Kids and Sprinkles

Since Nicholas seems to think cake and cupcakes are different things, we made a small batch of cupcakes for his actual birthday. He and Bronwyn both helped with baking them and then frosting. These cupcakes were pretty yummy and easy to make. Kids and sprinkles... you can't lose there... unless it's in a cake pan, then it's a no go. My kids are so weird.

Small-batch Vanilla Cupcakes
3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour measured using the spoon and sweep method and divided
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon milk any percentage

Vanilla Buttercream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar sifted
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon milk or cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Sprinkles optional

Instructions
Small-batch Vanilla Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 375°F and line your cupcake pan with 6 liners.
In a medium bowl combine butter and sugar and using a handheld electric mixer, cream together until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add egg white and vanilla. Beat on medium until smooth.
Add 1/4 cup (30g) of the flour, baking powder, and salt. And mix on low until incorporated.
Mix in milk on low. Add remaining 1/4 cup of flour and mix on medium until well-mixed and smooth. Divide batter between prepared cupcake cups, filling just under 2/3 full. This should make exactly 6 cupcakes. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with just a couple dry crumbs.
Transfer to a cooling rack when the cupcakes are cool enough to handle and cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream
In a medium bowl, combine butter, powdered sugar, milk or cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat until frosting comes together, adding milk by the 1/2 teaspoon as necessary.
Transfer frosting to a piping bag and pipe over cupcakes or use a knife to spread frosting. Top with sprinkles if desired, and enjoy!

Cheeseburger Cake for our Cheeseburger Loving Kid

This boy child turned 6 on February 5. Oh man... how did he get so old? While he doesn't like cake, there wasn't really a dessert he was interested in - so when I showed him a cheeseburger cake, he was all about it, especially since we were having cheeseburgers for his birthday party dinner. Yes, I had Andy grilling burgers outside in single digit snowing weather, um... yeah, I'm that person. Sorry Andy. I spent some time planning this cake, making marshmallow fondant lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes. I found some great ways to construct the cake too. The burger was made from brownie and we even had chocolate buttercream since my kids weren't planning to eat it, then let's go chocolate! We also make sugar cookie French fries. Why not?
Nicholas loved his cake, at least how it looked. I enjoyed how it tasted, I let our guests know to avoid the fondant, but it was a yummy sweet treat celebrating one very sweet boy.

Teamwork makes for a great cake

A fun cake for a fun nine year old. This young lady wasn’t quite sure what she wanted for her birthday cake this year. She did a fair amount of looking online and came up with some ideas. One of them was with Snoopy. This girlie loves comic books and loves Snoopy too! We decided to tag team her cake this year. She would make Snoopy and Woodstock, I’d make the dog house. We made the topper a week ahead – just in case. I mean, I know my kid… under pressure to get it done sounds a lot like tears and frustration. A week in advance? Take your time, no worries! If you don’t like it, do it again. Thankfully her first try was a great one, the house on the other hand… needed some love after my first try. We had fun playing with fondant and gum paste but both agreed playdoh is easier to deal with. We got it figured out. The cake was her favorite funfetti with vanilla buttercream frosting. She asked for cut up strawberries on the side. The cake turned out better than either of us hoped for and she was one very happy girl. Happy 9th Birthday girlie!
Note: Her birthday was actually June 19.

Extra Spice, Less Squash

After we made our pupcakes we had some pumpkin left. It seemed sad to waste such a hard sought after ingredient - it's Fall after all, and canned pumpkin is scarce. Sure I could ask my mom for some of her homemade pumpkin stock, but she uses it plenty and we were OK with the canned stuff. Anyway, I was looking for a recipe that didn't require a full can because well, we had about a cup left. This recipe fit the bill perfect and the muffins are great. They have the right amount of spice and aren't overly squashy in flavor. Let's be honest, people love pumpkin spice for the spice, not the pumpkin. The kids put these together on a Saturday morning and we dug in. I did not dip them in butter, I sprayed them with vegetable spray and dipped in cinnamon sugar, it worked just as well.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Line a muffin pan with muffin papers.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract and pumpkin puree.
Mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until no lumps remain.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin pan. You should end up with 12 muffins.
Bake in the preheated oven for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
In a small bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
Dip the top of each muffin (while still warm) into the melted butter and shake off any excess.
Then dip in the bowl of cinnamon sugar.

