My Valentine's Day

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day with my amazing boy friend. I made him dinner and he made some delicious Italian bread and bought a bottle of Shingleback wine (which is named after a species of Blue Tongue Skink ^_^). Even though I'm not a big wine fan I thought it was pretty good especially with the creamy chicken and vegetable pasta I made. Very rich but very good.

 For dessert I found this amazing idea with strawberries and chocolate cupcakes. They turned out great but the alcohol took quite a while to burn and made the strawberry taste kind of gross and burnt. The effect was still awesome.

We exchanged presents (and Hunter spoiled me as always with a beautiful amethyst heart necklace) and watched Stranger Than Fiction. Thank you so much for an amazing evening Hunter <3

Valentine's Day Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a lovely one, I certainly did! My wonderful boyfriend came to see me at school and took me out to our favorite restaurant in Greenville, Tripps. He brought me a dozen roses as well :) Before hecame over I was busy the whole morning making sweet bite sized treats for him. Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting on one plate and Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting on another. I love making cupcakes so much because you can decorate each one a different way as opposed to an entire cake. I took the rest to my classmates today which was much appreciated in my noon class. I'm hoping to get some cake orders after this since I also gave out my card with the cuppy cakes. I have a LOT of birthdays coming up in March so I will be a very busy baker and blogger soon. <3 span="span">

Halloween Goodies

I plan all year for Halloween weekend and then it's over so fast. My friend and I decided to finally have a bake party this year. I made some recipes I had and some new ones but they all turned out great :) I started my day off right with a lovely Halloween green smoothie. So tasty and healthy, maybe it canceled out a couple of the cookies I had later that night ~.^
I spent all day baking for what turned out to be only 9 people but everyone that was there loved my baked goods and we all had a great time. I made my personal favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe that I found on Vegweb. I love playing with it by adding cinnamon or chunky peanut butter and they always turn out delicious.
Next I made vegan red velvet cupcakes with not so vegan cream cheese frosting brains. I usually don't care for frosting but this stuff was perfect! Turned out to be a great consistency and not too sweet (if there's such a thing when it comes to frosting).

I love this time of year for all of the spice and pumpkin recipes so I had to make some pumpkin cupcakes. I topped theses with a thin layer of the left over red velvet icing as well as fondant ghosts. They were so much fun to make and I love the way they turned out!


I wanted Hunter to help me with the baking (just because I love when he helps ^.^) so I waited for him to make the sandwich sugar cookies. I bought the cutters a year or two ago at a William Sonoma sale and was so happy to finally use them. They did a good job but the cookies were so time consuming we were almost late for the party. I'm glad I made them though since they were everyone's favorite. Since I didn't really have the time or the money to get all vegan ingredients, the chip cookies and the red velvet cupcakes where the only vegan items.


Ms Yuki also decided to help by trying to ninja all of the goodies when I was not looking.

We had a great night with our friends and dressing up which is my favorite part of Halloween. I was able to find pretty much everything for my Heather Mason SH3 costume and what I couldn't find I improvised.
Hunter was The Spirit from the movie but didn't want to wear his mask in the picture so he's just dressed as my arm candy ~.^ The rest of my Halloween weekend was spent watching movies with Hunter and studying for my awesome chemistry exam which was this morning at 9am! Thanks teacher ^_^ I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for an awesome month of Vegan food with the 4th Vegan MoFo! This is my first time signing up and I hope I don't disappoint! I will try my hardest to post Something vegan everyday like a good blogger. :)

Cuppycakes!

I have had a very busy day of baking and decorating! I've been wanting to learn to do some decorating on my own and work on building my portfolio. So today I made some vegan chocolate cupcakes and some (almost vegan) vanilla honey cupcakes. I decorated the chocolates with pink buttercream and marshmallow fondant roses with leaves. It was my first time making fondant and only my second time using it to decorate.

The vanilla ones I topped with a circle of fondant and then
made them look like Ace playing cards. It was a lot of work doing
everything from scratch but it was good practice. My friends even
bought them from me so I at least got paid for my work. They also all said they were delicious! Hoping to play some more this weekend. Enjoy the pictures! Hopefully they'll look even better with a little more practice.

