Cutest Feet

I recently had the chance to meet my new baby cousin and she is so adorable! Look at the pair of socks she had on. So sweet! I love fun socks so I had to snap this picture :) Hope this made you smile! Happy Friday everyone!

Fun Reflection

Just wanted to share this fun picture from SoWa this past Sunday. Sometimes James and I get bored after we're done setting up so I usually mess around with my camera. I love how this one came out. Plus, James looks super cool in his aviator sunglasses :)

Fresh Raspberries

Lovely raspberries picked from my mom's garden ♥

One of the things I love about summer is the raspberries that grow in my mom's garden. It's so wonderful to be able to pick fresh raspberries and enjoy them on a nice summer day. I love topping them on yogurt with a little bit of granola and a drizzle of honey :)

Beach Weather

Disco Bob showing how it's done in hot weather like this. He's sending his love from Cozumel, Mexico :)

We're having quite a heatwave here in Boston and across the US. It's been in the upper 90s for the past few days and today it's over 100 degrees! I can't remember the last time when it was this hot here. I don't like the heat so I'm happily hiding in my room with the AC on :) Stay cool, hydrated, and have a happy weekend everyone!

Simple Elegant Party

My first BHLDN's moodboard: A party that's perfectly simple but still elegant. I love the soft tones and fun girlie details. I can't wait to create more party ideas. I love daydreaming about these parties as I'm creating them :)

This is the first post where I didn't use my own pictures but this is too fun not to share! Anthropologie introduced their wedding line, BHLDN (which stands for Beholden), earlier this year and it is one of the most beautiful sites. All of the dresses, accessories, decors, etc. are just so dreamy and inspirational. Today I found out that I can also create my own custom moodboards. It's so easy to use. I was having so much fun putting together the perfect little party. I discovered this through one of my favorite bloggers, Joy of ohjoy.com. She is having a fabulous giveaway with BHLDN. All you have to do is create your own moodboard and link it in the comment section. What are you waiting for? Go and create the party of your dreams!

Corner Space

We were lucky enough to get our first corner space at SoWa yesterday. I love how open it is and that customers can see us from both sides :) Our space is assigned at random so I hope it'll happen again!

My supportive fiance :)

I love this space!

Coconut Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

I’ve been teasing you with pictures of these cupcakes all week and finally here’s the recipe! I fell in love with the Tiger Tail cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes when I visited Seattle last year and these were inspired by them. They turned out really good. The coconut cupcakes were moist and light. They were extremely flavorful but still wonderfully subtle from the addition of coconut milk, sweetened shredded coconut and vanilla bean seeds. The buttercream was so delicious. The fresh raspberry puree gave it such a beautiful pink color. I really love the coconut and raspberry combination and I hope that you will too!

White Coconut Cupcakes (makes about 20 cupcakes)

Recipe from Joanne Chang’s Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Café (a must-have if you love to bake!)

Ingredients

2¼ cups (270 g) cake flour

1¼ cups (250 g) sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks/170 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 2-inch pieces

6 egg whites

1 cup (240 g) coconut milk

1 cup (120 g) sweetened shredded coconut

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.

Sift the cake flour into the stand mixer bowl. Attach bowl to mixer and fit it with the paddle attachment. On low speed, add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and beat for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and continue to beat on low speed until the mixture is crumbly; about 1 minute.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, coconut milk, and shredded coconut. Use the back of a small knife to scrape out the vanilla bean seeds and add them into the coconut milk mixture. Whisk until the vanilla seeds are well dispersed.

Add half of the coconut milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium-high speed until combined; about 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the rest of the coconut milk mixture. Beat on medium speed for another 20-30 seconds until mixture is well combined. The batter should be light and fluffy.

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full. (I like using an ice cream scoop for this. It makes it a lot faster and easier to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.) Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. They’re done when a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer pans to wire rack and let them cool for about 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pans and let them cool completely on the wire rack before topping them with the buttercream.

Cupcakes can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let them get to room temperature (about 20-30 minutes) before serving them.

