Eat Cake Cafe, Rowland Heights, CA

I had a wonderful weekend of meeting up with family and friends.  Over the weekend, my sister bought me some very "fancy" and good looking petite cakes from a new bakery, called Eat Cake Cafe in Rowland Heights, Ca.  The cakes are all so cute and hard for me to destroy them and put them in my mouth. 

Bottom left - Mango Mousse Cake
Top left - Italian Tiramisu Cake
Bottom right - Red Bean Cake
Top right - Green Tea Chiffon Cake

Just like its fellow bakeries, 85 degree (Taiwanese mixed with Western) and Cream Pan (Japanese mixed with Western), this is a Korean fusion bakery.  A lot of their creations are inspired by Asian or tropical ingredients (green tea, passion fruit, red beans, mango...), but also they have a lot of Western inspired cakes, cookies and pastries, such as well decorated sugar cookies, strawberry short cakes, tiramisu... 

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

Tiramisu

Inside of the cake

My sister got me a total of four cakes to try out - Mango Mousse cake, Italian Tiramisu, Red Bean Cake and Green Tea Chiffon Cake. The Mango Mousse Cake was heavenly good - very refreshing, light and moist cake.  The Tiramisu Cake with chocolate wrapped around and inside of the cake was a creamy body with a hint of alcohol in it (so sexy).  The Green Tea Chiffon Cake was light, flavorful and fluffy. And last but not the least, the Red Bean Cake was absolutely delightful.  I got lucky to have my sister delivered the cakes for me this time.  I will definitely check them out in person the next time when I am around the area. Based one what my sister and my foodies friends told me about this place and also all the reviews on yelp (4 and a half stars rating), I don't think I am going to be disappointed.  Even better, most of their pastries are gluten free and organic.  I didn't even notice I was eatting some amazing pastries without gluten.

Eat Cake Cafe

19705 E Colima Rd
Ste 6
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

(909) 468-2253
Hours: 

Hours:  Mon-Thu 7:30 am - 7:30 pm

  Fri 7:30 am - 9 pm

            Sat 9 am - 9 pm

(check out their website for more inforamtion and menu) 

P.S. More pictures will be uploaded soon, stay tuned!

Waffle + Pizza = Waffza at Love to Go (San Gabriel, CA)

Hours:

Mon-Thu 11 am - 10 pm Fri-Sat 2 pm - 12 am

307 S Mission Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

I always admire entrepreneurs (just like myself); these people are fearless, innovative, passionate, driven, open mind and they always have that JUST DO IT positive attitude and a strong work ethic. The market has not been going to anywhere these few years, it's extremely challenging to become an entrepreneur.  I hope all of us could just hang in there during this tough economy.  Believing in yourself and your companies because your confidence will show to your customers, your employees, your stakeholders and your suppliers.    Eventually, our passions and services will touch people's hearts.

A refreshing Kiwi yogurt Italian soda

I met this girl, Sundi from church when I was living in Pasadena back to year 2000.  I heard so many good things about her cookings, her sweet personality and her food from others at the church we both went to.  Few years ago, I found out that she finally opened her first cafe, Love to Go in City of San Gabriel, California.  I am so excited and happy for her when I first discovered this news.  Because turning your interests and hobbies into a career require a lot of efforts, time, money and a lot more...Her passion towards food have shown on her works.  She created this sweet treat called waffza (think about a combination of waffle and pizza).  This signature dessert is very popular at her cafe (so does their Italian soda).  I am so honor to share her journey and passions with everyone on my blog.

Enjoy these interview Q&A, and I truly wish that after reading this post, you could sit back and take a moment to think about what you are passionate about and GO FOR IT because life is too short to wake up with regrets.

Mrs. G = G
Sundi = S

G:  When did you open your own store, Love to Go?
S:  I opened my store on April 18, 2010

G:  When did you discover you have passion toward food?
S:  When I was studying in college, I started cooking dinner for my friends, brothers and sisters from church all the time.
One day, I saw a commercial on TV about Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena.  I immediately made a phone call and scheduled a visit at their campus.  After the visit, I finally made up my mind and decided to complete an associate degree in Culinary Arts.

Four different types of waffzas

Hong Kong style peanut butter waffle pocket

G:  What inspired you to create waffza?
S:  I found out that many people in the States like to eat waffles.   They also like  pizzas. I think people like these two food because you could put a lot of different toppings on these two food items.  I got inspired by pizzas and waffles and create waffza. At first, I made my waffza on a whole waffle and topped with ice-cream, whipped cream, strawberries and bananas, later I realized most of the people could not finish the whole waffza by themselves.  It made me wonder how I could alternate my creation with more varieties. At last, I came up with the idea of separating the whole waffle into smaller size (their original quarter size) and decorate them slice by slice...Waffza was created ^.^

G:  What is your favorite waffza?
S:  I like all of my waffza, but the most favorite waffza that I love is the banana & nut coated with dark chocolate.

A banana waffza cake

A strawberry and banana waffza cake

Jamprint Cookies Recipe from OddFellows Cafe + Bar (Seattle, Wa)

Imagine from Cakespy.com

Ever since our first visit in Seattle, I have been falling in love with this city, the food, the culture and the people there.  I have been chasing after few Seattle food and dessert blogs since we had gotten back from our trip last year.  Few months ago, I made these Jamprints Cookies based on the recipe I found from the OddFellows Cafe + Bar's facebook page.  I altered the recipe a little bits by adding some fresh lemon zest.

The cookies came out so moist and yummy.  Here is their secret:

Jamprints Cookies

Imagine from PRZman.com

Ingredients

• 0.75 lbs butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3.5 cups flour
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• flaked coconut, for edges
• jam (of your choosing), about 1 teaspoon per cookie

Instruction:
Preheat oven to 350

1.     Cream butter + sugar in mixer w/ paddle attachment, add vanilla + salt

2.     Sift in the flour, mix until dough comes together

*Optional:  Adding lemon zest in the batter

3.     Wrap in plastic, chill for 1 hr
4.     Roll it into 1 ounce balls, dip balls in egg wash + roll in flaked coconut

5.     Put ball on a baking sheet + indent the top, fill with jam.

6.    Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until coconut is toasted and jam thickens.

Very easy to make and very tasty! 

Thanks Oddfellows to share their recipe.