Cupcakes For A Cause Bakesale

Hi!

So my big bake sale was last Sunday and I wanted to give ya'll the deets of how it went! :)

I had originally had the bake sale scheduled for early June...but rescheduled for later because I didnt feel like I had enough people interested in it. We picked a day, and Chuck and the rest of the RCIA group helped me plan away. We had info in the Church's bulletin, flyers posted, and we mentioned it at masses. Even then I was still a little worried that people wouldnt bring stuff and that people wouldnt buy stuff. Thus, I set a goal of $200 for my bake sale with Share Our Strength.

When I met with the RCIA group that really helped me plan and execute, they assured me that we would definitely surpass my low goal of $200, but still I was a little uncertain. Another reason that I felt a little uncertain was because I had only received about 3 emails about people wanting to bake. To make sure I had somewhat of a variety, I asked all of my family members to bake treats. :)

I decided to make red velvets (bc everyone likes those!) and pancake breakfast (maple and bacon) since the bake sale was in the am. I decided to try Chocklity's Maple Corn and Bacon cupcakes. (Ps, Cheryl is amazing...her cupcakes are just beautiful!). .Anyhow, since I dont eat meat, my mom helped me cook the bacon. And I also made 3 for me using vegetarian bacon. I cant even remember when I last had bacon and dont even remember what it tastes like. So when I ate my cupcake...I was not a fan. I didnt really know what I was looking for, but I was very unsure of the flavor combo. I was really worried but Jon ate one and he said it was really yummy and tasted like breakfast! Success. hehe.

Here is a pic of my red velvet cupcake: My mom and I found these awesome togo boxes to individually pack. :)

My house was full of sweet aromas because we were all busy baking away! My brother even made his famous lemon bars he used to make as a child :) hehe.

The day of, my parents were up bright and early and ready to go and help me set up. Big hugs to Jon and my parents for helping me set up and making sure everything ran nice and smooth that day. And big thanks to Chuck for helping me coordinate and thank you All Saints for allowing us to hold it there. :)

Here is a pic of my mom and I (sorry its so teeny, its from Jons phone)

When we arrived at the church, there were already people dropping goodies off! I couldn't believe it! One wonderful woman made 10 cakes and about 60 cream puffs, and she was working even before I got to the church:

Bet you're all drooling eh? ;)

Our tables filled up pretty quick....

.....And the became empty very quick. After the first mass (7:30 am), the tables were half empty! We sold so much food in a span of 15 minutes. And it stayed that way throughout the day. People brought more treats, and people bought treats. I was worried that we would run out of food! And my dad was keeping track of the finances, and had let me know early on that we had surpassed the goal.

I was so happy and feel so blessed to be part of such a wonderful community. Everyone was so supportive, loving and friendly. Our tables were never empty :)

And I just want to thank everyone that took the time to bake and donate goodies and for all of those who came out to support me. It means so much to me. Here are a few more pics:

I bet you are all wondering how we did right? Well I already mentioned we went above and way beyond my goal of $200....soooo drumroll please......

We raised $1,026.65!!!

Amazing!!!

Just to give you an idea of how that money will be used:

Share Our Strength is a leading organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. Here are some ways the funds you raise can help:

• $25 Can help feed one child three healthy meals every day for a month.
• $50 Can help connect one child with healthy meals throughout the summer.
• $100 Can help provide 25 children facing hunger with backpacks full of healthy food to feed them and their families over the weekend.
• $200 Can help buy grocery bags of healthy foods for 50 families in need.
• $500 Can help reach twelve low-income families with a life-changing, six-week nutritious cooking and food budgeting course.

