Take me out to the ball game

I have many friends who are Cubs fans. I also have many friends who are White Sox fans. Despite what you might think after this post, fear not - I am a fan of neither team. (I only grew up a Mets fan because I wanted to be just like my brother when I was little!) :)

Laurie Ryan and Nathan are both HUGE Cubs fans, and their birthdays sandwich August 16th. The creation: "Cub-cakes". I enjoy this name very much. :)
I got the inspiration by searching on google images! Some people are ridiculouslycreative.

If you're curious for the recipe, I just followed Paula Deen's red velvet recipe. Note: I halved the cream cheese frosting recipe and still had leftover! Also, the cupcakes were a bit greasy...

24 Red Velvet Cupcakes
2.5 C flour
1.5 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1.5 C vegetable oil
1 C buttermilk (or mix together 1 C milk and 1 T of vinegar)
2 large eggs
2 T red food coloring
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C powdered sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2) Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
3) Mix together vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
4) Combine wet and dry ingredients. Please watch as Laurie demonstrates:

5) Line a muffin tin with paper liners and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
6) While the cupcakes are baking, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add in the vanilla and gradually add the powdered sugar (sifted is better!).
7) For the baseballs: frost cupcakes in a dome-like fashion. Use a toothpick to drag the lines in your frosting. I used a size 2 tip to create the stitches in red:

8) For the cubcakes: I used Wilton's Buttercream Frosting recipe for the red and blue colors. Frost the cupcakes in a flatter fashion. Draw the blue circle (I used a size 4 tip), the "C" (12 tip), and "ubs" (2 tip).

9) Despite what team you enjoy, I assure you that these cubcakes are still delightful. :)

Baby, baby!

When do you start feeling less like a wannabe pastry chef rather and more like an actual pastry chef? I had a moment on Friday that made me feel more like the latter.

One of my friends who saw my pastries on facebook actually came over to my house to learn how to decorate cupcakes for a baby shower. Do you realize that it combines my love of teaching with my love of baking??

We made brownies from scratch (you'll have to ask Tammy for the recipe, I personally recommend the box version), yellow cake from the box, and of course, wilton buttercream frosting:

My favorite were the brownie rattles. Tammy looked online and found the directions. Here's how you do it:

1) Bake brownie mix as directed in a greased muffin pan (no liners).

2) Poke a small hole with a toothpick. 3) Insert a lollipop stick into the hole (you won't believe how much easier it is when you use the toothpick first).

4) Tie an adorable bow around the lollipop stick.5) Stick a gumdrop (hehe, we used spice drops) on the bottom of the rattle. 6) Decorate as desired! This is the fun part!
Please note how much easier it is to take pictures when there is someone else! :)

**Special thanks to Tammy bringing such fun ideas and being up for decorating til 1am, and Charles for the cakelet pan!!**

It's time for key lime.

By the end of this post, you will learn how I made:

But of course, like everything else in my life, this cupcake has a story.

Awhile back, my darling friends threw me a Disney-themed birthday party. It was like a pop-up video of Disney-filled fun facts (which Ritu so lovingly printed in the DISNEY font, see below).

It was at that moment when I learned that Walt Disney's favorite dessert was Key Lime Pie. Did you know that was my favorite dessert too (and Harry's and Ellen's)??? Perhaps there is a deeper connection here.

In any case, Hannah and Nathan took it upon themselves to surprise me with the sweetest birthday surprise ever: Key Lime Cupcakes. It was so perfect, because this was the year when school actually started ON my birthday. Imagine: "Hi I'm Ms. Horng, and I will be your math teacher....hey it's my birthday!" Um...not as fun as it sounds, until you get a special delivery of cupcakes!

So when limes were on sale at the grocery store, I took it upon myself to try their recipe. I used the recipe Hannah and Nathan adapted from Cake Batter and Crumbs.

Note: I would have added more photos, but I live by myself and realized that taking photos of myself baking requires more than two hands!

24 White Chocolate Key Lime Cupcakes
2 1/3 C all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C shortening
2 eggs
1 C milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T sour cream
1 package instant white chocolate pudding mix
2 T fresh lime juice (1-2 small limes)
1 T lime zest

Key Lime Cream Filling and Topping
28 oz (2 cans) sweetened condensed milk
2/3 C lime juice (about 4-5 small limes)
1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (or vanilla wafers if you want it to be sweeter)
Whipped Cream (if desired)
1-2 limes, sliced for decoration

Directions:
1) Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and instant pudding.
2) Cut up the shortening and mix it into the dry ingredients until fine crumbs are formed.
3) Add eggs, milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
4) Fold in the lime zest and lime juice.
5) Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool before filling them.
6) Cut out a hole for your cream filling. I use a wilton 4B tip to cut out the middle; Hannah and Nathan used an apple corer. Either way, it works!

