Crocheted Cupcakes

Yuzu Just Finished Reading The Mystery of the Third Lucretia Susan Runholt

I crocheted a couple of cupcakes last week using this pattern. They're chocolate-strawberry and red velvet, and they're just slightly smaller than real-life cupcakes. The first cupcake has a vanilla flower on top, and the other has a chocolate flower. I used worsted-weight, 100% wool yarn and Swarovski crystals. They turned out kind'a cute, and I'll probably end up making more. They're really quick to make (save for the sewing parts).

©2008 Yuzu Eats

I just finished reading a young-adult mystery novel called The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, which I really enjoyed. It takes you through the streets of London, Paris and Amsterdam along with two teenage girls who uncover, well, a mystery. ;P If you like Dutch art, European travel, or books about friendship and mother/daughter relationships, this is a good read. I also liked reading about the food the girls eat while dining out in Europe.

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Cupcakes for My Sister

Yuzu is Reading Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent Anthony Rapp

My sister's birthday was last week. She'd just given birth to her second daughter the day before. As we awaited their return home from the hospital, I baked cupcakes to celebrate both birthdays. I was babysitting my two-year-old niece at the time, so I didn't want to fuss with a bunch of ingredients. Thank goodness for boxed cake mixes. Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting...mmm!

©2008 Yuzu Eats

My sister likes her cupcakes simple. So I didn't pipe the frosting or cover the tops with sprinkles. Instead, I used an offset spatula to spread the frosting, and I topped the cakes with sliced strawberries. They came out quite tasty, and my sister liked them a lot. Mission completion!

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Green Tea Muffins

Yuzu is Watching Rent Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms

I went to the ophthalmologist last week and found out I have a bacterial infection in both of my eyes, so I've been on antibiotic eye-drop medication for about six days now. I am back at work today, and so far my eyes are doing okay. I just can't strain them too much by reading a whole lot. So what am I doing? I'm blogging! ;P

Picked up some green tea muffin mix at Trader Joe's last week and baked them for my parents, who love to drink green tea. I'd tried them previously when someone baked them at work, but wanted to give them a go myself. I used my jumbo muffin pan for the first time, and the batter was the perfect amount to make six plump muffins. I added a few pinches of sugar to the mix because I personally like green tea a little sweet. The muffins came out yummy, moist and not very sweet at all. I think I found a good balance of sweetness because they were sweet enough for me (a sweet tooth), yet not too sweet for my parents (who aren't into sweets as much as I am).

©2007 Yuzu Eats

I finally watched Rent, the movie based on one of my most favorite Broadway musicals ever. I had really low expectations of it because you can never be too sure about stage-to-screen adaptations. But it was surprisingly good! I've watched it twice already. My Rent CDs are back in rotation after a few weeks' hiatus.

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Red Velvet

Gahh...so lazy. I want to sleep. I should've gone to bed early last night, but after watching Late Night with David Letterman, I decided to do some beading. Why was I beading after 1:00 in the morning? I don't know. I haven't beaded in over a month, so I just felt like it last night.

Tomorrow is a coworker's birthday. We wanted to have some treats for him today, so I baked red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I had one for breakfast this morning, and now I feel quite sluggish.

©2007 Yuzu Eats

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Putting a Birthday Gift to Good Use

Yuzu is Listening To Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus see related

Okay, so I've been lazy with updating my food blog. I really don't want to be on the Internet that much because I'm being very careful not to accidentally read Harry Potter spoilers (past experience has taught me that these spoilers can show up anywhere, even non-HP sites). *nerd alert* With the book release only two weeks away (whoa!), there are bound to be some dumbasses who feel like spoiling the fun for us fans. So my visits to the Internets will probably be sparse very soon.

Anyway...it was my birthday last week, and I have been pretty much eating a lot of sweets — specifically cupcakes (although I've had some slices of cheesecake and mochi ice cream here and there). Independence day was two days ago, and I'd originally planned on baking some patriotic cupcakes with red, white and blue stars and sprinkles — but I didn't have any of those things in my pantry. ;P I ended up baking these instead.

