Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese and Pecans

Some of my girlfriends got together in Nov. 2010 for a potluck dinner, so I brought mini pumpkin cupcakes to share with them because I'm into the holiday spirit. The mini pumpkin cupcakes were made using pumpkin puree and a comibination of spices to produce the aromatic flavors of a pumpkin cake. For the frosting, I piped a thin layer of vanilla cream cheese buttercream on top and finished it with a touch of honey-roasted pecans and brown sugar sprinkles. This was a small, non-guilty delight just before the holiday season begins.

If you are interested in this cupcake or a customized cupcake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

My Pinkalicious 30th Birthday Cake and Dessert Table

Turning 30 was a huge milestone for me and also the most memorable. I celebrated in style on a private yacht cruising around the bay, and the theme I chose was "Pinkalicious." I wanted to designed my cake to be "girly" so I thought of shoes, feather boas, flowers, necklaces, shopping bags and gift boxes to name a few. My vision was put to work when I created 4 different tiers of cake, 3 of which I stacked on top of each other and the other one stood alone:

• (bottom tier) a 12 inch round strawberry cake filled with strawberry whipped cream, covered with pink marshmallow fondant with pearls (fondant/gumpaste) decorated around the bottom border;

• (middle tier) a 6 inch square rich chocolate cake, which resembles a gift box, with chocolate filling, covered with white marshmallow fondant and scattered black, white and pink poke dots also made with fondant;
• (top tier) a pound caked shaped and decorated to look like a real shopping bag with my name piped on it; and,
• (standing alone) a 6 inch chocolate cake covered in Victoria’s Secrets pink strips (marshmallow fondant) with a glass shoe on top. A Chanel necklace made from gumpaste was set on top to dangle.

I also hand-made the “3-0” cake topper using jewelry wire and pink, white, and black beads and crystals, which was placed on top of the shopping bag. In addition, I decorated the cake table with an array of pink candies and labeled each jar.

At the end of the night, I saved the shopping bag cake in a box with a window and displayed it in my house. It was a nice way to remember my 30^th for all time.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Chocolate Rum Truffles

My home-made, dark chocolate, rum truffles was irresistably delicious and was another dessert that I served at my 30^th party. I used Hershey's chocolate cocoa powder and condense milk to enrich the flavors, and put a spin on it by adding rum to it. The outside coat of the truffles were either cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, or crushed pecans.

San Jose Sharks Birthday Cake

My in-laws are really sweet when it comes to birthdays, and it's a tradition in their family to celebrate a family member's birthday together over dinner. With that being said, we had dinner at my mother-in-law's home and I baked another cake for my husband. He was definitley spoiled this year.  

So, for this cake to share with his family, I baked him a 10 inch round strawberry cake filled with whipped cream and tailored the decorations to a San Jose Sharks theme because we love the Sharks. The cake looked amazing outside and tasted yummy inside.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Steelers Helmet and Football Field Birthday Cake

My husband is a huge fan of the Steelers for 30+ years and a loyal one, too. This year (2010) for his birthday, I baked a chocolate football helmet cake filled with strawberry jam, covered the helmet cake with black fondant, and decorated the outside of it to mimic the Steelers helmet (i.e. the Steelers’ team emblem, his favorite player no. 86 Hines Ward, “Riddell” strip in front of the helmet, and the gold strip down the center of the helmet). For the face mask, I used fondant/gum paste to shape it. The helmet cake rested on a 13x19 inch rectangular football field cake that was also chocolate and filled with a champagne strawberry whipped cream frosting and freshly sliced strawberries. The football field cake was covered in a buttercream flavored fondant. The cake stunned all of his friends, who were Steelers fan, except for one friend who was a Raiders fan. (At the request of my husband, I put a white surrender flag through the Raider's emblem as an inside joke to his friend.)

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Sportstacular Cake for my Sister-In-Law's 30th Birthday

For my sister-in-law’s 30^th, I baked a fondant 3-tier cake. The cake flavors I chose were influenced by my sister-in-law’s favorite flavors: chocolate cake with raspberry and chocolate frosted filling (bottom layer); guava cake with whipped cream guava filling (middle layer); and red velvet with a cream cheese filling (top layer).

I purposely chose a sports themed cake to depict my sister-in-law’s favorite sports team: Golden Gate Warriors and Oakland A’s. To decorate around the cake, I hand-cut fondant basketball jerseys and labeled the jerseys with my sister-in-law’s favorite team players no. and name, basketballs, and the Warriors’ logo. In addition, I rolled out black fondant and cut out silhouettes of basketball players dribbling, dunking, performing layups, and etc. As for the Oakland A’s team, I cut out fondant bats, baseballs, the A’s logo and silhouettes of baseball players’s pitching, swinging the bat and running to the bases. To top it off, I bought her a real petite bottle of Patron Silver (her favorite liquor) to have her take a shot after she blows out her candles.

My sister-in-law loved it and all of our family and friends highly complimented it.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

BBQ Theme Father’s Day Cake

Father’s Day is a special day for BBQ dads and that was exactly the theme I played off of when designing my husband and my father-in-law's cake. My husband and his dad are not only big BBQ individuals, but they are also Sushi lovers; therefore, I decorated the top with fondant burgers, hotdogs, sushi (California rolls), and chopsticks. This was a chocolate cake filled with chocolate frosting, and the outside layer was chocolate flavored fondant. The cake was delicious and with no doubt, it fits the BBQ dads.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Tiramisu Birthday Cake

I baked a Tiramisu cake for my husband's birthday last year and tied black and gold ribbons around the cake. I chose these color combinations because he loves the Pittsburgh Steelers and those are the team's colors. The top of the cake was dusted with grated dark chocolate and raspberries were added for simplicity.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes topped with Raspberry and Crushed Pecans

I baked and decorated these delicious red velvet mini cupcakes on Valentine’s Day 2009 to share with my family and friends that I love in my life. I used cream cheese frosting and accented the mini cupcakes with sprinkles of chopped roasted pecans and a raspberry on top. This created a sense of warmth, adoration and love. And once you take that first bite into it, the moistness of the cake brings joy to your taste buds. For a small dessert, I gave it a big “Happy Valentine’s Day” statement.

If you are interested in this cupcake or a customized cupcake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.

Winnie the Pooh Theme - 1st Birthday Cake

One of my close girlfriend’s son was turning 1 and she asked me to build her a Winnie the Pooh cake for her son's brithday. She wanted a tall, 3 tier cake and here is want I baked for the party: 

• (bottom tier) a 12 inch round rich chocolate cake with chocolate filling, covered with yellow-orange and red marshmallow fondant (Pooh’s colors) and tree blossoms;
• (middle tier) a 6 inch square carrot cake that is an “ABC” block with the letter “D” for the birthday boy’s initials, filled with vanilla cream cheese buttercream, covered with baby blue and yellow marshmallow fondant; and,
• (top tier) a 6 inch round red velvet cake flavored with cream cheese buttercream, that is shaped like a honey pot with honey drippingfrom the side of the pot (used fondant, of course).

For the decorating pieces, I hand-made Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, honey bees, and butterflies from fondant/gumpaste. As for the number “1,” that was made from gumpaste. All-in-all the cake was fabulous and my girlfriend and her family loved the taste of it.

If you are interested in this cake or a customized cake, please email me at lily.vu214@gmail.com.