Kicking off 2011 | Be Afraid

2010 was an exciting year for Jin and I. I got my first DSLR last year and it was history from there. Thinking it would just be a take-along on trips and everywhere else we went, it grew into something more. Something that quickly became the focal point of our lives. Somehow we ended up in a studio shooting family portraits and spending a huge chunk of our free time outside of work with anything and everything photography. Over Swedish pancakes and homemade turkey sausage one morning, we wrote out our goals for Jinda and have a lot of exciting things we hope to accomplish in 2011. Writing down goals is the first step in making them real and helps to keep you on track. If you're one of many that are doing this, challenge yourself to add at least one thing that makes you scared or nervous. Something that you'd love to accomplish but are afraid because it takes you out of your comfort zone or because you're afraid to fail. And see how far you can take yourself and how fulfilling it is when you push yourself to the limits. Anything is possible, and ultimately the only thing holding you back is you. In the famous words of A Christmas Story, I double dog dare ya!

"Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did."

We wish everyone out there the best year ever this 2011. Happy new decade!

New Years Resolution | Dear dieters, have your cake and eat it too!

I think it's becoming a little too obvious that I love my sweets. I mentioned earlier that my skin got a little darker from eating too much chocolate and how I've convinced myself food without nutrition labels have zero calories, like donuts. But it's resoultion-making time again so I decided to let the angel (food cake?) on my shoulder speak. I'd be lying if I said I'm giving up dessert this year. Plus I doubt anyone would believe me. Luckily I've found ways to get my sugar fix with little or no compromise and Alice has been my knightess in shining foil for guilt-free desserts. Her desserts are "omg-so-amazing" lower calorie but you can barely tell, if at all. Help shed off that muffin top with the help of a muffin top! Here's what I baked New Year's Eve to kick off my healthy dessert diet and wanted to share the love with you guys, dieting or not!

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "muffin top" wikipedia can give you the low down here:
muffin top 101

Chocolate Marble Cake

2 cups cake flour (or sub with all-purpose flour, just minus 2 tbsp flour per cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg white
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup nonfat yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

(Recipe courtesy of Alice Medrich:
Chocolate and The Art of Low Fat Desserts)



Have all ingredients at room temp. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the lower third of the oven. Spray 8-10 cup tube pan with cooking spray. This recipe also makes an awesome pound cake. I used a different pan for mine.

Jin and I stumbled upon this awesome little urban shop called Nood in Gastown, Vancouver during Christmas weekend where I spotted this cute mini bunt pan from across the room and I had to take her home. I felt weird putting rubber into the oven but I soon fell in love with this little invention, plus I love me some pink!

Use a whisk to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift together. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the espresso powder, cocoa and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside. In another small bowl, whisk whole egg with egg white. Set aside.

Cut the butter into pieces and place in an electric mixing bowl. Beat for 1 minute to soften. Gradually add remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Dribble eggs in slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in a third of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in half of the yogurt. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour. On high speed, beat in the rest of the yogurt and the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the remaining flour.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups of yogurt batter and mix into the cocoa mixture. Set aside.

Use a large spoon to fill the bottom of the pan with about three quarters of the white batter placed in dollops. Cover the white batter with dollops of chocolate batter. Top the chocolate batter with small dollops of white batter spaced so that the chocolate batter shows through. Use a table knife to marble the batters together with a circular or zigzag motion; be careful not to blend them too much. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. I only left mine in for 25-30 minutes since I used a pan with smaller portions.

Cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack. Unmold the cake. Cool completely before serving or storing.

I filled the pan a little too high so the batter overflowed as it baked. Happy mistake! I named them my little bundt muffins. I love muffin tops...at least the edible kind :)

Two times a charm! Posing for the camera right before we dug in. Shh, I left the one in the back pure chocolate because I love chocolate :)