7) Fill 'er up!
8) Top with whipped cream, or graham cracker or lime slice. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes

My friend and co-worker, Laurie, just came back from her honeymoon, today is her birthday, and she needs to prepare for her half marathon on Sunday. Go figure, the first thing I thought to do for the girl was bake her something. Of course, as suggested by one of my readers, I will also include the recipe (Thanks, math buddy!).

The creation: Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes! Thank you, Average Betty for the delicious idea/recipe!

Note: The only alteration I made to the recipe was that I used JELLO pudding (since I had it and it is much less complicated than making your own pudding), and I used the wilton recipe for the frosting.

Ingredients for 12 chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Pudding:
1 packet of JELLO Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding
2 C cold milk, as directed on package.

Buttercream Frosting (by Wilton):
1/2 C Solid Vegetable Shortening
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 C powdered sugar
2 T milk

Directions:
1) Whisk your instant pudding and milk until it becomes creamy. Set aside.
2) Cream together butter and sugars. Gradually add the eggs, melted chocolate, and vanilla.
3) In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking soda. Fold this dry mixture into the wet mixture. 4) Fold in the buttermilk.
5) Line cupcake molds with paper liners and fill the cups with the batter (mine made 14 cupcakes!).
6) Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
7) Cut a valley into the center of each cupcake. Fill the valley with pudding, and place the part you cut out back in to the cupcake.
8) Frost the cupcake with buttercream frosting. Top with sprinkles, if desired. :)

I have some extra, if you wish to try some ;)

Happy Birthday, Baby!

For those of you who have known me for more than a year, you will know that I had a very long relationship with a beloved friend I called Winterfresh (since I was very little, my family started calling our cars by gum flavors/brands. I was the only one to continue this trend). I was only 4 years older than Winterfresh, and we shared many memories together. Here was one of our last moments:

Now if you asked any of my friends, they would tell you about the many frustrating times when Winterfresh had left me hanging. Hence, I was forced to add to my "to-do" list at work (note how one of my students added "cool" to it):

Finally, after three years:

And after one year: Happy Birthday, Baby!! I figured, if this one lasts as long as Winterfresh, we'll be celebrating many birthdays together. So I had to buy my baby a birthday present. He smells nice now. All I have to say is…Cherish the moments, people. :)

And then there were frogs.

I don't consider myself a super girly girl (despite the asian Elle Woods reference). After the Christmas in July party, however, I pulled out girliness I didn't even know I had.


Janina and I were driving home from Ellie's when I saw something hopping across the street. "Oh Janina, look how cute! It's a little frog," I exclaimed. Little did we know...

As I approached my driveway, I was stopped in the middle of the road by a frog. When I turned to get into my driveway, I was greeted by yet another frog. However, this time, the frog was STARING AT ME (cue psycho music!). I'm pretty sure this is where I lost my mind. Wouldn't you???(No, I did not take this picture! Are you kidding? I was too busy screaming.)

At this point, Janina and I were hysterical. After a few minutes, the frog finally moved enough so I could get into my garage without crushing it.

Janina and I screamed a few more times even IN the house, at which point I didn't know how Janina was going to get home. I mean, how was she going to get to her car with all the frogs hopping all over the place??

The next part of the story could come straight from a fairy tale book. Janina and I called our "Knight in Shining armor" to come and save us: Charles Stephens. Thankfully, he had just finished small group when I called him hysterically. I'm pretty sure I was yelling into the phone when I called him, but I was relieved when his response was "I'll be right over." In my defense, I'm pretty sure I have never done this before...

Hehe Charles kept us company for a few hours while we sat and ate some banana bread inside the house, away from the frogs. Like the gentleman that he is, he escorted Janina to her car at the end of the night (while scouting for any frogs).

Needless to say, Janina and I bring a new level to "damsel in distress."

The next morning, I spent some time staring at my driveway from my room. Were there frogs? There were a few times when I was staring at some leaves, thinking that I had smashed a frog last night with my car.

