mango vanilla pastry cups.

I had this one dessert the other day. Its simple novelty stuck with me.

It looked like a teeny layered parfait. The very small glass was half-filled with vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with tiny cubes of cake, strawberry pie filling and then sweetened whipped cream.

I loved how perfect it seemed for summer. An upcoming BBQ was the perfect excuse to recreate them myself.

tres leches cake.

WHOLE, EVAPORATED, CONDENSED.

Whew, now that's out of the way - I read somewhere that tres leches cake (which means three milks' cake) was invented by canned milk companies in a ploy to increase their sales. Isn't that interesting? The recipe has really stuck around.

For good reason. The just perfectly viscous mixture of milks. The way the cake has a gradation of custardiness - the top retaining more of the original sponge texture, and the bottom also with a sponge texture, just that of one absolutely saturated with sweet milk. The lightly sweetened cushion of whipped cream on top.

I could go on and on. When you're deluged with work, emails, and just general stress, I highly recommend stopping whatever you're doing, remembering that chronic stress leads to cancer (I will have written & defended at least 35 pages on the matter by mid-April), and making this cake!

red wine chocolate cake.

I recently bought this wine - it's called Sweet Red and total college budget level (Carlo Rossi anyone?). Wine is definitely growing on me, especially red. I mean no big deal that I can't pair it with food or make any knowledgable comment about it whatsoever, but I'm slowly learning!

So this Sweet Red. I tried it, and was like, yeah it's totally sweet! Then I looked at the label and was like oh yeah. It's totally less than 10% alcohol. So it's sort of like juice. Right?

Ha ha. Kidding. But that's more sugar than I would want in an occasional drink with dinner. So I decided that it must be put into cake. It made perfect sense to me. And apparently to Deb from Smitten Kitchen, too, because that's where I found the recipe for this delicious cake.

parasite (in foot) cake.

Okay. Give me a chance to explain.

I'm in a Parasite Ecology class/lab. Recently, the class was assigned this creative extra project sort of thing that we could do for a chance to win a large fish to dissect in lab. Large fish = more parasites for my partner and I to isolate!

The result of my attempt? this cake.

I actually initially wanted to write a blogpost on this endeavour to validate the fact that I didn't just find a picture online - that I actually baked, shaped, and created this beauty (if that's what you'd like to call it).

blueberry roulade.

Classes start September 3, but I did so many new things already this school year - the FINAL year. I stayed up till 4am ... haven't done that since freshman year, probably. I climbed onto the roof of a building at night, and had a great view of the lights and landscape. I will have participated in 5 Dance Marathon events in the past week (RUDM 2014 LET'S GO).

mango coconut cream cake.

With school starting soon, lots of things need to get done. I went to the bicycle shop today to get my bike repaired (a tube in the tire needed to be replaced). I packed half my clothes. I hauled my MCAT books up from the basement, although I still haven't made a decision on whether a retake is happening or not.

I also went to the dentist to get my teeth checked before a semester of stress eating and potachos healthy eating. I also learned how to use those little floss picks. I've never flossed before though, and the past few times I have, my gums start bleeding immediately! It sucks! I know it's normal, but I'm so wary of pushing my flosser vertically down between my teeth.

I need to get over it. Just like I finally got over any doubts I had about chiffon cakes with this cake.

lamington bars.

As of late, I've been having difficulty keeping up with blogposts. Everyone is aware of the usual reasons - it's time-consuming, there are many other things going on, school will get busy soon, etc. So instead of proffering a ton of excuses & still continuing to blog extremely minimally, I have decided to find a working medium.

Instead of my usual rambling posts, I'm going to post mainly pictures & recipes. This will keep the the posts shorter, but still allow me to get everything to you.

Speaking of, let's get to these bars.

carrot cake whoopie pies.

I've been having the weirdest dreams. Usually, they're random, but lately they've been reflecting what goes on during my days ... and I have to say, it kind of worries me.

Two days ago, I was volunteering at a hospice. I chatted for a while with this 100 year old lady who was so so sweet and kept giving me life advice that was pretty applicable (except for the part where I have to marry my [nonexistent] boyfriend, have kids, and stay at home to raise them). I also chatted with and kept company to some people who unfortunately had dementia. That night, I dreamed I was losing my memory and had to be placed in a nursing home .. at age 21. 

Another night, I was reading a novel (House of God) that has to do with the psychological breakdown of a medical intern. I'm pre-med, mind you, and am not looking forward to the lifestyle detailed in the novel. You can imagine the depressing dreams I had that night. 

As a result, I decided I need to start focusing on more positive things, things I know make me happy. I would say carrot cake whoopie pies make me happy.

magic custard cake.

This blew people away when it first entered the online foodie world. The many variations (nut, chocolate, butterscotch) that immediately followed on foodgawker showed that I was clearly not the only one intrigued by this cake.

As a side note, it's been forever since I last blogged. I had a lot going on for a while .. and now it's summer break ("break") and I have a little more time & a lot more ridiculous thoughts, so it's appropos to gradually re-enter this little blog I guess I've created for myself + whoever else may be interested.

Nothing has really changed .. I did get my interest in baking back! It'd gone away for an alarmingly long while as exams and quick meals of roasted veggies dominated my life.

hummingbird cake: birthday edition.

(Pictures coming soon ... actually that's a lie, we finished the cake off yesterday. Oops, sorry!)

My birthday was in January. My roommates made me a cake ... it's tradition, we've talked about this.

First we went out to Jose Tejas for a belated birthday dinner. The wait was pretty long, as they don't take reservations (why), but it was soo worth it. Their food? Very good. I recommend the swordfish tacos veracruz, with fresh mango salsa and grilled avocado. I also recommend at least one margarita, preferably strawberry. Delicious and dangerous if taken on an empty stomach. 

