Flower Petals Orange Cake

My fascination of cooking with flowers continues when I saw these edible flowers on the vegetables section in Fairway yesterday. Since they are quite rare; I immediately bought 3 packages. They were quite inexpensive for only USD 2.99 per package.

I adapted the recipe from a book called Cooking With Flowers by Miche Bacher of Mali B Sweets (here).

And I was not disappointed! It taste so fruity and yes, orange! The flower petals did not affect the taste of the cake at all, it just adds a hint of peppery and nutty or earthy taste to it.  I would definitely make this cake again for a fun girl party one day!

I think this cake looks adorable. Don't you think?

 

::Recipe::

Flower Orange Cake

~ 3 cups sugar

Zest and juice of 1 orange (I added grapefuit juice too)

~ 4-1/2 cups cake flour

~ 1 tsp baking soda

~ 1/4 tsp salt

~ 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

~ 9 eggs

~ 1-1/2 cups full-fat Greek Yogurt

~ 1/2 cup calendula or other edible flower petals (from about 25 flowers) plus extra to decorate

Note: Mine was not calendula. I did not know their names are. They came in a small package with different flowers inside.

~ Flower frosting.

*Use petals of a single color or try any mix of colors that you like.

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg. Line the bottom of three 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and coat them with nonstick spray.

2. Whip sugar and zest in a food processor for 2 to 30 seconds, or until it releases a sweet orange aroma.

3. Stir flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and orange sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

Don't skimp on sifting. It really does matter, especially for cakes and other tender baked goods. Flour gets compacted while sitting in the counter waiting for you to use it, so it needs a bit of fluffing before measuring. If you don't sift, the same volume of flour will weigh a lot more and cause your cake to be heavier and denser.

4. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl so the mixture is smooth. Reduce speed to low and add half the flour mixture; then mix in yogurt and orange juice. Beat in the remaining flour mixture and flower petals.

5. Distribute batter among the pans and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a metal tester comes out clean. Let cakes cool to room temperature in pans and then turn them out and flip them upright. Let them cool for at least 1 hour and up to over night; after an hour, tightly cover each layer in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until ready to frost.

6. Mark the lowest spot in the top of the first cake layer. With a serrated knife, use a slow sawing motion and circle around the cake, cutting off the uneven top.  Repeat with remaining layers.

7. Place the first layer cut-side down on your serving dish. Spread frosting on top with an offset spatula or a good flexible spatula. Top with another upside-down layer pf cake and repeat the process twice more. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.

You  might need to put a layer of crumb coat; put only a thing layer around the cake and refrigerate up to an hour. Take it out and finish frosting.

8. Decorate with flower petals of your choice.

Note: It is always better to bake cake and take out from the oven 5 to 10 minutes less than what the recipe instruction. My experienced in the past I always ended up with a dry cake. When this is happened my rescue to make the cake moist again is and for this cake: mix orange juice and (I happened to have grape fruit) juice. Pour 1 or 2 tbsp of liquor of your choice mine is rum) then poke the cake on the top and pour the fruit juice mix. It will help to moisten the cake.

Flower Frosting

~ 1 package cream cheese

~ 1 cup confectioners' sugar

~ 2 tbsp milk

~ 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

~ 1/2 to 1 cup flower petals

Beat all ingredients in a mixer until there is no lumps.

~~oo00oo~~

Good luck Everyone!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

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My Romantic Home Made Tutu Skirt

To be honest I am a little shy to show you this post.

Sometimes when you reached a certain age; things are not so sure as it used to be. But I wanted to show the semi tutu skirt that I created. So here we go.....!

I was always love fashion since young age and lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. And I still do. It is hard not to when you live in the most fashionable city in the world like New York right?. But I must admit that my tone of fashion has calmed down a little. I prefer wearing a classic and elegant pieces. Something easy to mix and match; usually pants, jeans, top, blazer and simple button down shirt.

I think older woman can still be fashionable and stylish looking as long as it goes with her age and shape of body as well. I always been a small person. And I do not gain a lot of weight since I was in my 20s or 30s. Although it changed a little {I can't avoid this, unfortunately! Aren't we all!}

Well, as  a Pinterest addict; I have what I called 'Fashion Inspiration' board {here}. On the board I have several 'tutu skirt' tutorials. I love the look of these gorgeous ladies in their tutu skirts. So I went on a quest to create a tutu skirt on my own. Actually, my mother gave me her engagement dress that similar to these tutu skirts. It was made out of a tulle & tafetta. But it was a long time a go. And I did not know what has happened to that dress.I wish I had kept it because from what I remember it was beautiful.

Anyway, I struggled  following the tutorial (here). In the end I did not follow the tutorial. My mother has thought me how to make a simple pencil skirt many years a go. So I still remember although I have stopped making skirt for quite some time now. And that was how I made this skirt.

This skirt is not perfect as mentioned earlier it has been a long time since I sewn a skirt.  I will make a perfect one in the future. I am planning to make different colors of tulle tutu skirts next time. I think they are fun to wear to any occasion.

Complete tutorial on how I made this 'tutu skirt', here!

