mini cake and trying to make progress

another day, another addition to the portfolio. it turns out, i REALLY need practice, especially with beadwork. looking back on the pictures of the cake i made for the debut, it looks like i haven't improved at all! i'm hoping that maybe that photographer just took the pictures from reeeally good angles.

thank GOD for good lighting. this way it's harder to see some of the less obvious problems. and at least now i know how to make proper buttercream instead of that lame "7-minute" buttercream that i had to make TONS of for the debut cake.

i know that this picture makes the cake look big, but in reality it's only 6 inches in diameter hahaha. that's why those beads look so honkin' huge here. it's half almond, half vanilla cake with a strawberry whipped cream filling. it tastes like the cream from those strawberry Yan Yans haha :p

my sister said it looks like a hat (-___-). sighh... i made one more 9-inch cake but haven't decorated it yet because i ran out of buttercream, but i'll probably get that done soon. tomorrow there are open interviews for a restaurant in Newport, and hopefully i'll have some luck there...

cupcakes and building a portfolio

looking for a job is stressful, people! i should know, because i've been on this job hunt for what feels like FOREVER now. sooo, since many websites suggest making a portfolio and several bakeries have asked for pictures of my work, i've decided it's time to make a portfolio to show them what i can do. BUUUT then i realized i haven't really been taking pictures of some of the more professional-looking things i've made, and the only thing that i think is really worth showing there is the cake i made 2 YEARS AGO for my cousin's debut (back when i really knew NOTHING about making tiered cakes). so to make up for that, i'll be busy the next couple of days baking and decorating as much as i can to take pictures of. here are a few things i made this morning:


almond cupcakes...


orange creme cupcakes...


vanilla cupcakes with crushed almond praline.

i know that these are super plain but for now they'll have to do. right now i have a 6-inch cake in the freezer just waiting to be filled and decorated :)

black and white cake balls, a.k.a. what to do with leftovers

since the bombes i made only used a little cake for the bases, i was left with a whole sheet pan of leftover chocolate cake with no clue as to what to do with it. sure, i could have just eaten it plain, but what kind of aspiring pastry chef would i be if i did that? no, they must be dressed, and they MUST be gorgeous.

so i remembered what we did for Honors Night when we had excess devil's food cake: Bakerella's cake pops, except i didn't really have the time (or money) to go out and buy lollipop sticks to make pops so i opted for the cheaper version and just made cake balls... besides, this way they look prettier, and a lot like chocolate truffles :)

i used just plain semisweet and white chocolate to coat the cake, and i took the leftover almond praline i had, crushed it, and topped half of the cake balls with it.

i remember one time when i was in middle school, i went out with my friend and her family to a chocolate shop that they frequented and they had something that was exactly like this, except their version was freakin' gigantic, almost the size of my fist! it's good to know that i can replicate a bite-sized version of such chocolatey goodness :p

mint ice cream bombe with almond praline and a gluttonous (but good) father's day

today was father's day, and my sister and i had to wake up early (and by early i mean 7:30 hahaha) and help my dad start building the storage shed in the backyard. when it got too hot to continue, we all went out to Grand Buffet for a late lunch and endless amounts of crab legs and sushi :p

after a GLORIOUS food coma and then after church, we decided that we were all still too full to eat dinner after that buffet, but we still wanted to eat the dessert i prepared last night:

mint ice cream bombe with almond praline and a chocolate cake base :)

just making the ice cream was almost a full-day procedure on it's own, because for SOME reason, every time i want to make ice cream the freezer seems to poop out :( BUT once all that nonsense was over with, it wasn't too bad. i used up a lot of the mint leaves growing in ze garden because that's the only herb i have there that seems to be growing out of control...

a cross section so you can see the chocolate cake base. i guess the ice cream was a little too runny when i put in the cake in so it kind of soaked in, but it didn't have an effect on the taste so at this point i don't mind it hahaha.

i like the fact that it didn't turn into a freakishly green color, but instead had a creamy yellow-green hue (even though in these pics it kinda looks like a block of butter but ANYWAYS) i think it looks slightly more elegant this way :)

caprese salad canapes from ze garden :)

one problem that i seem to have with my tomato plants is that for some reason they only grow ripe tomatoes two at a time. not even enough to make a proper salsa, i say! soo, what to do with so few tomatoes? make the perfect mid morning snack, of course!

