tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45814653152075386252012-03-02T16:57:45.651-08:00i heart baking!michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.comBlogger1061100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-29755920982913924552012-02-28T15:27:00.000-08:002012-02-28T15:27:17.089-08:00

While we were on vacation in Hawaii last month, I found this awesome tool!  And I had to buy it!  It's meant for making pan sushi, which is basically made of ingredients that you would normally roll up in sushi, but spread out in layers inside a pan instead (and usually made with a layer of furikake instead of nori/seaweed  paper), and then cut in squares to serve. So what was the first

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-78833380124388353822012-02-21T12:18:00.003-08:002012-02-25T00:44:56.237-08:00

We recently returned from a three week vacation, visiting my husband's family in Hawaii.  Needless to say, I haven't baked at all in the past month!  Instead, I'll share with you the golf ball cake pops that I made a few months ago, which I never had time to post ... until now! My friend Cindy has a friend who was interested in having me make cake pop favors for her upcoming wedding, after

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-57381777388402285472012-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:002012-01-30T19:23:12.711-08:00

I recently flew to Chicago for my cousin Angie's baby shower.  I grew up with Angie, and we've been best friends for as long as I can remember.  Her friends in Chicago were organizing her baby shower, but I wanted to contribute something, so I offered to make some onesie cookies! I used my usual sugar cookie recipe from "Pretty Party Cakes", and used the same onesie cookie cutters (

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-66913952749350386852012-01-19T15:03:00.000-08:002012-01-19T15:03:35.596-08:00

Even though we didn't have a birthday party for my daughter Melodie's second birthday, I still wanted to make her a cake, to match the cookies and cupcakes that I made for her celebration at daycare.  So I made a cake in the shape of Elmo's face! I wanted to try something other than chocolate cake, and decided to make a brown sugar cake from Martha's "Cupcakes" book.  I divided

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-3123435665012747862012-01-11T12:14:00.000-08:002012-01-19T11:53:51.404-08:00

My last post was about the Elmo cookie favors that I made for my daughter's birthday party at daycare, so I also wanted to show you the Elmo cupcakes that I made to go with them!  I had made Elmo cupcakes a few years ago for my son's third birthday - I had used plastic Elmo rings as cupcake toppers, but this time I wanted to make everything edible! I started by making chocolate

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-28355136527236818992012-01-04T18:00:00.000-08:002012-01-04T18:00:46.262-08:00

My daughter Melodie's turned two the week before Christmas, but I didn't have time to plan a party (I feel so guilty - I didn't have time to plan one last year either!).  However, we had a small party for her at daycare.  And since I did Hello Kitty last year, this year I decided to do her second favorite character - Elmo! I made Elmo cupcakes for the party (post to come later),

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-27970126965175694712011-12-30T14:57:00.000-08:002011-12-30T14:57:47.907-08:00

Every Christmas we drive down to LA to spend Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family, and this year I wanted to make a cake to mimic my Christmas wreath cupcakes from Martha's "Cupcakes" book, which I had made earlier in the week.  So I decided to make the triple chocolate mousse cake from America's Test Kitchen once again, since I've made it several times and it hasn't let me down

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-11060678599882707442011-12-27T14:16:00.000-08:002011-12-27T14:16:42.124-08:00

The past few years, I've been giving out jars of homemade caramel popcorn as Christmas gifts.  It's so much fun to make, and it makes the whole house smell delicious! I've been using Alexis Stewart's recipe (Martha's daughter) for caramel almond popcorn, and I've made different variations - sometimes I use peanuts instead, or sometimes I leave out the nuts altogether.  It still tastes

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-89233226129809259652011-12-20T11:16:00.000-08:002011-12-20T13:05:37.112-08:00

I saw these wreath cupcakes in my Martha Stewart "Cupcakes" book last year, but never had a chance to make them last Christmas.  So this year I had to make them!  I started by baking chocolate cupcakes, and then whipped up a batch of peppermint cream cheese frosting to top it with (basically a standard cream cheese frosting with about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoons of peppermint extract added

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-37143608570360139482011-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:002011-12-15T16:30:17.652-08:00

I've been into watching the show "Kimchi Chronicles" on PBS lately - it's a show where chef Jean-Georges and his wife Marja (who is half Korean) travel throughout Korea and taste different Korean foods, and then they go back home and each cook up a version of the dishes they tasted.  One weekend I watched an episode where they had kimchi jjigae, a spicy Korean kimchi soup.  My mouth

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-80167991739579176862011-12-09T17:05:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:22:41.434-08:00

My cousin Yvonne's birthday was on Thanksgiving Day this year, and since the two of us are known to devour an entire pumpkin pie together, I decided to bake her a pumpkin spice layer cake.  I used a recipe from Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" book, except instead of making cupcakes I made two 8-inch round cakes. While the cakes were cooling, I started on the filling and the frosting.  I knew

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-27163219002423065372011-12-06T18:29:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:22:52.280-08:00

My mom's neighbor has a huge persimmon tree which produces the most beautiful, crunchy, juicy persimmons.  And lucky for us, her neighbor doesn't like to eat persimmons, so he ends up giving bags and bags of them to my mom, who ends up bringing bags and bags of them to our house when she comes to visit us.  So this year for Thanksgiving I decided to use those beautiful persimmons to make a

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-23935595218247566262011-12-01T17:21:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:23:00.676-08:00

