with satin ice fondant and black piping gel. The cake may not be lethal, but it sure can be used as a weapon to kill anyone's sweet tooth =P.

Baby Bump Cake - Luce's Baby Shower

I feel like the greatest gift in the world truly is the gift of life! My beautiful and glowing friend Lucerne is having her baby shower this Saturday in SF and unfortunately I can't make it since I have a wedding to attend (yay Jack and Sarah!), so my good friend Kat is graciously driving the cake and cupcakes up there for me! Luce and Yang are going to have a baby girl in June and they are going to name her Avery! Pretty name don't you think? So I went with the white, pink and black color theme and made my first attempt at making a baby bump cake since it's all the rage these days for baby showers. The bust might have been a little too voluptuous, I should have known better when I asked my darling husband if they were too big and he said "nope, they're good!"....haha. And I learned that it's a lot harder than you would think to make it non smooth for the fabric look.

Anyways, as for the cake itself, it is red velvet with basic frosting and the cupcakes are chocolate flavor. All the decorations from the bows, to the flowers and butterflies are in fondant. We got to use my new awesome cricut cake for some of the designs on the dress and cupcakes as well! Happy baby shower Luce!! I hope your celebration is bumptastic!!

Eye See Jennifer's Graduation Cake!

My one and only favorite sister is graduating from the New England College of Optometry and so I decided to throw her a nice intimate surprise party to celebrate her last 4 years of hard work! She seriously is a genius and is super awesome in what she does, I can't wait till she starts supporting me and giving me family discounts on eyewear and exams/treatments =P.

I made her a rich chocolate cake with buttercream frosting on the bottom tier and rich chocolate and triple chocolate chip fudge frosting on the top tier. I made the mistake of the frosting the top layer with chocolate chips...cause then it was a little bumpy when I tried to cover it with fondant...but at least it'll taste yummy! All the decorations from the cap and tassle to the diploma and Coach glasses (she's one of style, so you gotta have the designer lens!) are made of fondant. The flowers and leaves are made of frosting that I just piped onand I accented the center of the little pink flowers with metallic gold pearls. I decided to make the drapes on the cake represent the hood on her graduation gown, since it is the significant physical difference between that and other graduation gown, and I made the tassle green to represent her school color. She likes pink so that's why I made the flowers pink as well. Also I must note that Khoa's masterpiece is the text on the cake board =).

Anywho, you don't need to be a pupil to see how wonderful of a human being she is both personally and professionally! If anyone needs an optometrist, my sis is the doc to see! Ok ok I admit my jokes are getting cornea these days...ahhh I'm making a spectacle of myself! I can't stop! Iris my case! Haha! Congratulations and eye love you sissy!

Cake Pops for Mom!

Mother's day is coming up and it's always tricky to find the right gift to show your mom just how much you love and care about her. My mom is one of the most caring people in whole world and I really wanted to take the time and make her something that I know she'll appreciate and enjoy. Since my mom doesn't like to get flowers because they wilt and die and she thinks they a waste of money, and doesn't need anything else in the world, I figured these cake pops can match her own sweetness. These cake pops are made out of spice banana cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. They are coated with white chocolate and topped with chocolate sprinkles. So happy mother's day mom! I love you and I hope these blooming sweets will bring sunshine and love into your special day! <3

Cheeseburger with a side of Corn Cupcakes!

We've been having such beautiful California weather lately so why not celebrate by having a good 'ol American style BBQ with lots great friends and of course, yummy food! We had a BBQ at our home this weekend and our resident community has a beautiful pavilion where we can have a BBQ and grill some hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and steaks. But of course, with every complete meal, there's always a dessert to top it all off, so why not keep with the theme with these triple layer cheeseburger cupcakes!

These are french vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, with basic buttercream for the ketchup, mustard, and lettuce. The cheese is made out of satin ice fondant, my favorite kind of fondant because it actually tastes good, it's sweet and not chewing and or tasteless like most fondants! These burgers are low in protein but are loaded with fun and love. They come with sides of corn as well, made with french vanilla cupcakes, jelly beans for the corn, fruit chews for the butter, chocolate shavings for the seasoning, and white chocolate cream cheese frosting to coat the cupcakes. Light up your appetites because these burgers are grillicious!!

Baby Cakes!

One of my closest's friend Lucerne is having a baby and it's a girl!! I wanted to make her something special to celebrate this very special time in her life so I made her these banana baby cakes for our Girl's Getaway Mini Vacation this weekend in Sequoia! These banana cupcakes are filled with white chocolate cream cheese frosting with a hint of orange flavor, and are topped with fondant decorations with some edible pearl white candy. The baby bundle of joy is due in June and we all know she's going to be fabulous mother with a super cute baby girl! So for now, we celebrate our very glowing and beautiful friend's journey to motherhood! You don't need to be a baby to go gaga over these sweet treats, enjoy!

Happy Easter Cupcakes!

The Easter bunny got too excited and started digging for carrots! =P These carrot cake cupcakes are topped with carrots and bunnies made from fondant. The frosting is basic buttercream, but I made another batch with white chocolate cream cheese frosting that's nicely sweet with a hint of orange in it. Yuuuummy! The frosting doesn't hold it's form well, just like any other cream cheese frosting, but it tastes wonderful! Also, my cousin Chi Hai gave me a link to these nest cookies that I used to make topping for these cupcake. They are simply made out of chow mein noodles (the kind you put on salads, not the actual chow mein noodles...) dipped in butterscotch. The eggs are none other than Cadbury Mini Eggs! So come on everybunny, hurry up and get your sweet fix because Easter is just a skip and hippity hop away!

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!

Masquerade Birthday Cake

This cake is a Mardi Gra/Masquerade inspired cake for my aunt's birthday! The cake is a mint chocolate chip cake (request by her son, my cousin) and is filled with raspberry mousse since raspberries are her favorite. The purple roses are made from basic buttercream and the mask is painted with black food coloring, and the orchids, crysanthemum, violets, and leaves are made out of gumpaste. The cake is covered in ivory fondant with black buttercream piping.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I used dark chocolate and white chocolate to cover these fresh juicy strawberries! Whether it's for romance, for satisfying your sweet tooth, or just for fun, you can't go wrong with these very berry sweets!

Kat's Birthday Cake

Kat's birthday was earlier this month but I did not have time to make her a cake, so I finally has a chance to do it! Her favorite flowers are bright happy Gerber daisies, so I made some daisies and did some piping work. The cake is a french vanilla with raspberry filling, covered in fondant with fondant flowers. This cake is a double layer 6 inch round cake. I did all the piping with piping gel, but I'm wondering if piping with butter cream would have been better? Well, trial and error, I guess it's also personal preference. I haven't decided which I prefer, so I'll keep experimenting!