Hello Kitty Cake for a cute girl named Aceley!

My friend Joanne asked me to make a cake for her daughter's 3rd Birthday. She asked for a combination of Hello Kitty and Mod Monkey Cake, Cupcakes and Cake Pops. It was such a cute combination of colors... Pink and Green! It was so girly and I love it!!! Little girls cake are really my favorite project to do. It brings out the girly side of me. Joanne loved the goodies so much that she sent me pictures of them with the cakes. Below are their pictures. Thank you Joanne for trusting me with Aceley's cake. Till next year. =)

Tangled Cake for Camila and Melissa.

Tangled is the latest movie that Disney has that includes a princess on it. I guess I can say that it's todays fad for little girls when it comes to princesses. I love the movie! I actually purchased a dvd which also contained a digital copy so I can watch it anytime I feel like it.

This month my 2 coworkers from Lawrys asked me to make a cake for their lovely daughters. For 2 consecutive weekend there has been a long haired princess toy in my kitchen. They ordered a small 6" cake good for just family. No guest or big party. Just them. So, 6 inch would be perfect!

Here are pictures of the 2 cakes.

Enjoy!

A Ruffle Tower Cake for my Birthday Mom

 I made a two layer Ruffle Tower Cake for my mom on her birthday. I saw this idea while I was browsing the internet for a pink cake. Martha Stewart's website was the first on the list and I was amazed on how she did it. I was reading the recipe and it seems easy. I then ordered the piping tip thru Wilton.com since Michaels wasn't selling it. Ordering online always fears me as I have some bad experience in the past. Lately ever since I started this baking hobby I had no choice with some of the materials but to order it online. Luckily the package came right before my mom's big day and had no problems with it.

Her birthday came and I decided to bake a Strawberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I altered Martha Stewart's original recipe of using a Lemon Cake for this ruffled design cake. The only request I had from my mom was a cake that's not so sweet. So, I thought of Strawberry. So, cakes are done and time to make the icing. Swiss Meringue Buttercream was one of the frostings I had problems accomplishing. The first time I did SMB it was curdling so bad after I added the butter. It looked like cottage cheese instead of SMB. It was UGLY!!! The blog that I was reading said just keep on mixing and have faith that it will blend well. After 10 minutes it didn't. So, I tried again. 2nd time was a disaster! AGAIN!!! I then asked help from my friend Jonah and asked her how she does her SMB. She told me the steps and I was like...that's the way I do mine. So so so... I carefully studied what the problem was. I noticed that my frosting starts to look like cottage cheese when I add the butter. I decided to buy a different brand of butter. To my surprise the butter that I've been using is not really butter but margarine!! Oh my!!! After I found who the culprit was my SMB looks as silky as Martha Stewart was describing it on her blog. You can see it on my mom's cake. Well baking is truly a trial and error hobby and I am happy I'm learning from my mistakes. Overall, my mom loved her cake and I felt I've successfully done my part. Happy Birthday Mommy!!!&nbs;

Remembering our Church Wedding

I have been so busy with my cake orders that I have no time on blogging for the whole month of September. September I guess was the month of birthdays for Chloe Cakes and also it was the month when my husband and I went back to our home country (The Philippines) to get married in the Church. This event was so memorable to us since we celebrated it with all our family and friends back home. This wedding was so far the most detailed party I have ever planned. Of course with the help of my good friend Elaine who served as my eyes, ears and hands back there. I have no idea that weddings can be that expensive. Overall it was all worth the time and effort. How I wish I can afford to do it evey year. Hahahah!

I have planned on making Gerald (my husband) a chocolate cake for our anniversary, but since there were a lot of leftovers from our cake orders he said he'll just eat from there and spend our day together instead of me spending it with my oven. Which make sense since anniversaries should be spent with your husbands and not with other stuff...hahha! So I grab the offer and dressed up for a romantic date in an Italian restaurant that we were meaning to go for the longest time. That's how we ended up our day, So to my husband... More anniversaries to come!!! I love You!!!