i put it in the oven for a couple of minutes just to melt the cheese. mmmmm... melty cheese :p


i didn't bake this one, but i wanted to put in the pic just because you can see the inside of the baby tomato better:) drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar after i decided it looked a little naked...

as for my life, not mucho to update on! i'm waiting on a callback after the interview today, and tomorrow is Jaegerhaus day! which is great cuz i'm totally up for some overpriced german food and a little get-together :D

parppadelle with creamy almond basil pesto and a new pasta maker!

that's right, muthhas! i got a shiny red pasta maker, all for $10!!! from where you say? well, yesterday just happened to be a good day for thrift shopping. and yes, i was slightly skeptical myself. buuutt after carefully checking to see if there was anything wrong with it, it turns out it just needed a little cleaning. it was basically brand new, and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time because i was about to ask my parents for one for my birthday :)
it looks a lot like this one. snaaazzyy ;D

i used the school's pasta recipe and it wasn't really the same cuz i had to use AP flour instead of bread flour but it was still pretty good. ALTHOUGHH one thing that i should have considered first is that they might stick together after i rolled & cut them out so i had to deal with that mess too -__-

for the pesto i used raw almonds instead of pine nuts after i saw it on a recipe from foodwishes.com, plus i never buy pine nuts anyway cuz they're soo freakin' expensive for some reason. also, i used the basil from my mini herb/vegetable garden in the backyard. yay for home-grown and a sustainable supply! :D

all in all, it was a delicious & filling meal. aaannd, i had some leftover pesto for future use on mah lazier days.

coming up later this week, a job interview this thursday! last week i went around to a bunch of different bakeries around where i live, and since NONE of them were hiring, i finally stumbled upon this place. it's for a line cook position at a place in brea, so wish me luck on that :)

AnQi garlic noodles with beef

in my Dining Room Service class, we pooled all the tips we earned during the semester and on our last day we used that money to eat at AnQi, a Vietnamese/fusion bistro in South Coast Plaza. with the tips and money from the restaurant, we had a budget of $50 per person, and it should have been enough for an appetizer, entree, dessert, and service.

AnQi is supposed to be famous for their garlic noodles, and when we had them as our entrees, it was without a doubt, very tasty. but in my mind, it also seemed deceptively simple... soo, of course, i went browsing around the interwebz looking for a recipe, which i found almost immediately! yay internet! and yes, it was INCREDIBLY easy... the recipe only had 5 ingredients! FIIVE!!! (six if you count salt, but why would you?)

chewy, garlicky, and buttery noodles, topped with sauteed beef i marinated the night before and scallions. while i doubt this dish is Vietnamese AT ALL, at this point i really don't care because it tastes good, and that's all that matters :)

so let's look and compare the differences: the slices of beef i used were thinner, and i sliced the scallions in rounds instead of strips. i also probably marinated the beef differently because i was kinda winging it with that last night haha. it's crazy how much people will pay for something so simple! i guess i have to give AnQi props though; the interior is swanky and the tofu banana cheesecake tasted WAY better than it sounded. but now that i know i can make the dish they're famous for, i probably won't ever go there again (unless someone else is paying hahaha).

moist cherry brownies and bonfires

yesterday we celebrated my cousin's 20th birthday party at Corona Del Mar beach, and since she decided to hire someone to bake cupcakes for her (-___-), i decided i still wanted to bake a little something just to contribute. what was funny was that people were telling me how great the cupcakes were that they thought i baked haha.

anyway, onto the brownies! *drool* they were sooo gooey and chocolatey. also, instead of using dried cherries like the recipe suggested, i bought some fresh cherries and used those instead, because i wanted them to help make the brownies extra moist :) and and and i pitted each individual cherry BY HAND, because THAT is how i like to include the looove that was needed in baking this! :)

soooo good :p it's kinda hard to see the cherries in here cuz they were so dark, but i didn't care because you could TASTE them :D also, apologies for the terrible lighting in these pics, but i finished baking them around 11:30 the night before, so you can imagine how late it was when they actually cooled down so i could cut them and take the pics. if you can't tell, that's supposed to be a fresh cherry in front of the brownies, but you can see how dark those cherries were...

