Ah, How Sweet Are We!

There’s a bun in the oven!

Loriann — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:47:39 +0000

It’s true. I have a bun in the oven. Yes, my very own. This post is probably not a surprise to loved ones, but it may be to my loyal blog readers. So, surprise!

After some thought, I decided I wanted to make this a memorable time — emotionally, spiritually — and well, a flat-out tasty time. Pregnant women need nourishment, right?

I pondered ways I could make this journey touching. Daily journal entries about how I’m feeling and looking? Eh, no thanks. Clay sculpture of my growing belly? No one wants to see that. But then it dawned on me that I could include the baby into my passion for baking. Voila!

We shall begin with peach. The size of the popular fruit marks the approximate dimensions of my little bun. Ah, How Sweet is that?

Each week I plan to journal a short snippet on the highs and lows of the bun and me. The feature will include a unique cupcake concoction (READ: Special of the Week!) that includes a fruit (or vegetable!) that matches the size of our growing baby. Even better, I plan to post fun pictures along the way of this venture in the kitchen. I promise it will get even more interesting say at Week 20?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on cupcake flavors. Next in line are fig and lime. I’m licking my fingers already. Oh, wait. Those were Doritos.

“…you’re just like a pill…”

Loriann — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:05:28 +0000

When musical sensation Pink had her gall bladder removed last week, her friends and colleagues all scurried to ease her pain and lift her spirits. That being said, who doesn’t love a cupcake? Especially when you are faced with what may be an uncomfortable recovery process.

Pink’s nail technician, Kimmie Kyees is adamant about making her clients feel comfortable and attests to having them surrounded by their favorite things while she works on their digits. Never missing a beat, Kimmie decided to order tasty cupcakes to make Pink feel just a little bit better while getting perfectly polished.

Ah, How Sweet jumped to action and began working on a get well-themed collection of yummy confections that included artful designs of medication pills, medical devices, and all other things medicinal. The motif even embraced one of her famous songs “Just Like a Pill” and the catchy chorus we’ve all sang: “And I swear you’re just like a
pill/’Stead of makin’ me better, you keep makin’ me ill…” which Herick thought was quite clever.

Thank you to Kimmie for the special order and thank you Pink for sharing your cupcakes on your Instagram and Twitter handles. We have been blessed with heavy traffic since you displayed your graciousness and we are simply overcome with happiness.

Get well soon, Pink!

Cupcakes were tickled pink with fondant pills, Band-Aids, stethoscopes, and Red Cross heart logos. Cake was a mimosa flavor. Yum!

Ah, How Sweet is the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach!

Loriann — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:38:07 +0000

Since last Thursday, the Ah, How Sweet team has been busy working with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Celebrating its 38th year of racing in Long Beach, the exhilarating sports event brings tens of thousands of fans and newcomers to the raceways and its surrounding area. Thursday kicked off the celebration with Thunder Thursday where festivities were held along Pine Ave.

I serve as the Event Producer for Tecate Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and worked very hard at delivering a stellar finals evening that consisted of 18 stunning women that competed in winning the sought-after crown. All the finalists were offered our baked sweets and many other prizes from generous associate sponsors, which included custom swimwear from Fede and hair and makeup application from Beauty & Charm Artistry.

We also baked for some of the drivers and the corporate sponsor party as well. What a treat, indeed! Have you seen those drivers? The theme focused on the representation of the 38th year of Long Beach racing and all the excitement that surrounds it. Be on the lookout for our winner, Stephani Costanza, the 2012 Tecate Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach! She will be posing with some scrumptious cupcakes prepared by yours truly, a photoshoot with Speedzone, a photoshoot and trading card series with Bench Warmer, and much more. She’s beautiful, sweet, successful, and we wish her luck in all her endeavors this year! We also welcome Adriana Davalos, 1st Runner-Up and Kristina Morrison, 2nd Runner-Up to the family. We all had a fabulous weekend together laughing (and running) from one event to the next. The Celebrity Race is always a hit and included favorites like Jillian Barberie-Reynolds, Eddie Cibrian, Brody Jenner, Adrien Brody, and the winner – Adam Corolla.

Check out all our pictures on the official Facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/missgrandprix

Ah, How Sweet is Cupcake Wars!

Loriann — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:09:51 +0000

Aside from all of today’s April’s foolishness, there is something that I am incredibly grateful for this Palm Sunday. I had the honor of assisting my dear friend Jacky of Jac’s Cakes on an episode of the much-talked-about Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. It aired this evening and I’m still beaming with gratitude.