At the end of the day (around 2pm), we had one small tin of goodies left. the leftover treats were taken to an agency that serves breakfast to those in need. :)

I cant express my gratitude for all who helped out in one way or another. We all did an amazing job. And this is for sure happening every year. :)

xoxo,

treen

Yo Gabba Gabba Cupakes

Hey Everybody, its DJ Trina Rock here! And I just wanted you all to know....its time to dance! Are you ready? lol I know you all like my DJ Lance hat and glasses...and my Muno shirt...which I made btw :D

Anyways...here are the Yo Gabba Gabba characters in cupcake form! Plex, Toodee, Brobee, Foofa and Muno!

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Sissy came over during the week and help me cut out all the pieces for their faces...and man was that a task! And then, Pasta ate one of Toodee's eyes! Luckily we had an extra Plex face so it worked out.

She also came over on Friday to help me bake...and man was that a task as well. I wanted the tie-dye cupcakes because it went along with the Gabba theme because its so colorful in Gabbaland! So they were a bit more time consuming to make than regular cupcakes...but all for my little neicey! I was super tired when we started and was so tired that I had so much energy...I even made a last minute cake stand lol:

Second cake stand of minis:

Dj Allen Rock, Noahcakes, and MimiRock enjoying cupcakes:

Here's a pic of the birthday baby:

Happy Birthday Jassy Monster!

In Honor of Eclipse

I can't wait for Eclipse! :D I am so beyond excited for next Tuesday! And yes, for those of you who dont know, I am a Twi-hard...and I am not ashamed! lol

Cupcake with the Pre-Screen ticket to Eclipse (sorry its bright)

Lyn and I were even going to camp out at Nords last weekend to meet some of the cast, but changed our minds at 4 am when we found out it was only going to be Justin Chon (the asian human dude, lol).

Cupcake with the New Moon stars lol:

Anyhow, I had made some cupcakes for my cousins engagement party and had my idea for my eclipse cupcakes...spicy red velvets...with cayenne and cinnamon...yummmmy!

The cake didnt have as much of a kick as i wanted it to...i was worried that it might be too spicy because i definitely overdo the spicyness when i cook. lol. But it was still good. The frosting I decided to add some spice too and it had a nice bite to it. :) And I HAD to show that these were vampire inspired so I did the "blood" drips...heheh. I guess you could say they are more Vampire Diaries or True blood inspired but I love all of those so its all good.

Anyhow just wanted to share and I'll be making them again on Tues for the premiere! Go Team Edward! :D

PS....

Please Please come and support my bake sale at All saints! Info is in a previous post but it will be This Sunday, June 28 at All Saints Church in Hayward after all masses! Please buy treats and support Share our Strength and the Food Bank! Annnd if youd like to donate goodies, just send me an email: catrinaarmas@gmail.com

xoxo,

Guava Cheesecake

Look at the cupcake sittin' pretty...with white choco topper and cap'n crunch frosting...Yum....


...Just when you think you've gotten over how pretty it is, just wait till you take a bite! Check out the surprise inside!!

Guava + Cheesecake + captain crunch = creamy, cheesey, sweet deliciousness.



I mentioned a few days ago that I have all these cupcake ideas floating around in my head...its kind of like how Keri Rusell is in Waitress. :) But anyways, I wanted to tell ya'll how this cupcake came alive.

I was watching Cupcake Wars when it was on at like mindnight the other day, and wow that show is so intense! I don't think I could hang lol. But yah, so after cupcake wars Throwdown was on and the challenge was stuffed french toast. And the guy has this cuban joint in Jersey where he makes stuffed french toast with guava cream cheese filling and the batter is corn flakes and almonds...omg I really want to try it! In addition, my love for the captain crunch frappe from starbucks, and a recipe (I have yet to try) for captain crunch french toast also contributed to the cupcake. :)

The verdict: Oh man...its slightly tart but sweet and crunchy! You just have to try it! Whos hungry now? ;)

xoxo

Tiger Cupcakes

Look at this cupcake monster! :D What kind of cupcake is she eating!?...or pretending to eat? She didnt actually eat it lol.

