Happy Teacher's Day

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day. I baked some Devil's Food Cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream and fondant messages for Julian and Justen's teachers. This is just my little gesture to say "thank you" to all their teachers for the love and patience that they have shown to my sons, for the knowledge and guidance that they have imparted on the boys and most of all for their endless effort in making school a fun place to be in every way. Wishing all the teachers a very sweet and happy Teacher's Day!

Flower Blossoms Cupcakes

My customer ordered this batch of flower blossom cupcakes for her aunt's birthday. The cakes are vanilla and cranberries flavor, and topped with vanilla buttercream. I took many pictures of these cupcakes as I was trying out my DSLR camera. In the end, I could not decide which one to post in here... so I am going to put the better ones all here. Flowers make me happy... hope they cheer up your day too!

Princess and Pirate Cupcakes

Julian's classmate, Issabelle, invited her whole class to her house for a pool party yesterday. Initially I thought it was meant to be her birthday party, but I later realized that it was just a casual get-together party organized by her mum so that Issabelle could play with her friends. We were told not to bring any presents, but I did not want to turn up empty-handed, so I made some cupcakes for the kids. These were pistachio and chocolate chips cupcakes, and I decorated some of them in princess and pirate theme for the girls and the boys. I also did some with simple chocolate glaze sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts. I think the adults would prefer them this way! It turned out to be a very nice party, with lots of finger food and drinks. Not only did the kids enjoyed themselves tremendously in the pool, we parents got a chance to get to know one another better too!

Pistachio Brownies

Our family rented a chalet over the last weekend and we brought plenty of snacks along for our two short days of break. Among the snacks were four big packets of pistachio nuts that my husband bought to go with the beer, which we failed to finish. I have three packets of these nuts leftover when we return from our weekend break, and therefore I thought I could use some of them to make pistachio brownies. I think the distinctive flavor of the pistachio nuts will go quite well with the chocolate in the brownies. I used a classic brownie recipe and added two cups of pistachio nuts into the batter. It is common to overbake brownies, so I watched the oven and the timing very closely when I was baking mine. I baked the brownies for 35 minutes and I think I have achieved a crispy top with slightly moist interior in this batch of brownies. However, I wonder if it would be even better if I have bake for a few minutes more? Maybe I could test it out by baking another batch, since I still have plenty of pistachio nuts in my pantry!