Greetings from the East Bay!

Why hello there my wonderful readers! Today is Friday!! Hope you have something great planned for the weekend ahead, if not being couch potatoes and homebodies are fine because I am one too!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but this post should get you all up to speed on my fabulous life. Ready? Okay here goes!

As you can probably tell, I have really moved (its about time right?) from LA to the East Bay (for those of you that aren't familiar, I'm east of Berkeley). The transition has been tough, since I tend to reminisce way to much, and eat sandwiches all day long. I'm sure the reminiscing will stop once school starts on Monday (woot, woot!). But the sandwiches, will probably stick around for a while. You know I've never been so sick of sandwiches, but Subway and the local grocery markets sure make it easy and lets face it quite affordable! Don't even talk to me about rice, I just miss it so. Oh and one thing that will always remain, I still drink Coke and plenty of it. 

Just 2 days, and the start of my culinary journey begins. Since I don't have any of my bakeware here, I thought that I would share my adventures in schooling (and whatever I bake there, in the process). I also hope to share some stories and give some insight and advice to those who might be interested in taking this route (getting their culinary certifications at a Community College).

Also, a big thank you to my amazing family, and wonderful friends (you know who you are) for your endless support and great advice! Just know that I will be there for you as much as you were for me and I hope to make you proud! I love you all so much!

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I would also like to share with you the only picture that was taken at my very first event, yes it was really that cool. I was invited to be a vendor at an event, Hot & Bothered in Hollywood, Ca. To sum the whole day up, we sold out! And that is really all you need to know. 

Also, I received an order from another high school friend, for her sister's birthday. It was butterfly themed and to be honest I'm never pleased with anything I ever make, but I've learned that if the client is happy and enjoys it...that is really all that ever matters. 

*My tip for this post? Using the AmeriColor Gels! They are flippin' amazing for coloring your fondant (no toothpick required). The colors you get are what you see on the bottle, mixing the different colored gels will give you some colors that you never knew you wanted (granted I only used blue in the photos below). I've tried using the ever so famous Wilton brand, but its messier, and you waste a whole lot of toothpicks. 

If you are in the LA/OC area, you can pick it up in-store at Hobby Lobby or online if you don't live near one. 

Thank you for reading! Happy August! :)

Candy Cake!

I'm calling it early, March is going to be a fantastic month!

Nothing is better than creating a cake that is a success (since last week, my other cake project was a complete disaster. OK well for me it was. Any little mistake tips me off. If I'm not pleased with the way it turns out I secretly want to destroy it with a baseball bat in an alley and start over. When I tell my mom that she tells me that I shouldn't waste cake or "insert other dessert term here" because you shouldn't just waste food. I know, I know I shouldn't waste food...its a hard habit to break but I'm trying :)

Also, I should mention that finishing a cake successfully AND watching the Lakers play (and beating the #1 seed Beat the Heat!) completes an awesome day in my book!

My source and inspiration for this "Candy Cake" came from pinterest.com, which is an extremely addicting website where you can make individual boards and pin awesome pictures of your favorite things from arts and crafts to scrumptious dessert recipes! Love, love, love.

So back to the Candy Cake, here is what you will need to make it:

-A frosted layer cake (can be square, round, oval etc.)
-Kit-Kat bars (the number depends on how large your cake is. I ended up using 3 large bars for a 6 inch cake)
- M&M's or any chocolate similar in size (again, the number of m&m's depend on how large your cake is).
-Ribbon, one that is long enough to wrap around the cake.
-Any other decorations you use to decorate your cake with (sprinkles, melted candy melts etc.)

I love that this cake is super simple AND that it hides any mishaps you have with the cake. Amateurs welcome!

Directions:

Once you have successfully frosted the cake, start breaking your kit kat bars into increments of 2 wafer bars. Use the frosting as an adhesive and attach the kit kats on the edges of your cake. Sprinkle the M&M's to outline the cake. Then take a ribbon and wrap it around the cake sealed with a pretty bow! I've also seen this done as a wedding cake, so it works well if you plan to make tiers. Enjoy!

Awesome, no?

Well I should also mention that this post is dedicated to my cousin Kelly! Happy Birthday, here's to another amazing year! Love you! :)

Happy Monday!

Bring it on 2012! I'm ready!

Hi readers! Happy 2012!

To start off the brand new spanking year, I had my first order of 2012! Yay! Here are some sparkly New Year's Cupcakes! They are Red Velvet with a tangy cream cheese frosting! Super yummy.

Before I send you off and running (to go and watch the Laker game---yes the NBA is back!), the recipe that I used was fantastic! If you are looking for a very moist and tender red velvet cupcake, you've found it here. For the cream cheese frosting, its not so sweet but has a tang from the added extra cream cheese which makes it really creamy! And its fantastic because its not an overpowering amount of powdered sugar that goes in here. So please check out the linked blogs for great recipes, you won't regret it!

Special thanks to: "Carrot Top" Mom and Our Best Bites blog!

 All of the decorations (besides the sprinkles) are fondant dusted with edible glitter. To make the curls, I cut out strips of fondant (they don't have to be perfectly straight) and used the tip of a small paint brush to get the even curled look. To get the edible glitter to stick to the fondant, the box suggests using lemon juice or clear vanilla extract and mix a small amount of the glitter (because it goes a long way!). I ended up using a water/edible glitter combo to brush it on the fondant (which is cheaper if you don't have the clear extracts on hand).

Thanks for reading! Have a safe, healthy, and happy start to the year! Cheers!