Frown turned upside down at the mention of... pupcakes

Because all the crazy of 2020 and the sadness of a girl having to go to school without us, one morning I couldn't believe the words coming out of my own mouth - let's have a birthday party for Bernard! Let's make him a cake! Sure it was a great distraction for her but OH the look Andy gave me. Oops. Since when are we "those" people? Apparently now, now we are those people. The planning began, finding the perfect pupcake recipe and then planning the party with our neighbor and her two pups. We opted to celebrate early since time change and cold weather was coming so on a Saturday afternoon in our neighbors yard we tried to get three very excited dogs to wear party hats and one by one watched them wolf down a pupcake. Bernard was the least dainty of all of them, one gulp and it was gone. He even got a bag of new toys and treats from our neighbor pups. What a fun distraction from our somewhat stressful weeks. By the way… Bernard’s birthday is November 4, can you see how far ahead I scheduled this to post? Oof! Half way to his next birthday!

Pupcakes
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 carrots, peeled and shredded

Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
6 Milk-Bone biscuits, small

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 6-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, pumpkin, apple sauce, vegetable oil and eggs. Stir in carrots.
Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Place into oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and peanut butter.
Use a small offset spatula or a pastry bag fitted with decorative tip #1M to frost the cupcakes, garnished with Milk-Bone, if desired.

6.86 cupcakes per person? No problem.

When I offered to bring cupcakes to a dinner meeting of 7 people I figured I should bring two kinds, fruity and chocolatey... but that also meant I was making 48 cupcakes for 7 people. I mean sure, that's 6.86 cupcakes per person and if you count the pizza we also ate, well it meant a lot of leftovers. But I intentionally picked these lemon cupcakes because they are my absolute favorite cupcake, ever. Let's be clear they also hate me, you know... allergic and all, but these are soft, tangy, and delicious. I try to make these for a crowd so I bring fewer home and eat less of them. That makes Andy happy when there aren't any lemon cupcakes around for me to get sick from. I did pack the rest of the leftovers for him to take with him to work so I'd be less likely to plow through the rest of them. The frosting is soft and not very pipeable, but is creamy and lemony and so very good.

Lemon-Cream Cheese Cupcakes
1 pkg. white cake mix
1 pkg. Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup water
4 egg whites
2 Tbsp. oil
Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 pkg. (4 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Heat oven to 350ºF. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, water, egg whites and oil in large bowl with mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined 2-1/2-inch muffin cups.
Bake 21 to 24 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter and juice with mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes.

When a kitchen gadget jumps in your grocery cart...

One of the "fun" parts of COVID has been going to the grocery store. You never know what they might actually have. I've had to run across the parking lot from my beloved Aldi to Wal-Mart a few times to get things. While I generally do not wander the aisles, I'm more of a buyer, less of a shopper, but I did find myself wandering the kitchen gadgets. I saw this Pioneer Women flour sifter. Look how pretty it is!! I probably went and visited this sifter three times before one day I decided it was coming home with me. Sometimes you just need a pretty flour sifter in your life! This cupcake recipe was perfect for this sifter. I've sifted cake mixes before but by far this type of sifter works great and the flowers just make you happy while you are doing it!
I made these cupcakes for a meeting for church, which I promised was socially distanced and cupcakes were properly enjoyed. This frosting is amazing. I can tell you for sure you can eat the leftovers right out of the piping bag. The Oreo crust is also a fun and delicious addition.


Cookies and Cream Cake with Oreo Crust
Oreo Crust
12 Oreos
4 Tbsp. melted butter
pinch of salt

Cookies and Cream Cake
2/3 cup sour cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 box white cake mix

Cookies and Cream Buttercream
12 regular Oreos (not Double Stuf, Mini, or Thin)
2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly Softened
1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream
5-6 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Cookies and Cream Cake with Oreo Crust
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep cake rounds with a wipe of shortening and dust of flour (or cupcake tins with cupcake liners).
In a small food processor, blend together the Oreos, melted butter, and salt. Press into the bottom of your greased cake rounds or cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, oil, eggs whites, vanilla, and chocolate chips until thoroughly combined. Sift in the white cake mix. Stir until just combined. Split cake batter evenly between prepared cake rounds. Carefully spread the batter on the crust.
Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until center is fully baked. Do not overbake. Remove rounds from the oven, let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip onto wire rack to cool to room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap twice, then freeze at least 20 minutes up to a couple days before frosting.
Cookies and Cream Buttercream
In a food processor process Oreos until they are a fine powder there are no large pieces. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and cream cheese on high until light and fluffy. Add in salt, vanilla, Oreo crumble, and heavy cream. Slowly add in the powdered sugar with the mixer on low speed about a half cup at a time.