Do you see the beaded clutch on the left? It's a DIY beaded vintage clutch by me. I will post about it sometime in the future.

As you can see; I am not good when it comes to photograph people. I need a lesson from a professional on this area. I asked Steven my husband to help shoot me. But even he doesn't know about photography at all. So as I was posing I also thought him  on how to use the camera at the same time. That particular day was super hot and I was melting and sweat dripping down from the top of my head down to my cheek. It was not fun at all. Anyways, we did it so fast and eager to go home and got out from the out door heat. 

And oh, this is Steven's cousin's home at West Hampton, New York. They were not home when we did the shooting. With their permission we were only used the guest house for me to change and the back yard where the swimming pool is to do the shoot.


I found these feathers on the ground when we were taking these photos. I am into bird's feathers these days.

I hope you are having a fantastic week so far.

Thank you for stopping by!

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The Life of The Party

Tutu Skirt {DIY & Tutorial}

Tutu skirt is so feminine, romantic and easy to make. Not to mention that tulle fabric is quite inexpensive too! And comes in many colors. Can't wait to make another one in the future. I think the most inexpensive one are the one from Jo Ann Fabrics. I like wearing this skirt with chambray top, t-shirt, plain black shirt, or sequin top. It is fun!

I show some of my findings in Pinterest below.

Huhhh!! Is that me? How did I get there!

Source: Pinterest

I apologize if my drawing isn't clear. I did not take any pictures of the actual fabric except when it was finished. I tried my best to draw all the step by step. Hope it will help.

1. Do below with all of your fabrics; lining and tulle skirt layers.

Note; I think it would be prettier if the tulle skirts are in 4 layers. Mine on the picture are 3 plus lining. It looks prettier that way. You want it to be full and look like ballerina skirt. Most tutorial do not mention this. It all depends on how much gathered you want around the waist. I do not want a lot of gather but only a little.

2. Now let's talk about 'the waist area'. As you can see I put white dots around the waist on below diagram. If you need more gathered you need to cut bigger waist and using your machine creates a gathered by loosing the stitches and pull the thread. The bigger the opening the more is the gathering. Again I do not want puffy skirt. So I cut the circular like this; Your waist + half of your waist. It means if your waist size is 28 + 14 =42". This is the opening you need to do from the very beginning. Or if you want to have a slight gathering; your waist (28") + 1/4 waist = 35" is your opening for waist. It's all up to you. If you do not want to have a gather you just need to add a few inches to join layer of skirts. BUT, please be very careful as you cut larger circle for the opening of your waist; the skirt will be shorter too! So you need to figure out and do the math yourself between THE LENGTH OF YOUR SKIRT and THE WAIST OPENING + GATHER OR NOT and also THE WIDTH of the tulle fabric.

Now let's talk about the "cut on the back  area" as below diagram. The cut is to insert the zipper but on lining only. I will show you how later.

3. Line up on top another all the 3 or 4 skirts with lining while you loosen up the stitch of your sewing machine and sew about 1" down from the edge of waist. Then pull the string so it will create gather and shorten the length of the waist to your waist size. Leave for the lining about 1" of each side to close and to attach zipper.

4. Prepare for elastic waist. Cut fabric the size of your waist let' say 28 + 4 by 10" to cover and attach hooks. 

With the cover of elastic facing down; sew around the waist then put the elastic just on the stitches facing up. Cover the elastic band and bring it down on the inside of the skirt on the waist line. Pin the whole waist line with elastic and cover fabric. This will help to keep the elastic in place when sewing it again around the waist line again.

Basically it will look like this (below)

5. Join and sew lining together and attach zipper. Tulle layers do not have to be sewn in together. (as picture below) Then attach hook in the back of elastic to fasten the waist band of the skirt.And last sew the hem of bottom of lining.

 

Good luck Everyone!

Happy sewing!

Pretty Cylindrical 'Pin Cushion' Container {DIY}

These pretty cylindrical Pin Cushion Containers are super easy and fun to make. They are  perfect gifts for mother, sister, daughter or teacher who loves sewing.

The nice thing about these pin cushions are that they can also be a storage to put in stuff for sewing. And you can make the size you like as well.

Complete tutorial for this Pin Cushion Container is here.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 Piggy in Polka Dots 
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DIY Cilindrical 'Pin Cushion' Container Tutorial

What you need:

1. For the side of the cylindrical box.

Determine the height and the radius of your cylindrical box. 

2.Using removable poster tape join the edge together and cover with brown paper.

3. Trace the circle on one end of the body of box

4. Cut about 2/16 inches outside of the tracing. Apply glue on the tracing and on the bottom of one end of box. Join them and hold them down together until they stick.

1. The bottom is now stick to the cylindrical body of box.

2. Trim the excess bottom part of box. 

3. Cut 1-1/4" of stripe brown paper long enough to cover the joining between the body and bottom part of box.

 4. Tape the poster removable tape on the both side (top and bottom) leave out about 2/16" in the middle.

1. Using a scissor cut zig zag shapes on both sides

2. Strip cover of tape on one end and glue it to the side of cylindrical. Line the 2/16" paper (the part without removable tape) to the edge bottom.