Halloween Fun

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Hunter and I went up to Chapel Hill to the Eccentrik Festival in our Steampunk outfits. It was a lot of fun and the bands were great, especially Unwoman. I encourage everyone to check her out, she has an amazing voice and rocks the electric cello. When I talked to her after her performance she said she had been playing for 20 years! Amazing. I have always wanted to learn a stringed instrument.
I had wanted to make more goodies this Halloween but I ran out of time and people to eat them! So I just made 1/2 a dozen Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. I started with have cake, will travel's recipe and tweaked it a bit due to not having all the ingredients. They turned out really well and Hunter obviously liked them because he ate almost all of them. :) Don't you just love those lucky people who can eat like that and not gain a pound?! I'm going to be in charge of Thanksgiving this year and it will be vegan! I might make 2 main courses if there is an absolute need for meat but I am not going to make 50 different side dishes. I hate how Thanksgiving has turned into a stuff-your-face-till-you-can't-move holiday. So I am making a simple, healthy dinner for my mom and brother this year. I've been looking up recipes and can't wait to cook for everyone! :)

Busy Baker

Wow, I have been the worst blogger! I have just been so busy. I had a bake sale to try and help raise money for non-profit animal shelters. I sold cupcakes and cookies for a dollar. I ended up making around $50 all together. Not too bad but I was hoping to make more. I had a couple people order a dozen cupcakes. One order was chocolate peanut butter and they turned out wonderful! Everyone loved them especially my peanut butter loving boyfriend who, of course, had to taste test for me. :P He loves his job. I ended up making way too many chocolate chip cookies though. One batch made about 50...So I ended up just giving most of those away.
I started school last week at Wake Tech. It's so nice going to class and learning about cooking and baking! We even made yeast rolls and baguettes in my lab Friday. I was not able to make them vegan since they wouldn't turn out the same as everyone else but I can always tweak the recipe and make them at home. I took my creations home for everyone and they did not last long. A friend of mine asked if I would make her son's birthday cake last weekend. She wanted something kind of detailed but I told her I would do my best. I found a picture of a cake online and just went off of that. This was my first time playing with fondant so I wasn't 100% sure that I was doing everything correctly but I did my best and I think it turned out alright. The only thing I really had a problem with was the paint. I used egg yolks and food coloring gel. It didn't work too well but I got by. There has to be a better recipe or a place to buy paint. If anyone has any suggestions or links it would be greatly appreciated because this was all I could find. Her son, his friends, and their parents all loved the cake and kept asking where she got it. Hopefully I'll get some more business soon. That would be an awesome way to make money while in college!
I'm all moved into my new place and have already baked in the kitchen a couple times. Today I thought I'd try a recipe out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I bought it about a month ago but haven't really had a chance to make anything. So, as I previously stated, since my boyfriend loves peanut butter so much, I decided to make the Peanut Butter Cupcakes. He won't even be able to tell they are vegan (especially since there is only one vegan ingredient in them). I had one while I was cleaning up and they are so yummy! I highly recommend this book if you like baking cupcakes whether you're vegan or not.

Second Wilton Cake

Here is my second Wilton cake. We did drop flowers and shell borders. I made a red velvet cake (my favorite). I wanted to use cream cheese frosting but we have to use the butter cream for practice. This cake is also vegan except for the flowers and border. I just have one more cake to bake for my last class. I was hoping we would be doing Fondant and Gum paste but it turns out there is a whole other class devoted to that. Maybe I'll take another class when I get up to Raleigh if my college cake classes aren't starting yet.








This past weekend I also made birthday cupcakes for my friend. All he told me was he wanted chocolate. So I asked him if he wanted cookies, brownies, cupcakes, or a concoction of all three! Guess what he chose lol I know he probably thought I was kidding when I said I would do it. He was pleasantly surprised when I brought him a plate of brownie and white cake swirled cupcakes with "cookies and cream" icing and an Oreo cookie half on top. They did not last long. :)I recently ordered Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! I'm so excited and can't wait to start playing in the kitchen some more. I'm trying to find some more easy and not very expensive vegan meals. It's hard making all these dishes that call for six different kinds of fresh vegetables or some ingredient that I would have to go to Whole Foods in Raleigh for. My fridge is tiny and likes to freeze things. When I move to Raleigh I will have a regular size fridge for the first time in two years and a HUGE kitchen! I cannot wait! I'm sure my room mate won't mind me cooking and baking. I'm also having a hard time finding meals that don't include a lot of carbs like pasta. But like I said, it'll be easier when I move and will be within 10 minutes of Trader Joe's, the Asian Market, and Whole Foods.

