"Whoooo doesn't love a baby?"

Several weeks ago, I received my very first official order requesting green and yellow owl cupcakes for a baby shower. The soon-to-be mother briefly explained that she was doing all she could to keep her costs as low as possible, especially since she was working to fund the celebration on her own.

This got me thinking about all those mothers out there who are in similar or worse situations and struggle financially to prepare for their babies let alone be able to afford a baby shower celebration for the coming of their child with their friends, family, and loved ones.

I love that I'm not the only one who thinks of these things and that there are people who take action and do something to make change.

Stuart and Laurie Marson of Onesie Twosie

I google-hunted "nonprofit baby showers" and was instantly filled with warm fuzzy feelings to see that there were several efforts existing that support expectant parents by specifically fulfilling the wish of holding a special baby shower. There are, of course, also tons of organizations that support a variety of other related issues with family planning, like the couple pictured above who founded Onesie Twosie.

I read about them in this article and learned that they were inspired to establish Onesie Twosie after attending a baby shower and seeing the amount of items new babies received. They created Onesie Twosie as a means of locally supporting five different nonprofits in their area with material goods that needy families could find useful in raising their child(ren). Onesie Twosie supports and donates to the Perinatal AIDS Center, Homeless Prenatal Program, the Children's Hospital newborn intensive care unit, Project Pride of the East Bay Community Recovery Project, and Planned Parenthood (all local branches in the San Francisco Bay Area of California). They also work with diaper wholesalers to reduce retail prices by a third - diapers are by far the greatest need for new parents.

I also saw large support networks specifically for military wives and mothers expecting a child. There is a lovely nonprofit called Operation Showers that provide "extravagant baby showers" for those military mothers who struggle managing to care for their family because of their own deployment and/or face the difficulties of pregnancy alone while their military husbands are deployed.

I think it is a wonderful thing that such a nonprofit was started to help give all mothers a chance to enjoy the same luxury of celebrating the birth of a child in such a nice way. Extravagant baby showers aren't necessary, but helping to ensure the equal opportunity for all mothers to celebrate in meaningful ways is what I believe is important.

In order to show you how I constructed the owl cupcakes for the mother-to-be who ordered from me, I made this ingredient "chart" that you can follow:

These few I took photographs of were made as samples. I'll be making 5-6 dozen of these hoots next week!

Since she wanted green and yellow owls, I tinted vanilla buttercream frosting accordingly, but I prefer Nutella for the Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes. I'll be making half hazelnut and half vanilla cupcakes for the baby shower next weekend, and I can't wait! I'm hoping they'll turn out scrumpdiddlyumptious and will help make this soon-to-be-mother's baby shower memorable.

Speaking of babies and baby showers, I want to take a quick moment to congratulate my cousin Christine who just gave birth yesterday to her first son! I can't wait to see baby Joseph, and I still can't believe she's now officially a mom! Honestly, I don't think I still got over the fact that she was a Mrs., and her wedding was already two years ago!

Congratulations unnie!! I can't wait to meet Joseph!

Love you!!

Life should be sweet for everyone

So I know many of you were wondering how the bake sale for Pitt-LiNK went...

Out of the 120 or so cupcakes and cheesecakes I made, only about a dozen were leftover! And the dozen or so quickly dwindled down after my roommates attacked them. :)

 

Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes, Raspberry Cheesecakes, and Oreo Cheesecakes were on drool-worthy display, as I womanned the table and yelled out:

"Cupcakes for North Korea!"

"Cheesecakes and cupcakes to help refugees!"

"Desserts for human rights!"

 "You know you want some!"

Some seemed frightened and looked the other way, several gawked at the desserts and regretted not having any cash to purchase the goodies, but many stopped for a bite and learned about North Korea and LiNK.


Trailer for the documentary Seoul Train

It felt great to bake for a good cause again; to be exhausted by efforts that were meaningful and had a selfless purpose. Though, I suppose it wasn't entirely selfless considering how much personal enjoyment I get out of baking :)

love at first sight

The cheesecakes were the goodies to sell the fastest, and they were the only treats I didn't get to taste! :( These goodies were the last batches I made in the evening, and they needed to refrigerate for at least 4 hours before I could try them. I ended up rushing out with all of them the next morning and didn't get one bite. But I guess that just means I'll have to make them again another time :)

The awesomely awesome part about the Oreo Cheesecakes were the whole cookies at the bottom of each one:

One man had eaten this right in front of me as soon as he bought it, and his "mmm"oan followed by, "Wow this is really gooood!" totally made my day.

These raspberry cheesecakes look all fancilicious, which they were, but the swirlies aren't hard to make at all. After adding three drops of the raspberry puree on top of the cakes, you just take a toothpick and swirl them around. If you want to get the heart shapes, you just connect the dots in a circular motion.

All recipes were from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. I can personally vouch for the tastiness of the cupcake recipes in this book, as I've tried a couple other in addition to these four for the bake sale.

Top to bottom: Devil's Food Cupcakes w/ Dark Chocolate Frosting, Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes w/ Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (dyed blue), Oreo Cheesecakes w/ Oreo Cookie Crust, and Raspberry Cheesecakes w/ Graham Cracker Crust

I was able to taste test the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, and they were absolutely delicious. I think I would've liked the chocolate ones to be a bit more moist, but the vanilla cupcakes made me do one of those "omgah" pauses where you roll your eyes back and just let out a long sigh of gratitude for having tasted something so good. I then busted out a little happy dance, which good foods often make me do.

