About
Hello everyone! My name is Tristina and welcome to my cake decorating diary. I started Sugar & Pearls ~ CAKE DESIGNS BY TRISTINA on March 20, 2015 out of the deep passion to transform cakes into beautiful work of arts from my own kitchen. I am the baker, photographer and author of all the posts you see on this blog. Currently, I am based in Portland, Oregon.
The reason that led me to where I am today was when I was planning for my son's first birthday party. I was having a difficult time picking out a cake design for his “zoo-themed” party. When I finally came across a beautifully crafted animal cake made out of fondant, a wild thought dashing through my mind ..."these [fondant figurines] are something I can probably recreate, just with some extra time." I spent nights after that researching about fondant and submerged myself in to the cake world that I never knew existed. I started to make fondant figurines and cupcake toppers for the kids' birthdays every year following that. Then it took a toll on me, and I become addicted to baking, and most importantly, decorating cakes! Honestly, at first I had some hesitations to start and manage a blog, not knowing if I can keep up with the work involved. I kept putting it off years after years. Until I realized that while it is important to spend quality time with my family and to practice pharmacy, it is equally important for me to find my inner soul...which is through cake decorating. And that is how Sugar & Pearls ~ CAKE DESIGNS BY TRISTINA was born.
My goal is to make beautiful cakes (and pastries) that taste delicious. This blog is where I will be sharing step-by-step photos and instructions on how I bake and decorate my cakes. I will provide simple tutorials on everything I create, ranging from amazing cake recipes to those gorgeous cupcake toppers. If you follow my directions, you will be able to reproduce these beautiful and delicious cakes in no time. I believe that if I can do it, so can you!
I will try my best to make every decoration or recipe you see on this blog available at no cost. But if you see something that you like and I don't have a tutorial for it, please send me a request and I will try to get to it. With that said, I will limit to about 2 postings per month to stay true to my other obligations in life.
Finally, I want to say thank you in advance for being patient with me as I am trying to balance between blogging, working and spending time with my loved ones. This is the beginning of a new chapter-- a special piece of my life, and I am so glad that I will be sharing it with you.
Now, let's bake and decorate some cakes!
xoxo,
Tristina
The reason that led me to where I am today was when I was planning for my son's first birthday party. I was having a difficult time picking out a cake design for his “zoo-themed” party. When I finally came across a beautifully crafted animal cake made out of fondant, a wild thought dashing through my mind ..."these [fondant figurines] are something I can probably recreate, just with some extra time." I spent nights after that researching about fondant and submerged myself in to the cake world that I never knew existed. I started to make fondant figurines and cupcake toppers for the kids' birthdays every year following that. Then it took a toll on me, and I become addicted to baking, and most importantly, decorating cakes! Honestly, at first I had some hesitations to start and manage a blog, not knowing if I can keep up with the work involved. I kept putting it off years after years. Until I realized that while it is important to spend quality time with my family and to practice pharmacy, it is equally important for me to find my inner soul...which is through cake decorating. And that is how Sugar & Pearls ~ CAKE DESIGNS BY TRISTINA was born.
My goal is to make beautiful cakes (and pastries) that taste delicious. This blog is where I will be sharing step-by-step photos and instructions on how I bake and decorate my cakes. I will provide simple tutorials on everything I create, ranging from amazing cake recipes to those gorgeous cupcake toppers. If you follow my directions, you will be able to reproduce these beautiful and delicious cakes in no time. I believe that if I can do it, so can you!
I will try my best to make every decoration or recipe you see on this blog available at no cost. But if you see something that you like and I don't have a tutorial for it, please send me a request and I will try to get to it. With that said, I will limit to about 2 postings per month to stay true to my other obligations in life.
Finally, I want to say thank you in advance for being patient with me as I am trying to balance between blogging, working and spending time with my loved ones. This is the beginning of a new chapter-- a special piece of my life, and I am so glad that I will be sharing it with you.
Now, let's bake and decorate some cakes!
xoxo,
Tristina
About Me
My full name is Tristina TiepNhu Nguyen and I was raised in a semi-traditional immigrant Vietnamese family. I am a mother to two amazing kids, and happily married to my high school sweetheart. Aside from baking, I work as a clinical pharmacist at a primary care clinic.
I do not have any baking background nor have I taken any baking classes up to date. Most of my "masterpieces" were self-taught and inspired by Pinterest, YouTube, and imaginations. My ultimate goal is to revisit to my birth country, and to learn all about the Vietnamese world of pastries. You see, the most vivid memories of my childhood were all filled with sweet dessert soups (chè), sweet sticky rice (xôi), and delightful cakes!
For right now, a twenty-four hour day is barely enough for me to spend time with family and to practice pharmacy. But when I do find some spare time, usually around 6 o'clock in the morning on the weekends, I'd spend every minute of it baking and decorating cakes. This is my time to craft beautiful cakes, to capture every step throughout the process, and to ultimately share them with you!
Thank you for hanging out with me.
xoxo,
Tristina
I do not have any baking background nor have I taken any baking classes up to date. Most of my "masterpieces" were self-taught and inspired by Pinterest, YouTube, and imaginations. My ultimate goal is to revisit to my birth country, and to learn all about the Vietnamese world of pastries. You see, the most vivid memories of my childhood were all filled with sweet dessert soups (chè), sweet sticky rice (xôi), and delightful cakes!
For right now, a twenty-four hour day is barely enough for me to spend time with family and to practice pharmacy. But when I do find some spare time, usually around 6 o'clock in the morning on the weekends, I'd spend every minute of it baking and decorating cakes. This is my time to craft beautiful cakes, to capture every step throughout the process, and to ultimately share them with you!
Thank you for hanging out with me.
xoxo,
Tristina
Here are pictures of my family for I am incomplete without them.