Choco Minty, My Melody Cupcakes, & Cake pops

I had these amazing at an Inn I stayed in Carmel, their weekend helper baked some DELICIOUS chocolate cake with minty filling and a chocolate ganache top. It was to die for because the cake was sooo moist, and the amount of chocolate wasn't so overwhelming or sweet! I made mini ones for a party, but I ended up not going- so it went straight to my tummy :]

It tasted like ice cream if you leave it in the refrigerator to cool =)

I had a major cupcake order, and i was pretty nervous since i never designed anything in fondant minus cutouts out flowers ... not real artsy!

I tried to do swirls with the cupcakes, and it turned out okay, it wasn't as uniformed as it should be. I was RUSHED in getting them frosted, decorated, and delivered (needless to say, I was late and my client's appointment time was actually an 1 1/2 hour prior to guests coming .... UHHHHH :/ )

She looks like a bunny huh? 

Edible food markers are AMAZING. I was so nervous in doing the eyes, left it as the very last thing I did. It's odd when I draw, I always leave face/facial expression lasts, since I never get it right, but then again sanrio characters are not that hard to do =P

Ta-da! Completed, minus the "happy 1st birthday" because some darling little children decided to crack it in half ... 

I was obsessed with trying to complete my first cake pop, because I saw some competition and needed to know I was able to do just about ANYTHING - so my first uncreative and time pressed cake pops

Two things that need to be figured out: how to make the cake balls uniformly round and to stop the condensation. 

How much chilling do I need to do before its not too soft or too cold because once I dip it in the candy melts, it CONDENSATES as it hardens! Instead of making them beautiful, I spent most of the time wiping up the water droplets :[ 

digital scale + brownie pops

i had two failed attempts, in one blasted day, for french macarons. Did it deter me from retrying? almost, yes. i realized the "i <3 macarons" was flawed in it's measurements and units of measurements. Considering i was making FRENCH macarons, i should have known better than to use american standard units for measurements. I had to use the digital scale. My new found love: Salter Designer Digital Scale. thank you william's sonoma. and thank you boyfriend, for buying it >:)

if we neglect that i was actually suppose to measure out 125 grams of almond flour, then we can sit and be amazed in it's beauty. (tricky thing with scale is, the weight fluctuates if you are in between! so stand still and wait for it to stay put with a number)

The last of my baking with obsolete measurements. A practice run for my brownie pops. Though i am not too found of the HEIGHT and shape of the brownies (i want to achieve a more round, bon bon like shape), it will do for now.

Did you know making these suckers are tad bit tricky? you have to bake it a certain time, then pop in the sticks, and bake it some more so the brownie will adhere to the stick. BUT if you put it in too early, your stick will fall over, and the brownie will be destroyed. You could do it the lazy way, and place some candy melts to the stick and then attaching to the brownies. Er, of course i wasn't aware of the stick dilemma, and did not prepare candy melt ahead of time. shame on me.

Anyhow, I used white and bittersweet chocolates in this recipe, and as my first go for brownies, it went quite well! (No, i did not intend to make milk chocolate by combining the two, they just happen to be the chocolates i wanted to use... )

Note to self: DO NOT ADD ANY SUGAR NEXT TIME. i used such rich and delicious chocolate, sugar was definitely not necessary at all.

Question: How do you make the brownies NOT as sweet, given that the main component is chocolate, and only chocolate basically? Hrm.

oh, do you like my new tag? it was just delivered right before valentine's :) my other one says "from the kitchen of"