The “war” included four cupcake bakers vying for a chance to showcase their confections at a VIP party for the internet sensation FunnyOrDie.com. We made a banana cake with parsley bits and also included figs soaked in rich red wine. A smooth layer of cream cheese frosting infused with Gouda cheese topped each cupcake, garnished with a light sprinkling of cheese puffs.

Though we were eliminated in the first round, Jacky and I still have grins plastered on our faces solely from the flattery of being selected to participate on a Food Network television show! Who knew being asked to bake with ingredient choices like: banana, hot dog, spray cheese, Gouda, Fluffernutter, rhubarb, and cheese puffs could be so exhilarating. Talk about funny or die!

It was an amazing experience – and that’s no joke!

Check out Jacky and I late-night tonight with the episode airing again at midnight! Or check your local listings for show times all this week and let us know what you think.
Cheers!

Wanted: Cowgirls and Denim

Loriann — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:52:08 +0000

“A pile of old jeans and you want the pockets torn out?” My daughter Natalia looked at me like she saw a ghost. I had a vision, and I’m sharing it with you. As I explained the vision we tore pockets out before heading over to designer Cecilia Zavala’s house so she could “sew together” my vision and make it whole. For the last three years we’ve been lucky enough to celebrate Samantha’s birthdays with her, well, in the form of a cake or two. This year she had high hopes for a festive themed eighth birthday and we made it happen! From her photo shoot to her invitation, not one pocket went unfinished. Although I’d love to be wordy and brag about how cute I think this came out I think it’s better left unsaid and for you to see in photos. For more, saddle up and mosey on over to our Facebook page! First things first before you peek, her darling denim skirt cake!

UPTOWN Magazine presents the 20th anniversary of Boomerang

Loriann — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:07:22 +0000

And Oscar weekend continued…

We were asked to create a display to capture the essence of one of UPTOWN Magazine’s pre-Oscar party sponsors, Anguilla, while maintaining the theme of the evening which captured the awards and the 20th anniversary of Boomerang starring Eddie Murphy. We immediately called our Superman, Chris Siddens, who makes just about anything and everything you’ve seen on television and in print come to life. He had 24 hours to make this happen and boy, did he. We were greeted by a stunning venue, Unici Casa, as we skipped down the red carpet with stanchions, gobo lights and cupcakes in tow. Not far behind us was our red carpet model Alyssa Meeks, former Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. She took photos with guests and gifted cupcakes throughout the evening. The Anguilla Experience delighted guests as DJ D-Nice delivered the message that the celeb destination island would be gifting a trip or two for the lucky winners.

Guests sipped on Grey Goose signature crafted cocktails: The Classic Martini, La Poire Velvet Rope, St. Tropez and L’Orange Mogul. We provided a variety of flavors for the three tiered red carpet stand decorated in glittered buttercream and sharp looking sugary tuxedos. Guests included Tracee Ellis Ross, Tisha Campbell-Martin, DJ D-Nice, Robert Townsend, Marvet Britto, Fonzworth Bentley and Faune Chambers. The Ah, How Sweet! moment was the goodnight hug from Daniel Sunjata, featured in the January print issue of UPTOWN looking pretty “sweet” in his fashion spread!

Joy The Baker out of the kitchen and at Vroman’s!

Loriann — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:23:20 +0000

I love so many things about Joy The Baker. Then it’s here, her cookbook, in Pasadena? Could it be true? Almost one hundred new recipes NOT on her totally awesome witty blog? Immediately I ran to of course, post about it on Facebook. Then the list began. Text Alysia (my other baker friend who loves whiskey, cats and Joy)? Check. Charge the iPhone since I forgot my camera? Check. Hall pass, ATM card and no last minute evening orders to fulfill? Check, check, check! Off we were, the first two in line, to meet the beautiful and normal and welcoming Joy.

As soon as we walked in we grabbed our copies (luckily since the store had sooo many guests they SOLD OUT!) and were greeted by a cute photographer from Minted Magazine. She asked if we’d like our photos taken. No makeup or not, who cared? Not us. Pose, pose, Tweet, pose…

We quickly took our seats and watched the equally eager fans pile in both young and old alike. Surrounded by nervous giggles and conversations about her letters to her future husband and love for her cat we giggled ourselves and waited patiently. The highlight was seeing a nervous, beaming baker walk out to see that fans spilled out of the chairs and down the stairway.