If you said tiger, you are correct! This was my take on tiger/cincinatti bengals cupcakes. I used the leaf cutters and circle cutters to make the stripes. My mom and dad had to correct my tiger striping because they were going in different directions lol. I was thinking about spray painting the stripes on but I couldn't find a stencil. But I like them! Hehe. Go Niners! ;)

Baking a Difference

Hi everyone. I’d been mentioning about a bake sale I was hosting, and great news, its coming up in two weeks! Below is a flyer i created, and what I wrote for our church bulliten. Please come and support! (Ps. sorry the flyer is blurry, i didnt know how to make the image bigger so i just stretched it :p)

My name is Catrina Armas, and I am a fellow parish member here at All Saints. I currently work for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Through a network of 275 community based organizations, including food pantries, soup kitchens, after-school programs, senior centers, shelters and other community-based organizations, the Food Bank provides food assistance to 49,000 people each week. In 2009, 1 in 6 residents of Alameda County used our services; 43% of them children.

This year, nearly 17 million kids face hunger. That’s almost one in four. But, there is hope. Thanks to programs like Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, we can all do out part to end childhood hunger in America.

I am determined to make a difference in the fight against childhood hunger in America. By participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, I am committed to raising awareness and funds to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.

I’m taking my love for baking and I’m putting it to good use to help kids struggling with hunger, but I need your help! Please make a donation to my bake sale and support Share Our Strength’s efforts to surround kids with nutritious food where they live, learn and play. We will have a variety of goodies available, so come hungry!

The bake sale will take place on June 27th, 2010 at All Saints Church in Hayward. We will be out there from around 8:00 am until 1:00 pm. I hope you all can make it and show your support!

There will also be a barrel from the Alameda County Community Food Bank, where we will be accepting non-perishable canned goods and other items.

If you are interested in baking, or donating items or your time, please contact Catrina Armas at Catrinaarmas@gmail.com.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope you really can stop by and show your support by donating and/or buying some yummy treats!

xoxo

Plumerias

Yummy! These look like my hair flowers! Lol.



This was the first time I've used gumpaste. I'd made the flowers with fondant, but they were flat and I was hoping with the gumpaste they would be more shaped. It didn't turn out that way. lol.

I guess I should've researched it a bit more because I found what I needed was some thing called a flower shaper which looks like a shallow tiny bowl with a hole at the bottom (for the stem). So instead, I just formed foil into shallow bowls, which worked okay but the flowers still flattened out. I'll have to play around with gumpaste more, but nonetheless they turned out pretty cute! hehe.

Instead of dying the gumpaste, I decided ot use the cool cake spray that Mr.Ace of Cakes himself created for Michaels. It worked pretty well, except for when i tried to isolate the colors (ie: bottom right plumeria).



The other half of the order, I decided to do chocolate chocolate cupcakes with pink accents and glitter:





i've had cupcakes on my mind (well i have cupcakes on my mind all the time) but the list of cupcake ideas in my mind keeps growing so i need to start baking these experiments! the flavorsi really want to try are bacon...well facon for the vegetarian :), and spicy red velvets...in honor of Eclipse! I can't wait, its coming out in two weeks!! I'll let you know how they turn out :) Thanks for reading!

xox

Plumeria preview :)

Princess and the Frog

I've never seen the movie, but this was the request. My interpretation of the movie from previews, pics and commercials:

As you can see, I did some frogs and some toppers: butterflies, crowns, flowers. They were a mix of chocolate and vanilla cakes with vanilla and chocolate frosting. Now, don't my frogs look like my favorite sanrio character, KeroKeroKeroppi!?

Just a little. heheh. Another shot of the froggy or keroppi hehe with the mini cupcakes in the back:

Heres a picture of final order. :) Mom's boss said the were a success! yay! She said the boys in her daughters class wanted the frogs, and the girls wanted the ones with glitter and flowers and butterflies. Now, I just have to go see the movie...I cant wait bc I loveeee disney movies!

Psychedelic!