i do domo...

i met clara and anand in harrisonburg during our jmu days. after meeting them i remember thinking that they were two of the genuinely nicest people i had ever met. years later back in nova...when i had heard that they were engaged to be married...i couldn't have been happier for them.

a couple months ago clara and anand were ironing out details for their wedding and though they had set on cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake...they were still looking for a top tier for the cake cutting ceremony. jangeun, one of clara's bridesmaids, is a dear friend of mine. she is probably my biggest supporter...having been the first person to hire me for a cake job. did i mention it was for her wedding? (this can be found in a previous entry)  

anyways...jangeun suggested clara ask me...and ask she did. they were looking for a simple cake to top off their cupcake tower. the cake was requested to be a color that wouldn't get caught in the teeth...as to not make for some embarrassing pictures! the best part of the cake is definitely the domo bride and domo groom. these have to be the cutest wedding cake toppers i have ever seen!

strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream and fondant decorated with pink pearls

august 2011

as clara and i emailed about details for the cake shown above, she mentioned wanting to surprise anand with a groom's cake. since he loves to break dance she sent me a picture of his favorite shoes and asked if i could make a cake to resemble the shoes. i have been making a few cakes to match invitations recently...but nothing this realistic. this cake took a lot of planning and detailed work...but i was extremely happy with the way the shoes turned out.

the shoebox is strawberry shortcake with vanilla buttercream...the shoes are rice krispy treats with royal icing...all covered and decorated in fondant

august 2011

august 2011

apple for the teacher...

though i have yet to meet marian in person i already know that she is an amazing person. marian has been teaching esol english and fast math for many years and is now retiring to take some time off for herself. not only has she dedicated so much of her time investing students, but she has also raised a daughter who has become a teacher herself. alissa is a co-worker of mine who asked me to make a cake for her mother's retirement party. marian is going to leave the east coast and enjoy sometime on the west coast!

the cake is a strawberry shortcake covered in buttercream frosting. it is covered in fondant and decorated to honor this teacher who has dedicated so much of herself.

june 2011

the apple isn't quite as realistic as i'd hoped...i will definitely need to practice my sculpting.

the bride...and bridesmaids wore white...

my co-worker michelle said that for the past two years she has been looking for an excuse to ask me to bake her a cake. well...she finally found one! one of her dear friends is getting married, so michelle asked me to bake a cake for her bridal shower. i have never met the bride, but from what i've heard she sounds like an awesome girl! unlike other brides who curse anyone who dares wear white to her wedding, this bride is actually going to dress her bridesmaids in white alongside her. her dress will of course out shine her friends, but i can definitely see how this makes for great photos! men in black...women in white...simple and gorgeous!

the cake is a strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream frosting.  this was covered in fondant and decorated to honor the bride's fashion sense and her three bridesmaids who are hard at work planning!

june 2011

june 2011

june 2011

basket full of wishes...

i had always been wanting to make a cake that looked like a basket but had never gotten around to it. a friend, who i have known for a very long time, asked me to make a cake for his girlfriend's birthday. he informed me that she loved tangerines and strawberries. i thought it'd be a little odd to just have those two colors...but i tried to make it work.

this is a vanilla cake filled and covered with vanilla buttercream frosting.  yes it looks like chocolate, but that was merely food coloring. the cake was filled and topped with strawberries, with some mandarine oranges.

january 2011

january 2011

overall i am happy with the way my basket turned out.  next time i'd like to try working in some hard chocolate and possibly a handle. 

cherries for the golden girl...

one of my best friends...cynthia...has been on my case for years because i have yet to ever make her a birthday cake. i love her to death...but unfortunately her birthday usually falls right around...and this year...on thanksgiving. with all of the festivities going on with family and church...it's tough to set aside some time when the oven isn't already in use to make her a decent cake.

this year...she very politely...demanded that i make her a cake for her golden birthday. turning 25 on the 25th is very special! so for this very special occasion...i wanted to put together a cake that was different from all others i had made.

this is a red velvet cake filled with cream cheese frosting...wrapped in lady fingers drizzled with chocolate...topped with as many cherries as i could fit!

november 2010

november 2010

november 2010

this cake finished off my crazy marathon of 8 days...4 cakes...3 birthdays...and 1 wedding! 