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (makes about 4 cups)

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Ingredients

4 large egg whites

1¼ cups sugar

3 sticks (1½ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into tablespoons

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 ounces fresh raspberries, pureed and strained to make about 1/3 cup

Combine egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of a stand mixture and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk constantly and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 160 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. On high speed, beat the mixture until it holds stiff glossy peaks and has cooled down; about 6 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment. On medium-low speed, add several tablespoons of butter at a time and beat well after each addition. (Beat on medium-high speed for several minutes if the frosting isn’t smooth enough after adding all the butter.) On low speed, add in the vanilla and raspberry puree and beat until smooth; about 2 minutes.

Exciting News!

I love Laduree's macarons but they also have amazing desserts and pastries. I can't wait to enjoy some of these in their tearoom!

A customer told me the best news this past Sunday at SoWa. Laduree is finally opening a location in NYC! I looked it up and they're scheduled to open sometime this month at 864 Madison Avenue. How this news escaped me for 2 months is beyond me but I am so excited! I love Laduree and their macarons. In fact, I'm pretty obsessed with them. I've blogged about macarons endlessly (here, here, here, and here) and have been making them at home whenever I have the chance. Not to mention that I love taking pictures of them. I can hardly wait but somehow it's also a little bittersweet since I associate Laduree with being in Paris on a wonderful vacation. Now that it's more accessible, I'm afraid that it won't be as special but I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quickly! I think I'll be visiting my sister a lot more often now ;-)

Here are a few more pics to celebrate this awesome news!

I love the boxes that the macarons come in. I keep them to store little knickknacks and they always remind me of my trips to Paris :) Btw, look at how shiny and pretty the macarons are...I need more practice!

I was so tempted to buy that cake in the window! (left); I want one of these macarons tower for my birthday (right)

My very first box of macarons!

My favorite macaron at Laduree is the orange blossom (left); They always have the most beautiful window displays (right)

Cool Down

My much needed Italian Ice

James bought me a little cold treat at SoWa yesterday since it was so hot out.  The watermelon flavor was so refreshing and I love it even more because it matched my booth :) Happy Monday everyone!

Dessert Table

From left to right: Italian rainbow cookies, coconut cupcakes w/ raspberry buttercream, traditional sponge cake w/ pandan frosting, 2-tier marble cake w/ chocolate and vanilla buttercream, raspberry macarons, traditional sponge cake w/ pandan frosting, jasmine macarons, Italian rainbow cookies

I'm so excited to share these photos with you. My parents hosted our engagement party this past Saturday and it was so much fun! We had such a great time with our family and friends but this post is all about the sweets! My mom left the desserts up to me and this was what I came up with. What do you think? I've been wanting to do a dessert table for the longest time. I'm so happy with how it turned out.

 Left: Me and James having a good time; Right: The top of my rustic-looking marble cake

I love the pink color of the frosting and it was all natural! I made it by mixing fresh raspberry puree to a Swiss meringue buttercream (recipe will be posted next week). The cupcake flags made them look even cuter!

Here's the drawing I did with Powerpoint a few months back when I was planning out the dessert table. There were little changes with the cookies (macarons instead of raspberry thumbprint cookies and donut holes) but the rest stayed as planned. I added the pinwheels to give it a light and cheery feeling that I was going for. It's so fun to see it comes to life :)

Close-up of my cake topper. I was scribbling my name with James' one day and came up with this. I love the hearts in the middle and how continuous it is. 

I fell in love with Pierre Herme's Jasmine macarons when I was in Paris last year. The flavor is just so delicate. I've been trying to re-create them at home and I think I'm getting close hehe

I hope you enjoyed this post. I can't wait for the chance to set up another dessert table. I love all the crafts and diy projects involved. I guess I should start thinking about the wedding :) Happy Friday everyone!

Sweet Dreams

I'm so excited for Friday's post! I'm going through all of the pictures from my party this past Saturday and it's so hard to pick which ones to share. In the meantime I'm getting lost in these pretty pink swirls of raspberry buttercream. Come back on Friday to see more of these luscious cupcakes and other goodies :)

Happy 4th!

Just popping in to wish everyone a fun and safe 4th of July! Aren't these flowers fun? They remind me of fireworks :)

Baking time

I've been busy baking up a storm for a special party this weekend. Here's a little sneak peak of one of the goodies waiting to go in the oven. I can't wait to share more pics with you next week! Happy weekend!