3. Remove the top part of zig zag strip and push it down to the circle bottom of cylindrical box.

4. To make the cover (top part of the box); determine the height of cover (has to be shorter than the body of box) and using your hand wrap around the body of box but leave about 2/16" bigger so it can slide down and close the box.

1. Repeat the whole process again for the top or cover box. But the top has to be shorter than the body in height.

2. Now you have a complete cylindrical box with cover

3. Take fabric of your choice and cut to the size of the side body of box. Giving 3/4 inches for top and bottom.

4. Put the fabric in a packaging box and spray with glue.

Wrap the side of box and cut zig zag shape on both excess of fabric. And fold the excess zig zag edge to the bottom and inside the top of box.

1. Trace fabric for the bottom part of box. Cut circular tracing fabric and leave 1/4" extra.

2. Inside packaging box spray circular fabric with spray glue

3. Glue it to the bottom part of box and cut off extra fabric.

Note: you can do the bottom part first then do the fabric wrap on the side of the cylindrical box. To get a clean edge.

1. Cover for the top part of cylindrical box

Take a good size of fabric and cut into square shape.

2 & 3. Take a good amount of Poly Fill for the cushion and place it on the top of cover box

4. Put the fabric on the top of Poly Fill

1. Using glue gun; glue one corner of fabric to the side the top box

2. Pulling and gluing the opposite corner of fabric to the top side cover box

Do it with all corners of fabric and glue it to the side top of cover box.

3. Cover the side of the top box with fabric of your choice

4. Then using glue gun; decorate the side of top box with trimmings.

This cylindrical container pin cushion is very easy and fun to create. You can use different fabrics with different trimmings and embellishments. Pretty to use for your own and as a gift.

Good luck Everyone!

Sea Shells, Skeleton Key & The Secret

 From time to time, I pick up this book called "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. {here} It help motivates me, lift my mood up, and inspiring in any aspect of what I am doing. It help connect my inner self which sometimes lost and makes me happy again.

"if you have any lack, if you are prey to poverty or disease, it is because you do not believe or do not understand the power that is yours, it is not a question of the Universal giving to you.  it offers everything to everyone - there is no partiality."

~ Robert Collier ~

Sources: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (here)

 

 "everything that you want - all the joy, love, abundance, prosperity, bliss - it's there, ready for you to grab a hold of it. and you've got to get hungry for it. you've got to be intentional. and when you become intentional and on fire for what you want, the universe will delivery every single thing that you've been wanting. recognize the beautiful and wonderful things around you, and bless and praise them. and on the other side, the things that aren't currently working the way you want them to work, don't spend your energy faulting or complaining. embrace everything that you want so you can get more of it."

~Lisa Nichols~

Sources: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

"the principle which gives the thought the dynamic power to correlate with its object, and therefore to master every adverse human experieence, is the law of attraction, which is another name for love. this is an eternal and fundamental principle inherent in all things, in every system of philosophy, in every religion and in every science. there is no getting away from the law of love. it is feeling that imparts vitality to thought. feeling is desire and desire is love. thought impregnated with love becomes invincible.

~Charles Haanel~

Sources: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

"what cvan you do right now to begin to turn your life around? the very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for. this shifts your energy and starts to shift your thinking. whereas before this exercise you might be focusing on what you don't have, your complaints, and your problems, you go in a different direction when you do this exercise. you start to be grateful for all the things that you feel good about."

~Dr. Joe Vitale~

Sources: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

"if you don't understand the law that doesn't mean you should reject it. you may not understand electricity, and yet you enjoy the benefits of it. i don't know how it works. but i do know this; you can cook a man's dinner with electricity, and you can also cook the man!

~Bob Proctor~

Sources: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

~~~oo00oo~~~ 

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Thank you for reading! 

Sumo's

Piggy In Polka Dots

Lines Across 

Sumo's Sweet Stuff 

It's So Very Chery 

Colours Dekor 

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 

The Blackberry Vine 

Lady Bug Blessings

If It's Not Baroque 

Cup Cakes And Crinoline

Our Delightful Home 

The Blissful Bee

The NY Melrose Family

504 Main

Savvy Southern Style 

Raegun Rambling

Clean And Scentsible

Lil' Luna

Green Willow Pond

Creations by Kara 

The 36th Avenue

The Charm of Home 

Chic on a Shoe String Decorating

My Romantic Home

Dear Creatives 

One Artsy Mama 

A Night Owl 

Suburbs Mama

A Vision To Remember

Pink When 

I Heart Nap Time

Suburbs Mama 

Twigg Studio

Giveaway Winner (Jewelry Stand + Cobochon Rhinestone Dangling Earrings)

Hello,

First, I want to say 'thank you very much' to those who participated this giveaway. I am sorry to those who are not winning this time there will be another giveaway in the future. Thank you !

Now I am going to announce the winner of this giveaway.

And the winner is...............................................................

Darlene !!!!

~~~oo00oo~~~

Thank you so much!!