Double Chocolate Layer Cake

I made this cake for my sister and my birthday. My sister is pretty picky about chocolate cakes and this cake hit the spot. It was extremely moist and the frosting is by far the best I've had. The only thing is the cake is only as good as the quality of chocolate you use. I used Scharffen Berger chocolate in the batter and Scharffen Berger and Ghirardelli Chocolate for the frosting (it was just too expensive for me to use all Schaffen Berger).


I made white chocolate mousse to put in between the layers but I didn't make it early enough to allow the mousse to harden up. I had to scrap it all off but as you can see, I couldn't get it all off.

You can find the recipe here.

"Cinnabon" Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve been reading the Daring Bakers blogs and their recent challenge was to make Cinnamon buns. I’ve made cinnamon rolls before but they were a disaster, extremely dry and it had an “eggy” taste. I didn’t even take a picture of it, that’s how disappointed I was. I got the recipe from the Food Network after watching Alton Brown’s episode of The Dough Also Rises. This time around, I decided to look on Recipezaar.com. The reviews for this recipe were really good so went to the market (again) and got all the ingredients. I got started and realized I forgot the milk =/ and made another trip. *Sigh*

This recipe is a winner! I followed the ingredients but the cooking time the recipe called for was too short. At 20min. the dough was not all the way cooked. So I put it back in for about another 10 min. I inserted an instant read thermometer and took the buns out when it reached 180˚F. The recipe I used the first time said to take out the buns when it reached 190˚F but that resulted in dry buns. The frosting was delicious!

You can find the recipe here.

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

I was reading Fanny’s Blog and found the recipe for Grapefruit Yogurt cake. I've never made a yogurt cake but her picture and description intrigued me. I knew I had to make it. This was also the first recipe I'd seen for grapefruit. I followed her recipe exactly except for the size of her pan. I didn't have a 7½" pan so I used an 8½" pan which is why my cake turned out flatter then hers. I got a little impatient waiting for the grapefruit juice to soak into the cake so I made a number of holes. Next time, I'm going to try and be more patient =] The cake was just lovely; very similar to my Blueberry Cake, dense but still very moist. I'm going to make this for my sister, who loves grapefruit. Even Mr. Cutie Pie liked the cake.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

This is my favorite cake I've made so far. It was dense and moist. It didn't have a heavy butter flavor and the brown sugar topping was nice and crispy. When I visited my sister in Baltimore, we made the cake into muffins and they turned out just as good. For some reason, I like the cake after it's been refrigerated. My sister doesn't seem to care either way.

I can't remember where I found the recipe. I just saved it on a word document, so when I find it I'll let you know.

LA Tofu Festival 2007

Tofu Festival vendors

YAY! I finally got to go =] but the bigger yay was that I got my carnivorous Mr. Sweetie Pie to take me. It was such a HOT day, seriously 100°F. If you know me, you'd know that I hate the heat and I get grumpy too =/ But Mr. Sweetie Pie was such a great sport but he didn't want to eat a thing; he did hold all the food for me to take a picture though.

more vendors

Pad Thai with Tofu

This dish was probably my favorite.

Curry Tofu

This was my second favorite but still really good. The curry was a Japanese style curry and the faux meat had great texture and taste.

Tofu Bibimbap

The vegetables were fresh and crispy.

Earthen Restaurant

1639 S Azusa Ave, Hacienda Heights, CA, 91745 (626) 964-1570

My sister and I went to Earthens for lunch and ordered green onion pancakes, sautéed vegetables, and tofu with mushrooms. The pancakes were a bit oily but the seasoning was very good. I loved the vegetables, they're my favorite kind of vegetables though (it was sautéed with garlic). The tofu with mushrooms weren't special. I would recommend coming here for the pancakes. I had tired their vegetable dumplings once and it had way too much pepper.

Little Boy Cookies

Little Boy Cookies

This time while I waited at my friend's house for bowling league to start, her little boy decided that we should decorate some cookies.

The little boy decorating them

And here he is putting the faces on the cookies. He actually wanted to make pirate cookies but since we didn't have enough time before we went bowling, he used M&Ms.