Delightful Birthdays

In every flavor, filling, and frosting.

Say I Do To Poppy Cakes

With whimsy and wonder or elegance and grace.

Celebrate New Family Members

For girls and boys of every age.

Reminisce About Your Childhood

With familiar friends.

Punch Up the Party

It's not just about the commercials anymore.

Monday, February 20, 2012

A Sunday Sundae

Late last week I had the "pleasure" of having two of my wisdom teeth out.  Mostly it was a weekend of sleeping and drinking all my food.  Not only have I missed solid food, but I've missed cupcakes as well!  I'm not going to lie though, the thought of putting a cupcake in a blender and drinking it does not sound appetizing.

So while I'm dreaming of foods that go "crunch", I'll leave you with some "soft food" inspired cupcakes...

Vanilla funfetti ice cream sundae cupcakes to be exact!

Unfortunately for me, none of the above is actually ice cream.  We covered the cupcakes in white fondant, a smear of chocolate icing, and gumpaste cherries.

Happy birthday Krystal!

Here's hoping I might be able to graduate to cupcakes at some point in the next few days and leave the pudding and jello behind!





Saturday, February 18, 2012

Rolling Out the Red Velvet Carpet

Award season is in full swing and the Queen of all award shows comes up a week from tomorrow - are you ready for the Oscars?

I haven't seen nearly as many of the nominated movies as I normally would have by now, so while I won't be able to judge on the acting performances, I can still have fun judging the outfits!  For last year's fashion judgement, we munched on the traditional southern red velvet cake while we watched Hollywood's most glamorous prance along the red carpet.


Make your own for next weekend's festivities with Martha Stewart's Red Velvet recipe:

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
  2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.
  3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.
  4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
  5. To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting.

For this year, I'm going to practice my Oscar statue-making skills so he doesn't turn out so chubby ;)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E


Who's the leader of the club
That's made for you and me?
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E


I don't know about you, but I grew up a Disney child through and through.  I loved going over to my grandparents house because they had the Disney channel (back when it was premium cable like HBO!) and I could watch the All-New Mickey Mouse Club.  (Don't worry, this won't turn into a post about how my love for Justin Timberlake started in childhood!)  I loved - well, love - every last animated Disney movie.  I still get irrationally excited when I find out which classic is coming out of the Disney vault next.  One of the hardest questions I've ever been asked is what would my top five Disney movies be.  I can never limit my favorites to only five!

When a good friend's boyfriend was offered a job at Disney doing animation, I couldn't wait to celebrate with cupcakes!  I didn't have a lot of time to prepare an elaborate spread, though my imagination certainly went wild. 


I opted for some simple mouse cupcakes to fete the newest animator at Disney Studios.  Beneath the playful exterior is what I'm calling my "Adult Funfetti" confection.  It's a white champagne cake with confetti sprinkles mixed in and topped with champagne cream cheese frosting.  Oreos helped Mickey really take shape!


Mixing in the sprinkles for the funfetti!



Nothing but crumbs and good friends remained at the end of the evening.