Coachella may be said and done, but the music festivals are still in full force! Among the usual suspects, there’s a spectacular newbie festival that just has to be talked about. Bottle Rock holds a special place in the hearts of the LuLu*s crew, as it takes place right in NorCal, in the beautiful Napa Valley! While this fabulous festie may be new to the scene, it packs a punch of killer artists that we never thought we’d see in the same place! This week, we spotlight some of the acts we just can’t wait to see at Bottle Rock!

“Radioactive” – Kings of Leon

“Short Skirt/Long Jacket” – Cake

“Simple Song” – The Shins

“Gold on the Ceiling” – The Black Keys

“One Headlight” – The Wallflowers

(image courtesy of sfweekly.com)

Artist Hong Yi, nicknamed “Red,” loves to share photos of her food. But this isn’t like the picture of your friend’s dinner that you saw on Instagram last night! From whimsical renditions of classic stories, to Banksy-inspired plates, Red captures it all using food as her medium. It is clear that a tremendous amount of imagination and attention to detail go into each piece, combining food and art in a way that is mouth-watering and magical. Red doesn’t just see everyday objects as they are, she sees the extraordinary things that they could be, and the resulting food art is simply stunning! Check out Red’s website and Instagram to see more of her inventive works of art made from food, flowers, and so much more.

(Images courtesy of ohiseered.com, instagram.com/redhongyi)

As Wild Week continues, I wanted to bring you a sweet treat tutorial so you can celebrate with desserts, too! After much research on Pinterest and baking blogs, I found a super cool way to get leopard spots inside of your cupcakes!

Here’s what you’ll need:
Cake mix (I used yellow cake, chocolate cake, and carrot cake mixes.)
Frostings for all of your cake mixes (I used vanilla, chocolate and cream cheese frosting.)
Wax paper

1. Bake the chocolate and carrot cakes as directed on the box. Don’t worry about these being perfect, because you’ll crumble them up into a cake ball mixture next!
2. After the cakes are baked and cooled, scoop them into separate mixing bowls and crumble. Add frosting to each by the spoonful until it is malleable enough to roll into cake balls. Place the mixtures in the freezer for about 30 minutes so that they become easier to roll.
3. Take the chocolate mixture and flatten it between two sheets of wax paper, then break into flat chunks. Roll the carrot cake mixture into tiny ball shapes – they don’t have to be perfect because no two leopard spots are ever the same!
4. Place each carrot cake ball into a chunk of the flattened chocolate mixture and press around the carrot cake ball. Leave some of the carrot cake showing through (this will create the contrasting spots).
5. Prepare your last batch of cake mix. In cupcake tins or a cake pan, alternate a layer of cake balls and a layer of batter, repeating until filled. Note that for cupcakes, you’ll only need 5-6 small cake balls in each cup.
6. Bake as directed on the box and cut down the middle (or take a bite!) to see the wild design in the center!

xoxo