Violin Cake & Bridal Shower Cake

People ask me all the time if I love what I do - how I do it - plan it, construct it. I can't emphasize to people how much I love my job - cake making that is. I love love love and have so much dedication making and decorating cakes, it really boggles me. I've never liked anything, let alone love it... A lot of people mistaken my love for cake making as being something glamorous, fun and being very "lucky." Don't get me wrong, I consider myself lucky because I found my nitch but in no way is it a glamorous job. Fun? I guess sometimes but definitely stressful, long - back aching hours and lots of cuts, burns and dirty farmer looking hands. There were times where I would throw my hands up in the air and want to quit doing this completely. There were times I needed to take a time-out and just leave to get some fresh air so I wouldn't demolish my whole kitchen and throw the cake against the wall. But I must say, at the end of the day, I am proud of what I do and simply put - I love it. That's why I don't charge and arm and a leg for my cakes - because I want everyone to have a nice cake for their party and partially because I look forward to making them? I can't tell you how many times people tell me that my cakes are SO much cheaper than other specialty cake stores and JUST as nice. I can't see ripping people off. Although I must say, I make all my cakes solo so I guess I am able to charge less - because I don't have a staff, right?

When it comes to cakes, I will sit there with a pen and notepad for hours on end.. days even - - trying to come up with a design, scribbling, doodling, then re-doodling until I get the PERFECT design.

And when I'm actually constructing the cake, I'll stand there for hours and hours, trying to get that perfect cake that I will be proud of. Stand there staring at it... And even after I'm done with it and put it in the refrigerator, I'll wake up out of a dead sleep and run back to the fridge, open the door, close the door, open the door, close the door - "Do I love it? Would I be in complete jaw opening awe if I was the client?.. Does this cake make me want to scream - OMG?! Am I proud to present this? Or is this just an Eh cake? Will I be embarrassed to deliver this cake?..." These are all questions I ask myself when I plan, prepare and make my cakes. Not only does it have to LOOK good. It has taste DAM good.

I love how my cakes make people happy, and I love how excited they get when they see my cake.

This past weekend, I made 2 cakes. One was a violin cake someone ordered for their girlfriend - she's a violinist. I was nervous at first but then got REALLY excited.

My notes... and googles of the perfect violin.






It was a surprise party. I hear she was very surprised and pleased. ( :






I had a cake directly after for my friend Sun. It was her bridal/bachelorette party and I made her a cake, which was all left up to me. I got to design whatever I wanted. So I decided to use her wedding invitations as well as her actual weddding dress. So I went to White collections to see what her dress looked like.

I started making her cake but when it came to the actual dress making, I thought maybe she wouldn't want people to see her dress before the wedding. So I just made a generic wedding dress.

Reviews on: Tony's Pizzeria & Jade Asian Restaurant

Tony's Pizzeria is located in the heart of Corona, NY. It's not as flashy as Parkside, although I personally think the food is better at Tony's... When you walk in it looks like a regular pizzera with booth seats and a couple of tables in the center. However, they have a full menu as well as more seating in the back. Feel free to just seat yourself wherever you'd like and a waitress will bring over a menu.
We ordered a carafe of the home made wine (I believe it was $12.00) and an order of the fried calamari ($10.00)





Very lightly fried and not heavily battered. The calamari is nice and tender and the marinara sauce has slices of cooked garlic. VERY good. You can't come to this place without ordering the fried calamari.

And of course they serve you a basket of hot bread.


For our main meal, we ordered the Veal Rollatini ($18.75) which has spinach, prosciutto and ricotta rolled inside. It is drenched in a marsala wine sauce with TONS of sliced mushrooms. It comes with a side order of either salad or pasta. Since we are both watching our weight, and because the salad is AWESOME, we got the salad.


The salad is extremely simply made. Just a big plate of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and some onions in a homemade italian dressing. But it is SO good. Plus we add fresh peppers and some parmesan cheese. Uck... PERFECT.



The whole check came out to around $45.00 including tax. Not too bad if you ask me. I give this place 4.5 stars out of a 5. ONLY because the Veal Rollatini was a bit too salty, also because they changed up their bread (They used to give you warm Italian bread now they give you a different sliced bread which is also very good) and because "sometimes" their fried calamari isn't AS GOOD some days as other days. I mean, they're always very very good but just some days are better than others. Maybe I'm just hungrier certain days?...

Okay! Now onto DIM SUM! Now let me start off by saying that I've had Dim Sum every place under the sun. A LOOOot of places in Flushing, Elmhurst, even Little Neck and JADE RESTAURANT on 39th Avenue is by far one of the best places I've ever had dim sum. AND anyone I take there would agree that their dim sum is top notch. Not just the quality of their dim sum but variety as well.