Charles stopped by with some fresh flowers and peaches from the farmer's market (check out the flower with the red stem - so intense!):
Hehe...this is what they call "the follow up" to make sure that the hysterical person is doing better. I think I am back to my old self again, though Fishie (bloop bloop!) thinks I am definitely frog phobic.

Best Christmas EVER.

Ever since I was young, I didn't find Christmas particularly "asian" in my household. We put up a Christmas tree every year and placed presents underneath. I also went through the phase where I kept asking Mommy questions about Santa. For instance: "Why does santa's little helper have the same handwriting as you, Mommy?" What can I say? The logic started at a young age.

Ellie hosted a Christmas in July party for me tonight. It was more asian than I could ever have imagined.

Here were the crafty culprits:

"I can always find the scissors" Brenda and "I've got the best sense of asian humor" Kathy:

Oh my cow, Kathy is a genius with felt, chopsticks, and permanent markers:

"I was an art major" Jen (how did I not know this??) and "I'm magical with the paintbrush" Janet:

(Most of what these two made are still drying at Ellie's house; Janet's still making a bunch at her own house too!)

"I look great in glitter" Jackie:

(I'm pretty sure Jackie got more glitter on her face than her ornaments; I couldn't take her seriously all night because all I could see was glitter!!)

"I'm only considered not crafty because you're comparing me to my super crafty friends" Ellie:

Ellie made angels and hearts; I like to call the angels "Ellie's Angels". Nice, right? :)

"I can beat Jeanette in a bead/wire making race any day" Janina:

She and I were making those cute dangling icicle ornaments - I wore them as earrings for most of the night:

and...."I've got the giggles"Judy and "I should write with glue all day" Amy Rae (unfortunately not photographed because they left too early!! Next time, ladies :))

I can't wait to have a Christmas party at my house for the ladies to see their beautiful work!! Thank you all, the ornaments were perfect and lovely! :D

I am a karaoke junkie.

Life would not be the same without karaoke. This may lead you to believe that I am filipino (call it a blanket statement, but all two of my filipie friends have their own karaoke machines with the fancy microphone remote control).

Flashback: Kuya and David sing "Backstreet's Back" as Maryjoy and I scream from the "floor":

I had a couple asian moments today at karaoke.

Moment 1: Standing on my chair to notice I WAS THE ONLY ASIAN at the bar! I believe the phrase, token asian, was used.

Moment 2: I was called an asian Elle Woods. We even did the bend and snap! Do we see the resemblance?

I'm just sad I won't be able to make it on Saturday! Have fun without me, gang! :)

Giant is better.

When I was a kid, I used to think everything in a miniature version was cuter.

Jerome vs. Jerome Junior:

Siblings: (we like to say, "what happened to us??")

Today, we defied the idea that smaller is cuter. Thank you, Wilton, for your giant cupcake pan. Here is a double chip giant chocolate cupcake that I made for Charles Stephens.

I'm not gonna lie - this was more complicated than it looks! Being my first attempt with the pan, I think I have many more ideas on how to make it better next time. :) Again, so much to look forward to!! :)

A little something extra

Remember in Legally Blonde when Elle prints her resume on scented pink paper? She justifies it by saying, "I think it gives it a little something extra!" Get ready for my something extra.


So, Ellen is the only person that has commented on my blog. I'm saying this not because I am angry, but because something hilarious (and asian) has come of it.


Look below. It says "1 comments" where she left not two, not three, but ONE comment. One singular comment. You may not know this, but several asians unintentially add an unnecessary "s" at the end of words (or, in other cases, omit s's).


Example: We need to go to Menard to buy some paints.
Translation: We need to go to Menards to buy some paint.


That's SO asian...and I love it. :)

Teal Brownie Hearts

Almost a year ago, I took it upon myself to bake something for everybody's birthdays at work. It gave me a reason to bake when I had the urge to do so, and it also gave me an "out" to try out some cool recipes. Unfortunately, I don't think I can continue this tradition for much longer...I wish everybody had summer birthdays!

Lately, Tracy has gotten a kick out of the teal/chocolate brown combination. Anytime you would pass a dress, sheets, napkins, plates, etc with those colors, she would love it! Needless to say, I made brownie cupcakes with that same theme (inspired by Martha Stewart). Cute, no?

I have a few more birthdays this week, so we will see what I can do next. Ideas?? :)