Frost My Cake

this past sunday, my friends and i decided to try out a new bakery.

(well fairly new)

518 E. Imperial Highway

Brea, CA, 92821

it took over a little blue house like building.

outside is super cute. makes you want to stop by and take a peak.

inside...not so much.

i think from the outside, i imagined it to be super cute inside but it wasnt so much...

the inside only has room for the display counter and a couple of small tables randomly on the side.

looks like they used the bulk of the building for storage and kitchen?

not too sure.

inside doesnt match the impression of the outside.

the best part about going to new bakeries with a bunch of friends is that you cant order many different things and share!!

the red velvet. for me, its always a must have when i go to a new bakery.

why? not really sure...(maybe its so that i could compare it to mine) not sure haha

so we tried it.

(decided to buy the slice of cakes rather than the cupcake because theres only a 25 cent difference in cost)

it was nothing out of the ordinary.

the cake was a bit on the dense side.

the little fruits on the top was cute though.

german chocolate cake: this one was pretty tasty.  party in your mouth.

theres a lot of different flavors going around in here.

if you like coconut, you should try this one.

if not...just pass...

fruit tarts (each at 75 cents) was cute and sweet.

wish they didnt put all the gunk on top of the fruits though.

the shell was a bit bland and so was the custard.

in the back: tres leche cake: personally, not my favorite.

its very milky and super soggy.

not really sure if tres leche cakes are supposed to taste like that...but it did.

not entirely sure if i'd go back.

maybe i'll try again in a couple months.

fall themed birthday cake

i was looking through my pictures and i realized that i never shared this order.

every time i receive an order, i'm still shocked and very thankful.

a friend of mine (from high school) saw my pictures on fb and placed an order.

(yay facebook!)

order: red velvet cake. fall themed.

i normally get 2 types of orders. one: they're very specific with what they want. two: they let me do whatever.

i'm still trying to figure out which one i enjoy making more..but that i guess will come later.

i thought i'd keep it simple and use the idea of leaves changing color to inspire me.

heres a couple different angles.

little side story: debbie (girl celebrating birthday) and i were in many classes together since middle school.

she was my friend in art class, the one who told me to try out for choir, one who pushed me to try out for the school musical.  awesome girl.  she always has a smile on her face and she was very kind.  although we've gone our different ways, i was very happy to bake this cake for her and her father. happy super belated birthday!!  and i hope you enjoyed your cake!!

cupcake: musical notes

a couple weeks ago, i had a cupcake order for a recital.

a friend of mine teaches students how to play the piano and violin.

her names Sara Kim. if you or someone you know want lessons let me know ^^

order: 28 cupcakes with music notes.

this was one of my favorite orders by far.

i love musical notes and i was happy to put my little twist to them.

i used fondant for the notes and royal icing for the lines and hearts

heres pictures from one of the stands used.

congrats on a successful recital!!

pictures by bryan yun

GT1:green tea cupcakes

a couple days ago, i received bags of green tea powder from my friend jean.

she's currently living in korea teaching english.

in her province, they're known for their green tea fields.

via her mother, she sent over some green tea powder. ^^

THANK YOU JEAN!!!

after looking at the amount of gtp i have, all these ideas came to mind.

(cupcakes, tea, ice cream, roll cake,....etc)

i decided to start with the simplest.

yesterday, i went to my "OG CG Christmas party"

theme: korean.

i thought that this would be the perfect time to start with my green tea mission:

green tea cupcakes with green tea cream cheese frosting

i packaged 3 to be hand delivered to someone.

hopefully, it will be delivered in one piece AND i will get a picture of it....

if not...here is how it looked prior to shipping :)

cupcakes on a platter.

look at the poor gingerbread man on the left :(

he's legless....

(i think i'm going to try and bake some greenteabread man)

the perfect circle cupcakery

i went to a mini bbq today out in irvine.

a friend dropped by this bakery and picked up some cupcakes.

check them out:

the perfect circle cupcakery

from what i was told, its a cute little joint that reminds you of the tiffanys store.

6 flavors was brought to be tasted:

cookies and cream, red velvet, coconut, tuxedo, banana nut bread, egg nog.

we split every cupcake into 4 so that everyone could take a bite.

opinion: i normally judge a bakery by their red velvet.

its a popular flavor all around and i see it as a must have anywhere you go....

if i were to judge my opinion only on the red velvet, i probably wouldnt go back....

BUT their banana nut bread was pretty good. 

the coconut one was pretty good as well.

the flavors in all the cakes were pretty subtle (esp in the red velvet).

the cake part is super dense and just a little dry.

if you eat the cake part with the frosting it matches well.

loved their decoration though.

although i'm not a big fan of frosting, i LOVE when bakeries pile it on top.

it just looks prettier and clean and fluffy haha

tomato jewels

we had joint community groups today.

theme for dinner was italian.

rather than making the main dish or dessert, i thought i'd try something a little different.

these tomato jewels was perfect.

with the idea from puffpastry.com, i thought i'd change it up with the ingredients i liked.

ingredients: 8oz cream cheese, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, puff pastry dough found in freezer section, cherry (or grape) tomatoes. 

preheat oven 400 degrees F.

cut triangles and place each in mini cupcake tray.

bake for 7 mins.

take out the seeds of tomato and fill with cream cheese mixture.

place tomato into the center of the puff pastry.

bake for 5 more mins.

i topped each off with some more fresh parsley.

thought it gave it a more fresh look.

a very festive and simple appetizer. 

clean. creamy. crunchy.

leftover = pumpkin cheesecake

i baked mini pumpkin pies last week.

after making a handful, i decided to add some cream cheese and turn the filling into cheesecake.

i then started making mini pumpkin cheesecake pies.

[heres a picture of the pumpkin and the pumpkin cheesecake pies together]

after baking like over 200 mini pies.....i decided that i would stop.

i wrapped up the remaining filling and left it in the fridge.

something i realized: i tend to do this a lot....i make the batter and only use like half....

i package the remainder and leave it in the fridge...(then i forget about it... -___-)

so when i end up remembering, i just assume that it probably went bad and it ends up in the trash. :(

so this time, i decided that i wouldnt throw waste.!! (yay!!)

luckily, i had a lot of oreos left over from a couple weeks ago.

i used that for the crust (put way too much butter in the mixture )

it looked super pretty and i decided that i'd let it rest and cool down inside the oven.....

when i opened the oven after it was fully cooked...i my cheesecake cracked :(

that kinda sucked...oh well i guess its still a learning process.

last picture...not the best one but i wanted to show you my crust to cheesecake ratio.

i love crust so much more than the filling....but thats just me.

i've always been like that.

tomorrow i'm baking an appetizer for a gathering.

i'll share and show you how i made it.