right out of the oven. the only problem i had with this recipe is that it didn't specify how big of a pan was needed, and it said that it only makes 12-15 brownies. all i have to say to that is GOOD LORD how big do you cut your brownies, woman? i would say i got AT LEAST 24 fairly-sized portions out of there (and when i say "fairly-sized," i mean HUGE).


the bonfire! my god we had to work hard to get to this point. and i'm not just talking about making the actual fire, but some people actually came there at 4 pm saying it was their bonfire pit, and the arguing and raising of voices ensued. i swear, this happens every time i go to the beach! apparently people are really defensive about their fires...

dark chocolate raspberry and marzipan truffles

the first half of yesterday was spent trapped in the house, as construction workers were fixing the asphalt outside my house. the SECOND half was spent exploring the West Covina Mall and looking for work. by the time i was done i had applied to 7 different places, both in food and retail. hopefully this will result in a callback! i didn't even really finish going around the mall, as i realized there were a bunch of restaurants in the surrounding area that i didn't visit.

today i used this morning to continue my workout plan, which basically just reminded me that i can't do a proper push-up -___- siiigghh. i hope that by the end of the 6 weeks, i'll at least be able to do that! after taking a shower and eating a late and somewhat healthy lunch, i began to work on these babies, which tasted soooo decadent. :p what? i can't eat desserts when i'm trying to work out? WELL EFF THAT. don't bring your negativity in here!

dark chocolate truffles with fresh marzipan-stuffed raspberries. yummm.

right after i decorated them. i love making truffles because they are so surprisingly easy to make and very easy to make them look pretty :)

cross-sectional of one truffle. it's basically a raspberry stuffed with marzipan and double dipped in dark chocolate ganache, then decorated with that same ganache. easy, right? and so so so cute :D

tomorrow i plan on going back to the mall and going around to other places i didn't visit, and maybe bake something as well...

waterfalls and coconut tapioca with mango and banana verrines

yesterday i had quite an interesting Memorial Day; i went hiking with my cousin and my aunt at a place in Rancho Cucamonga, and the trail led to a waterfall! and it wasn't like those pansy trickles of water they call waterfalls at the parks here, it was an ACTUAL FREAKIN' WATERFALL, with ropes tied to the rocks on the top so you can climb up and jump off. it actually wasn't even a trail; there was a path cleared off in the beginning, and when we were getting closer to the water there was a lot of climbing rocks and walking across logs over the water. dangerous stuff! and i suppose if we had been more cautious people we would have brought first aid kits, because by the end of the hike my aunt had scraped her knee and i had scratches all over my shins from climbing the rocks and sliding down. but oh wells! i guess we like to live dangerously ;) later when we went home i went on GoogleMaps to see if that waterfall had an actual name or if it was a landmark of some sort, but i guess no one really knows about it because that whole trail was just a grey area on the map! it's crazy how we can have these things so close to us but never even know it's there!


today is my first official day of summer break, and i spent the morning starting the 6-week program on Wii's EA Active workout. hopefully i will begin to see results soon! this will probably be kind of hard to detect though, seeing as how i can't seem to find my weighing scale anywhere... since i was practically trapped at home today (my sister took my car to school -___-), after taking a bath and doing some laundry, i decided to spend some time relaxing and cooking with a few of the ripening fruit we have in our kitchen.

these tasted SOOO GOOD. OMG. you don't even understand. i know that the recipe said to chill them, but when it was warm it tasted a lot like the ginataan my grandma made a few years ago, which happens to be my favorite filipino dessert, so i decided it was best to leave it warm. also, i recall from my Pantry class that food loses flavor when it's colder, and i couldn't possibly do that to these babies!

this was my first time ever working with tapioca, and i have to say it was pretty easy :) i never realized how much starch is coating these things though; after boiling it once to remove the excess starch, it still managed to make the coconut cream nice and thick once it cooled down.

i garnished the mango verrine with mango slices and a raspberry, and the banana verrine with a triangle tuile and mint leaves.

a close-up of the layers of mango compote and coconut tapioca. the recipe i used said it only made 2 servings, so i doubled it thinking it would make 4. WRONG. instead i ended up with enough of the coconut tapioca to make 8 servings, but only enough mango compote for 5... and since i'm not one to just let it go to waste, i decided to use a couple of the ripe bananas we had as the base of the verrine instead. turned out to be a pretty good idea :)