Bubbles and Stabbing

Yes, I have been a very bad blogger... I am sorry. I've just been very busy and have not been baking much. I went to California with my boyfriend for two weeks! It was so much fun. The weather was perfect, no humidity or bugs. I didn't want to come home. It was nice to see my family and to have a chance to relax. I made a couple of pizza's and different things while I was out there but nothing new or exciting. While I was out there I read an article about a woman who opened up a cupcake shop. I decided to go check her bakery out. It wasn't much but it was cute and she is obviously doing quite well. I got a mini Party Girl. It was a bit too much icing for me but this is coming from the girl who rarely eats junk food. The name of her shop is Cupcake Love. So if you're ever in Solana Beach and want a cupcake go see her.

Well today is full of fun stuff! I made Boba for the first time today! I use to have to wait till I went to California over the summer before I could enjoy this treat but then I found a place in Greenville! Of course I find the place right before I move... So I went to an Asian Market in Raleigh and guess what I found?! A package of boba with instructions. So excited. I made one today for lunch in a strawberry banana smoothie. Pure Gooey Bliss.

I'm also getting a tattoo today. I have been wanting to get another one for a while but wasn't sure what to get. I don't like getting random things on my body. I want them to mean something to me. Since I want to be a cake decorator I thought I'd get something that has to do with baking. I really think cupcakes are cute so I took those thoughts and made something up. I tied a couple of the things I love in life together to make (what I think is) a really cute tattoo. I can't wait to see how it turns out and I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back!

Easter

Sorry about the late post. I made some sugar free yellow cupcake with left over vegan chocolate icing from my birthday cupcakes. I decorated them with some edible Easter grass (Target), Dove Dark Chocolate Eggs, and Reese Pieces eggs. Everyone loved them. I made them specially for my boyfriend since his favorite is yellow cake with chocolate icing and his favorite candy is Reeses. ^.^ I also helped with brunch after church. I made a spinach egg roll. That turned out...ok. I'm a perfectionist so if it's not perfect, I'm not happy with it. Everyone liked the taste, and it was good, I just didn't like how it looked. The rolling didn't go so well and it kind of fell apart. Oh well, food is suppose to taste good and it did so I guess I didn't do too badly. I also made buttermilk biscuits for the first time =) They turned out a little small since I didn't have a biscuit cutter and used a drinking glass instead. They were very tasty though.
The Easter bunny was very good to me this year (yes he still visits me). I got some baking stuff which always makes my day. Didn't get my Easter egg hunt due to the fact that we couldn't find the box with the eggs in them. Oh well, I still have an IOU when we find them! Hope everyone had a blessed and fun Easter and didn't eat too many chocolate bunnies or peeps!
I also made an awesome pizza over my long weekend. I had made one before but without a pizza pan so it didn't turn out as nice. This is the best pizza I've ever eaten. It's not greasy or anything. It's mushrooms, mozerella and goat cheese, with some parsley sprinkled on top and a few other things tossed in for flavor. The best part though, is the wheat crust! It's amazing! My boyfriend and I think I should just make some bread stick out of it next time lol I might do that next time I make some pasta. Yummy!

Birthday!

Today is my birthday! And what better way to spend it than in the kitchen ^.^ I made some cupcakes this morning instead of a cake (not a big cake eater). My mom was surprised when I told her I wanted to make my own birthday cupcakes AND cook my birthday dinner. lol I don't mind, I love cooking and baking so I'm still having fun on my b-day. I made Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Chocolate Kahlua Buttercream Frosting. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs have cake, will travel. The frosting turned out really well! I made one with Kahlua and one just plain chocolate for those weird people who don't like kahlua. The plain chocolate one turned out very creamy and smooth because of the milk where as the kahlua one wasn't shiny and a bit thicker. No one will ever know they are vegan *sinister laugh*
I just made dinner for everyone and they loved it of course. I am trying to teach my brother portion sizes so he was a bit disappointed when there were no seconds. He'll be ok, there's still cupcakes and he doesn't need seconds anyway. I made some Flounder with seafood seasoning on the stove. I served it over a bed of white rice with broccoli on the side. I love broccoli :) I originally was going to serve the fish with a sauce from my Cooking Light magazine. When I finished the sauce though, it tasted like butter...I'm not a big butter person and decided to just toss it out and stick to the seasoning. Granished with scallions and a little bit of soy sauce for the rice. Yum!
Everyone ate my cupcakes and I waited till they had already started to tell them they were vegan. They still loved them, even my boyfriend who ate one of each. He has a bit of a sweet tooth. They were very good and pound-cakey. I would definitely make them again. I had a great birthday and thank everyone for my presents and b-day wishes!