Cake Truffles

I had some left over cake lying around from this weekend, and God knows I hate wasting cake, so I made some easy-peasy cake truffles! You just take some cake, crumble them up, mix in frosting, and shape into balls. I threw them in the freezer for a little bit so that they won't get all mushy when I dip them in chocolate. Could have popped them onto sticks to make cake pops, but that required another step so I stuck with the truffles. Still good!

Landon's 100 Days

Remember the circus-themed baby shower I baked for earlier this year? Jeannie and Rich had their baby boy, Landon, and asked me to help them celebrate his 100-day birthday! It's a big deal in the Asian culture to celebrate baby's first 100-days, as well as their 1st birthday. I was more than happy to bake for another special occasion for Jeannie and Rich. They wanted a 1-tier red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and 100 mini cupcakes (1/2 vanilla, 1/2 chocolate). I threw in an extra tier on top as my birthday gift for the family, and also because I really wanted to add this component to complete the design. They gave me creative control and let me pick a theme. I know the parents love baseball (they had a baseball-themed wedding cake topper at their wedding!), so I decided to go with a baseball theme. Perfect for a little boy, right? I had so much fun making things for this event! I used Amy Sedaris' vanilla cake recipe, all others were recipes I had on file.

vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream + fondant star

vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting

(used #1 tip for stitching, white non pareils)

chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting + fondant baseball

(used the grass tip, red edible marker for stitching)

* * *  and the cake... * * *

red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting 

Tier 1: 2-layer cake (6-inch)

Tier 2: 3-layer cake (10-inch)

everything all laid out

(not going to lie, it felt like cupcake wars for a little bit)

Happy 100 Days, Landon!

Tea Bag Cookies

Remember my cousin, Jayne? The one who is getting married in, oh my gosh, 1 week? She had her bridal shower today at The Plaza Hotel. Her maid of honor asked me to make her some favors for the shower, and since it was a tea party, I set out to make some tea bag-shaped cookies. I googled some ideas and saw lots of cute cookies in the shape of tea bags! That's the design I went with.

For the cookies, I used my go-to sugar cookie recipe. You're going to need a pretty sturdy cookie so that it doesn't break on you when you dip it in chocolate (I used dark chocolate) and also when you add the twine. Some of the cookies I saw online were a shortbread, so you can totally use those, too. I punched out tiny holes near the top using a coffee stirrer, and then added some baker's twine to make it look like a real teabag!

I had the help of my friend, Crafty Song and Haej, who made the adorable tea bag favor boxes. Here they are all wrapped up and ready to go!

I had a great time at my cousin's bridal shower! There were so many yummy things to eat! I felt like I had to share some pictures of the event...

YAY to family time and fancy tea parties!

Bon Voyage, Wangs

Bon Voyage was the theme of my next baking endeavor. Ulysses and his adorable family are moving away, far away, to the other side of the country. This is incredibly sad for me because I happen to adore his wife and two children. Even though it was difficult to say goodbye, I know that there are greater things in store for them in their new life abroad! I was asked to bake mini cupcakes for a little Bon Voyage shindig for the Wangs. Feeling inspired from my previous post, I also decided to bake some sugar cookies to go along with the theme.

mini vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting

I made the little cupcake toppers myself! I just folded tiny paper airplanes and cut out small clouds. I then hot glue gunned toothpicks to them and stuck them right on top. I picked airplanes and clouds and skies as part of the Bon Voyage theme, because what else symbolizes travel more than an airplane??

I was going to make suitcase cookies, but I thought the letters would be a cuter touch. These came out very nice and sweet! 

I will miss you, Wang family! 

Jayne's Bachelorette Party

My lovely cousin Jayne had her bachelorette party last night... I put the "..." because I do not wish to disclose all the craziness that occurred! HAHA! The bridesmaids did such a wonderful job putting everything together. It was a highly action-packed, entertaining evening, and I feel honored to have been able to share it with her. I wanted to bake something special for this occasion, which is when I remembered pinning something on Pinterest. Somebody had thought of making sugar cookies in the shape of butts and decorating itty bitty underwears on them. So I naturally thought, PERFECT! But where does one buy a cookie cutter in the shape of a derriere? Not wanting to make a trip to the Love Shack to look for one, I discovered that a heart-shape cookie cutter is the perfect tool. I took the biggest heart cookie cutter I had, snipped the tips off, and got the shape I was looking for. I whipped up some royal icing, tinted them different colors, and began piping and flooding thongs and G-strings onto my cookies. They were a bit time consuming, but I think the final products and the reaction they received were totally worth it. These can be great as bachelorette party desserts or favors! I think they came out fabulous, don't you?

When I told Jayne's sister, Sandy, that I was making these, she got super excited and requested another body part to make an appearance at the party. Now I know you guys know what I'm talking about... What other body part would need to be at a bachelorette party?! So I made a big chocolate cake version, which was an even bigger hit. I'm not going to put a picture up, but feel free to use your imagination ;D

*Congratulations to my cousin, Jayne, on her upcoming nuptials!*