Announcements and Updates

March 10, 2013

Yesterday was the day! The day of the wedding I catered! It was so much work completing an order that big and for such an important event but it was also more fun than I've had in a long time. The whole baking process was probably the second most stressful part of the order. When I was baking my last batch of white cupcakes, I didn't realize that there was residual oil on the top of the cupcake pan, so all of the batter crept up the sides and formed a giant layer of crunchy hard dough on top. And just like that, 2 dozen cupcakes into the trash! After that, I realized I was in desperate need of a break so I stepped back for an hour or so and avoided the kitchen. But once I started up again, I got into the zone and busted out the rest of the cupcakes, mixed and colored the frosting, decorated the cupcakes and prepared for a 2-hour drive to the wedding.

The drive was probably the worst part of this whole order, in regards to my nerves. Even after I was assured by everyone, including a bakery manager I used to work with, that my cupcakes would make the trip and be safe, I was on edge the whole car ride there. I drove the exact speed limit, maybe even slower, and took all precautions to avoid the numerous potholes that are dotted along I-80. And because I knew I was going to be driving slower than usual, I left my house 3 hours in advance! But because of that, and the fact that there was basically no traffic, I ended up arriving over an hour early! The cupcake stands hadn't even arrived by the time I got there haha! But that didn't mean that I got to just stand around and look at the whole wedding venue (which was at the Bluxome Street Winery in San Francisco), because the set up actually took a little over an hour.

After it was all said and done, I was so proud of myself and so glad that I took this opportunity, even though I had doubts about committing to it. I've definitely learned a lot from it and if I'm ever given the chance to do a big order like this again, I'll know exactly how to approach it.

Thank you to everyone again for all the support these past couple of years!

Love and warm wishes,

-A

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January 2, 2013

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the time spent with your loved ones. I've certainly been enjoying mine! As you might have noticed, I've been MIA more often than not this year when it comes to keeping up my blog. It saddens me that I'm now only able to update every 4-5 months but I've had to accept that this is my reality now. I'm in school full-time and it's a much heavier work load than my previous years so I'm finding less and less time to fit in baking on top of balancing a long distance relationship, a social life, my family life, and time for myself when I can truly relax. Not that I'm complaining or trying to make anybody feel sorry for me. I'm truly blessed and grateful that what has happened to me this past year happened. I just wanted to take some time today to write and let everyone know that although I still love baking and I still love this blog, I will be going on a baking/blogging hiatus. It's just that I need to shift my priorities to better fit my life now.

Also, I have some exciting news! I was just given the amazing opportunity to cater a wedding with my cupcakes later this year and I can't wait to share my experience with all of you!

But until then, much love and warm wishes,

-A

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June 25, 2012

Greetings!

It has officially been forever since I've baked anything and I think I'm starting to go through withdrawals from it. Everyone that knows me knows that I use baking as a sort of therapy and after four months of not baking, I'm definitely in need of some quality alone time in the kitchen. I feel like ever since I started my application for FIDM, my time has been flying out the window, but I'm happy to announce that I've been accepted and will be starting in early July! Oh geez, I just looked at the calendar and actually, orientation is in about three weeks (YIKES!).

I'm working on a few recipes (cupcakes and non-cupcakes) and I hope to get at least one out before I leave home and move out to San Francisco so wish me luck! And as always, thank you for reading! Even though I've been slacking for most of this year, I really do love and appreciate all of you that have stopped by my humble blog.

Best wishes and great eats.

-A

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March 21, 2012

Hello all!

I hope everyone's having a great year so far. As you might or might not have noticed, things have been pretty quiet here lately. After making a rather impulsive decision in early February to visit a school in San Francisco, I've been spending most, if not all, of March preparing my application for it. Crazy, huh? Oh, and did I mention that my interview for the school is next Monday? Yup. And I'm still working on my application project! Oi. Anyway, I'm hoping things will die down by April and I'll be able to get something up. If not, I still have all of my previously posted recipes up so please feel free to look through and enjoy those!

As always, thank you for stopping by and thank you for reading!

-A

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December 24, 2011

And a happy new year!

-A & the Babysitter Bakes family

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September 18, 2011


Hi guys!
I hope you're all having a good month so far! A friend of mine recently came back from vacation and bought me a new cookbook! All the cakes look and sound amazing! Now all I need to do is find some time to make something!

I know this wasn't exactly an update, but I got really excited about the book and just wanted to share that with you all. Enjoy the rest of your month and take advantage of  the last days of sun before fall sets in (if it hasn't already, where you live)! And check back soon for this month's cupcake!

-A

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September 5, 2011

Hi guys!

Happy Labor Day! And for those that are students: happy back-to-school! Yup, it's the day that marks the end of [most of] our summer vacations and the beginning of another school year! I've recently become a student myself and now have class from Monday through Thursday every week until the middle of December which means my posts might become less frequent. I'll still be doing the monthly cupcakes but I can't promise very many posts in between each month so bear with me.

Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend with good food, drink and people and have a great school year! Check back soon for September's cupcake of the month which was inspired by Vietnamese coffee!

-A

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August 23, 2011


Hi guys!


I'm entering my Irish Cake Bombs into a contest held by All Things Baking and if you're on Facebook and wouldn't mind helping me out, I'd greatly appreciate your vote! You can vote once every 24 hours until September 11. Just click the "All Things Baking" link in the previous sentence and it'll lead you directly to my entry page! The grand prize winner will be featured in the October issue of Dessert Professional magazine as well as passes to the All Things Baking convention in Chicago this year!


Thank you and thanks for reading!


-A

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May 26, 2011


The Babysitter Bakes can now be found on Facebook! Just "Like" the page and receive updates about new recipes right in your newsfeed!


-A

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May 6, 2011

I took a nice little break from baking but I'm back! I've been working on a ton of recipes and, I promise, they're going to be good.

With summer quickly approaching (um, wasn't it just January?), I'm hoping I'll be able to start posting a new recipe every week to every other week soon. I'm also going to try to expand my culinary horizons by baking things I've never baked before, so wish me luck! If you have any suggestions or requests, send them my way!

Also, this month, I'm hoping to post at least two recipes, including a cupcake version of one of my favorite rum cocktails so check back soon!

As always, thank you for reading!

-A

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