Sometimes too many cupcakes isn't a great thing

When it's the birthday before the birthday party with the great big fancy cake sometimes you just need four cupcakes, not 24. Bronwyn's birthday was on Friday and her party on Saturday and she decided she wanted to try her hand at this four cupcake recipe. We made them together and made sure to add the perfect amount of sprinkles. This recipe calls for almond extract and vanilla extract. I think next time I'd leave out the almond. I think that has its place in some things but not most. I also splashed it in my face so I smelled like almond the rest of the day. The frosting recipe was so cute and small but perfect for the four cupcakes. We enjoyed them after her favorite dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Well... Nicholas decided to have his the next day, but then he's weird so... you know.

Birthday Cake Cupcakes
For the birthday cake cupcakes:
1/4 cup neutral oil (like canola or grapeseed)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons sour cream
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
big pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of sprinkles
For the frosting:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sprinkles, plus extra for decorating

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350, and line four cups in a muffin pan with paper liners.
First, make the cupcakes: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, almond and vanilla extracts. Whisk until very well combined.
Add the egg white and sour cream, and whisk until combined.
Finally, sprinkle the flour, baking powder, salt and sprinkles evenly over the batter, and then stir until just combined.

For the first time ever! We go inside the cake!

Something I almost always forget to do is take a picture inside birthday cakes. For the first time in ever I took an inside picture! Also I think this is one of the few cakes I made where there isn't a massive amount of buttercream on the cake. I have specific people in my extended family who endlessly complain about how much frosting is on a piece of cake. No one is asking you to eat it all, just ignore it and don't eat it. I don't tell you that you over cook meat and it's impossible to eat... I don't tell you that mixing together gelatin and pudding is a horrible idea... just ignore it, move on. Anyway.... this is the inside, the recipes for the cream filling and the frosting. The cream filling recipe makes a LOT of filling... so be ready to just eat it with a spoon because it's just that good. Or just half the recipe, that works too.

Strawberry Cream Filling:
1 - 3 ounce dry vanilla pudding mix
1 12 ounce Cool Whip
½ cup milk
16 oz fresh strawberries
Mix together Cool Whip, Milk and pudding mix. Set half of it aside.
Chop strawberries into very small pieces and mix into the pudding mixture.
Filling is ready.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature (3 sticks)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle or whisk attachment whip butter on medium-high speed (if using whisk attachment whip on high speed) until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Immediately spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

Miss B is 8!

Oh my heart, how is this girl 8 years old?
Miss B is 8, Eight!
We had a very low key birthday for her this year - since you know 2020 us the year of low key everything because, you know... COVID-19. We had only a few people over, but birthday parties still require birthday cakes!
Bronwyn liked this petal cake - so I did my best to deliver. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have done a few things differently to 'end' the rainbow a bit better... but I won't show you that hot mess. The cake turned out great and she was one very happy girl. A friend of mine suggested I write Happy Birthday on it. Perhaps this friend doesn't remember my awful penmanship, it's so bad... Also I asked the birthday girl what she wanted on top and she said nothing, she liked the white top, so the birthday girl gets what she wants. I was actually going to do more rainbow... but nope, she thought it was a great place for candles. So thankful for this girl and her big heart. Can't wait to see what the new year brings.

Olympic Caliber Snacks

When it comes to Olympics our girls' group at church - GEMS - knows how to play!
Honestly - I think they need to have these events IN the actual Olympics! Wearing pantyhose on your head with a tennis ball inside and knocking over bottles of water, Cheetos head toss, and the fan-favorite - human hungry hippos. I offered to bring special treats to this fun night of games. I made Olympic torches and Oreo Metals.
Years ago I made so many of these ice cream cone cupcakes I vowed to never make them again. Well, clearly that didn't stick. I made them this time and they worked perfectly. I made some buttercream and pipped some fire on top. The metals are just Golden Oreos spray painted silver (because that's what I had) with food save color spray, the lanyard is fruit by the foot.
Both are easy - and both were crowd favorites. A great way to treat some great girls who worked together and had great sportsmanship and teamwork. Such a fun night.