Chocolate cupcakes with pink strawberry frosting and chocolate jimmies


I transported them in one of my new cupcake carriers from Crate & Barrel

©2007 Yuzu Eats

The cupcake carriers were a gift from my parents and my sister, who demanded, "Now bake some cupcakes!" It didn't take me long before I put one of the carriers to use. Each one holds 2 dozen cupcakes. The second carrier will come in handy for those rare occasions when I'll bake some cupcakes to bring to the office.

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Cupcake & Tea for Dessert

Yuzu is Reading Utterly Me, Clarice Bean Lauren Child see related

For someone who doesn't drink coffee, I sure make a lot of trips to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I like it so much better than Starbucks. I'm more of a tea drinker, so I guess that explains my preference for Coffee Bean. I had dinner with my parents this past weekend, and afterward we went to Coffee Bean for dessert.

©2007 Yuzu Eats

I tried one of their cupcakes for the first time. It was chocolate with cream cheese frosting. The cake part of it was actually moist. I was expecting it to be dry like the cupcakes at Starbucks. I was pleasantly surprised! The only thing I didn't like about the cake was that there were about 5 chocolate chips in there. But I picked them out as I ate the cupcake. I don't like chocolate chips in chocolate cake. Just like I don't like chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. Chocolate overkill. Okay, now the frosting...the frosting was like eating a cheesecake. You know how most cream cheese frostings taste? This was a bit sweeter, because it tasted like cheesecake. Not that it's a bad thing. But this cupcake was definitely a decadent little treat. I'll probably be eating more of these in the near future...

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
1080 E. Imperial Hwy, #E2
Brea CA, 92821

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Finally a Christmas Update

Yuzu is Listening To Welcome To Ralph's World Ralph Covert see related

I hope everyone had a good holiday break. I enjoyed a nice week and a half off, relaxing with family, eating nonstop and sleeping in really late. I meant to update my journal right after Christmas so I can show you what I baked over the holidays, but I took a break from blogging last week. So I'm posting my Christmas goodies now.

©2007 Yuzu Eats

These were actually chocolate cookies, not gingerbread


Green Christmas tree sugar cookies


Butter yellow cupcakes with vanilla frosting and festive sprinkles


These cupcakes were made with Pillsbury cake mix
which came with Christmas-colored candy bits


I covered them in Pillsbury vanilla frosting topped with fun Christmas shapes

I think I've had enough sweets in the past couple of weeks to last me all through January. But that doesn't mean I won't have an ice-cream cone or a few cookies here and there. ;) Happy new year, everyone!

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Mini Cupcakes for the Office

I was in a baking mood again this past weekend, and I decided to try out a recipe that I found in one of Martha Stewart's magazines. Looked like an easy vanilla cupcake recipe. It was my supervisor's birthday, and I thought what better occasion to bring cupcakes to the office than to celebrate a birthday? I went with a simple decoratation — mint green frosting with piped-on pink flowers.

©2006 Yuzu Eats

The cakes were a teensy bit dry, but they weren't too bad. I have yet to find a perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. These came out pretty, though! I like the fact that the cakes turned out quite uniform, with nice curved tops that sprung back when I pressed on 'em.

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Frosted Cupcakery

Today my family and I went to Belmont Shore to check out the cupcakes at the new Frosted Cupcakery. It's a really cute little bakery right off Second Street. I bought several cupcakes (because I couldn't decide on just one).

A sandwich board sign on Second Street

©2006 Yuzu Eats

Chocolate Banana Nut


Red Velvet


Royal White Chocolate


Chocolate Vanilla (still in the paper holder thingy)

All their cupcakes are priced at $2.75 each. You can buy one dozen for $28 (at a savings of $5). The frostings on these cupcakes are so yummy. Very creamy and just the right amount of sweetness. The cake can be a bit on the dry side (only slightly), but not so much that it detracts from the flavor of the cupcake. Overall, I'd recommend this cute bakery to anyone who's in the mood for a little sweet snack at a decent price. Plus, the owner is super nice 'n' friendly.

Frosted Cupcakery
195 Claremont Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 987-1080

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Kitty Loves Cupcakes

This is a rather silly post, but it's food-related...with Hello Kitty. :) I bought some really pretty cupcakes at the bakery last week, and before I ate them (no, not in one sitting...that would be overkill), I snapped some photos of a couple of my little Hello Kitty plush dolls with the cupcakes. Enjoy the pictures. Hopefully they'll put a smile on your face.

