A very special birthday

So it's been absolutely forever since I've blogged. My daughter has gotten a LOT more mobile and as a result I have a) baked less and b) spend all my time chasing her around and fishing things out of her mouth. She just turned 1 and we threw her a little birthday party. I had so much fun baking treats and making things for her party. I got a little carried away on pinterest but her party was really cute and special.

For the party, I cheated a little on the cupcakes and used a boxed chocolate cake mix (I couldn't find a recipe that made moist, light cake) and storebought icing. The vanilla cupcakes were the same from-scratch mix that I made the cake pops from though and they turned out really good. 

My friend let me borrow her Baby Cakes cake pop maker. You can purchase one here. They make cake pops that look pretty and are done in 5 minutes! The only thing that was difficult was icing them. I'm sure with some practice and a good recipe you could get this down but it took me forever. I used an icing glaze and then dipped them in sprinkles.  

Here are the recipes I used:

Vanilla Cake Pops & Cupcakes

Ingredients:

11⁄2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1⁄4 teaspoon salt, 1⁄2 cup butter, softened, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1⁄2 cup milk, Glaze or coating of choice

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 

2. In a separate bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in

eggs and vanilla. 

3. Alternately blend in flour mixture and milk into butter mixture, beginning and ending

with the flour mixture. 

4. Fill each cooking reservoir with about 1 tablespoon of batter. 

5. Bake 4 to 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cake pop comes out clean. 

6. Allow to cool and glaze or coat, as desired.

Vanilla Glaze (for cake pops)

Ingredients:

1⁄4 cup melted butter, 11⁄4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 to 21⁄2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

1. Combine melted butter with confectioners sugar, stirring until well blended. 

2. Stir in vanilla. 

3. Blend in 2 tablespoons hot water and stir until smooth. 

4. Add a little of the remaining hot water, if needed, to make a thin glaze consistency.

Makes about 3⁄4 cup of glaze

Tip: Vanilla glaze is perfect to use on donuts and will remind you of glazed donuts from a local donut shop.

Ps. I apologize for the wacky font changes. Blogger wouldn't let me change my pasted text for some reason. lame. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

These were made a while ago but I lost the images until recently. Since I found them, I thought I'd share. I made these for an Oscar party (hence the red velvet - red carpet with added clear sprinkles for "bling").

Here's the recipe for the red velvet cupcake part:


Red Velvet Cupcakes 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 ounces water
2 ounces red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake tins as directed as directed in the recipe you are following.
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and blend well.
4. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to the butter mixture.
5. Sift flour and salt together into this mixture.
6. One at a time, add the following ingredients: buttermilk, vanilla, and water.
7. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Fold it into the cake batter. Make sure it's incorporated, but don't beat it.
8. Pour the batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched.
9. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out of the tins and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

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These cupcakes were really dense. In thinking about it, all of my homemade cakes have been very dense and I'm wondering if it's because I don't use cake flour, I use regular flour. I've tried buying cake flour but they don't carry it at any of the stores I've been to. If anyone has any insight into this, let me know! I want to try it one last time with cake flour before I give up and get box mixes for cakes.


The icing, however was DEVINE. I highly recommend it and it was incredibly easy. 

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Here's that recipe:


Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting 1 box confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract*
1/4 cup milk or light cream
food coloring (optional)

*Less than 1 teaspoon pure almond extract can be substituted.

In a bowl combine: one box of confectioners' sugar, one stick of unsalted butter, one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of milk or light cream and beat for a while. Really whip it, don't be afraid to get in there. I occasionally add food coloring and sometimes substitute pure almond extract for vanilla.
If you do choose to add pure almond extract instead of vanilla, you're on your own. I don't know the measurement for it, but I do know it's less than the amount of vanilla you would add.

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I used the vanilla extract. I wouldn't change a thing. Super delicious icing. 


Yum.

ps. I also enjoyed making these because I got to try out my new icing bag and tips. They make the icing look so much prettier... although I still can't figure out how to get them to look like the DC Cupcakes that look so incredible.