Five Years of Nicholas Warren

This young man is now 5. Oh my goodness... Five years have gone in a flash.
For Nicholas' birthday, he asked for a vanilla cake, with vanilla pudding, and vanilla frosting because that would be delicious! Well sure thing kid!! How to decorate it? Well first off, he wanted a disco ball - I vetoed that in a quick hurry. I kept priming him to do a camping cake. One day I showed hi ma few on Pinterest and he agreed! Hooray!!! I loved making this cake. I took my take and made the different parts over two weeks. the flames from melted hard candy, the tent with fondant and graham crackers, the trees from ice cream cones. Loved making this. My wonderful 5-year-old? Refused to eat it. I kept suggesting a S'more Cake - thinking how perfect those flavors would be - nope vanilla. Then the kid doesn't even eat any. Bah! Oh well - he loved it - I loved making it and hey - I love him! So thankful for this imp.

Yellow Cake
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 yellow cake mix
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep 3 6" cake rounds (or 2 8" cake rounds) with a wipe of shortening and dust of powdered sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, egg whites, and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
Sift in the cake mix. Stir until just combined (don't overmix!), then divide between prepared cake rounds.
Bake for 25-27 minutes until center is baked through (don't overbake!). Remove from oven, let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack until room temperature. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least a day before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature (3 sticks)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle or whisk attachment whip butter on medium-high speed (if using whisk attachment whip on high speed) until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Immediately spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

Oh Bernard, how we love you - let us count the ways.

Dear Bernard,

Oh Bernard, how we love you - let us count the ways.
We loved coming home from work one day to four - yes four pounds of sugar all over the floor. But wait, that wasn't all, also five - yes five pounds of flour all over as well. But let's be honest - it wasn't really nine pounds, likely less, you ate, a LOT. I mean a lot. So much. Thanks for licking at both messes trying to "clean up". Having to scrub the floor was good hard work for us.
Honestly, I know it was my own fault. Being so silly to think you'd ignore two paper packages on the counter tucked away for "safe" keeping. Surely they smelled delicious - somehow. At least you didn't drop them where they were on the counter, you thoughtfully dragged them all over the kitchen. You must have had so much fun.
Perhaps our favorite part was after we'd swept, vacuumed, scrubbed, cleaned, we let you back in the house, you drank a gallon of water, then proceeded to give us all of that back, all of the nice clean floor. Oh, Bernard. How we love you - let us count the ways.
I wasn't going to do anything with that flour and sugar other than bake these cupcakes. At least the cupcakes turned out OK, with replacement flour and sugar that were stored far, far away from you.
Oh, Bernard... thanks for always reminding me that I can try but never quite measure up to your counter-surfing prowess. You are amazing.
Love,
Erin

Ultimate Marble Cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 and 2/3 cups (210g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup (60g) yogurt
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon (195ml) milk, divided
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (21g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder

Milk Chocolate Frosting
1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup (21g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
salt, to taste

Vanilla Frosting
1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar
2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
alt, to taste

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners and an additional pan with 2 liners. This recipe makes about 14 cupcakes. Set them aside.
Make the cupcakes: in a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in sugar – mixture will be gritty. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 minute. Stir in egg, yogurt, 3/4 cup milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick. Transfer 3/4 cup of batter to another medium bowl. Mix in cocoa powder and 1 Tablespoon milk until combined. Chocolate batter will be extremely thick.
Spoon 1 Tablespoon of vanilla batter into each cupcake liner. Top with a spoonful of chocolate batter, then more vanilla batter on top until all batters have been used up. At this point you may swirl the batters together very lightly using a toothpick or leave them as is, as I explained in the post. Bake the cupcakes for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
For the chocolate frosting: sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder to assure there are no lumps. Set aside. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sifted sugar/cocoa powder alternately with the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat on low speed after each addition. Once all added, beat on high speed until creamy and combined for at least 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
For the vanilla frosting: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
Frost cooled cupcakes with a knife or with a piping bag/tip. If you’d like to just make 1 kind of frosting and not both, make sure you double the frosting recipe of your choice to make sure there is enough for all cupcakes. To swirl the two frostings like I did, here is how I made the swirl frosting. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you use on each cupcake.
Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days and in the refrigerator up to 5.