It's somewhat ironic and sad that we get to indulge in such luxurious bites to help the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters all dying of starvation in the millions in a country known more widely for its nuclear threats than its insane violations of human rights. But, if we can use and leverage our privileges for the better, than we should consider them not only as our blessings to be grateful for but recognize the responsibility in our abundance and use our overflow to help others.

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the greater concerns of all humanity." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you enjoyed watching my sweets, please watch the video clips that I've posted about North Korea to learn more about the situation, and share the stories with people you know to raise awareness. It isn't just an Asian issue, a political issue, a North Korean issue...it's a you and I issue - a human issue.


Clip from Seoul Train about Han-Mi and her family who tried to escape North Korea

(Seoul Train is available to watch on Netflix if you're a subscriber. Otherwise, please buy it here from LiNK's website, as the purchase will help their cause. Watching this documentary was the first time I really learned what was happening in North Korea; it is a must-see.)

Other than raising awareness, there's another way you can help. We sold the cupcakes at the price of $2 each. For about the price of 4 cupcakes a month, you can make a huge impact on the life of a North Korean refugee. Learn about LiNK's 9 Lives Campaign here.

Nutella Nostalgia

This was my kitchen cabinet five years ago. Hello, my name is Jasmine, and I'm a nutellaholic.

I first fell in love with the chocolatey hazelnut spread when I traveled to Europe after graduating from high school. It was in Paris where we first met to be exact; such an appropriately romantic setting for a love story to begin, isn't it? Just like we have single-serving jam and jelly spreads served at various diners here in the States for your toast, Paris had single-serving nutella packets that you could spread on your croissant or baguette if you so delectably chose to indulge. I don't know why America hasn't caught on yet considering our love for sweet breakfasts - waffles, pancakes, hotcakes, crepes, french toast, the list goes on...

Five years ago, inspired by the way Europe taught me how to spread chocolate on my toast for breakfast instead of jelly, I experimented by baking a jelly roll but substituting the jelly with nutella. Thus, my famous nutella rolls were born. Famous among my small group of friends at least.

In 2005, the University of Pittsburgh chapter of an organization I heavily supported called Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) held a benefit concert to raise money. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to put my baking love to use for a higher purpose and volunteered to host a bake sale to help out the fundraiser.

Watch for more information on LiNK and life in North Korea.

I took a little over a week to plan out all the different desserts I would bake for an estimate of over 200 people. I wish I could remember the exact counts, but I think I had made somewhere around:

- 80 LiNK cupcakes (pictured above)

- 50 langue de chat cookies

- 40 korova cookies

- 30 chocolate chunk cookies

- 10 nutella rolls

- 1 tray of cheesecake topped brownies

- 1 tray of pineapple coconut squares

- 1 strawberry marshmallow tart

- 1 opera cake

- 1 chocolate mousse cake

Clockwise from top left: cheesecake topped brownies, chocolate mousse cake, nutella rolls, strawberry marshmallow tart, korova cookies and langue de chats, opera cake

Wow, after recounting all of that, I'm pretty surprised at myself for baking that much! The night ended up being a huge success, and I learned that my bake sale helped to pull in most of the funds raised for LiNK! After hardly any sleep and staying up in a hot kitchen, the victory was truly sweet. The highlights of the evening were by far all the marriage proposals I received from many of my lady friends who asked me to be their personal baker, and the several strangers I met who asked if the baked goods were from a professional caterer :)

At the bake sale table with two friends who were my official assistants for the night

Five years have since flown by all too quickly, and I've never baked on a scale as large as the 2005 LiNK Bake Sale. The organization itself has gone through many changes, just like I have; I had left Pittsburgh by the end of that year to Hawaii, and teaching and practicing Tae Kwon Do replaced any time I spent in the kitchen.

But...I'm back!! And so is a newly organized chapter of LiNK at the University of Pittsburgh!

So, if you're around, swing by for a bite! Who ever thought eating delicious sweets could be so meaningful?

Pitt-LiNK Bake Sale
Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010
@ William Pitt Union Cafeteria
12pm - 4pm

Hope to see you there!

Every bite you take will go toward supporting a refugee from North Korea, like Mi Sun:



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Recipe for Nutella Roll (yields 8-10 servings)
Adapted from Old South Jelly Roll recipe by Paula Deen

Ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cups of sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
3/4 cups cake flour, sifted
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 jar of nutella

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Beat egg whites in a small bowl until stiff; set aside.

In another bowl, beat egg yolks until light and frothy. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla. Once mixed well, add the sifted flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture.

Fold in the egg whites, then pour batter into the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden.

Dust a towel or a large sheet of parchment paper with powdered sugar. Invert the cake onto this while still hot; peel off the wax paper from the cake. Trim the hard crusts along each side of the cake, then roll the cake with the towel or parchment paper. (I like to use a large sheet of parchment paper, where I can hold onto the edges of the sheet to roll the cake tightly). Cool the cake on a rack with the seam side down for 10-15 min. Rolling the cake while it's still hot helps set the shape.

Once the cake has cooled down, unroll and slather on the nutella to your heart's content. Reroll and slice into half-inch thick slices.