By the time I got to the signup sheet for my son Matthew's preschool Thanksgiving party, the only things left were things like napkins, plates, (boring!) and ... lemon meringue pie.  Really?  For Thanksgiving?  In any case, I have never made lemon meringue pie, so of course I instantly put my name down!  I wouldn't have ever thought to associate lemon meringue pie with Thanksgiving,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-43977259274645399372011-11-16T00:21:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:23:09.735-08:00

I totally missed my one year blogiversary.  My very first post was October 5th of last year, and I totally forgot about it until I suddenly realized one day in November that I had missed it! To celebrate, I decided to recreate a cake that I had eaten at a birthday party a few months ago.  It was a banana cream cake - two layers of moist banana cake, filled with a thick layer of pastry cream

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-81571543956504630042011-11-12T10:26:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:23:23.708-08:00

To go along with the carnival animal cookies that I made in my previous post, I also made a 12 x 17 inch red velvet carnival cake.  The only other time I made a cake this large was the Superman birthday cake that I made for my son Matthew, and for that cake I had used four 9 x 13 inch cakes (two side-by-side, and two on top of that for the second layer).  But I was hesitant to do that

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-42195915473002126012011-11-06T00:25:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:23:34.260-08:00

My friend Cindy has a friend Michelle who was planning a carnival-themed birthday party for her daughter, and she asked me to make cookies shaped like animals for the party favors.  After a few emails back and forth, I decided on making elephants, lions, and giraffes.  (Luckily a few months ago I had purchased this animal cookie cutter set, so a variety of different animals were at my

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-77590180029111223962011-10-30T19:34:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:23:42.799-08:00

I was recently invited to participate in McCormick's Halloween baking blogger contest through KitchenPlay, and since I love baking how could I resist?  For my inspiration, I chose the pumpkin cookies from Peabody of Culinary Concoctions, except that I modified a few things: I substituted the cookie mix for homemade sugar cookie dough, made with my favorite recipe from "Pretty Party Cakes".

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-49504404048718882422011-10-20T17:25:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:23:50.927-08:00

I've been wanting to make this rose cake from I Am Baker for some time now, and celebrating our friend Cindy's birthday was the perfect opportunity!  Cindy's favorite color is purple, so I decided to make her cake in a pretty shade of lavender. For the cake, I made two 6-inch layers of chocolate cake, and filled it with strawberry whipped cream (since the birthday girl loves

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-66596291087136350142011-10-17T18:23:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:00.711-08:00

My son Matthew had three different celebrations for his fourth birthday!  Lucky boy!  First, we went out for jamba juice (his favorite) and a pizza dinner the evening of his actual birthday.  Then that weekend, we had a big party for him with Superman cake and Superman cookie favors.  And in between those two celebrations, we also had a party at his preschool with all of his classmates!

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-47104926857130877242011-10-13T00:16:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:09.596-08:00

To go along with the Superman cake that I made for my son Matthew's 4th birthday, I made Superman cookies to include with the party favors.  Originally I was going to just do letter cookies ("M" for Matthew) as well as a Superman logo piped onto a round cookie, but my husband offered to make me a custom Superman logo shaped cookie cutter, and of course I couldn't refuse! Once the

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-16670001486443214532011-10-08T09:56:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:18.526-08:00

My son Matthew normally doesn't like to eat cake.  I know.  I don't get it either.  But we were recently at his friend's birthday party, and when all the games had ended and it was time to eat, he finished his pizza and then promptly told me he wanted to go home.  I said we couldn't leave until we'd had birthday cake, to which he declared he didn't want any cake!  I told him that he didn't

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-19861058377954108012011-10-05T22:57:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:27.345-08:00

My friend Reggie's husband LOVES coffee ice cream, and since they were coming to visit I wanted to make them a batch.  Normally I make my coffee oreo ice cream for them, but this time I wanted to try serving them a new coffee bean ice cream recipe that I found in my David Lebovitz ice cream book.  I had made it once over the summer and I think I like it even better than the coffee oreo!

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-69652242349547906202011-09-29T17:06:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:35.721-08:00

I can't believe my little boy Matthew turned four today!  Last year I made Cars cupcakes for this third birthday, and the year before that I made these Elmo cupcakes for his second birthday (please excuse the poor lighting on these old pictures!). I made two dozen of these and served them at his preschool birthday party - chocolate cupcakes using my favorite Ina Garten

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-43325259780412503822011-09-26T21:36:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:45.464-08:00

My friend Helen has a friend Alysa who asked me to make a Hello Kitty cake for a bridal shower she was planning.  I had made the same cake for my daughter's first birthday, as well as a piggy cake using the same cake pan. This time I made two layers of Ina Garten's chocolate cake, and a strawberry whipped cream to go in between to two layers.  I've made whipped cream filling to go

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-21495521097541373582011-09-21T23:00:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:24:54.388-08:00

I know it's not a real cake, but when I saw this post on Martha Stewart's watermelon cake, I thought it was too cute and knew that I had to make it!  Just recently, my hubby brought home a watermelon when he went shopping for dinner ingredients, and that night I carved my watermelon cake. The method is to cut the watermelon into thirds, with the middle section being the cake.  Then cut the

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-43640878572861638362011-09-19T00:30:00.000-07:002011-09-19T00:30:05.863-07:00

