Come rain, sleet or TORNADO!

That's right-TORNADO! I live in San Diego, CA and most of the County is on Tornado Warning. We have storm #3 and #4 heading our way today. A tornado in sunny southern California just doesn't seem right. Thank God we made it through yesterday's storm!

Because of the crazy weather and flashing news warnings running along the bottom of my TV screen, I didn't make it out to the grocery store to pick up all of the yummy ingredients I need to make Great Aunt Willie Mae's Red Velvet Cake. That is today's goal! Tornado or not I WILL make it down to Von's grocery store and bake the cake I've promised! Just to get keep you tuned in, I'm posting the list of ingredients you will need. If you have some, all or none-great! Follow me to the grocery store, pick up what you need and let's get our BAKING on! Baking Beauties around the world unite! Take a nice hot steamy shower, put ur face on, throw your hair up (no loose hairs in our yummy cakes-oh no!) and let's grove tonight! I mean, let's bake. LOL.

On today's menu: GAWM's (Great Aunt Willie Mae's) Red Velvet Cake and Cookie Pops. I'll post the recipe for the Cookie Pops just as soon as I pick one I like and feel I can follow. I promised Elle Reed, aka WonderChick, aka ElleSpeak, aka SugarCoatednCo...that I would make cookie pops she can make in hot weathered Hawaii. I'm going to give her a proper shout out later today when I get all of her fabulous links together. In the meantime, google her! It's so worth it. Just google Elle Reed or ElleSpeak. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace or online at www.igrewup.org. igrewup is a Women's Social Network she started to unite us lovely ladies, keep us connected and allow us a forum to work together to make our dreams come true. I encourage you all to join in on the fun and help us all to move forward. As she says, "It's not what you know, but WHO you know!" I agree. I know I need to post this recipe, jump in the shower and get to Von's otherwise this storm is going to get me!

Great Aunt Willie Mae's Red Velvet Cake with a CattyCakes twist!

Shopping List:
1 Cup Buttermilk
2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (I've used Canola Oil and it comes out the same)
2 eggs (I always use the large size)
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 bottle red food coloring (get the 2oz size or 2 of the 1oz size-add until desired color)
1 teaspoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring

For GAWM's Yummy Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8oz block of cream cheese (ONLY PHILADELPHIA ORIGINAL)
1 sack of powdered sugar (you'll want the sack for this recipe)

Bakeware:
1 Tall thick Bundt pan (for a bundt cake shape)
1 Tall deep Angel Food Cake pan (for Angel Food Cake shape-see my 1st posting for pics)
or Cupcake Pan for cupcakes

Okay Baking Beauties-err Handsomes if your not a beauty-we're off!

Here's a not so great picture of the inside of how the cake should look. My apologies for the poor picture quality.

and another

Pictures of the ingredients, process, and finished product to follow...Until bake time, have a fabulous day! Remember, it's always best to say it with cake! ~CattyCakes

I have a dream too!

Today, we celebrate MLK Jr's bday! He had a dream and his dream came to fruition. Today, one of my many dreams has come true-this blog! I have always wanted to start a blog on beauty, brainy things and baking. I love makeup, fashion, and all things fabulous. I love reading, writing, poetry, motivational anything and spoken word. I love baking, creating and cooking yummy treats for my family and friends. Actually, I'll cook or bake for anyone. Just give me a reason, a deadline and I'm so on board! My dream is that this blog will inspire all of you out there to bake, create and/or just try something new. If you're anything like me, you will try anything once-doesn't mean it always comes out right, but hey, at least we tried right?

Yummy Cakebites!

Cupcake Pops anyone?

You can catch me whipping up new cakebite and cupcake pop creations, recreating my Great Aunt Willie Mae's red velvet cake recipe, or even walking through the beauty aisles of Walmart and Target trying out new lipstick and blush shades. I'm still looking for that right shade of bronzer to highlight my Blasian (I'm Filipino and Black) features! I love MAC makeup and I so love having my makeup done there for FREE! I love leggings and scarfs and just about anything that will make me feel fit and fabulous.

Here is a picture of me and my fiance during our recent Engagement Photo Shoot. My makeup was done FREE at the Nordstrom's MAC counter in the UTC La Jolla Mall (California).

closer shot of the lashes

here they are in color

Shout out to Chaz Cruz Photography for an amazing photo shoot and experience!

check out Chaz's work at http://www.chazcruzweddings.com/

Here is my first attempt at Great Aunt Willie Mae's Red Velvet Cake

Here is my updated version

Here is Aunt Willie Mae's Red Velvet in cupcake version

I love to encourage and support anyone with a dream. My latest shout out is to my amazing friends, Nana and Yuri Fujise, in Hawaii. On January 15, 2010, they made their dream come true by opening up seastar 8.4.23. It is a select women's clothing store that brings New York fashion to the gorgeous shores of Hawaii. Please check out their store by visiting http://www.seastar8423.com/. If you have a dream you'd like to share or a recipe you'd like me to try, I'd love to hear from you. Have a fabulous day and remember, it's always best to say it with cake!