Baking Buddy Help- Jai Lao Foundation

Happy hump day!  I can't believe it's August already!!  This year is certainly flying by beyond fast!  I guess it's true what they say...as you get older, the time goes by quicker!  I guess this is why one must always make the best out of what they have because you are never guaranteed tomorrow.  With that in mind, I had the pleasure of helping out my baking buddy, Mai, on one of her philanthropist adventures. She has been active in the Jai Lao Foundation and this year, she helped out by doing a dessert table at one of the charity's function.  Jai Lao raises money and builds schools and opportunities for those disadvantaged children  in rural parts of Laos.  For more information on Jai Lao, click here .  It was an organization close to Mai's heart, as she, herself was a refugee and she wants to do what she can to better the lives of her people and give them the chance that she was given.  So, to help her out, I was given the task of making cake pops, sugar cookies, and macarons.  It was definitely my pleasure as the flavors for this event was something very different than what I've been making.  I even put in some extra efforts and spruced up the sugar cookies and tried a different shape for the cake pops!  Take a looksie!

The colors for this event was green and orange!  I was tired of the same heart look, so I decided to add some fondant flowers and leaves to these cookies.  I also painted a branch on the white hearts (well, what's supposed to look like a branch!) and then luster dusted the edges in gold and pinkish/reds to match Jai Lao's characteristic heart.

As for cake pops, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to make a heart shaped cake pop??  Especially because Jai Lao's symbol is a heart, it would be awesome to incorporate more hearts into the table.  Let me tell you...a round cake pop ball is pretty difficult in itself to dip...make it heart shape and I was out of my mind.  The task started pretty easily.  I had no problems shaping my hearts.  It was the dipping part that gave me grief!  Lo and behold, I got it done and was super happy with how they turned out!  I also make regular round cake pops too, just for variety.  Oh, and let's not forget about those macs!

I made coconut pandan flavored macarons (in green) and orange marmalade macs (in, well, orange).  You know, I've always loved orangey colored stuff (usually drinks), but for some reason, orange marmalade never appealed to me.  So this was the first time I've tried orange marmalade...and gosh darn it, it's actually not too shabby!  I think I keep imagining a more bitter taste because of the orange rinds, but there was no bitterness at all.  It was actually quite tasty!  I'm happy to say, too, that the macs gave me no grief...only the packaging.  Check out this mac fail:

I know, I know...that's mac abuse right there...although, I'm sure Mai was perfectly fine with it...after all, she gets to eat the ugly ones!