The very fun night ended with us chilling till late, talking and joking around while picking out of this cake, in traditional fashion. 

single serving, guilt-free molten lava cake.

Have you ever had those mornings where you wake up super early, for seemingly no reason?

You're dreaming and then suddenly, you just drift into awakedness. You don't want to open your eyes for fear of losing your chance of falling back asleep, so you keep your eyes squeezed shut and try to think of the most boring things ever .. like taxes and school.

But eventually, you can't take the suspense anymore, because really, what time is it anyway? Is it acceptably late enough to wake up yet? So you open your eyes.

And it's pitch black darkness. You hear your dad in the shower, and you know your dad wakes up at 5:30am everyday. Damn it.

cornmeal buttermilk cake + chocolate frosting.

Haha.

That's my response to life right now. Junior year started a week ago, and I just realized I have zero expectations for the year. Initially that seemed kinda sucky.

But then I recalled a conversation I had too many times with too many people last year about how unspontaneous and boring our lives had become. I felt like an old person who had nothing to look forward to in life.

So maybe this unpredictable-ness is a good thing!

orange cornmeal cake + blueberry compote.

Hello.

It's been a while ... I think I'm losing my mind.

For one, I can't type. This will not come in handy during the essay portion of the MCAT.

For two, and this is even more trauma-inducing, I'm losing the deftness I had at baking. As in .. I used to do simple things really quickly- could make four wet mixtures and two dry without messing anything up, and I could improvise pretty easily. Now?

citrus carrot cake + dulce de leche cream cheese frosting.

I have a carrot cake recipe I swear by.

This isn't it. One day, I promise I'll put it up, but for now, I wanted to try something a little different - this citrus carrot cake!

There were oranges and carrots in the fridge. I could've left them there to be eaten plain or, in the carrot's case, be made into muthia or grated into a wrap .. but cake is so good. And do you ever just do things because you feel like it?

coconut cream pie cupcakes.

It's summer.

Okay, well ignore the rain that's been the backdrop of the past couple days.

But in general, it's hot. Tan lines come very easily. Tinted moisturizer is used in lieu of heavy foundation. Shorts are established as an outfit staple, and ice cream becomes a daily indulgence.

Don't you also feel like eating lots of tropical & refreshing things? Like papaya? And watermelon? And acai juice? Mmmm. These coconut cupcakes are an example of a perfect summer dessert.

vanilla baked alaska with browned butter cake.

My brother's been asking for baked alaska for ... ever. Probably a year. Every time I would come home from college, he would ask where it was. One late afternoon, after a long day of indulging in old video games, I decided to just make it.

There are three components to the entremet - a base of cake (traditionally sponge, but more commonly pound cake), the ice cream, and meringue. I forewent the traditional domed shape. I found my individual assembly style cuter, albeit slightly more difficult.

It's one of those, the sum is greater than the parts, things. It's totally worth the effort.

layered chocolate birthday cake.

I just backed up my computer. I feel so accomplished .. for two reasons. One, it's break. Almost everything qualifies as productive. Fix my hair? Awesome. Change my clothes? Go me. Leave the house? Woah I'm wild! And will need to sleep by 10pm to compensate for the exhausting day I had.

Secondly, I feel like backing up a computer is something that's always advised to do, and no one really does it.

I'm trying to do things I should be doing more. Like backing up my data. Not eating PBJ's everyday. Exercising. Stimulating my brain. Keeping up with responsibilities. All these things juxtapose what I said earlier, my idealized vision of break.

But long term .. they'll help me, right?

chocolate cake + coffee buttercream.

It's April 28. The year of the Dragon. As classes wind down, the apathy rises.

Sounds so dramatic, right? Reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe. He was quite the depressed individual .. his work was so macabre. Have you seen the commercials for the movie based on his short stories? I can't watch the trailers. Too creepy.

But anyway. The amount of work I need to do and the time I'm actually spending working ... theoretically should be a direct relationship (with a correlation coefficient of 1, if you want to get precise) but that's not working out so well. The number of times I bake does go up, though!

cookie dough stuffed chocolate cupcakes, with cookie dough frosting.

I can't believe it's Tuesday! This week was supposed to be crazy filled with work. I haven't yet done said work ... which is probably an issue.

I did make these beautiful cupcakes as promised on Monday night, however.

birthday cake for two.

Oh Monday. Every week, I wake up to you, so determined that the day will be good, a strong start to the rest of the week. And every week, without fail, I end the day exhausted. tired. not in the mood to yoga & workout, but I usually do anyway.

Well I give in this week, okay? My day started at 6:40. I put on winged eyeliner despite the way it made my sleepy eyes burn. I went to all my classes despite my intentions of skipping every single one. See this bear cake? (Third one down. Below the creepy as hell Cookie Puss.) A friend of mine and I ate it all. Including the nose, which consisted purely of crunchy bits ... so good. I went to Rutgers Club with Andrea. I ate massive amounts of German Chocolate Cake. I ate buttery pecan bars. I ate two rainbow cookies. After all that, I skipped yoga & the usual hourly gym session I have. I walked back to my dorm from Sonny Werbs instead, to digest ... hair curly & down. plus incredibly windy. equals bad. I later went to Shoprite to find that they did not have challah. #upsetting. I bought birthday Oreos and ate one instead to continue with the theme of fatass for the day. It was so sweet.

How was my Monday? Long. So long.

That's what she said. But I wouldn't end on a bad note. Complaining sucks (hopefully the above narrative was at least slightly amusing. funny how one's pain is another's amusement, right? whatever works.), so I am here to tell you how my Monday turned up.