November 2012 – SweetSourMoments

Simple & Easy Mocha Cake

Published on November 12, 2012May 4, 2016 by sweetsourmoments15 Comments

1. Prepare :

1/2 C vegetable oil
sift 1 C cake flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder (original version uses 1tsp baking powder and cream of tartar)
dissolve 1 tsp instant coffee + 1 tsp cocoa powder + 1 tsp water + 1 tsp vanilla

2. Whisk 6 eggs (at room temperature)+ 1 C sugar until pale and creamy.

3. Pour the coffee mixture into egg mixture, followed by oil, beat until well combined.

4. Stir in flour mixture and gently fold until well blended. Divide the batter between 2, 9″round cake pans (line the bottom with parchment paper and put baking spray around the inside). Bake in 375 F oven about 20 minutes, check with toothpick.

5. For the filling cream : whisk 1 1/2 C heavy cream + powdered sugar (as your preferred sweetness) + 2 tbsp kahlua, coffee liqueur + 1 tbsp optional amaretto, almond liqueur.

6. Bon appétit!

Budget Bedside Table Makeover – DIY

Published on November 8, 2012 by sweetsourmoments7 Comments

So here is another project again as the result of wrong paint color in guest bedroom, remember that I need to adjust the decor to the gold circle accent wall? I was planning to have classic gold bedside table and I don’t want to buy something new just to be painted in gold, but it’s also not easy to find bedside table in the gold color that matches that gold accent wall. So the realistic way to accomplish the mission is to do the makeover. I actually not a big fan of painted furniture, I like to see the beauty of original wood grain and texture on it. Unfortunately, I have to paint this piece due to 2 reason: to match decor of the room and the bottom of the bedside table I bought was in bad shape. I’m quite happy with how it turns out, for my 1st furniture makeover, it’s not bad 🙂

1. The condition when I got it, for $5 from garage sale you can’t expect much.

2. A. cut the bottom part; B. put the primer coat; C & D. primer finished.

3. Attach the bracket for new leg. The new legs adds more classic look which I want.

4. Attach the painted gold leg.

5. Painting the 1st coat of gold and white.

6. After 3rd coat.

7. Add knobs which I got for less than $2 for all three of them (a steal from Worldmarket). Like the rustic look with gold accent.

8. I interchanged the direction of paint brush between vertical and horizontal to give this antique linen look.

9. Finished.

Customized Store Bought Curtain

Published on November 6, 2012 by sweetsourmomentsLeave a comment

Still working on the guest bedroom, now is the window dressing. I saw this nice pair of curtain in clearance section, yes I knew the height is less than what I wanted but I like the fabric very much, it’s sheer fabric with satin strips and its color is just what the room needs, combination between gold and khaki, and the best thing is the price, perfect! To make it works and also to give my own personal touch, I decided to add linen fabric and satin ribbon.

1. The Linen and Satin ribbon.

I think Linen makes a good pair with sheer fabric, it adds texture. The Satin ribbon mimics the Satin strip on the original curtain.

2. Sewing the Ribbon and Linen.

3. Window dressing : check! one more item removed from the list.

Pillow Sham – DIY

Published on November 5, 2012 by sweetsourmoments3 Comments

Since the guest bedroom bed doesn’t have headboard, I put these pillow shams to add the height and also act like a headboard (kind of). As mentioned in previous post, as the result of the wrong color paint I need to work around the gold circle stamp accent wall while decorating this room, so I picked this brown geometric fabric from JoAnn store with 50% + 25% discount, what a great deal! I’ve already had 2 big pillows in 26″x 26″ size, the pillow sham is sewn in 25″x 25″, smaller, for puffiness.

1. The front fabric, the linen back fabric, the back lining fabric (for lining the linen).

2. Cut fabrics, add 4″ overlapping fabric for the back, plus seam allowance ( I used 1/4″). I added another 1/4″ seam allowance for back lining in order the wrap the edge in final step to cover frayed fabric.

3. A. fabric arrangement; B. Sew the back fabric (linen) and lining fabric; C. Sew all the fabrics with right side facing together; D. wrap the edge with lining fabric to avoid fraying.