Blackberry Cloud Cake

Happy belated Mother's Day! To celebrate the best woman I know, I made a Blackberry Cloud Cake from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living (also found here).

Meringue, spread into a sheet pan and ready to bake.


Blackberries, mascerating.


The beautiful lavender color in the whipped cream filling can be attributed to the strained and seeded blackberry puree that I made with some of the blackberries.


The rest of the berries were served on the side with a generous slice of cake.

This cake was very appropriately named; the texture was light and fluffy and absolutely perfect for a spring day. I reduced the amount of sugar in the cake recipe by about 1/3 cup and omitted the confectioner's sugar in the whipped cream since my mom does not care for overly-sweet desserts. The fresh berries combined with the melt-in-your-mouth cake were a perfect ending to lunch with my mama! <3

Homemade Popovers

After a weekend of relentless rain and wind and a dreary forecast of another week of the same, there's nowhere I would rather be than indoors baking up a batch of these babies. I don't usually go for pans/utensils that only serve a single purpose, but made an exception in this case because this recipe for these popovers seemed like the perfect quick/easy/tasty baked good for both breakfasts and as a side for dinner. They come together in a jiffy, and, as my family can attest, who can resist the smell of butter wafting through the house in the morning?

I had mine with a generous smear of good European-style butter and some strawberry preserves (don't forget the cuppa Earl Grey!), but foresee adding grated cheese and chives in the future for a tasty side to some soup or chili.

Yum! :)

On Heavy Rotation.

A weeks-old picture of my three current favorites when they were still new. I somehow got lucky and managed to grab the last Blush G Serie Noire from the nearest Guerlain counter and the second to last Ombres Perlees eyeshadow palette from Chanel. I winced a little (ok, a lot) when I handed over my debit card, and I reallyreallyreally wish it weren't true, but you really do get what you pay for. The blush and the eyeshadow (especially) are so buttery and apply like a dream. I haven't put them down since they came home with me. As for the nail polish, I set a personal record of 5 weeks in a row when it became all I wanted to reach for as my weekly manicure. I have probably sent myself down a rabbit hole considering this high-end makeup obsession comes attached to some scary price tags (can you say gateway drugs??), but guess what? This Alice continues to knowingly and obligingly follow the white bunny. :)

Chanel Le Vernis in 547 Pulsion

I take back what I said in my last post regarding muted nail colors. The moment I saw Pulsion at the Chanel counter, that tame streak ended and now I'm back on with bright fingers. :)



Pulsion is an electric, fuchsia-pink creme that provides full opacity in 1 layer. The formula is probably the best I have ever tried on (for the price, it better be!). The color is probably not the most unique, but I don't care! I love it, and can see this looking beautiful on summer toesies.


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In other news, a package arrived for me on Saturday. Guess what it is?? ;)

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Yup, my Benefit Bella Bamba's! I've been impatiently waiting for this release and snatched up three (one for me, two for Christmas presents) on the first day it debuted on Benefit's site. I love Benefit's boxed powders/blushes, and from the peeks I've taken of this new one, I have a feeling it's going to rocket to the top of my favorites list. Still trying to get myself to break the new surface of it. Anyone else do this with new products??

It's been so rainy and cold here in Northern California. Hopefully the sun will come out soon and I'll get an opportunity to get some good pictures of Bella Bamba. Review and swatches to come!

<3

Essie Sew Psyched

Been feeling the more muted colors on my nails lately...Essie Sew Psyched fits in nicely with all the other nudes, greiges, and greys without being TOO boring. After all, I still crave a little bit of color! Love.

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake

A late, random update! I made some bourbon pumpkin cheesecake over Thanksgiving. It's one of the most impressive-looking cheesecakes I've ever made. It's always nerve-racking for me to make cheesecakes, but this one went off without a hitch. Yay!


Pouring the batter into the pan


Results! Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Graham-Pecan Crust and Sour Cream Topping


Close up


My cheesecake + the pumpkin pie I also made for Thanksgiving :)

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It's 1am here in California and my body has finally succumbed to the cold that has been going around. I'm full of sniffles and sneezes, not to mention an extremely sore throat. Gah! I hate being sick! :(

Hope everyone else is in better health!

weekends are made for baking

To me, there is nothing better after a long week than designating half a day out of my weekend to baking a few things on my To Cook List. I wake up after a much-needed, long 8-hour sleep feeling ready to tackle new recipes. I take my time getting out of bed, pad downstairs in my jammies, and a nice cup of hot tea or coffee later, I start pulling out various bowls, measuring cups, and jars of flour and sugar. The past weekend, I had two projects in mind: first, some pumpkin Nutella bread (above) that had been on my mind for a month now, and secondly, my first commissioned (!!!) birthday cake that my cousin requested for her mom! :) She gave me free rein over the whole thing, so I decided to make a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting.

After pureeing and straining out about a million seeds from my raspberries, I cooked it with some sugar and a bit of cornstarch to make the filling.


Layering the cake with raspberry filling.


Crumb coating to help keep the frosting smooth~


Final application of frosting!


I jazzed up the otherwise plain-looking cake with some colorful birthday candles and mini star sprinkles--aren't they cute??


Close up of the sprinkles


The result! It took me about 7 hours to bake, assemble, and clean everything after these two most recent projects. I should have been tired, but I felt so happy with the (really yummy and well-appreciated) results that I was ready to take on the second half of my Saturday, which included my aunt's birthday party and the latest HARRY POTTER!!! I'm a huge Potter fan, so it was a nice way to end my day. :)