My best friend Sue has a friend who asked me to make Thomas the Train cookies as favors for her son's birthday party, and while it sounded like it would be a complicated cookie to do, I was up for the challenge!  There were two specific things that she wanted for this cookie - she wanted it to be a really vibrant blue, and she wanted it to be a front view of Thomas the Train. I had

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-84246148109476371672011-09-15T23:26:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:38:11.526-07:00

To go along with the piggy cookies that I made in my last post, I also made a piggy cake.  To get the shape of the piggy head, I used the same cake pan that I used for my Hello Kitty shaped cake.  I figured the shape of the face and the ears could be easily turned into a pig! Since the birthday girl loves chocolate, I baked two layers of my favorite chocolate cake, and then filled it

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-72101756383659826132011-09-12T22:55:00.000-07:002011-09-16T12:09:30.170-07:00

My friend Cindy recently introduced me to her friend Monica, who asked me to make cookie favors for her daughter's upcoming birthday party.  Since her daughter loves pigs, she wanted them to be piggy cookies.  But not just regular piggy cookies - she wanted the pigs to be standing upright, and wearing green bikinis!  It was going to be a pool party after all, and her daughter's favorite

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-25357357524704745482011-09-06T16:24:00.000-07:002011-09-06T16:24:48.787-07:00

I've made America's Test Kitchen's triple chocolate mousse cake various ways now - as individual cakes, a full sized cake, and one layered with strawberries - and it always turns out great.  In July I made one again, this time for a goodbye lunch for a coworker who was leaving the company, and I simply decorated it with fresh raspberries. Again I used Ina Garten's chocolate cake

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-62217089337742851692011-09-01T01:47:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:53:56.256-07:00

My friend Cindy was helping to plan a bridal shower for one of her best friends, and she asked me to make cupcakes for it.  The theme was going to be "fairytale wedding", so I offered to pipe little tiaras to go on top of the cupcakes. I tested the idea out by wrapping a few small bottles with waxed paper, and then using royal icing to pipe the tiaras on the bottles (to get the curve of

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-76131858579078642282011-08-22T18:29:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:40:44.908-07:00

I've been wanting to make lavender ice cream for a while now, but I was never able to find edible lavender at any stores.  Until... we were recently on a road trip in Oregon, and we found a beautiful lavender farm! We met Deborah, owner of the Applegate Valley Lavender Farm, who was kind enough to let us take a look even though they weren't open for tours that day!  She showed us around,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-36255416703055333342011-08-18T00:02:00.000-07:002011-08-18T00:02:44.767-07:00

This post is long overdue!  Way back in June, we went on a family camping trip with my friend Reggie and her friend Showshan.  I wanted to make something for dessert, and since s'mores are the ultimate camping dessert, I made s'mores cupcakes!  I've actually wanted to make these cupcakes for some time now, after seeing these s'mores cupcakes from Xiaolu at 6 Bittersweets.  But I never

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-48838045212877186962011-08-09T23:30:00.000-07:002011-09-16T11:41:25.951-07:00

Two years ago, I made these "H" and "M" cookies (in the picture below) as favors for my friend Helen's bridal shower - "H" for Helen, and "M" for her husband Mike.   I decorated them with yellow and navy royal icing to match the color scheme of their wedding.  Then I wrapped them in cellophane bags, and tied them with raffia and a custom favor tag. Helen liked the cookies so

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-82988840481051743402011-08-06T18:10:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:41:03.412-07:00

A few things inspired me to make blueberry ice cream this summer.  First, lately my daughter just LOVES blueberries.  Second, my husband's parents were in town visiting from Hawaii, and while they were here they would often go to Trader Joe's and buy giant boxes of blueberries for my kids to eat.  And finally, it's summer, and I've been on an ice-cream making kick! I found a recipe

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-43819029544405490542011-08-02T17:10:00.000-07:002011-08-02T17:10:51.428-07:00

I have always wanted to make a fruit tart.  The kind that has a thick layer of pastry cream, with fresh fruit arranged beautifully on top.  I finally had a chance to make one while my cousin Angie was in town a few weeks ago.  On the second night of her visit we invited my mom, my other cousin Yvonne and her fiance Marvin to come over for dinner.  Mom cooked up a variety of delicious

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-35595647034617016012011-07-27T01:22:00.000-07:002011-07-27T01:22:28.496-07:00

While my cousin Angie was in town visiting again, we had a chance to do a little shopping together, and I found these adorable plates at Anthropologie!  I made another rhubarb tart that same night, and couldn't wait to use my new plate for the pictures. This time around, I arranged the rhubarb batons in a different pattern - instead of lining them perpendicular to the edge of the tart

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-59669042337525662662011-07-19T18:19:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:25:14.549-08:00

I haven't been able to find rhubarb at my local grocery store lately, until one day it just showed up again!  I almost did a jump for joy right there at the store! I decided to buy extra this time because, a) we had plans to have lunch with some friends over the weekend and I wanted to make rhubarb macarons for them, and b) my cousin Angie was coming to visit again (yippee!!!) and I

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-77611188740608878112011-07-17T23:04:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:58:27.673-07:00

I recently reconnected with my friend Vicky from high school, and with her daughter's first birthday party coming up I offered to make cookies for the favors.  Since she had planned a flower theme for the party, we decided that I would make flower cookies in her color scheme of light-aqua and yellow. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe from the book "Pretty Party Cakes", and a Wilton

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-48922587052786235472011-07-14T00:06:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:42:47.855-07:00

My mom came over one weekend and brought us three fragrant and ripe canteloup melons.  I immediately knew that I wanted to make sorbet with it. I went to my favorite ice cream book, David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop" and found a simple recipe that just used canteloup, sugar, salt, and lime juice. The resulting sorbet was crisp and refreshing!  Perfect for a hot summer day.

