"Hostess" Babycakes

due to a fire on tuesday, there are power outages in Copley, so my neighbor & i've been work'n/rot'n @ home the past 2 days. hehe. so we took walks around the block, separately. then Eman & Snickers decided to grab cupcakes from Babycakes, in which neither of us have try'd.

Eman got 2 "Hostess" cupcakes, coincidentally: a chocolate one & a "Twinkies" one. they were both yummy! i loved how airy the frosting was on the "Twinkies" one & how dark & moist the chocolate one was. guess we'll be "regulars" soon enough! :)

Spring Festival in Boston :)

SO EXCITED ABOUT THE SPRING FESTIVAL in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Kyoto's gift of Sakura Cherry Blossom Trees to Washington DC! :)

The event is taking place 2 days before we fly to Asia. WOOHOO!!! :)

more info here: http://japanfestivalboston.org/

Happy Girl's Day! 祝ひな祭り!

March 3rd is Girl's Day in Japan. it's a day when families celebrate their daughters' youth & pray for their health & happiness. traditionally, when a baby girl is born, she is gift'd with a set of ひな人形 Hina Dolls. i bought myself a non-traditional set last year, featuring none other but Hello Kitty & her beau Dear Daniel :) 

i took the excuse of Girl's Day to bake a Hinamatsuri-themed cake. it was too exciting to miss out baking something pink, white & green! i remember all the beautiful Hinamatsuri cakes i saw in Japan when i was there in 2007 & 2010. the pink, white & green ones were the most memorable cos the colors were wayyyyy too pretty to miss! of course, i couldn't miss the "sparkling" strawberry cakes, Matcha green tea everything & all the Mont Blanc chestnut desserts!!! MMMMMMM!!! DROOL'n just think'n about them. can't wait to go back to Japan!!! SOOOOOOO look forward to pig'n out @ Sweets Paradise!!! (will write a post for this!)

back to my Hinamatsuri cake. I baked a souffle sponge from Okashi, the moistest sponge ever! i half'd the batter, add'd green tea to half & dehydrated strawberry powder & pink food coloring to the other half. the cakes were sandwich'd with strawberries & whip'd cream. for the peach tree, i piped the tree w/ melt'd chocolate, then dot'd the branches with pink whip'd cream to resemble peach blossoms :)