It's a girl!

This was for Kristin's baby shower.  She has twin boys and now she's going to have a girl.  So fun!

This is the same cake stand I used for the Damask baby shower.  It was fun to see it in a new color scheme, but yet still get to use the tutu.  Michelle picked out this cute paper and I like how it looked on the tiers.  This is going to be my new cake stand.  This time around was so much easier because I didn't add the ribbon.

 I decided to try a new cupcake that was inspired by my sweet friend Anna.

I made lemon cupcakes.  I love the new Duncan Hines Supreme cakes line, this one is called Lemon Supreme I believe. I love this because the lemon is very subtle and the flavor doesn't seem as artificial as some of the other brands. I used my favorite lemon frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp. lemon juice

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Finely shred 1 tsp of lemon peel; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese and lemon juice. Beat with mixer on low to medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to make frosting that is easy to spread. (Add more powdered sugar if you will be piping) Stir in lemon peel.

And the new part was adding the raspberry filling.  I thought it tasted yummy together.  You should try it!

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.
 The other flavor was strawberry:

Strawberry cake (this is Kay Dawn's recipe)
1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 small box strawberry jello
1/2 boiling water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh mashed strawberries
Boil water in microwave. Add jello. Stir until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients. Mix few minutes on medium. Bake 350 for approx. 16 min.
Strawberry frosting 

1 stick butter
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries
6 ounces of cream cheese

1 tsp. of vanilla.

Since polka dots was part of the decor that's how I decorated the cupcakes.  I had some hot pink chocolate left over so I made a few sprinkles with it.

 I decided last minute that we needed a topper so I made the ribbon flower super fast with hot glue and the tags you might have noticed them from another baby shower.  I'm glad I keep stuff like this, you never know when you'll need it again.

Thanks Michelle for letting me do this for your pretty table.

*I have something I need to say: I learned an important lesson tonight. My children are more important than this blog! I have been trying to get updated this week and it has been a little crazy.  It's been consuming my thoughts.  And what makes it worse is when I look at other dessert blogs and it intimidates me. As I sit at night blogging I think of their pictures and wonder how they always seem to be in natural lighting or how they always seem to get that perfect angle. So I've been trying to edit my pictures(some seem to have no hope no matter how hard I try) on my husbands computer that I only have access to for a couple hours a day and then forward back to my computer so I can blog about them later. Well this has taken forever it seems. It has taken time away from me doing more important things. I realized this tonight as I was trying to rush my 8 year old to bed so I could get daddy's computer out and edit while it's here.  Something told me to stop and just listen to him talk about his day, like the Scooby Doo episode that he thought was cool or how he wished he had his lizard now or even (my favorite) how he really wants to be nice to Wyatt but he's 3 and that makes it so hard.  Anyway I realized that moment was much more important than editing a bunch of pictures of pink cupcakes.  I was creating memories with my boy.  We don't talk much because all day I'm dealing with 2 other crazy children and don't make the time like I should to be with him.  So I just decided that I don't care if my photos are edited anymore.  I don't care that my blog isn't like the professionals. I don't care that I don't have the time or energy to write every step or link everything. I do care about my 8 year old looking back at his life and realizing he had a mom who wasn't consumed with cupcakes every waking minute.  I want to take the time for my 3 kids.  One day I will have the time to get better but I won't get this time with my children again. So until then please enjoy my unedited creations with very little writing (you thought I was bad before) 
Thanks for listening to me.  It felt so good to finally get it out.  I've had these thoughts for so long but I finally came to terms with it tonight.