Cupcakery

(a dangerous trio: Raspberry White Chocolate, Margarita, and Rum Punch cupcakes)

Our family recently had the pleasure of celebrating the marriage of my husband's cousins to a very wonderful guy. As many family had traveled for the event, the bride and groom hosted a day-after-the-wedding party at their new home. I'm always looking for an excuse to bake, so I offered to bring dessert. I decided to continue the theme of celebration with some spiked cupcakes. I know cupcakes are a big "trend" in baking right now, but I love them for so many more reasons than their trendiness. Here are a few if the reasons I adore them so very, very much: easy to portion control, inherently kid-friendly, simply portable, very fun to decorate, and amendable to cute dessert displays.

Anyway, on to the cupcakes! The Margarita and Rum Punch versions are spiked, but the final recipe is alcohol free.

Margarita Cupcakes

I found the recipe for these on another food blog I like to follow called Tracey's Culinary Adventures. As I LOVE lime, I was practically drooling just thinking about this recipe. I followed her recipe exactly and they were delicious! See her website for a much prettier picture that actually does these beautiful cupcakes justice! I was just lucky my photographer remembered to snap a shot before he devoured the leftovers...

Rum Punch Cupcakes

Once again, the picture leaves something to be desired, but the flavor of these amazing coconutty, rum drenched, pineapple whipped cream topped delights does not. I found this recipe on another food blog called Annie's Eats. Once again, I followed her recipe to the letter and was very pleased with the results. The only thing I added was the cherry on top for a garnish.

Raspberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe was also borrowed from Tracey's Culinary Adventures (recipe here).These cupcakes were very pretty and dainty in appearance, but quite dense when you ate them. The white chocolate cupcake was not light and fluffy like the other cakes, but heavier like a pound cake. Not bad, just different. The issue I did have with them was that I felt the frosting was too sweet - it was the kind of sweet that makes the insides of your cheeks tingle from all the sugar! I would definitely make them again, but with about 1/2 the sugar in the frosting. Also, I did skip filling them as I was running out of time. (I made use of the extra raspberry filling as a yogurt stir-in and as a topping for baked brie, yum!)

Bug Party: Everything Else!

I'll admit that my life (in terms of residency) is lightening up, but the amount of "free time" I have has virtually disappeared. Between my efforts to study for my board exam, get back to the gym, and deal with the bug refusing to settle for bedtime until later and later, my blogging is once again slacking. I'm now going to make use of an aptly timed "no show" patient to present the rest of my Bug Party crafts and ideas. This is a long one, so either skip it or settle in!

Party Sign

For bug's actual birthday I spent time making a paper birthday banner. Then, I saw the sign idea on another blog and decided to mix it up a bit for her big party. Check out Prudent Baby for the original instructions. For my version:

• I didn't have a staple gun (and find them scary), so I stretched the fabric in place over my canvas and used hot glue to secure
• Instead of twine, I used some of my leftover ribbon from the topiary to hang the letters
• Once again, I used my "inspiration paper" as the backdrop for the letters
• Instead of painting the letters, I used two packages of large, glittery cardboard scrapbooking letters that I purchased on clearance from Michael's
• After carefully measuring out the spacing between the letters, I dabbed a bit of hot glue on each mini clothespin to keep the letters from moving or falling

Cupcake Toppers

If you haven't see these cuties pop up recently, you are very out of touch with what's what in the world of party planning (or didn't have endless hours trying to stay awake in the NICU overnight to browse every party planning blog known to man). Anyway, these are VERY easy to make and really jazz up your dessert table.

Supplies: Lollipop sticks, paper, scissors, large square paper punch, color printer, glue stick, hot glue gun

Quick Instructions:

1. Use paper puncher to punch out twice as many pieces as toppers you intend to make (i.e. if you want to make 25 toppers, punch out 50 squares).
2. Use Microsoft Word to design whatever picture or wording you want on the topper (I made 4 different ones) and print with a color printer in shades to match or compliment your punched paper.
3. Cut out printed circles.
4. Use glue stick to attach the circles to half of your punched squares.
5. Use hot glue to attach one square to each lollipop stick. When dry, secure second square in place by making a thin line of hot glue around the edges of the first square and pressing the second square in place until dry.
6. Stick in cupcakes and wait for compliments:-)

Bug "Ears"

My little bug called the antennae that I made "ears" and it just kinda stuck. These were very, very easy and inexpensive to make and I think the adults enjoyed them nearly as much as the kiddies.

Supplies: Cheap plastic headbands (I got packages of 8 at the dollar store!), green ribbon, green pipe cleaners, small styrofoam balls, spray paint, hot glue

Quick Instructions

1. Spray paint styrofoam balls (I used my leftover paint from the terra cotta pots to save money).
2. Roughly determine where you want the antennae to be and wrap one end of the pipe cleaner around the headbands. By having them in place at the start, you can secure the sharp ends under the ribbon when you wrap it.
3. Using hot glue to secure in place, wrap green ribbon around headbands to cover completely. I worked in half inch sections at a time to prevent the glue from drying too quickly.
4. Stick the styrofoam balls in place on the top of each antennae. You can make them more secure by placing a dab of glue on the end of each pipe cleaner before inserting it.

Treat Cones and Holder

This project was a last minute detail for my dessert table. The cones themselves are super easy to make if you have the right supplies, but presenting them takes a bit more effort in putting together the holder. Directions for the holder can once again be found on this blog (scroll til you find it!), but I made my cones smaller and with a different method.

Supplies: Paper, paper trimmer, scissors that cut fancy edges, long lollipop sticks, any container you want to be your holder, styrofoam, hot glue, container "filler"

Instructions:

1. Cut paper into squares of any desired size (I made 6" by 6") with the trimmer.
2. Use design scissor to trim the border on two consecutive edges of the paper square.
3. Roll the paper into a cone shape with the scalloped edges at the top and a small opening large enough for the lollipop stick at the bottom - this step takes some trial and error; just keep rolling until you get the look you want. Secure along the seam with hot glue.
4. Secure the styrofoam in the bottom of your container with the hot glue.
5. Insert the lollipop sticks into the styrofoam (they need to be spaced out enough that the cones will fit next to each other) and place the cones over the sticks.
6. Spread the filler out around the cones.
7. Fill cones with any treats you desire (I made pink white chocolate popcorn for mine).

Phew! I think that's it for the non-edible DIY projects. I could make about a dozen other posts with the food DIY as I made everything that we ate as well, but I'll just hit on those recipes in other ways. I really, really hope my ideas and instructions help someone else out there:-)