Happy 13th Birthday Ethan!

Today is Ethan's birthday and he requested an Angel Food Cake to celebrate with. I have always used a box mix. My favorite brand is Betty Crocker. 

I love how simple my kids have been lately with their birthday cakes!

I love this picture. Linc couldn't stop sampling his cake. And Ethan was so sweet and couldn't get mad at him.

Happy Birthday bud!

Yogurt Pops

Lucy's class snack for April

My mom gave me this fun silicone pan for Spring. I think it's normally used for cupcakes but we decided since it is hot outside we would make a cool treat this time.

We used 3 different flavors of yogurt (vanilla, strawberry and peach.) We scooped the yogurt into the cavities, added a popsicle stick and put them in the freezer for several hours. We had to start early the prior day to make enough for the whole class.

We added blueberries to some of the vanilla ones.

The kids really liked these popsicles. We will for sure have to make these for Wyatt's snack next month.

Easter Snack

Wyatt's class snack for April

My awesome sister-in-law is in town and helped me put this together.

We put Goldfish in cone shaped cellophane bags to hopefully look like carrots.

We added applesauce and a peep to each bag.

To make the bunny bag, cut a triangle out of the top of a brown paper sack. I traced my first one starting at the 2 ends and meeting in the middle. Once you cut your first one you can use the cut triangle for a pattern. We glued a cotton ball onto the front of the bag for his tail.

I found the bag idea and the cute tag here at craftaholics anonymous. I even copied her backdrop although her camera taking skills are much better than mine. 

Happy Easter from my little crazies!

Hero Tribute 2017

This year for Clint's tribute we made cupcakes for a policeman that attends our church. We made chocolate cake, raspberry filling and chocolate frosting. My kids made this sweet card for him.

Since I'm not on Facebook, his sweet wife sent me this and I wanted to include it to show you what an incredible man Ken is! 

Robot juice box

Wyatt's snack for Robotics.

 

Birthday Celebration

Tonight we celebrated the 175th birthday our our churches Relief Society organization. It is know as one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world and it is awesome!

I am on the committee and was asked to make the cupcakes. 

I made chocolate with raspberry:

Too Much Chocolate Cake from Allrecipes.com:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips 
• Bake in a jelly roll pan. 350 for 20ish minutes. Once cooled cut cake in half, pipe a damn around the edge of one half of the cake, add raspberry filling to the center and top with other half of cake, and pipe rosettes. Double the frosting recipe.

Raspberry filling
16 oz. frozen raspberries thawed
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixtures boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed raspberries into cool mixture.

Patti's Chocolate Frosting:

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

I also made lemon:

For the vanilla cupcakes: 

I used a cake box with:

-an extra egg

-replace water with milk

-1 cup of sour cream

For the lemon curd (makes extra):

• 1/3 cup lemon juice, about 2 lemons
• 2 large eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch table salt

I used my Lemon Cream Cheese frosting because it's my favorite.

1/2 cup butter softened

8 oz. cream cheese softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2-1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Zest from one lemon

3 to 31/2 cups powdered sugar

 

Make the lemon curd filling:

1. Heat lemon juice over medium heat until hot but not boiling.
2. Meanwhile, whisk eggs and yolk in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the sugar. While whisking, slowly pour hot lemon juice into the eggs. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture registers 170 degrees and coats the back of a spoon.
3. Remove pan from heat and stir in butter. Once melted, stir in cream, vanilla, and salt.
4. For a more even texture, strain mixture through a fine-mesh strainer (optional). Curd is able to be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, just cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

*I used a cupcake corer to gently hollow out the center of the cupcake. You could use an apple corer too but just don't got far down. 

I found these toppers here  on Etsy.

I wanted to include these cute table decorations. My friend is super talented and came up with a different birthday party theme for each table.

"around the world"

"circus"

"tea time"

"owl"

Fruit Rainbow

Lucy's class snack

We made a fruit rainbow

We didn't want to forget the gold at the end of the rainbow. It is St. Patrick's Day after all (well almost.)