I Love Food Gawker...(Made By Girl)

I have to say....I've been in a CRAZY dessert mood lately. Ever feel that way!?!? 

With sites like Food Gawker it's so hard to not CRAVE sweets! My guy is awesome, he loves making me any dessert I like....I'm so blessed in that sense! SO, for this weekend - which will be over 100 degrees here in Las Vegas, I'm in the mood for something chocolate & frozen!! Can't wait! 

How about you? Any particular dessert you crave during the SUMMER heat?!?

If you haven't checked out FoodGawker - take a quick look. Well, quick is an understatement. 

When I go to their site - I end up staying way toooo long. So, watch out, it's ADDICTING if you love food & dessert! 

Don't say I didn't warn you!!!

 

-images via foodgawker

My Mini-Cupcake Ordeal...(Via Made By Girl)

This past weekend I went on a baking RAMPAGE. I tried to bake mini-cupcakes for the FIRST time in my life!! First, I started off with baking cups from Bake it Pretty. I love their cup designs, especially for parties! However, I recommend ONLY baking white cake with these cups so that you can ACTUALLY SEE the designs. I tried some with chocolate & you could BARELY TELL tell how cute the cups really were! Duh.

Not sure what happened here (see below) , but the baking cups started coming away from the cake!! What the!?!? Does anyone know why this happened?!?

I was pretty surprised & it didn't happen once, it happened several times & ALL were minis! I was thinking it was probably this particular baking cup (the blue one with the pink flowers) because it was the ONLY cup that came apart from the cake!


All in all, I think I ended making about 70 mini-cakes because of this issue, so several were DUMPED or given to my dogs. They loved them & didn't COMPLAIN ....

I made 3 different flavors (banana, chocolate & white), below are the banana nut ones. How cute! Of course, I made them from a box, which means they weren't as tasty! 
I should have gotten baking tips from Sonja of Tied with a Bouw blog, she's pretty darn good at baking! My guy made the maple syrup FROSTING for these, he's such a great cook!

 

The mini cupcakes below were just plain CHOCOLATE flavored with a turquoise blue frosting & a piece of a gluten-free OREO cookie on top to adorn it!

images by jen ramos

After this experience, it's safe to say, I probably won't be baking mini-cupcakes again.....

Baking Mini-Cupcakes This Wknd...(Via Made By Girl)

This weekend I'm going to try & make mini-CUPCAKES for the FIRST TIME EVER!! I've gathered lots of pics for inspiration & I can't wait to start!  I heard that mini-cupcakes tend to get dry quicker than standard sized cupcakes, anyone else heard this??!? 

OMG! I hope this isn't the case, but please leave your comments & any tips you have. I've got 3 flavors I'm going to be making: chocolate, banana & carrot (minus raisins)....can't stand raisins in cake, YUCK!! 

Let's see here...I bought the baking pan, the mix & I also bought several of these amazing baking cups via Bake It Pretty, aren't they gorgeous!? Hope they arrive in time for my cupcakes, if not....I'm DOOMED!  Well, not really...they just won't look as pretty! 

images via: country living, bakerella, annie'e eats, bake it pretty and thomas fahey

*Again, if you've made mini-cupcakes and have any TIPS for me, please leave a comment! 


 

Everything Heart Shaped - An online shopping guide for Valentine's Day

It's been celebrations after celebrations. Just one more day to the end of the Lunar New Year and we are now 7 days away from Valentine's Day.

We won't be surprised if you have not bought or planned anything for your other half.

The team finds out what is being sold on the internet which could be possible ideas for your last minute buys:

For Her,

D'squared heart-shaped coin pouch, Comme des garcon's PLAY eau de toilette, puma limited edition heart-shaped sneakers

YSL Raspberry Biarritz Heart sandal and Dean & Deluca chocolates

"Love Kills Slowly" ~ Ed Hardy

Ed Hardy Love merchandise series

Over at Collette, you could actually find a good mix of products, from lifestyle to fashion to jewellery. Some items include the useless-looking yet oh-so-sweet "I-Love-You" toast stamp, Talking mouse that says "I Love You" each time you click, and the non-conventional heart-shaped poker cards.

Ballerines from Sergio Rossi and Marc Jacob S/S Cruise Collection 2009

Classic Tiffany & CO. locket if you're both prosaical.

For Him,

We absolutely love the Naxos series from Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2009 Menswear Collection. The palette is slightly mutated, yet sophisticated for the stylish men. Naxos is an island in Greece that offers superb fine sand beaches, fertile valleys and mountainous beauty; one of the best holiday destinations among the Greek Islands.

Our choice? The Doctoc Bag Naxos and Cabas Naxos, both functional and excellent for travelling.

Matt and Nat also offer unqiue bags made from innovative products like plastic bottles and recycled lining. Their signature Paltrow is now going for $177, and POZ for only $18. With such a sale on their site, it's hard not to depart from your money.

If he's a true fan of Bathing Ape, you might want to consider getting this Baby Milo Valentine's Day tee-shirt that comes in Black or White.

From Oki-Ni, you can find some really dope merchandise from fashion designers like Martin Margiela, Fred Perry, and Raf simmons.

Martin Margiela sticker wallet, and Fred Perry's odd panel polo-tee.

Jil Sander 2-tone show shoes

For quirky design merchandise, you can try shopping at US site, Designboom.

Old School envelope wallet, USD15.00

My Document Laptop bag, USD 42.00

Can't get enough of Ed Hardy? Check out their embroidered hooded Camou leather jackets for men:

If all else fails,

There's always the credulous fancy cupcakes, which are totally customisable and good to look at.

http://www.cupcakes.sg/

www.clevercupcakes.com

From Bakerella and Jewelsb78

We recommend cupcakes.sg (price on request) and cupcake-dreamy (SGD 60.00 for 20 Premium cupcakes).


Have fun shopping!