Rimmed in Happiness

My last dance with funfetti was a bit lackluster. It seemed like funfetti redemption was necessary. A coworkers birthday seemed like a good time to give it a shot. We just returned early from the buggiest wettest camping trip so far - baking seemed like a good plan.
Thankfully I had plenty of sprinkles to fancy up that funfetti!
Nicholas, the ever-curious, watched as I mixed everything together. I have zero qualms about doctoring up a cake mix - it works, it's delicious, done and done. This method is really different too. I'm used to using my stand mixer and mixing the batter like a crazy person. This method you sift the cake mix into your wet stir and do not over mix. Your cupcakes come out flat - but they are moist and delicious. Oooh... the M word... it's true. They are moist and delicious - just ask my coworkers! One of them said they were "not bad" then proceeded to tell me that "not bad" actually meant good. Because... they were "not bad". Hrm. Right - whatever.
So... Enjoy these - I ended up using canned chocolate frosting because it's delicious. I rimmed them with more sprinkles - which caused some amount of mess when people ate them - but sprinkles are happiness. What's better than a funfetti cupcake, topped with chocolate, rimmed in happiness? I don't think anything.

Funfetti Cupcakes Cake
⅔ Cup Sour Cream
¾ Cup Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
4 Egg Whites
⅓ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 White Cake Mix
1/2 cup rainbow jimmies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, egg whites, and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
Sift in the white cake mix. Stir until just combined (don't overmix!), stir in jimmies, then divide between prepared cupcake liners.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

The sun DID come out... finally

It's been a LONG summer at work - for reasons. But the sun came out and it was a happy happy day! So what do you think I did? I baked - of course!!
I've been waiting for a time such as this - a time to make Oreo Frosting! Let's say you've been rocking a healthier lifestyle for a few months - Oreos aren't generally part of a healthier eating lifestyle so when I opened that package - oh man... bliss. I wanted to dive in and eat the entire bag, but I held back and didn't even eat a single one. Not even the one that was put together wrong, that one called out to me, it said - I'm unique and should be eaten now. I didn't.
This frosting is easy. Its delicious buttercream with crushed Oreos (or generic sandwich cookies) mixed it - but how can something so simple be so tasty? I don't know but it can be and it was.
Reviews on the cupcakes? Amazing. Chances I will make this again? VERY high! Even Andy loved his cupcake - I saved him one - he got to celebrate the sun coming out again too... after the long dark summer... My MOPS mama best be prepared for some Oreo Frosted Cupcakes in the coming season!

Oreo Frosting
3 sticks (1 ½ cups) Unsalted butter
6 cups powdered sugar
12 Oreos, crushed
1–2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cut the butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter at medium high speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Beat the butter until it looks lighter in color.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, 2 cups at a time, adding the heavy whipping cream intermittently, mixing on low speed until it’s incorporated into the butter. Then increase the speed to high and beat for 30-60 seconds. Repeat until all your powdered sugar has been added.
In a food processor, grind the Oreos into a fine crumb. Add the crushed Oreos to the frosting along with the vanilla extract. Slowly beat the crumbs into the frosting then beat at a high speed for 60 seconds.
In a large piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and place an Oreo in the side. Store in an air tight container.

Bronwyn is 7!

This sweet girlie girl chose a flowery cake to help us celebrate her 7th birthday. So far - I think this is my best-built cake yet!! I guess if you watch enough videos on how to build and bake a cake you eventually learn something. I did try very hard to make a smooth side and use some decorative combs but wow did the fail, so I did another dragging technique that looked great.
Bronwyn loved her cake. The happy look on her face the morning after I made it, was worth every minute I spent on it. I'm not sure how on early she's seven years old, she was just a baby earlier this year...
So proud of the girl she is! Love watching her grow up.

Rainbow Cupcakes with Cloudy Frosting

When it came to birthdays growing up - we got to pick our meal and our cake. I always wanted spaghetti and eclair cake. Eclair cake was cool and yummy in our non-air conditioned house and Mom didn't have to turn the oven on. I can appreciate that now as an adult.
Bronwyn was turning 7, let that sink it, 7 years old. Oof! I don't know how that happened so fast - but it did. She's now of an age she has very strong opinions on dinner and it was fun to plan her birthday meal. She wanted Chicken Kiev, rice, and corn. Done! Easy Peasy kiddo! We planned to celebrate her birthday with family the following Saturday with a big cake but how can you have a birthday and no special treat? We decided rainbow cupcakes were just the ticket. We'd accidentally made them a year ago - so this time - intentionally we made 6 different colors, pipped them each into 24 cupcake liners and created our rainbow batter. I love cutting into these cupcakes because you get to see how it bakes and rises, so differently than I expect. For the frosting, we used something called Bettercreme. It's a product a friend of mine introduced me to. It looks like heavy whipping cream, but when it whips up, it's sweet, stable, pillowy soft, and pipes like an absolute dream. It's also very tasty. The kids disagreed with me on that front - Andy and my coworkers liked it. Very different than what I'm used to - but very good.
A very happy girl with a special gift too - pierced ears! Oh, man, she's growing up!! Make it slow down!