every girl wants a castle...

i met christy and john many years ago and had a lot of fun times with their amazing two boys. a few years ago...they were blessed with a beautiful daughter claire...who turned 3 this past weekend. i ran into christy a couple months ago and was honored when she asked me to bake a cake for claire's birthday party.

they wanted a princess theme...and to switch things up a bit...i decided to go for a castle. of course keeping it super girly. i must say that this is a great improvement from the very first castle cake i made...sorry min =\ ...but there is def still room for improvement. i'm not sure if it was due to my sheer exhaustion...or my lack of piping skills...(probably both)...but the piping wasn't the greatest. i definitely need major practice!

although i wasn't able to stay for the party...it is my hope that claire loved having her very own castle...even if only for a little while! =]

the cake is a vanilla cake filled with fresh strawberries and a vanilla butter cream. it is covered in fondant and decorated with fondant and butter cream. the princess' dress is all edible as well. the towers contain the only inedible elements.

november 2010

i was so thankful for inhar who came over to take some pictures of the cake before it went out for delivery.

sixty and one...

this cake is for the man who has been taking care of me all my life since before i was born...my father. i cannot begin to describe the amazing person he is. yes it is true...we haven't always seen eye to eye...but as i grow older...i am realizing that we are more alike than i had ever imagined.

today my dad turns 61 years old...and in celebration of my traditional father...i have stepped away from what's modern...and gone back to something a little more traditional.

this cake is a new blend i'd like to call 

"strawberry lemonade"

it is a lemon cake with big chunks of fresh strawberries with some vanilla buttercream. now as for decor...i forgot how unforgiving buttercream is. i def need to get back to practicing my piping because my hand was the furthest thing from steady. 

november 2010

november 2010

unfortunately i wasn't able to get professional pictures from inhar this time...but hoping i will get some with the next few.

i promise to love you...

jayne and chris have got to be two of my favorite people! they have always been such great friends who have been so supportive of my baking experiments. they are two people who love life and really love each other. when they got engaged...the last thing i expected was for them to ask me to bake their wedding cake.

at first i was certain they were joking...but months later...surely enough...gmail said i had 1 message in the inbox from jayne.  she officially asked to hire me for the job. when i said yes...i asked her if she knew what she was asking for...she asked if i knew what i was signing up for.  either way...we both knew that this was an extremely important day.

we met face to face at bonchon and sat for hours catching up...and of course getting down to business.  we talked in detail about the cake she wanted...and i probed to see if i could picture what she was picturing in her head.  after a MANY emails, texts, and phone conversations...we finally nailed down the details and made it happen.

after 13.5 hours of baking...their cake was ready.  the ceremony and reception was set to be outside...and when the big day came...it was 101 degrees outside.  but we adjusted and made it work!

four alternating tiers chocolate oreo and strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream with a decorative touch of lavender and baby's breath.

july 2010

the wedding was absolutely beautiful!  congrats to the happy couple! =]

just before "i do"...

a friend of mine was getting married in a couple months...and she had asked me to be a bridesmaid. i was honored and excited for her. in the midst of the preparations....i took this as an opportunity to bake. most of the cake was eaten during the paradise themed bridal shower...and was later fully consumed by the groom-to-be and a couple of the groomsmen.

the cake was a traditional white cake with two layers of strawberry and vanilla whipped cream.  the whipped cream was a nice filler...but didn't have a great consistency or texture as frosting.  came back to working with chocolate...but forgot how fragile it was.  a few hearts broken...but only on the cake =] 

march 2010

every girl is a princess at heart...

one of my dear friends' daughter was turning 3. bethany is one of the smartest little girls i know! among her many favorites are disney princesses, the color yellow, cherries, and word world...all of which are found on this cake.

this was my first chocolate cake from scratch! all the frosting was from scratch too. the only "store bought" items were the fondant and top half of the princess.

the bottom base is filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream...then covered with green vine-imprinted fondant.  the princess' dress is completely edible...covered in vanilla cream cheese frosting.  the top part of the dress is fondant...which took a while to match the color with the frosting.  

march 2010

the letters CAKE mimic a tv show that is a family favorite where all things are created by the spelling of its name.  the cherries were by request of the birthday girl...and were immediately eaten the second she blew the candles out!