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-70619437893151268372011-07-11T21:00:00.000-07:002011-07-11T21:00:55.444-07:00

I made these cupcakes for my friend Janice, who was throwing a dinosaur-themed birthday party for her daugther's 4th birthday.  Her daughter loves strawberries, so I made strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  And in case there was anyone who didn't like (or was allergic to) strawberries, I also made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Although I had

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-80568576589318667672011-07-07T01:04:00.000-07:002011-07-07T01:04:50.732-07:00

For Father's Day this year, I wanted to make something with chocolate and strawberries.  So I decided on making triple chocolate mousse cake once more, but this time with strawberries. I planned on baking a 6-inch cake, so I baked the bottom layer (chocolate cake) in a 6-inch removable-bottom cake pan.  But I had forgotten that cakes tend to shrink a bit after being baked!  Since there

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-38613447999043506962011-07-05T01:15:00.000-07:002011-07-05T10:55:57.716-07:00

For fourth of July we had made plans to hang out with our friends Diana and Gav and their daughter Naomi, and I (of course) wanted to make something for us to snack on.  Last year I made these red white and blue cupcakes, and this year I ended up making red white and blue macarons! I decorated the macaron shells with red and blue star confetti sprinkles and white non-pareils

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-29462641253708203912011-07-01T02:02:00.000-07:002011-07-01T02:02:04.675-07:00

These are the cupcakes that I baked for the Fourth of July last year.  We were invited to my husband's coworker's house for a party, and I wanted to bring cupcakes.  I decided on making chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  And to make them red white and blue, I decorated them with red and blue stars. I packed them up in my handy-dandy Cupcake Courier (my favorite way to

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-34590997681483656842011-06-28T01:03:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:50:28.387-07:00

I love the combination of chocolate and peanuts.  So when I found this recipe for chocolate-peanut butter ice cream in my copy of David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop", I had to try it! I also made chocolate-covered peanuts, chopped them up, and added them to the ice cream during the last five minutes of churning.  This wasn't part of the original recipe, but I thought it would taste great

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-47118666043610547962011-06-23T00:27:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:25:24.170-08:00

When I saw this post on these adorable lemon-shaped macarons from 6 Bittersweets, I immediately got the idea to make Hello Kitty macarons!  The idea brewed in my head for a while, until I finally had a chance to test the idea out on a couple of macaron shells while making my strawberry-lemonade macarons. I thought about using cocoa powder to create Hello Kitty's face, but in the end I drew

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com75tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-75947458214909167292011-06-22T00:10:00.000-07:002011-06-22T00:10:40.073-07:00

For my next batch of macarons, I decided to make a combination of my lemon macarons and my strawberry macarons ... giving me strawberry-lemonade macarons!  Lately I've liked the look of sprinkling macarons with things such as earl grey tea, or cocoa powder, so this time I thought it would be really beautiful to have a sprinkling of strawberries on top. I've read that macaron shells are

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-6295207678725267522011-06-16T00:03:00.000-07:002011-06-16T00:03:06.787-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, I met up with my besties Sue and Cecila for a girls day, which included an afternoon tea lunch, shopping, and lounging at the spa.  I wanted to make something for us to snack on, and since I've been experimenting with tea-flavored ice creams lately, I thought tea-flavored macarons would be perfect! I decided to make earl grey macarons, along with another batch

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-74768715680479182932011-06-14T00:38:00.000-07:002011-06-14T00:38:22.469-07:00

Last week I made jasmine tea ice cream, and I liked it so much that I wanted to try it with earl grey tea also.  I know it doesn't look very different from the jasmine ice cream, but I decided to post about it anyway (especially since I just bought these adorable little serving bowls from Anthropologie, and I wanted to use them for the pictures!) I didn't have any loose leaf earl grey,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-55462042262696836142011-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:51:42.491-07:00

I love the floral note in jasmine tea, so when I saw Gourmantine's post on jasmine ice cream, I wanted to try making it!  I love David Lebovitz's green tea ice cream recipe though (from his book "The Perfect Scoop") - it has just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess - so I decided to do a combination of the two recipes. I infused cream and milk with loose-leaf jasmine tea,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-79920270601693432062011-06-07T17:51:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:51:59.087-07:00

My mom is always telling me to drink green tea for the antioxidants and health benefits.  But given the choice, I always choose coffee.  Sorry mom!  I will however, eat green tea ice cream.  I can eat lots and lots of it! I've tried a few different recipes for green tea ice cream, but my favorite is (surprise, surprise)  David Lebovitz's recipe from his book "The Perfect Scoop".  This ice

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-22600795843179577422011-06-04T12:10:00.000-07:002011-06-04T12:10:24.250-07:00

After making lemon macarons last the weekend (which use only egg whites), I had a bunch of egg yolks leftover, which I saved in the fridge.  So the next day, I decided to use them up by making creme brulee. I used my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipe, except I used Kahlua instead of Grand Marnier.  I poured the custard into different sized ramekins, and baked them in a water bath for