I took my brother there for his 35th birthday. We very rarely eat dim sum anymore so this was quite a treat to both of us.


There were SO many different buns to pick from. This one looked tasty enough. And good luck trying to figure out what's inside these things (unless you already know or speak the language) because the cart ladies don't speak a lick of english. Although I must admit, some have learned how to say - beef, shrimp and pork. ( :

This one was beef. I think...


You can never have a shortage of fried food when it comes to dim sum. This one had a mixture of beef and vegetables.


This one seems to be everyone's favorite. My brother, cousin, friends, friends of friends all belt out the Ooohs ~ and Ahhhhs~ when they see this dish. It's a rice pasta with 3 shrimps inside and a soy sauce drizzled on top. I "USED TO" love this until one day I flipped out and got 4 orders. I never really enjoyed this dish after that day...



This one is sticky rice inside a banana leaf. It has a mixture of meats and other stuff inside. Very tasty.




I like this one too. The one on the left is fried (obviously) and it's got somewhat of a sticky consistency inside and some ground beef. And on the right is the fried calamari that was a shocking $19.95.



This one is stuff with... you guessed it! MORE SHRIMP!! It was okay at best...



These 2 are one of my fav's. The one on the left is fried (yes, again) shrimp balls, which comes with a mayonaise sauce. And the one on the right is (yes, fried again) fried shrimp wrapped in bacon.



A couple of things to keep in mind:
#1) Do NOT drive here. You will never find parking. ESPECIALLY if you come on a weekend or holiday. You can park in the lot of Queens Crossing and pay the $3.50/hour if you want to get aggravated by the pay-by-machine method. But then again, what's more annoying? Dealing with a little machine or finding no parking?...
#2) Be prepared to wait at least 20 min. They'll give you a ticket with a number on it but it does go pretty fast.
#3) Also be prepared to get shoved by people who don't really mean to shove you. They're not being rude, that's just how they are.
#4) Be prepared to repeat yourself at least 3 times because they don't really speak english. When they first seat you they will say, "Bla bla bla CHA?" That means what kind of tea do you want? I just memorized Jasmin tea so that's what I belt out.
#5) Don't forget to tell that same waiter you want ice water as well because once they leave, that's it. You will not see him ever again.

I spent a total of $40.94 and that's only because we got the fried octopus dish that cost $19.95. I think otherwise our bill would've came out to about $20.00 - I give this place a 4.7 out of a 5 only because I asked for ice water 3 times and never got it. And also because they took my plate while I was still eating off it. I don't really know what that was about...

Cakes Cakes Cakes ~

Was busy busy busy with cakes this past weekend. I made a soccer birthday cake for a Manchester U. fan, A 60th Birthday Cake for a friend's dad (the Chinese - but not-so-Chinese cake with the word "long life" and birthday peaches incorporated into it without it looking cluttered or tacky. And then I had the 1-year-old birthday cake for someone having a party at the same location as the 60th birthday party directly the day after. WHEW! What a week!

Soccer Cake ( :








The 60th Birthday Cake for a party at Mulan - Queens Crossing. The requirements of the cake were: No white or black colors, no #'s 4 and 7 or a picture of a clock. And then I was provided with a couple of pictures which I could use or not use BUT I wasn't to make it look "too chinese" "tacky" or "cluttered." I was STRESSED. I must've drew up a sketch AT LEAST 5 times...






I FINALLY came up with a drawing that I liked. Initially the letter was written in silver - the customer asked me to send him a picture - but then when he showed it to his boss, his boss said that silver was no good because it resembled a CEMETARY??? So he asked me to change it to Red. I must say, the red looked WAY better.













The customer AND his father loved it, which I appreciated and was so happy about. That's what makes all the stress and loss of sleep SO worth it. I could be the CRAZIEST bitch while I'm drawing sketches or making the cake - I am SO anal and SO picky about the details - but when I hear how happy the customer is and get to witness the Ooo's and Ahhh's, it really does make going through this ALL worth it...

And finally, last but not least, Jaime's 1st Bday Party. This party was held morning after the 60th birthday party at the same restaurant - Mulan @ The Queens Crossing. BEAUTIFUL venue by the way. They have waterfalls on the walls - surrounded with windows from top to bottom. Simply beautiful.

This customer sent me pictures of exactly what she wanted. She saw a cake and wanted me to replicate the middle and bottom tier but put a #1 on top next to her child's favorite doll - a little white/brown puppy. And also put her child's name on the top tier. I think it came out great!