The weekend hasn’t even begun yet and I’m exhausted already. Sigh. Just have a lot of stuff on my mind and a lot of orders to design + process. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong! But I’m just overwhelmed at the moment. I went to a Friday wedding yesterday… THAT is definitely something new! It was really fun

I have an Angry Birds cupcakes order tomorrow and thought I’d do something fun with these guys. Speech bubbles are so addictive because you can make them say anything.

Sadly to admit, these are my colleagues. For now, at least. The pigs are busy rolling in the mud. Or eating eggs, sunnyside up Will post my weekend orders next week. OH… I booked my flight to Asia yesterday. Any guesses where I’m off to? Have a wonderful weekend!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. It’s been a busy week. I have family visiting from LA, private cupcake workshops to host and business meetings. Busy, busy! Plus, it’s gorgeous outside I’ve been working out tons, logging all my daily kilometres (I set weekly goals for myself) and tonight I conquered combat which felt absolutely amazing. Lots of muay thai/kickboxing action to prepare me for my upcoming trip. We’ll be eating lots so I want to workout to justify all the food I’ll be consuming. Tee hee

I just finished a batch of girly ‘Under the Sea’ cupcake toppers so be expecting that post later this week. In other news, I bought RHUBARB for the first time and am excited to make something with it. I’m such a geek. AND I will be revealing something BIG… blow-your-mind-out-of-this-world-oh-my-gossssssh BIG. Yup, that big. But it’ll be in November.

In other unrelated news… I have a big mosquito bite on my leg and it’s ITCHY!

Can you believe it’s July already? WOW… where does the time go!? (There was an episode of REBA where Barbara Jean answered this question with, “But most importantly… where did it come from?” ) Thank goodness we have good weather today. I have a busy day planned… photo shoot in the afternoon, CN Tower for dinner and the beaches for fireworks at night. I feel so relaxed

Happy Canada Day, everyone! Hoping you have a safe and restful weekend

I was spring cleaning my basement and found a bunch of unique baking tools that I haven’t used in a while. A lot of them brought back sweet memories of when I first started on this journey of becoming a sugar artist, of when I was a poor university student who couldn’t afford these expensive toys and of a simpler time when I first started DREAMING. Now, I am living my dream and I love where I am. Looking back at these tools stir up fluttery butterflies in my stomach as I SMILE and reflect on how far I’ve come.

During this time, I’ve also become resourceful. How so, you ask?

I bought a Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream Sandwich Maker because I just couldn’t resist! It wasn’t that expensive but it was still from Williams Sonoma. It’s used to make ice cream sandwiches… like this

Aren’t these cute?? Brownies sandwiched with ice cream!
Doesn’t get much better than that OR DOES IT??


Oh, yes it does!! Piggy & Cow-shaped boil eggs!

I couldn’t sleep one morning so I made this up. Here’s how I did it!


Step 1 – Boil the eggs


Step 2 – Prepare your molds


Step 3 – Peel the egg and put it in the mold (you have to do it when the egg is hot – which was painful to my fingers! But it’s worth it!)


Step 4 – Assemble the mold and secure it with rubber bands for about 10-15 minutes (the ghetto way but it works—I’m thinking with the Asian side of my brain )


Step 5 – Reveal your whimsical-shaped egg!

I think it’s hilarious how the piggy-shaped egg is sitting atop a piggy-print plate.

There you have it! Enjoy


***Please excuse my low quality photos with poor lighting. I took these a lonnnnng time ago and I’d like to think my photography and food styling skills have gotten better. We’ll just see about that!

I recently had my portfolio designed by Krystal Anstey Design and I love it! She also designed the Sweet Escapes logo and concept (with the strawberry and the palm tree). It’s much easier to build a business when your concept is solid! Trust me

So I had fun putting together the order in which my portfolio pages were going to be… some may find it tedious but I loved it! I hope to make an online portfolio one day with a detailed description of each cake. Maybe one day!