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-88332496411182519312011-06-01T00:03:00.000-07:002011-07-05T11:16:11.817-07:00

Grant's cousin Erin was in town last weekend, and we were planning on meeting her for a day at the zoo.  I wanted to bake something that we could snack on, and based on my knowledge that a) she loves macarons, and b) she loves lemon cupcakes, I decided to make lemon macarons. Instead of blanching and peeling my own almonds to make the almond meal with like I did here, I chose to use

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-79104687365127632972011-05-28T16:19:00.000-07:002011-05-28T16:19:20.097-07:00

I saw this recipe for french onion and bacon tart from America's Test Kitchen, and my mouth started watering.  So I had to make it.  It's kind of like a quiche, but it doesn't have as many eggs as a quiche would have. For the pie crust, I used my favorite Martha recipe, and pressed it into a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. I didn't have any pie weights for the blind baking, so instead

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-89357062204287007092011-05-27T00:10:00.000-07:002011-05-27T00:22:32.798-07:00

We celebrated my wonderful husband Grant's birthday this week, and of course I wanted to make him a special cake.  There were three things I wanted this cake to be: 1) light, 2) bright and happy, and 3) it would have a special surprise inside!  Like this: It's a heart inside!  A chocolate mousse heart, to be exact.  I got the idea from I Am Baker's heart cake, except she filled her

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-33966484046809893742011-05-26T02:26:00.000-07:002011-05-26T02:26:35.843-07:00

While my cousin Angie was in town visiting, I decided to make waffles for breakfast.  I had found a new recipe on America's Test Kitchen that promised crispy waffles and called for rice krispies in the batter, and I was curious to see how it would come out. The first waffle to come out of the waffle maker - fail!  I had forgotten to spray it with cooking spray first.  But after that

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-3403793182614023082011-05-22T22:39:00.000-07:002011-05-22T22:39:09.967-07:00

My cousin Angie flew in from Chicago last weekend, specifically to run in Bay to Breakers with a group of friends.  My other cousin Yvonne planned to run in it as well.  So on Angie's first evening in town, we all had dinner at my house.  For dessert, I made a triple chocolate mousse cake - a 6-inch version of the individual triple chocolate mousse cakes I made a few months ago. The bottom

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-18178267286742477332011-05-19T00:46:00.000-07:002011-05-19T00:46:23.796-07:00

My cousin Angie was in town visiting over the weekend, and the day she arrived I picked her up from the airport and immediately whisked her off to the Chez Panisse Cafe for lunch.  Everything was delicious.  And my favorite part, of course, was dessert.  We shared a rhubarb tart with strawberry ice cream, and it was such a perfect combination.  I often see rhubarb-strawberry combinations in

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-22187142966069196772011-05-18T00:14:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:52:18.201-07:00

My friend Hsing recently made tiramisu ice cream, and when I tasted it I knew that I wanted to make it too!  Not long after that, I had the perfect opportunity - my cousin Angie was coming to visit and I know that she loves boozy desserts, so I decided to make it for her. The source was, once again, David Lebovitz's book "The Perfect Scoop".  The ice cream base included Kahlua and rum,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-77425752340292470762011-05-16T00:05:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:54:20.890-07:00

When I saw this post on I Am Baker's hydrangea cake, I immediately wanted to make it, except in cupcake form!  With Mother's Day coming up, as well as Teacher Appreciation Week at Matthew's preschool (I had signed up to make a dessert for the luncheon), it was the perfect opportunity to make them. I went to my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book for a lemon cupcake recipe.  The recipe calls for

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-63126451904266035202011-05-15T04:02:00.000-07:002011-05-15T04:02:29.471-07:00

One of my favorite ice cream flavors is pistachio.  It reminds me of my teenage summers spent in Palos Verdes with my cousins Angie and Raymond, when we used to go down to the local Thrifty's and get a double-scoop cone for like 35 cents.  Those were the days. I found myself craving pistachio ice cream one day, and though I wanted to try David Lebovitz's recipe for pistachio gelato, I

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-81352302425950123832011-05-06T23:25:00.000-07:002011-05-06T23:25:36.035-07:00

I've been dying to make a charlotte cake for some time now, especially after being fueled by pictures like this and this.  And this one too.  So when my birthday recently arrived, I decided to make my own cake (is it weird to make your own birthday cake?). Of course I had to make my own ladyfingers from scratch.  My first batch looked horrible though (I won't be posting pictures of them or

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-46844352009101463482011-05-04T01:21:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:52:43.443-07:00

My mom brought over a ton of fresh blackberries one weekend.  She told me that they were on sale - "buy two get one free", or something like that.  So she bought me a whole case.  It was literally more berries than I've ever had in my kitchen at once.  Normally I would freeze those suckers until I could put them to good use (pie, anyone?), but our freezer was already too full.  So, once

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-88444395432712239192011-04-29T17:21:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:52:56.277-07:00

My husband loves rum raisin ice cream.  So when I saw a recipe for it while flipping through my David Lebovitz's ice cream book, I decided to make it for him. The recipe starts by infusing rum with orange zest and raisins.  I let this mixture soak for a day, and then made the ice cream custard the next day.  Before churning, I drained the raisins, and then added the raisin-infused rum to the

