Valentine's Day is coming to town...

You have about a month to prepare to surprise the one you love!  Instead of giving your loved one flowers, how about some customized cupcakes?!  This is such a unique way to surprise the person, who means the world you.  By saying the person, that could be your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, friends and co-workers...anyone you think they are important in your love and you would love to appreciate their cares and loves.

Contact us for ideas, quotes and availability!!!

Love always makes me puke!

I made a dozen of South Park Valentine's Day Special cupcake toppers for my Etsy customer last week.  My customer got the idea from Wendy and Stan from South Park, and he wanted me to make Stan's throwing up on the toppers.  If you are a die hard fans of South Park, you know that Stan got nervous when he falls in love.  He often vomits when Wendy trys to kiss or talk to him. 

I made some talking bubbles to go with the toppers, so it looks like the two characters are talking to each other.

The cupcake toppers were sent out by certified mail. 
They were safely arrived at my customer's house.
 Here is a picture my customer sent me.  "you bake, I make them pretty!" 

I want to hold you hand...

I still remember the first time I was holding hand with my husband.  It's been years ago, but the memory is still fresh like it just happened yesterday.  I always think that holding hand is more inmitate than kissing and perhaps other PDAs.  And I am not the only one said that, Dalton Conley, a professor and chairman of the department of sociology at New York University has agreed with me, “Hand-holding is the one aspect that’s not been affected by the sexual revolution,” said  “It’s less about sex than about a public demonstration about coupledom.”

Hand-holding is a very speical and innocent moment between couples -

To hold someone’s hand is to offer them affection, protection or comfort. It is a way to communicate that you are off the market. Practically speaking, it is an efficient way to squeeze through a crowd without losing your partner. People do it during vigils, marches, weddings and funerals.
(source from the New York Times, Oct 5, 2006 issue)

And different ways of holding your parterner has special meaning too, if you are interested to de-code the meaning, click here.

There are so many ways to show your partner your love and care, of course, holding hand is one of them.  Writing them a letter/card, flying her a paper airplane to tell that person you miss him/her, or stuffing a special note in a fortune cookie to suprise her/him...

Here is a little fun project inpsired by LOVE:

Signed, sealed, delivered, I am yours...

Trying to get as detail as possible, this is the back of the envelope.

Show her your love on a "sweet" candy way (these heart shaped candies are made with fondant)

Or surprise her when she crack the fortune cookie=)

 Or drop her a love note in the classroom

And for those, who could not be with your love this year -
Do you wish the paper airplane could go straight to the one you love and show her how much you miss her?!

A cupcake tower full of love and flavor -
Horchata cupcakes with horchata cinnamon frosting and topped with churro

"Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine,
love, thou art every day my Valentine!"
-Thomas Hood









Love is in the Air

2/14, tomorrow is Valentine's day.  All the TVs, radio station, newspaper, magazines...are all over about this holiday, but how many of us know where this holiday came from, when, where and who are we celebrating for?!  Here is a website I found online: click about the history of Valentine's Day (If you are interested, go check it out).

This week is a busy week for me - There is a big deadline coming up at my full-time day work and couple Valentine's Day cupcake orders, of course, my birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday are also coming up this week too.  O well, I guess sometimes busy means productive, right?! 

 I am such a bad wife - my husband complained about how I make cupcakes for others all the time, but never for him.  Finally, Valentine's Day is a PERFECT reason for me to not to make up excuses for not making him anything, so I made some AWESOME horchata cupcakes decorated with everything that remind me of him JUST FOR MY HUSBAND!  As many of you know that I have a very art-sy husband; he is very into music.  He is a lead singer and a guitarist in a punk rock cover band, called the Knockoffs.  When I was thinking about what I should make for him, immediately I think about guitar pick and his guitar.  Except for music, he is also very into tattoo arts too.  So I just made a heart shape with frame inspired by the tattoo on his chest. 