One of my favourite activities to unwind from a stressful day is to browse the cookbook section at Chapters. My favourite location that has the widest selection of dessert cookbooks is the one at Bay/Bloor. I could sit there all day and flip through cookbooks! I especially love “collections” like Williams-Sonoma or Martha Stewart but my favourite collections are the ones I got in Hong Kong (yes, they’re in Chinese!). In 2007, I bought 22 cookbooks from HK and didn’t have luggage room to bring them all back so I did what any cookbook-obsessed girl would do–I left my clothes there Priorities!

Here’s a shot from a photography session I had at my condo from the same photographer who shot for Oliver Bonancini Restaurants, Sir Corp (Far Niente, Alice Fazooli’s … ) and done countless pieces of animal rights documentaries. Will post more of her work in future entries… Jo-Anne McArthur Photography

I’m a cookbook whore.

I’m still alive. Just buried in a mountain of cupcakes. I know I skipped Topper Tuesday and Whimsy Wednesday this week but I have a good reason! Um… I have a reason! I’m extremely busy with this weekend’s orders and when I post them all up, you’ll see why. I had a dozen cupcakes go out tonight (which was the easy part). Tomorrow, a DIY cupcake kit is due for pick-up, 50 cupcake favours will be picked up at 11pm for Psalms Accessories’ Spring/Summer launch @ LG Fashion week (exciting!), 2 dozen assorted cupcakes will be out on Friday (I never do 6 kinds of cupcakes in one batch but this is a special occasion for someone I love dearly), a HUGE cake (by ‘huge’ I mean, DETAILS-HUGE!) will be delivered in the morning, possibly another cake that day (not confirmed yet) and 150 mini cupcakes for twin babies on Sunday.

PLUS, I’m planning for 3 upcoming cupcake workshops @ Paintlounge for April/May.

See? Told you I’m busy! Anywhos… please excuse my unbloggingness. I will be back soon!

By the way, my hands smell like frosting. Good/bad?

I feel like such a nerd for saying that. I needed an excuse to make these super cute pie cupcake toppers! My favourite kind: sweet potato pie and key lime. Mmm mmmmm!!

Hi everyone! It’s been a busy few days to say the least. From preparing for the cupcake workshop this Wednesday to designing upcoming orders to putting advertising/sponsorship proposals together, I find it difficult to blog. Plus, I have to think of something witty to write

I decided to write about how Sweet Escapes came to be what it is today. It’s good to reflect sometimes

(1) I’ve been watching my parents bake cakes ever since I could remember and was fascinated how a few simple ingredients mixed together would produce such wonderfully delicious results.
(2) When I was 18, I baked my first batch of cupcakes, unsupervised. I didn’t even know what granulated sugar was (I had to call my mom at work to ask her). It was a dozen peanut butter cupcakes for my grandma and it was actually edible (hooray!). A few years later, I found out I was allergic to peanut butter.
(3) In 2006, I was asked to cater an entire dessert table at a Jack ‘n’ Jill for my uncle and aunt’s pre-wedding celebration.
(4) In the summer of 2006, I worked at a bakery making 50+ cheesecakes a day. That company completely screwed me over but later I realize it was a blessing in disguise. My boss was bi-polar and fired me because “the voices in her head told her so“… (??!!?)
(5) In September 2007, I was hired as a pastry assistant at a well-known bakery downtown and made hundreds and hundreds of desserts a day. The hours were brutal and being on my feet the whole day was exhausting.
(6) In April 2008, I became the marketing manager at one of the biggest restaurants in Canada. It was there that I learned all about calculating food cost, accounting for inventory and the business development side of running an establishment.
(7) In January-March 2010, I took three cake decorating classes (including my first-ever experience with fondant) and then I started making custom cakes full-time

I learned so much about myself in the past few years and one thing I know for sure is that I love being my own boss I am passionate and love what I do. Now that I reflect on my past experiences, I realize I had to go through what I did in order to get to where I am today. All I can say is that I am extremely blessed!

I took a mixed martial arts/combat class tonight and my back is killllling me. I am going to have fun tomorrow! Wish me luck. Happy Tuesday!