Paul Frank Cupcakes

These adorable Paul Frank cupcakes were for my girlfriend's neice, Ryanne.  It was my first fondant cupcake order and I can't believe how well they turned out.  I searched the internet for ideas and finally came up with this.  The cupcakes were a double chocolate chip and a whipped cream frosting.  :)  

Hello Kitty Cake Pops

I made these Hello Kitty Cake Pops as favors for my daughter, Kylie's 5th birthday party in December.  It took me about 6 hours for around 55 red velvet and oreo cake pops.  There was a lot of detail involved. Baking, molding, chilling, dipping, and decorating. SIGH. I was able to find the rainbow sprinkles, heart shaped sprinkles, and red circles at Sugar and Spice in Daly City.  I am a frequent shopper there; I make purchases every week!  Good for them, bad for my bank account.  LOL.  The pictures are a bit pixelated because they were taken with my Blackberry.  As soon as I upload the party pics from my camera, I'll post them on here.  :) You can find instructions on how to make your own Hello Kitty cake pops at Bakerella's site.  Enjoy!  

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Update

Thank you to all of those who came to support our fundraiser event at Bliss Bar!  We got the place packed by 10pm and for all of you who have been there, its pretty small.  We had drink specials for Effen Vodka and my yummy cupcake pops.  :)  The Effen Vodka and cupcake pop sales went directly to the fund and we collected almost $2,000 by the end of the night.  A special shout out to Scott, Chris, Anuj, and Peter who came by to support me.  :)  

P.S .  I was able to market my cupcake pops at the event so hopefully this will get the ball rolling for more orders.  Yay! 

Happy St. Patty's Day

What a better way to share the good ol' luck of the Irish with green and white cake pops?  My name twin placed an order of green and white cake pops for her office.  Here are some pics from my phone.  I'm still learning how to use my camera so until I get more savvy with it, these blackberry pics will have to do.  Half are coated with white with a green vanilla drizzle and the other half are coated with green with a white drizzle.  :)

                                             My bouquet of white and green cake pops

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief

...because this could happen to us at any given time.

Please join us in raising money for the victims affected by the recent natural disasters in Japan. Besides working in Hepatology research, I also work at Bliss Bar in SF.  I will be working that nite and will have cupcake pops on hand.  

All proceeds to go to the Japanese Red Cross Society (matching by salesforce.com). Cash and checks accepted. If you are not able to attend, you can also text the word REDCROSS to 90999 or visit redcross.org.

Bliss Bar 

4026 24th St. SF, CA

8:00 pm -2:00 am

Music by DJ Phleck - Hit n Run/M.O.M.
bringing you Electrohopsmashup

Little appetizers provided by Chef Tim Luym of the Attic Restaurant

Birthdays Galore

I had quite a busy weekend:  2 orders, 2 birthday parties, and worked both jobs on Friday. Boy, am I EXHAUSTED. The Yo Gabba Gabba themed color cake pops were for Lil Mikey's 2nd Birthday and the second order was for Isabella's 1st birthday due on Sunday.  I've had a bunch of orders almost every weekend which keeps me busy, busy busy!  I love it though and can't complain.  :)  

Here are pics of the cake pops for Lil Mikey's Birthday.  They were a huge hit! 

The 75 brown and pink cupcake pops were for Isabella's 1st Birthday.  It was a cherry blossom themed party and the cupcake pops complimented the theme perfectly!  I was able to find a cherry blossom template for the tags so it saved me some time on designing them myself and the buckets were from Target.  (It's the happiest place on Earth for me second to Disneyland! LOL) I'll post more pics of the pops at the party as soon as I receive them.  Thanks again Elaine for the order! 

Save the Date! May 14th, 2011

Calling all bakers!  The 2nd annual SF Bay Area Blogger Bake Sale will be held on May 14th, 2011 at 18 reasons (3674 18th Street in SF).  My co-worker Carla sent me an email a few weeks ago and I can't tell you how excited I am.  All proceeds from various bake sales across the US will help childhood hunger.  Here is the link for all you foodies out there.  What better way to raise money by making homemade treats and baked goods?   I'm not sure what to bake yet, but I'm thinking about lemon bars (very easy to package and easy to make), cookies and cream cookies, and maybe cake pops?  What would YOU want me to make for this bake sale?  

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

The secret in this recipe is a box of vanilla pudding mix. I've come across recipes that call for it, such as in cakes, but never in cookies. Anything with extra vanilla will surely make the recipe even more delicious. 

This recipe is taken from an old blog of mine that I failed to update regularly.  SIGH.  I like to think that is a great start considering I just started blogging again and this is my third entry for this week.  I'm so proud and so should you.  :)  It's a great recipe and I even modified it to come up with my own version of cookies and cream cookies that are a huge hit.  I'll save that entry for a later date.  Let's hope I keep up with all this blogging.  

Ready?  Set.  BAKE. 

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
taken from Karly of bunsinmyoven who adapted it from allrecipes.com

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3.4 oz. package vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of nuts (I used walnuts)

Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt, and slowly mix that into the butter mixture until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls using a cookie dough scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes.

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Just in case you want to bake your own batch of blue velvet or any color velvet cupcakes, here is my go to recipe.  I've tried several other recipes, but this is my fav.  The cupcakes are always light and fluffy...just how I like it.  Thank you, Paula Deen!  :)

(Color) Velvet Cupcakes

Source:  Food Network

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar( I don't use all 4 cups.  I do it to taste)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

It's a Boy!

The girls and I threw a baby shower for Stacey and Daniel.  They are expecting a baby boy in April and we couldn't be more excited for them.  This will be the second offspring of the group and I'm hoping we add a few more in the next few years. Kylie's tired of being the only kid!  Haha. 

We had lots of food which was catered by Jer's mom and lots of other yummy appetizers, including Ana's delicious crab salad.  Yum! For dessert,  I made blue velvet cupcakes with a whipped cream cheese frosting and cake pops as favors/centerpieces. Sue was able to find a website for the cupcake toppers which worked perfectly with my scallop cutter!  You can find the labels here.  We also purchased mason jars as centerpieces filled with raffia and placed 6-8 of the cake pops.  I must say the baby shower was well put together.  Great job organizing, Sue!  

Let's Cupcake SF

Welcome to Let's Cupcake SF! I started this blog to chronicle my love for baking.  I am entirely self taught via the internet, cookbooks, and plenty of tasty trials and not so sweet errors.  I hope to make it a way to continually motivate others to bake sweet treats and improve my own skills. I love sharing my baked goods and can't wait to share my baking adventures with all of you!  Let's make the world a sweeter place, one baked good at a time!  

Cheers to the sweet life,

Kat