Is that a fancy boa Hello Kitty's wearing?


Lemon cupcake with raspberry frosting and white chocolate shavings


Vanilla cupcake with strawberry cream frosting

Kitty loves cuppycakes ♥

©2006 Yuzu Eats

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Easter Cupcakes

Yuzu is Watching The Wedding Date see related

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you've had a nice Sunday with your families. I wanted to bake something pretty for Easter, but ended up making regular fudge brownies instead. No pictures of them, though, because my family and I ate 'em all up (with vanilla ice cream and raspberries...yum!).

My mom and I went to the market to pick up some fruits and vegetables, and I saw these pretty cupcakes in the bakery section. Of course I had to buy them. They're so festive, aren't they?

©2006 Yuzu Eats

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Yellow Cupcakes

Yuzu is Listening To Sixteen Stone Bush see related

More cupcakes! I didn't decorate these too elaborately. Just piped on some yellow frosting with a star pastry tip. I could've topped them with something like fresh fruit, but...I didn't have any fruit in the house. Well, we have Fuji apples, but I don't think those would've fit well on these cakes. =P

©2006 Yuzu Eats

These photos aren't the best, but...it was late and I was tired. Plus my camera battery was running low. The cupcakes tasted good, though! I was able to snag one away from the batch before the rest of them were eaten up by my relatives.

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Mini Pink Cupcakes w/Rainbow Sprinkles

I hadn't baked cupcakes in over a month. I felt cupcake time was way overdue this weekend, so I baked seven dozen mini cakes to share with some family & friends who came over yesterday. They're miniature yellow cupcakes with strawberry frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

©2006 Yuzu Eats

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Lucky Puffs

Yuzu is Watching Garden State see related

I rarely eat Hostess Sno Balls®, but I sure do enjoy 'em when I do! For those who don't get these treats in their countries, Sno Balls are coconut- and marshmallow-covered chocolate cupcakes with cream filling. They normally come in white or pink, but check out these cool St. Patrick's Day-themed Sno Balls called Lucky Puffs.

©2006 Yuzu Eats

I forgot to take a picture of the cream filling before I scoffed it all down. Haha! I did a Google search and found that Hostess® also puts out some lavendar Sno Balls for Easter (to resemble Easter eggs, I suppose). If your grocery store or convenience store carries Hostess treats, look out for the cool-colored ones! The pink ones are still my favorite. :)

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I Ate a Cupcake on Valentine's Day

Yuzu is Watching Napoleon Dynamite see related

Yeah...there's really nothing new about me eating a cupcake, as I eat them weekly (sometimes daily). But I thought this cupcake I got yesterday on Valentine's Day was so cute, I decided to take pictures of it.

Check out the lopsided frosting - ha!

©2006 Yuzu Eats

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Cupcakes w/Milk Chocolate Frosting & Cherries

Yuzu is Watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants see related

My family's in the living room watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and I'm here in the kitchen...blogging about cupcakes. :) I haven't baked cupcakes in a while, so I figured I might as well make some tonight while the 'rents are here. These are butter yellow cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting.

Couldn't find anything to top the cupcakes except these huge cherries

©2006 Yuzu Eats

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Mini Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes

Nothing says "Christmas" like peppermint candy canes! I crushed a bunch of 'em and mixed some of it with vanilla frosting to top these chocolate cupcakes. Then I rolled the frosted cupcakes in the rest of the crushed candy canes to create the look of snow. There were 70 cupcakes altogether. Whew...exhausting!

©2005 Yuzu Eats

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Baby Shower Goodies

Yuzu is Listening To The Best Of Rent: Highlights From The Original Cast Album see related

I baked a bunch of goodies for a friend's baby shower this past weekend. Cupcakes galore! I like the way the mini ones came out the best (the first photo below).

Mini chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream frosting
©2005 Yuzu Eats

Chocolate cupcakes with blue vanilla buttercream frosting


Lemon cupcakes with white chocolate drizzles

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