4th of July!

Hello all! I've been busy looking up some cool baking projects I want to try out. I am in love with Bakerella's blog so I felt inspired to attempt cupcake pops! I conveniently had everything that I need to make some, so I decided to give it a go! These were very time consuming, but I think the end product is worth it... don't you?

props to my lil brother, Andy, for helping me out with these. If it were just me, it would have taken MUCH longer!

Here's some step-by-step pictures that I took:

1. Roll the cake/frosting mix into balls

2. Shape the balls into cupcake shapes using a flower cookie cutter

3. Decorate by dipping in chocolate and putting on sprinkles

Happy Independence Day!

Fruit Tart

My dear blog followers~ I'm sticking to my resolution of updating more often. :P This week, I went to Williams-Sonoma (aka "my favorite store") and bought some tart pans. I got a 10" round one and a 14" x 4" rectangular one. I know, I know... did I really need to buy 2 tart pans? If you know me, then the answer is "you can never have too many baking pans". I actually had picked up 3 tart pans but put the mini individual sized pans down! (T.T) <-- that's a crying face, btw... I'm going to go back for them as soon as I have some money saved up.

So I decided to make a rectangular fruit tart...
I got the recipe out of Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook! Lovely Song took the beautiful pictures!

- berry fruit tart w/ vanilla pastry cream & lemon thyme glaze

I'll be back next week!

Birthday Bash

One of my 2nd grade students had a birthday today. Her mom and dad spent all night making these adorable personalized cupcakes and awesome balloon thingies (which is used like paddle ball)! yeah, they MADE them! Thought I would share the cool goodies I got at school today. The other kids were sooooooo jealous.... :)

New Resolution

Alrighty, so I have been a total slacker and haven't posted nearly as much as I should. For that, I apologize. I have decided to make it up to all of you by making the resolution of posting at least once a week! It's going to be challenging for me, but I hope you all keep me accountable!

I made cupcakes! I think these are slowly rising to be my favorite... I've made them before for a friend's birthday, but I had all the ingredients so I decided to make these again. These are moist, have great flavor, and the walnuts give a nice crunch. Not to mention the cream cheese frosting is deliciously sweet and cheesy at the same time! (pictures pretty-fied with Instagram)

pretty in pink

- Mama and Baby carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting -

I made another batch! I was looking through my Martha cupcake book and came across a vegan chocolate cupcake recipe. I am the type of person who likes my treats with all 100% of the naughty parts (sugar, butter, etc), so I was a bit skeptical about trying it. However, I wanted my vegetarian guest to be able to enjoy dessert! They baked perfect and had a great chocolate-y flavor (considering it had just a bit of cocoa powder), but I wasn't a big fan... I like my chocolate cake rich and moist (aka "fatty") ;)

- vegan chocolate cupcakes with sugar dust -

I'll try not to let you guys down!!! All....2 of you! haha!

I'm reading:

I know I haven't updated in...forever! I've been looking through my many baking books for inspiration. Time to bake!