Justen's Birthday Cupcakes

Today my younger son, Justen, turns 2. I baked some red velvet cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream and decorated them with his favorite things. Justen has always been a very easy child. He eats most kinds of food that I cook for him and he loves to eat fruits. He likes reading books, knows the pronunciation of a few of the alphabets and his first song is 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars'. He is a very independent boy and does not requires a lot of my attention as compared to his elder brother. He is often contended playing by himself and only fuss when he is sleepy or soiled his diapers. Because of the vast difference in the characters of my two boys, I tend to focus more of my energy in meeting the demands of Julian, so much so that I have friends who commented that I love Julian more than Justen. I was a little taken aback when I heard that but I know this is definitely not the case. I love them both equally. I spend more of my time with Julian because he is growing and is sensitive about our attention and love. Justen is still small and thus I let my helpers takes care of his daily needs like bathing and feeding. Not being hands-on does not mean I love him less. I bond with him by reading and singing to him. A gentle caress and a doting kiss on the cheek says my love for him. I believe he knows that I love him very much because only his mommy can calm him down when he cries uncontrollably. Motherhood is not easy and being a mother to two little boys can be quite taxing at times, but I would not exchange them for anything in the world. They are my joy and my happiness. Soon, Justen will be talking, debating with me like Julian does.... the challenge would be to devote my attention and time equally between the two of them such that they will not feel that there is any sort of favoritism involved. Meanwhile, I want to treasure the baby phase of my little boy. He is still very much like a baby, chubby, cute and innocent, and he still smells so good like a new born baby! Happy birthday Justen....don't grow up so fast.... !!!

Orange Chocolate Cookies

Someone gave me a hamper from Duchy Originals last Christmas and I fell in love with their orange biscuits coated in dark chocolate ever since. It is one of the most yummy cookies I have ever tasted. The combination of the aromatic yet slightly bitter flavor of orange and dark chocolate makes this a heavenly treat. I had some free time yesterday and decided to try baking some of these delicious cookies myself. These are definitely not as polished looking as the ones from Duchy's, but the taste of the combination of butter cookies with orange zest, orange marmalade and bittersweet chocolate came pretty close. I find them quite irresistable and finished off at least a dozen in one afternoon. I am feeling very guilty now. I need to go on a diet.

Bite－Size Desserts

I had desperate cravings for lemon tarts again, so I baked a small batch on tuesday afternoon to snack on. Made them in tartlet form so they are bite－size and therefore less sinful. Just for the fun of it, I also made some non-bake chocolate tarts with bittersweet chocolate. They are not too sweet, and comes with a tinge of bitterness, which is the way I like it.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie

This is my first time making cheesecake.  A few friends of mine asked me why didnt I make any cheesecake before.  Well, actually I am not really a big fan of cheesecakes and therefore never had the motivation to try making one.  But I came across this recipe and it sounds quite yummy to me, so I decided to give it a try.  It has a brownie base, with cheesecake in the middle and topped with raspberry whipped cream.  I made a big pan, and gave all my loved ones and neighbors some.  

Mother's Day Cupcakes (2)

Mother's Day cupcakes with message in chinese wordings ordered by Thomas's colleague. Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Cupcakes (1)

A good friend of mine ordered these chocolate cupcakes for the upcoming Mother's Day.  A bunch of flowers to express the gratitude and love for the very important person on this special day.  A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional and endless.  To all the mothers that I know and all the mothers who are reading this post... here's wishing you a very happy Mother's Day too.

Housewarming Cupcakes

Thomas's colleague invited us to her house warming party on Labor Day.  I baked some cupcakes and decorated them in the house warming theme and brought them along as gifts.  Thanks for having us, Susan.  Julian had some great time playing with Jayden!  I hope we did not mess up your house too much though.  

Spring Themed Baby Full-Month Cupcakes

These cupcakes were ordered by a mommy for the 1st month celebration of her new born baby girl, Emma.  As Emma was born in Spring, mommy requested for the cupcakes to carry the theme of Spring.  Thus I decorated them with buttercream in pastel shades of pink, lilac, yellow and green topped with fondant flowers and butterflies.  However, baby shower cupcakes won't look complete without some nursery items in there... so I included two lovely white teddy bears resting on pink quilts to complete the look.  Welcome to the world, Emma... may you have a sweet life ahead.