June: a month of cakes and chocolate!

This month I was enrolled in a cake decorating class and also a chocolate class. I am also currently taking a vegetarian cooking class. I haven't done much cooking since I got a job as an intern at a bakery, until this week when I realized I'd stopped! So, I also made dinner on the 4th and have been working on creating one of my favorite lunches: Ochazuke with Hojicha green tea broth.

Cool spices mixed up for ginger cookies at work.

Freshly picked, local blueberries!

Practicing piping with butter :P

Red velvet in cake class! I learned at work that red velvet used to be just cocoa powder and the vinegar turned it slightly red.

Nowadays, most people use a lot of food coloring and expect a bright red from a red velvet cake. This recipe used vinegar and cocoa, but also some food coloring.

Chocolate feast!

Walnut fudge that I made in class.

Using my new piping skills at work! I know the flowers look sketchy, but it's actually a copy of the party plates we were given. They're supposed to look fake and kind of whimsical.

Cupcakes to match the cake. The girl was turning two and for her birthday, they were having a "ladybug release" party! SO cute! :D

The culmination of my cake decorating class. Vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream on an almond-infused yellow cake, with fresh strawberry filling and marzipan strawberries. My boyfriend and little bro helped me punch out the gum paste blossoms the night before so they could dry overnight. I filled the centers with yellow royal icing the next day in class.

Was lucky enough to draw "molten cakes" out of the hat at chocolate class! One of my favorite desserts (:

MMM Lava-ey

Got to draw this pug on a cake for the cake decorator to pipe at work!

Lychee at WHOLE FOODS.

Lunch: Pepper jack pupusas with fresh salsa and cabbage salad.

My newest experiment: Ochazuke a la Infusions in sebtown. They charge way too much for me to go there every day like I'd like to! They basically take quinoa, dried seaweed, veggies, tofu and green onions, mild miso and plum paste then pour this Hojicha (amaaaazing) green tea over it. Bon appetit!