I won’t ruin the tastefully perfected pages for you but will highly suggest you run and pick up a copy so you too, can make avocado bundt cake and a peanut butter and jam milkshake. If you haven’t yet discovered her, you may follow her on Twitter at @joythebaker and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/joythebaker

2012 Academy Awards Talent Gifting

Loriann — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:16:02 +0000

We are delighted to have been asked to participate in the 2012 Academy Awards Talent Gifting Suite at the historic Avalon Hollywood Theater alongside SpeedZone. The gifting event took place Saturday, February 25 and it was an all day, celeb-studded affair. This is one of the most prominent award ceremonies to take place and what better place to be than amongst industry leaders, directors, costume designers, agents and professionals! A highlight for us was running into Temara Melek (actor, singer and dancer) as we just sang happy birthday alongside her for Connor Cruise’s 17th!

The first time we were asked to work with Speedzone was for Roshon Fegan’s CD release and birthday party. They brought us back for more as we gifted attendees with free racing passes and personalized boxed cupcakes with the signature logo and our Ah, How Sweet! doll dressed in her red carpet best to accept her Academy Award! We met other lucky gifters like Perfect vodka, The Delectable Cake Ball Company and Teeki (ah-mazing leggings, swimwear and panties made from recyclable bottles!) Oh! How could we forget, our favorite gift we received was the Marshmallow Fun Company‘s Double Barrel Shooter. Every baker should be armed with one of these bad boys.

Special thanks to Melissa Luna, Gabriel Cabrera, and Herick Serna for all their help in promotion, box folding, custom logo designing and just being awesome. Ah, How Sweet! are our photos that tell their very own story of this incredible experience:

Ah, How Sweet is Estelle and All Of Me at the Grammy’s!

Loriann — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:18:26 +0000

Ah, How Sweet! was invited to bake for Estelle’s All of Me Foundation. The Grammy-award-winning songstress created and founded the organization in an effort to expand young people’s knowledge of real-life work experience. The foundation challenges teens by providing activities that will encourage them to make thoughtful decisions and expose them to a variety of cultural backgrounds. This year, a style and beauty pre-Grammy suite was created at the luxurious W Residences in Hollywood. Guests sipped on beverages sponsored by Cîroc vodka and noshed on specially created cupcakes of Red Velvet and French Vanilla embellished with the All of Me Foundation logo.

We were asked to complement the color scheme of the suite, so we chose our signature three-tiered cake stand in a snowy white finish to hold the confections. Rows were garnished with garnet and crème brulee-colored roses and additional sugar cookie treats. Natasha Bedingfield, Estelle, and Kim Porter were seen enjoying yummy treats like Wonderful Pistachios and scooping up hair products gratis from Viviscal, but not before posing with us for the media! On our way out, we were gifted with Monster high-definition Earth, Wind, and Fire headphones and complimentary beauty products. View more fabulous images on our Facebook page.

We are blessed with this memorable experience and can’t wait to come back next year! Special thanks to Todd Krim of Give Back Hollywood and Marvet Britto! http://www.givebackhollywood.com/

Red Velvet behind the ropes for the Radio Rebel movie premiere!

Loriann — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:01:19 +0000

Wednesday night was the premiere of “Radio Rebel” starring Debby Ryan and we were asked to bake up the official Red Velvet cake! The cast premiered their movie with fans, family and friends at Universal CityWalk followed by an after party at Jillian’s!

Debby was joined on the carpet by her co-stars including Adam DiMarco, Merritt Patterson, and Atticus Mitchell, as well as her “Jessie” co-stars Cameron Boyce, Peyton List, Karan Brar, Skai Jackson, Kevin Chamberlin, and Chris Galya.

Also attending the premiere were stars like Ashley Argota, Gregg Sulkin, Bella Thorne, Savannah Jayde, Taylor Spreitler, Billy Unger, Spencer Boldman, Kelli Berglund, Booboo Stewart, Jake Short, Olivia Holt, Dylan Riley Snyder, Coco Jones, and Doug Brochu.

Fans lined up for snapshots of Debby and her cast for cake cutting and congratulations. The event was sponsored by Just Dance 3 as guests snacked on ice cream and pizza while having autographs signed and receiving complimentary soundtracks. On our way out we were interviewed by CelebSecrets4U’s sweet Giulliana.

“Radio Rebel” premieres tonight, February 17, at 8pm on Disney Channel.

Follow our friends on Facebook for more photos and more sweet details!:

http://www.facebook.com/WhoIsRadioRebel and http://www.facebook.com/CelebSecrets4U