Holiday Road...

A head's up to those who are considering Coco Cake Cupcakes for holiday soirees-- special holiday flavours are in the works, such as Dark Chocolate Candy Cane (i love stripes, you know it's true!) and Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Creamcheese Frosting! I will post pics of these little dreamy flavours soon! Actually I thought it would be funny to make a dense holiday fruitcake cupcake with a thick marzipan top and a red glacee cherry on top, but then it would me more of a paperweight sculpture than a lovely edible... or does anyone love eating the old-school fruitcakes these days? xo

Flags, Flags, Everywhere There's Flags

How I love the look of the adorable cupcake flag, announcing with pride the occasion of its making, bursting with celebratory paper and stick-ness, plunged into a perfect buttercream atop a delightful little cupcake. Baby showers, birthdays, anniversaries-- the cupcake flag can really say it all. So I was at a certain craft megastore recently and was perusing through crazy Martha Stewart's rather insane collection of merchandise, and I saw a pack of blank flags there for EIGHT DOLLARS. Gum-doh-ahh! Too much, in Chinese! So I decided to share the not-so-difficult task of making a paper homemade flag.

1. First you need realllly cute paper. I have a collection of papers from all over, including origami, vintage letterhead and the like. Actually, any old piece of paper will do. White computer paper, wrapping paper, a piece of cardboard? Sure!

2. Next you need a stick of some sort. I've been using those shish-kabob skewers (that doesn't look like it's spelled correctly but nonetheless...) with the pointy stick end, and chopping it to the right length with craft scissors. I suppose you could use a toothpick! They're a bit short though.

3. Next you need a few pieces of double sided tape, or regular old scotch tape, or a bit of glue from a gluestick.

4. Cut your flag to your desire--traditional pennant style, rectangular with a scalloped edge, etc-- it's kind of like cutting a heart out of a folded piece of paper. Fold your paper and cut the shape.

5. Stick a piece of double sided tape on the fold and stick the stick onto the tape. Add another piece of double sided tape and adhere the two paper sides together.

6. Write a little personalized note, or leave it blank!

7. Stick into the nearest cake, cupcake or party donut! (Or cheeseburger)

The cupcakes shown here were ordered for a baby shower, for the future baby of our friends Cory and Fiona. Cute alert! Dark chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream in baby-ish colors. Kawaii!!

Candy striper cupcakes & Macaron!

An early afternoon potluck at my dear friend Tara's house (with her hilarious kid Esme) called for a fun little dessert. I made cocoa-crazy dark chocolate cupcakes, and since it was our friend Nadia's birthday and we hadn't yet celebrated, I made a cute little birthday announcement flag to make the cupcakes extra festive. The candy-striper cupcake liners were bought off of Etsy and I made vanilla coconut buttercream in a pale red, topped off with my old fave friend, Organic Raspberry!

The last picture is a gift from my sister Leanne, she just came back from three weeks in Japan! Macarons are all the rage there and this is a make-your-own macaron set. BUT... don't eat it!! Inside the box are plastic colorful puffed-out plastic macarons, and a bag filled with fluffy white glue stuff that looks exactly like a bag of frosting. There's also some sparkly little plastic jewels in which you can adorn the fluff once you've "piped" it between the macarons. Finally, attach the chain loop and you have a rippin' new keychain for you and three close friends! Excellent... and it's inspired me to make my own macarons, almond paste, lightly and delicately colored, with a piping of swiss meringue buttercream in the middle...!

Oh... and I also finally finished COCO CAKE! Go there and let me know what you think! Hooray for baking... !

Crazy times for Coco Cake: Night For All Souls

Crazy day! This evening was Vancouver's Night For All Souls event at Mountainview Cemetary, a truly beautiful and contemplative evening run by artists, a night to remember those who have passed and to honor them with art, music, ceremonies and song, bouquets of fresh flowers, candles, notes, flags and celebration.

I was asked to create a selection of dessert items for this event, and with the Day of the Dead theme in my mind, I went for a selection of colorful candied chocolate cake skulls, mini tres leches cakes and... well, not very Mexican Day of the Dead, but dainty little pink buttercream vanilla tea cakes to accompany the tea pouring that would be warming up the chilly cemetary goers.

It was super cool because they had a find-a-grave service, and my husband and I managed to maneuver the darkness with a candle (and our cell phone lights--- extreme nerd alert) to find my great-grandfather's headstone! I put together a bouquet of roses and mums for him, and wrote a little note as well. He died two days before I was born, so I never knew him but have heard many stories about him from my grandma. It was the first time I felt I spent time with him!

I made 75 mini skulls, 75 buttercream vanilla tea cakes for cemetery-goers and 30 mini tres leches (three milks!) cakes for the hardworking volunteers. For the mini skulls, I followed the general Bakerella idea of dipping chocolate cake balls (or in this case, skull-shapes which I shaped by hand!) into melted candy, letting it set then decorating. I used royal icing to pipe the skull faces on. If you ever attempt to do this, it's imperative that you do not overheat the candy melts, or get even a drip of water in it--they lose their dipping consistency and it's a real drag to waste!

The pink buttercream vanilla tea cakes are pretty self-explanatory! I used these adorable pink-and-brown design cupcake liners I bought off of Etsy, a great site for finding cool handmade crafty things as well as vintage plates, clothing and baking supplies even! Vanilla sheet cake sliced into squares and topped with a buttercream flower.

The tres leches ended up being quatro leches-- I finished them with a dollop of fresh whipped cream to kick it up to quatro, with a tiny mint leaf and a fresh organic raspberry! I adore the look of berries adorning cakes and cupcakes...! Tres leches gets such a name because the trick to the cake is to soak it with a mixture of, yep, three milks. Condensed, evaporated and coconut milk is what I used.

So we've rented 2DVDs ("The Long Goodbye" and "The Killing Of Sister George") and I'm about to kick back and relax. Yay for crazy baking jobs!

Tokyo Banana-- Sing To Tune of "Buffalo Soldier"

In 2001 a small obsession began. This obsession began in Tokyo, Japan in a tiny hotel, staying with my sister on tatami mats. We are a Chinese family, but this particular sister Leanne is who we call the "Japanese sister" because she loves all things Japan. "Breakfast!" Leanne said one morning before we hit the streets of Tokyo.

Unwrap a pale yellow paper wrapped box that reads TOKYO BANANA, open the shiny white box that says TOKYO BANANA, unwrap the Tokyo Banana and you have a most wonderful cake treat. Sitting in its plastic tray made just for it, Tokyo Banana is a soft and moist banana-shaped sponge cake, with a very delicious creamy banana filling. It is the Twinkie of Japan, and it is a small obsession of mine. Recently I was lucky enough to receive a box of this treasure upon my parents' return from Japan. In the future I will attempt to make a version of TOKYO B in my very own kitchen. Will it ever compare?? Dare to compare...

"People gather to TOKYO from here and there with memories of their home. And then, TOKYO gets everyone's home town. TOKYO BANANA."

Ain't it the truth, Tokyo Banana packaging.

"Tokyo Banana. In the arms of Lyndsay Sung. Oh yo yo, Oh yo yo yo, Oh yo yo yo yo Tokee oh yo."