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-89777264280678367012011-04-21T18:20:00.000-07:002011-08-15T16:11:23.551-07:00

There are a couple things that led me to this combination of flavors for my easter cupcakes.  First, I've been drooling over various pictures of easter egg nests (see here and here), which made me to want to make cupcakes decorated with mini nests.  And second, I recently scarfed down a whole box of Samoas Girl Scout Cookies (it may or may not have been all by myself), and it

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-6580488250147731672011-04-18T18:00:00.000-07:002011-04-18T18:00:28.885-07:00

My cousin Angie gave me her old madeleine pan a few years ago when she was spring cleaning (thanks Angie!!!), and since then I've used it quite often.  The batter is pretty easy to whip up on short notice, and they only take 10-12 minutes to bake!  The only tedious part is having to wipe clean and re-butter/flour the pan for the second batch (since my pan only holds a dozen, and the recipe

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-86853865777505233412011-04-14T01:18:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:53:09.159-07:00

My mom has been bringing bags and bags full of oranges to our house every weekend, much more than we can finish.  I was trying to think  of what I could make with all these oranges, possibly some kind of sherbet or sorbet?  A quick glance at my copy of David Lebovitz's ice cream book led me to what I was looking for .... orange creamsicle ice cream! The recipe calls for grated

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-37278493692264055642011-04-11T18:02:00.000-07:002011-04-11T18:02:57.679-07:00

My husband's family was in town from Hawaii visiting recently, and his nephew Coby LOVES mint chip ice cream.  So I decided to make it for him with a twist - I made it with crushed oreos instead. The ice cream base is made with milk, heavy cream, sugar, and peppermint extract.  We also added a tiny bit of green food coloring, but you can add more if you'd like a brighter green color.  The

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-31858781565586199012011-04-07T17:15:00.000-07:002011-04-15T16:44:26.950-07:00

I was really rushed when making these fresh strawberry Hello Kitty birthday cupcakes for my friend's daughter's birthday.  As a result, I not only messed up on the cupcake batter (that's a whole other story), I also messed up on the frosting. While making the cream cheese frosting, I had decided to add some pureed strawberries... bad decision.  I normally make my fresh strawberry

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-87706896956066442872011-04-04T13:57:00.000-07:002011-04-04T17:09:04.653-07:00

Recently we've been making lots of popsicles for my son, even before the warm weather came on.  At first we just used orange juice, but then one weekend we had an abundance of grapes in the fridge, and I decided to use them to make fresh grape popsicles. I used the same recipe for fresh grape sorbet that I had made before.   After simmering the grapes on the stove with a little bit of water,

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-69088120013572432212011-04-01T16:49:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:25:35.580-08:00

My good friend's daughter Naomi loves Hello Kitty (just like me!), so I made her some fresh strawberry Hello Kitty cupcakes for her 3rd birthday this past week. Ever since my original post on these cupcakes, I've made them so many times I can't remember!  They are probably my most requested cupcake.  The first time I made them, I paired them with my fresh strawberry buttercream.  But

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-4509250310425592462011-03-29T14:28:00.000-07:002011-05-31T15:33:40.832-07:00

As soon as I saw this post, I knew that I wanted to make this dessert.  But, the recipe uses raw eggs that are not cooked all the way through (not recommended for kids).  Then I remembered an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they made a triple chocolate mousse cake, with no raw eggs!  So I used that recipe instead, and made them into individual cakes.  The perfect occasion arose

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-47671007096664575592011-03-27T21:19:00.000-07:002011-06-13T13:08:06.902-07:00

Two of my favorite ice cream flavors are coffee, and cookies and cream (followed by pistachio), so it only makes sense that my favorite ice cream to make is coffee oreo.  I've made this ice cream countless times - for house guests, parties, ice cream cakes ... and pretty much everyone loves the combination. Most ice cream recipes call for egg yolks to make the ice cream base rich and

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-50052714634880075912011-03-23T02:05:00.000-07:002011-04-15T16:45:35.867-07:00

When it was time to bake something for my best friend Sue's birthday, I couldn't decide what to make - something light, like chiffon cake?  Or some other kind of cake?  Then I remembered that she loves boston cream pie, so I decided to make her a boston cream pie cake! I found this recipe on Everyday Food that I decided to use.  Except I wanted to make a small 6-inch version (the last

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-57887801626634918052011-03-19T13:11:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:54:36.017-07:00

I recently made blueberry marbled mini cheesecakes for my coworker friend Kim's birthday.  I was initially going to make her something with matcha green tea since she loves green tea, but the same week of her birthday I had made a green tea chiffon cake for a baby shower at work.  So I decided on these individual cheesecakes instead, and that way she could take some home for her family too.

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-42770763094042901902011-03-13T18:49:00.000-07:002011-04-15T16:46:10.605-07:00

We were in Tahoe for the past week so I didn't do any baking, but the weekend before we left was a busy baking weekend!  I had two cupcake orders, and two cakes to bake.  The first cake was to celebrate my mom and my brother's birthdays, both of which are in March.  And the second cake was for a coworker's baby shower.  I decided to make matcha green tea chiffon cake for both events, since it

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-30364867971464752092011-03-03T23:36:00.000-08:002012-02-11T03:30:52.562-08:00

For Matthew's preschool parties, there is always a sign-up sheet for what goodies to bring.  But by the time I got to the sign-up sheet for the Valentine's Day party, the only things left open were "fruit" and "jello".  Not wanting to just bring fruit, I signed up for jello. On the drive to work, I started to brainstorm of what I could make with jello.  Jello with sliced strawberries?  

