Moved on over to a different blog site. CLICK HERE.

<3, Krizia

Blue's Clues Cake

After countless hours of making my first cake featuring hand-made characters, I'm glad to say it turned out very well :) This is a Blue's Clues themed birthday cake for a little boy's 2nd birthday party. The cake itself is chocolate red velvet with vanilla buttercream frosting. I molded characters out of fondant - Blue, Magenta, Periwinkle, Pail, Shovel, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Paprika, and the little super mini cupcakes. The sandbox and the table are made out of gum paste. And I bought the balloons (they're actually little lollipops) at a party supply warehouse. Because this was the first time I attempted molding characters, it was a bit stressful since I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.. Despite that, I had so much fun making a plain block of white fondant into these colorful characters that bring so much life to the cake :)

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Today was just one of those days when I just didn't feel like doing anything. Just one of them days that a girl goes through, like that one 90's song by Monica.. haha. Anyway, I desperately wanted to bake some cookies to lighten my mood so I picked up my Martha Stewart's Cookies book. I looked up a recipe that I had all the ingredients for because I didn't want to make a trip to the store and found one for Chocolate Crackle cookies. Mmm... Here's what they looked like before I put them in the oven. I thought they were doughnut holes for a quick second and almost ate one.. Silly me.

And here's what they looked like when they were done! I love the crackle effect from the powdered sugar coating. They're chewy and chocolately. Not too shabby if I do say so myself ;) The only problem is I got a little ahead of myself and didn't read how many cookies this recipe made... 5 dozen!!


Umm... Anyone want some cookies?

Some old faves :)

If you're my friend on facebook you've probably seen these already, but I wanted to repost some of my previous creations on here :)

This was a birthday cake I made for Brittney, a hardcore Twilight fanatic :) It was a chocolate cake made to look like an actual Twilight book. I couldn't get a good picture of the sides so here's the cover. I hand painted the title by dissolving a little silver luster dust with vodka. I'm one of those people who could never draw hands :( In elementary school I would always draw hands as mittens or little circles.. haha. So it took forever for me to make these hands look decent!! The apple is also made out of fondant. I shaded it by dabbing a little black food coloring on a damp sponge and lightly brushing it across the hands and apple to create a shadow effect.

This is my nephew Isaiah's 3rd birthday cake. It's a half sheet made up of two layers of vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream, and fresh strawberries between the layers. I used a grass piping tip for the top of the cake, Oreo cookie crumbs as the pavement, and some of Isaiah's Disney Cars toys as toppers. My sister bought some last minute mini chocolate cupcakes from the store to fill up the space on the sides (the board I bought was too big..). The cake was a hit at Isaiah's Cars-themed party!

Here's a funny cake I made for my boyfriend Norvin on his 22nd birthday last year. The top of the cake is supposed to resemble his hair (he used to have really spikey hair). The spikes are made out of fondant I shaped into narrow cones. It's a chocolate cake with Oreo buttercream between the layers. Mmm...

Hope you liked these! I'll post more later :)

S'mores Cupcakes

Here's a photo of one of the jumbo-sized cupcakes I made for my lovely boyfriend's birthday a few weeks back. I got inspired by a recipe I found from Bakerella (love her!) and tweaked it a little bit by using Martha Stewart's (love her too!) Seven-Minute Frosting. Originally, I put half a jumbo marshmallow inside each cupcake before putting them into the oven, but when they were done baking the marshmallows just ended up melting all over the place and leaving a hollow center in the cupcakes.. :( That's when I decided to fill them with marshmallow fluff instead and they turned out great! I also really enjoyed making these because I was able to torch 'em! If you don't have a torch, pick one up at your local hardware store. They're really affordable and super fun to use when baking. I can't wait to make something else that's torch-worthy! Here's my twist on Bakerella's recipe. Enjoy!

S'mores Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup canola oil (or any other neutral-flavored oil)
1 7oz. jar marshmallow fluff

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter

Martha's Seven-Minute Frosting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Separate the mixture into two bowls.

Sift the cocoa powder into one bowl and pour the graham cracker crumbs into the other. Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping. Mix the brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl and add the melted butter. Stir until combined.

For these cupcakes I used foil baking cups to really go for that camp-fire feel :) But feel free to use whichever liners you want. Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface. Then pour the cups with the chocolate cake batter until they're about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with more topping mixture and bake for 16-20 minutes.

I was able to make 12 jumbo-sized cupcakes from this batter, but this recipe can probably yield about 15 regular-sized cupcakes (those will take about 15 minutes to bake).

Because I used the original recipe using marshmallows that hollowed out my cupcakes, I was able to easily fill them with fluff. But since this is the updated version (sans marshmallows) you're going to need something like an apple corer or a paring knife to remove a portion of the cupcake in order to make room for the fluff. Once you've made space, fill a piping bag with marshmallow fluff and and stuff 'em! It's a messy job but it must get done to obtain full deliciousness...

Place a desired piping tip (or go really rustic on these cupcakes and don't use one!) into a piping bag and frost each cupcake. I used a star-tip for mine. And now... it's time to torch!

**Be VERY careful when using this device and read the instruction manual carefully before operating!!

Keep the torch several inches away from the frosting and keep the flame moving until you reach the toasted look you desire :) Enjoy!

Check out Bakerella's ooey-gooey delectable s'mores cupcakes here!

Hello :)

Well it's about time! I've been meaning to make a blog for a while now but kept pushing it off. Baking and decorating cakes has always been a passion of mine, and now I'll be able to share my home-made creations with all of you out there :)