To Taco or Not to Taco

While we were away on our cruise in Mexico - my coworkers were talking about a Cinco de Mayo party potluck. Let's have a Siete de Mayo party! Sure, why not. I don't mind doing the coordinating - making the sign-up list, sending the reminders, all that jazz. I decided to make a dessert because - well, Mexican food is not usually my thing. Mostly because all the things in it want to kill me. Eh, details. Daycare asked all the parents to help provide lunches for teacher appreciation week/month, I signed up for cupcakes - then found out - Mexican theme. Oof! What could I do?
I found a few bloggers were making taco cupcakes - I can make taco cupcakes! making cute decorations is fun until you have 50 to make and you are really tired of cutting up tiny pieces of candy to fit itty bitty tacos.
These tacos were made of Vanilla Wafers cut in half (which isn't very easy in case you were wondering), then some chocolate frosting for the meat. I had planned on using colored candy melts for the different toppings but only found green - not sure if the mice ran away with all my other colors, but it certainly calls for a trip to the Wilton Sale in a month to restock - right?! Anyway... Lettuce was shaved green candy melts, I chopped them first and realized my tacos were too tiny - so extra cutting required. For cheese, I tried to grate a block of white almond bark but it turned out more like parmesan, especially when I added some yellow color to it. Instead, I cut up some yellow starbursts into teeny tiny pieces. Finally, the tomatoes were cut up Twizzlers. I first cut slices and then realized they were too bit - so, scissors to the rescue to make them smaller.
The cupcakes were a hit. Super simple - yellow cake mix with a vanilla pudding mix (yes I burned a full batch because well, that's how I roll when I'm trying to do too many things at once), homemade buttercream on top with a few sprinkles, and finally the fancy taco on top.
So glad my coworkers and the teachers enjoyed them. On to the next baking adventure.

To my favorite 4-year-old...

After last year's total disaster of a cake for Nicholas, I wanted to get this year's right.  You only turn 4 once.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted - he didn't know.  We talked about some options - he decided on a dinosaur - T-Rex.  Eek.  Well off to google to find some cakes.  Most of the T-Rex cakes were way too difficult for me to accomplish but I did find a dinosaur that looked doable.  he went back and forth on color and finally decided on green with orange spikes.  

While I had an idea of how to cut the cakes to make the right shapes - I got all worried since I didn't have an exact pattern to follow - so I winged it.  Winging it is really hard when you have an almost 4-year-old at one elbow, a 6-year-old at your other elbow, a dog sitting on your feet, and a husband asking questions.  Thankfully the dog went outside, the husband and younger kid went for a haircut, and the older kid found something else to do.

Thankfully when Nicholas came back with shorter hair I was just about done - but he didn't have a mouth.  I was certainly informed he needed one... So I did the finishing touches and got him all set.  I asked Nicholas what we should name this guy - Green Dinosaur.  He's so original.

Happiest of birthdays to this imp, 4 years old doesn't seem possible.

4 Years old and Happy as a Puppy in Kibble

Last year Jackson asked for a puppy cake for his 3rd birthday. Oddly enough - that puppy cake is a dead ringing for their new puppy Max. Yes, folks, the Tinley Park Dekker family has a puppy. I am still in disbelief!
This year I asked Jackson what he wanted - Paw Patrol. Ooof! Nope, I don't do anything recognizable - that's a setup for a fail... he said puppy - so I did cupcakes that looked like Max. I had fun making their tounges out of pink starbursts, added a cut up marshmallow to make the snout a tad taller. We played with eye color a bit. Max's eyes are a light brown - but we tried blue - they just looked weird. Went with brown and he couldn't be cuter.
Jackson told me he thought they looked like Max so a win! Happy 4th Birthday Jackson! That just means Nicholas is right behind him! Eek! Not sure I'm ready for that...