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-69909481535521945302011-02-25T23:02:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:25:46.944-08:00

After making heart-shaped pocket pies for Valentine's Day last week, it dawned on me that I could make pocket pies in any shape I wanted!  I could just use large cookie cutters to cut out the shape, and a fork to crimp the edges - no pocket pie mold required!  So I made Hello Kitty pocket pies.  (You must have noticed my slight obsession with Hello Kitty by now -see my Hello Kitty cake

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-26910118385534900442011-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:002011-04-15T16:46:48.772-07:00

My friend Diana's birthday was on Valentine's Day, and since she loves green tea I decided to make her something with matcha green tea powder.  Since I've been experimenting with chiffon cakes lately (see here and here), I baked her a two-layer green tea chiffon cake. To keep it light, I filled and frosted it with whipped cream that I made with heavy cream, matcha green tea powder, and

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-69937462395786578202011-02-17T01:39:00.000-08:002012-02-15T17:56:55.467-08:00

I bought a heart-shaped pocket pie mold from Williams-Sonoma a while ago (after my cousin Angie showed me her round latticed pocket pie mold - so adorable!), and when Valentine's Day rolled in it was the perfect time to put it to use! I used my favorite all-butter pie crust recipe (2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2 sticks butter, and ice water - so easy!  It's also

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-62702058184834357422011-02-14T16:23:00.000-08:002011-04-15T16:47:13.389-07:00

After last week's experiments with chiffon cake, I thought to myself, what would chiffon cake taste like in cupcake form?  So I decided to find out. I made the same coffee chiffon batter (since I looooooove coffee), and baked it up as regular cupcakes and also as mini cupcakes.  The results were drastically different. The mini cupcakes turned out great!  They were light, fluffy, and

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-90112494437019049922011-02-10T23:01:00.000-08:002011-02-10T23:01:05.528-08:00

I've been wanting to try making a chiffon cake for a while now, so when we found out it was our our friend K's birthday last week, I thought it would be the perfect time to try making one.  I decided to try this recipe for coffee chiffon cake. It took me three tries to get a decent chiffon cake.  The recipe called for an angel food cake tube pan, but I wanted to make a layer cake with two 8"

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-529008227979790982011-02-03T23:49:00.000-08:002011-02-03T23:49:12.935-08:00

I'm back from 2 1/2 weeks of vacation in Hawaii!  We were visiting my husband's family for a "late Christmas" with them.  Since I didn't bake at all during vacation, and thus have no baked goods to post about, I'll show you what I made before our vacation! I made a few desserts this year for Christmas, which included homemade oreos.  I had envisioned a fresh, chocolatey cookie filled with

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-86029296495384529462011-01-11T21:59:00.000-08:002011-09-16T10:58:41.022-07:00

My friend Sue had asked me to make cookie favors for a baby shower that she was hosting, and we decided that onesies and teddy bears would be perfect.  I ended up making three batches of my favorite sugar cookie recipe from "Pretty Party Cakes" - this made about 60 cookies, since she needed 24 favors and each favor would have one of each cookie, and I always make extra to allow for mess-ups!

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-66615129384472851112011-01-11T11:48:00.000-08:002011-01-11T11:48:59.667-08:00

Special thanks to my awesome friends Gavin and Diana at Bumble Ink for making me a custom logo/banner!  I love it!!!  Thanks you guys!!!

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-15423667362835873922011-01-07T12:25:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:25:57.555-08:00

To go along with the Hello Kitty mini cupcakes that I made for Melodie's first birthday party at daycare, I made a two-layer cake in the shape of Hello Kitty's head (thanks to this awesome cake pan!) for a small family gathering at my mom's house.  The bottom layer was chocolate cake, the top layer was strawberry cake, and it was filled and frosted with cream cheese frosting. 

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-3761877712405237962010-12-31T01:57:00.000-08:002010-12-31T12:40:56.999-08:00

For New Years, I wanted to make something with champagne in it, since champagne is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of celebrating the New Year.  I tossed around ideas for a cupcake with champagne frosting, or adding champagne to the cupcake itself, but in the end I decided to make champagne macarons (since making macarons has been a recent addiction of mine). I made the macaron

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-11869740931025557832010-12-20T02:33:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:26:08.997-08:00

Last Thursday was my little Melodie's first birthday!  I wanted to make Hello Kitty cupcakes to bring to her little celebration at daycare, so I decided to make mini cupcakes since there would only be babies and toddlers there.  I decided on a fresh strawberry batter from Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" book for the cake, and cream cheese frosting to go on top. I used the smallest scooper I

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-35216743884611610722010-12-15T19:10:00.000-08:002010-12-15T19:10:07.874-08:00

My friend Helen had us over for dumplings this past weekend, and I wanted to make macarons for dessert since I know that she loves them.  I decided to make pink macarons to match her pink-decorated Christmas tree! Since I was going with pink, the obvious filling would be my fresh strawberry buttercream!  And I was excited to try making macarons again, as I was disappointed that my first

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-83305512221288819402010-12-12T22:45:00.000-08:002010-12-12T22:45:43.154-08:00