happiness...bite size...

when my family gets together for thanksgiving...its a gathering for sure! from grandparents to newborns we have a full extended family right here in va of about 50 people. have you ever tried to cut a pumpkin pie...or any dessert for that matter...into 50 pieces? instead of that mess...i decided to make fruit tarts this year.  these minis pop right into your mouth for a bite of happiness =]

puff pastry...cream cheese...sugar...fruit...

what's not to love?!?

november 2008

the "box" set...

the following cakes mark the beginning of my cake adventures. these were all made from box cake mix...hence the name...also topped with tub frosting. at this point in time...i just wanted celebrate some friends' birthdays and play around with some decorating.

this was the very first one...

a birthday cake for one of my best friends rachel. played around a little with line design and piping. 

october 2004

  another birthday cake for my best friend sarang. still working with line design and piping. note to self: frosting layer must be thicker.

january 2005

this was for one of my college roommates alice. wanted to try working with tiered cakes. didn't turn out the way i imagined it in my head...but i was able to make it work.  

may 2005

may 2005

this cake is the first in the "chocolate wall" & "fruit" series...both to be continued later.

happy birthday sarang...again!! =]  the timing in melting the chocolate so it doesn't burn...then putting the chocolate in the fridge to cool before it isn't too hard took much trial and error. though...i was happy to say that it all worked out. the cake was red velvet filled with my oreo and topped with delish fruits. the bow helped make it a beautiful present.  

january 2008

my friend min loves pink...and thinks she is a princess =] so for her 23rd birthday...i attempted to make her a castle cake. things didn't turn out the way i had planned...but everyone understood what i was aiming for. min loved it...which is all that really matters anyway!

february 2008

this next cake marks the continuation of the "fruit" series...  

for my friend danny's birthday...i added in some fresh fruit and even started working with some chocolate. to be completely honest...this wasn't the first with fruit and chocolate...but some pictures seem to have gotten lost over the years. the major issue that i found while working this cake was the "flooding" of the fresh strawberry juices. and as you'll see in the next few...it is a problem that i keep trying to resolve.

may 2008

it's that time again...to celebrate rachel's next birthday. for this one i wanted massive amounts of fruit with lots of color. i also worked in a variation of the checkerboard cake. tried to drain out as much of the fruit juices as possible...and used some apple jelly to give it a nice hold and shine...but still had some minor strawberry flooding. this was also...i believe the third cake with my red velvet cake with oreo filling...quite a popular one.

october 2008

october 2008

the next cake marks the continuation of the "chocolate wall" series...

one of my co-workers was celebrating her 30th birthday...so i decided to make her a really bright cake. this is actually also the third of the series...but the second cake picture is lost and only remains as a memory. this cake required careful timing in regards to the chocolate fence setting slightly in the fridge before wrapping it around the cake. a few pieces did break off in the molding...but the overall design came out. the strawberries are still giving me some stress.

april 2009

the next cake goes to my older brother dahari. he had been complaining for a while that i hadn't made him a cake...so i did my best to make him one he'd love. i ran into some trouble making the walls because i burned half of the chocolate. without any extra time to run to the store...i used some semi-sweet morsels i had left over from baking cookies. this was not a good idea. the morsels wouldn't hold shape no matter how long i set them in the fridge...or freezer. thus...i ended up with two sides of walls that were stiff...and two sides of walls that were soft and curled over. thankfully i got in a picture where the damage wasn't too bad.  he loved the cake! =]

may 2009

may 2009

happy birthday to sarang...again. this time with the walls i mixed two different colors of chocolate. i attempted this with my brother's cake...but the mxing was so subtle...this time i went a bit more drastic. it turned out nicely. the walls actually were my favorite part. the timing of the chocolate setting in the fridge was the best i've had yet. the final touch were 3 peach roses in the center...but i didn't get a picture of that.

january 2010

to finish off the "box" set...this next cake wasn't anything fancy or special on my part. it was just a really cool cake mold i found at the time. i guess with the sudden craze for cupcakes...some genius decided to make a giant one!

june 2009

i hope you enjoyed the set. i will update soon with all the cakes i started making from scratch. they aren't all cakes...but i hope you enjoy them anyway! =]