 

The inspiration of the other two cupcake toppers - I always like the beautiful and colorful hand painted skulls from the Día de Muertos (Day of Dead), every time when I am looking at these skulls; it reminds me of "Love till death do us part" (that's what love and marriage about=)).

The last but not the least cupcake topper - Even my husband is a social smoker (only smokes when he is drinking on the weekend).  But smokes are smokes, and they are bad for you.  I LOVE him and I want him to live healthier and longer.  So I made this topper with a very special note on it.  

In return, I have received a lovely cupcake necklace from Tiffany & Co from my husband as a "Balentine's" gift (Birthday + Valentine's)!  OMG!  I could not ask for more than a better husband in my life and my next life.










To my dear husband,


I know I am not a perfect wife (I could be better)!  Sometimes, ur texts and some stuffs u said to me really touched my heart.  When you told me when u had a hard day at work, as soon as you saw me at home; u feel MUCH BETTER!  That really touched my heart and make me have a very complicated facial expression (smile and dropping happy tear drops)


Thanks for everything, Mr. G!  I love you more than you know.


XOXO,

Louis Vuitton Inspired Cupcake Toppers

This post is ways overdue...thanks for understanding my busy schedule and allow me to update my post a little bits later than I originally planned.  One of my favorite customers had ordered some Louis Vuitton (LV) cupcakes from me.  I was beyond excited; first of all, Louis Vuitton is girl's best friend (Diamond too).  Secondly, I have never done a challenging project like this in the past.  These are the perfect reasons for me to practice my skills and use my creativity to step on the road of perfection of an ultimate cupcake decorator and baker!

At first, my customer wanted all bags in 3-D.  So I did spend quite a good amount of time of molding each purses (4 different styles [see pictures below] were her original idea). Few days later, my customer told me that she found some very cute LV key chains and they will look great on the cupcakes.  I took a look at the website she sent me...O MY!  They are even cuter than the purses.  The combinations of the colors of each key chains made them really POPPED!!!  After my customer and I talked, we decided making six 3D bags and six 2D toppers.

After about a week and a half of crafting, I could finally deliver to my customer and put a big smile on her face.  It's a great idea to give your girlfriend, your wife or your date these cute LV cupcakes.  Admit that LV bags or even their key chains ($ 450.00 per key chain) are quite pricy, these are more affordable=)

The 3D LV purse cupcake toppers
(everything is made with edible materials)

A super mini Speedy LV purse 

A super mini Alma purse

3 2D LV inspired cupcake toppers

Key chain (picture) on top and cupcake topper on bottom 

I love the color combination.

My customer's favorite topper

Cupcake - Chocolate with orange zest
Frosting - Nutella fluffy frosting
YUM!

Baking is an Adventure!

"Baking is either an adventure or nothing."

This quotation is so right!  Once in a while, my crazy mind would have asked my hands to bake some unusual goodies.  I received a box of Blue Ribbon Roca almond candies as part of my Valentine's Day gift from Mr. G.  I was happy, but I had a very weak teeth and this little sweet treat was just ways too tough for my teeth.  Of course, I appreciated Mr. G's thoughtfulness, and I didn't want to waste the candies.  So I decided to crush the candies to make some Rocca candy cookies.

Here is my recipe and step by step photo:

Prepared Time:  30 mins
Baked Time: 25 mins

Make:  about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup dark brown sugar 
1/2 cup sugar 
1 cup butter, room temperature 
2 eggs, room temperature 
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
1 package toffee bits 
1/4 grounded cinnamon 
4 ounces milk chocolate 


Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars with butter together on medium speed. 

      4.     Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. 

      5.     Crush the candies and mix with the milk chocolate.

     6.     At very low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. 

Mix until just blended do not over-mix. 

 7.     Refrigerate dough for approximately 15 minutes. Using a ice cream scope or your hands to form a ball. 

8.     Grease the cookies sheet with PAM, then place on cookie sheets several inches apart. 

9.     Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to completely cool. 

This new adventure didn't disappoint me.  The cookies came out so moist and yummy!  The taste of them reminder me of ginger bread man.