I have been itching to make macarons for some time now.  I've been reading about all the different techniques used in making them - French style, Italian meringue style (also known as the sucre cuit method), aging your egg whites, not folding your batter too much, not folding your batter enough ... I finally decided to try Pierre Herme's recipe since his macarons are legendary, and I even bought

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-20717221940072475032010-12-09T02:48:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:26:21.921-08:00

My friend Hsing asked me to make a Hello Kitty cake for her friend's daughter's birthday.  Since I had made pink strawberry Hello Kitty cupcakes for Hsing's birthday a few months ago, I immediately wanted to make the same pink frosting for this cake!  So I decided on a chocolate layer cake with fresh strawberry buttercream. After the crumb-coating, I piped a basketweave design along the

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-44282036141313741672010-12-01T23:12:00.000-08:002011-12-02T14:03:49.932-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year, I wanted to try something other than my usual apple pie and pumpkin pie.  So I thought I'd try two different takes on pumpkin pie - a chocolate pumpkin tart, and a pumpkin cheesecake.  Unfortunately, both experiments were not entirely successful. :( For the chocolate pumpkin tart, I found a recipe at Everyday Food that looked simple and tasty.  It had a chocolate

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-43950787907299111202010-11-23T13:32:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:26:40.893-08:00

After being inspired by Bakerella's Thanksgiving cake pops, I decided I wanted to make turkey cupcakes for Thanksgiving.  (And no, they are not made out of turkey!)  I went with brown sugar pound cakes (recipe from Martha Stewart once again), with a Bailey's Irish Cream frosting.   Then I piped the turkey's body out of chocolate cream cheese frosting.  I added candy corn for the

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-4948097813570390362010-11-22T23:47:00.000-08:002010-11-22T23:47:15.888-08:00

One of my favorite snacks as a kid was mantou, which is a type of Chinese steamed bun.  It's slightly sweet and very dense yet fluffy, similar to the bun you'd find in a char-siu-bao (or manapua, if you're from Hawaii).  When I was little, my favorite way to eat these was steamed, covered in butter, and dipped in sugar.  But as an adult, my favorite preparation is sliced, pan-fried with butter

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-48698972792022148652010-11-20T15:52:00.000-08:002010-11-23T15:10:05.639-08:00

When it was time to sign up to make something for Matthew's preschool Thanksgiving party, I hesitated.  Did I want to make an apple pie?  Maybe pumpkin pie - since the previous time I signed up to make pumpkin pie, I had made pumpkin cupcakes instead.  I couldn't decide, so I held off signing up so that I could have more time to think about it. Turns out I didn't have to decide.  My husband

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-36003472533105699092010-11-17T13:34:00.000-08:002010-11-23T15:09:25.329-08:00

I love anything Chez Panisse and/or Alice Waters, so when I was browsing for new ice cream recipes and happened upon David Lebovitz's blog, and then found out that he used to be a pastry chef at Chez Panisse, I had found my new ice cream idol. One weekend my mom brought over two giant bags of fresh grapes (she is constantly bringing fresh fruit to our house, faster than we can finish it!), I

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-84170521955447703662010-11-05T17:12:00.000-07:002010-11-23T15:10:33.729-08:00

Last year at Halloween, we didn't get to pass out any candy because we went trick-or-treating at a friend's neighborhood and didn't get home until late.  So we had this huge unopened bag of chocolate candy left over.  Fortunately, I had just read an article on GOOP that had a recipe for cookies that are made with leftover Halloween candy.  It's a perfect way to use up your leftover candy! I've

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-54404110183788216662010-10-30T00:26:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:27:42.820-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had signed up to make pumpkin pie for Matthew's preschool class Halloween party.  I had envisioned making cute individual mini pumpkin pies instead of one large pie.  But when Halloween week rolled around, I was more in the mood to make cupcakes!  So I decided to make pumpkin cupcakes instead. I found a nice Martha Stewart recipe for the cupcake, and it came out tender

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-39245974218555443772010-10-24T00:07:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:27:32.418-08:00

Since my last couple blog entries were Hello Kitty related, I wanted to also show you the "hello kitty" cakes I've been making.  I made this ice-cream cake for my best friend Sue's birthday back in March.  It was a chocolate cake with homemade coffee-oreo ice cream - my favorite combination! Before that, I had made this one for my friend Hsing last October.  It was a chocolate cake also

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-1047736681184385352010-10-23T01:11:00.000-07:002012-01-04T11:22:53.222-08:00

Wow!  My "hello kitty" cupcakes somehow made it on to the Cupcakes Take The Cake blog!  I love that blog!  I'm not even sure how they found them, since I didn't submit anything?  They also showed up on Cakeology too!  Awesome!  I'm stoked.  Pleasantly surprised.  Excited to make more things Hello Kitty. Can you tell that I have a slight obsession with Hello Kitty? Which leads me to

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4581465315207538625.post-53438747454742161322010-10-21T22:26:00.000-07:002011-12-13T15:27:07.911-08:00

Today is my friend Hsing's birthday, and since we both love Hello Kitty, I wanted to make her Hello Kitty cupcakes.  Last year I made her a Hello Kitty ice cream cake - chocolate cake with homemade mint oreo ice cream (a post is in the works on that one!), so this year I wanted to do something totally different. I pictured doing a pink frosting with a white Hello Kitty piped on top -

michelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12044027235915286096noreply@blogger.com7