Our Beautiful Wedding Cake

The pictures below are the highlights of our wedding.

Oh I miss being a Bride...

The Birth of Chloe Cakes

I have always been a big fan of people that can make amazing cakes. I salute them on how they can imagine and execute thru them. How I wish I can do that too. So everytime I plan my daughter's birthday parties I always make it a point that I order the best cake (well at least the best that suits my budget) the bakery can make. Cakes are always the highlight of every party and parties will never be complete without a cake and that's what I love about them.

April of 2011 when my friends Kristi, Lheng and I decided to try baking as a hobby. Well, Kristi at that time started her own cookie business called Kookies Rock. She then shared to us her knowledge on how to bake. Of course the basics like always sift the dry ingredients first before mixing with the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low first before adding the powdered sugar (trust me on this!) and mix dry, wet, dry, wet then end up with dry ingredients when mixing them. Somehow you get the idea what basics are right? Yea, Kristi got that all covered for Lheng and I. After the successful baking session it led me to be inspired on checking out food blogs all over the internet for recipes that I personally wanted to try. The first impression I had was "Wow!!! What an amazing picture this is!!". I fell in love with pictures of food from blogs and also how they share it with people like me (a newbie) a step by step photo recipe on how they came up with the finished product.

The same time I began my addiction with food blogs was also the time I start baking whoopie pies and selling them to people. Everyone loved those whoopie pies! For those who haven't heard about whoopie pies, they are two cake like cookies that have a froating in between them. Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting was the hit among all whoopies. So, since I made money out of selling those bad boys I was like...why not go to the next level????

My next dilemna was what should I focus my baking on?.... Since you all know that baked goods covers a lot of grounds like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, bread and so on and so forth. I then realized that everyone celebrates birthdays and what is perfect for birthdays??? CAKES!!! So, ok... let me do cakes as my focal point... Hold on... what should I name it? Well, since I love cakes and I love how Chloe (my daughter) run around and interfere with my baking (hahahah!) why not name it Chloe Cakes! and besides who inspires me the most to the best but her. So, there you go. I am all set. I have a name and I have my vision. To create cute and amazing cakes. I am just new to this so I hope I can do it. Stay tune as I explore this world of Cakes!!!

My Logo for Chloe Cakes

My First Ordered Cake

not but huh?

Chloe's Birthday Cakes

from age 1 to 3

Rocky Road Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake Tower

Rocky Road 8" Cake

with matching Rocky Road Cupcakes 

frosted with Caramel Buttercream 

Cupcake Up Close

A creamy caramel buttercream frosting

garnished with nuts, mini morsels and mini marshmallows

I made these cupcakes for my sister's belated birthday celebration. Belated meaning 3 months delayed. She was actually in New Zealand during her birthday that's why I didn't get a chance to make her a birthday cake. But better late than never as the saying goes. As usual woke up 3am to make these treats and presented it to my sister during our sunday family lunch. I made everybody happy that I actually made a cake for her even though it's not her real birthday. Overall I was very happy!

Catalina Island

Small Boats

Bikes in the Island

Beach Shore

Relaxing Time

Descanso Beach

Golf Cart

More boats

Colorful Kayaks

Rental Umbrellas

Shoppes in Catalina Island

Stop Sign

Casino

Visitor Information

Santa Catalina Island or just Catalina Island is a rocky island about 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles, CA. This Island was bought by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in 1919. In the spring time the island was also used by the Chicago Cubs, also owned by Wrigley for their spring training. In 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded the Wrigley shares in the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy. (So much for listening to our tour guide huh?)

We went here June of 2010 for my 30th birthday celebration. Going to the island was a pain coz we need to ride a 45 minute speed boat and all of us felt so sick (sea sick). It was cloudy and chilly when we arrived. Now I know that even at summer time I should bring a jacket with me. Overall I had so much fun in the Island and was glad that I finally came to visit.