| About Yu Yu is an enthusiastic cake designer who bakes more than she eats ;) Website History | Yu started making cake decoration for family and friends in spring 2008. Some insisted on paying Yu for the effort but she was not sure what her effort should cost. In June 2009, one (who may prefer to remain anonymous for now) had the brilliant idea of donating to charity as a payment. Yu loved the idea so much that in Aug 2009 she officially started taking donations for her cakes. Her friend, Ken, helped building up this website. Yu hopes her cakes can put smiles on people's faces, while the donations help the disadvantaged children in China. All the photographs on this website were taken by Yu. Most were taken with Nikon D40 + 55-200mm f/4-5.6G lens or 35mm f/1.8 lens. Please contact Yu here if you want to use them elsewhere. | Cake Story | Yu is continously learning and practicing cake decorating skills, as well as improving taste/health factor in her cakes. She listed her favorite resources here. If you are also interested in starting to decorate your cakes, here are some tips that you may find helpful. Yu's favorite decoration medium is chocolate, buttercream and fondant. She has yet to figure out how to make fondant cakes more agreeable with traditional Chinese taste buds. Constrained by taste and labor, Yu does not work with royal icing or gum paste - both achieve the best visual effect but dry hard as a rock. Yu's painted "cake toppers" made from chocolate, buttercream and whipped cream are a specialty that balances both beauty and flavor. | Who's Yu? | In case you are curious, Yu's day job is very geeky and has her sitting at the computer all day, and does not involve either food or design. Yu has made lots of kids' birthday cakes but is not yet a mom. Yu had spent the majority of her life in big cities in China and in the US. But now she lives in a quiet small town in central north MA. She absolutely loves the rural environment, where orchards, horse farms, and rolling pastures abound, yet the city life is merely a couple of hours away. | Yu's Hobbies | In addition to cake design, Yu also enjoys a wide range of interests including her day job, baking, coffee, hiking, jogging, kayaking, skiing, photography, reading, trance and classical music, gardening, watching TV, driving the lawn mower(tractor), obsessive cleaning, obsessive list making, appropriate amount of drinking, very spotty blogging, and hanging out with her friends (these are randomly ordered regardless of degree of preference). Yu is looking for watercolor/oil painting and photography lessons in the area. She also hopes to pick up other crafts, and snowboarding. Next year she hopes her vegetable garden can start to take shape. | Yu's Favorite Quote | Infinite pushing of one's horizon, relentless pursuit of perfection. It goes far beyond cooking and photography. --la.confidential@huaren.us | Contact Yu | If you share common interests with Yu and live in the area, or if you have any suggestions/comments, please contact Yu here. |
| | Yu's Cake Journey | Nov, 2009 | America's Giving Challenge | | Oct, 2009 | OSCCF newsletter | | Sept-Oct, 2009 | promote website on huaren 闲话版 mitbbs Boston版1 2 shenghuonet 小店 + blog wenxuecity 同城活动 私房小菜 | | Sept, 2009 | OCEF | | Aug 24, 2009 | 1st donation to OSCCF | | Aug 22, 2009 | Website comes into life! | | June 2009 | 1st donation to AHA | | April 2008 | 1st design cake for a friend | | April 2008 | Wilton III class | | March 2008 | Wilton IV class | | Aug 2006 | Wilton I class |
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