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"

Trolls Birthday Party

Lucy wanted to do a trolls themed party for her 6th birthday. She loved that movie. I did too! The music is so fun!

We found this Poppy wig and she had to have it for her party. Crazy fun!

I was glad the banner I made for her 1st birthday matched her colors. I just covered the cupcakes with troll pictures for fun!

She wanted strawberry cupcakes (cake mix) with cream cheese frosting. 

The world may not be all cupcakes and rainbows sometimes but it was for Lucys party today!

For the rainbows: we piped on teal frosting, cut a slit in the cake and frosting so the Airhead extreme rainbow strip could fit inside, and then piped on white clouds around it. Some of them turned out better than other.

For the swirled frosting: we colored 3 bowls of frosting, pink, lime green, and teal and added them to a piping bag vertically (being careful not to mix them too much). Start with a little at a time. 

We had fun making the take homes. We found fun hair bands, necklaces, socks, coloring pages, and fruit snacks

We made jello popcorn from the best bites cookbook:

8 cups popped popcorn

1/4 C butter (that’s half a stick)
3 T light corn syrup (honey is a good substitute)
1/2 C sugar
1 3.5oz box jello, any flavor (not the sugar free kind)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a jelly roll pan with foil or parchment. If using foil, spray lightly with non-stick spray and set aside. Place popcorn in an extra large mixing bowl.

Place butter and syrup in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir until butter is melted. Add sugar and Jello and stir to combine.

Increase heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat so it just simmers. Continue simmering for 5 minutes.

After the sugar mixture simmers for 5 minutes, immediately pour over popcorn in bowl. Be careful, it’s super hot!! Mix right away and keep stirring so everything gets well coated. Spread mixture onto prepared pan and spread out evenly.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool to room temp. Then break into pieces and enjoy! You can certainly eat this un-baked as well and it’s just soft and gooey, but definitely bake it if you’re going to pack it up for giving, or serve it as party food so it will be light and crunchy.

We also made jello jugglers to go with the pizza. Not sure why we didn't use the same colors we used for the popcorn. They were still fun!

Movie party! They loved having a picnic on the floor while they watched Trolls. 

We did a piñata! Too bad my sister wasn't here to make it for her. These cheap ones break so fast.

We used some of Lucy's decorations from her room to create this fun table. The kids loved seeing her as a baby!

Happy 6th Birthday Lucy!

 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Estrada!

Today is Mr. Estrada's birthday. Wyatt hit the jackpot when he got him for his 1st grade teacher. Some of us mom's wanted to show our appreciation by surprising him with some birthday treats. I volunteered to make the cupcakes and they pulled money together for a gift card and balloons. I got the easy job!

*I decorated the boxes using my, "Life Is A Party" circuit cartridge.

Under box number one is...

mini cupcakes for the kiddos! I used a simple vanilla cake mix, cream cheese frosting, and sprinkles.

Under box number two is...

chocolate peanut butter Oreo cupcakes! These are a favorite at my house. 

Chocolate Buttermilk cake
1 box devil's food cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
3 TBSP cocoa powder
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine and mix for 2 minutes.
Put about 1 TBSP of cake batter in the bottom of a cupcake liner. The original recipe says to place the cookie on the bottom with no batter but my first batch burnt the cookie so adding the batter really helped.  Add 1 Oreo cookie on top of the batter. Then add a mini Reese's peanut butter cup on top of the cookie.  Add enough batter to cover the PB cup which should be 2/3 full. Bake 325 for about 17 minutes or until cake is done.

• Oreo Peanut Butter Buttercream
  Ingredients
  
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 tablespoons oreo cookie crumbs
  Directions
  
  1. Separate ~8 oreo cookies and discard the cream filling.  In a food processor or plastic bag, crush the cookies into fine crumbs.
  2. In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening on high until fully combined.  Beat in peanut butter.
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and a pinch of salt.  Start the mixer on slow, then eventually crank it up to high and beat for 2 minutes.  Add more confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you reach your desired consistency (more sugar = thicker buttercream).
  4. Add the cookie crumbs and beat on high for 2 minutes.

I know I can't post a pic showing all the kids so here is the one and only Mr. Estrada. He makes me happy just seeing his smiley face. We love you!

Happy 3rd Birthday Aryana!

I feel so special I got to make these for Aryana's birthday. She loves Frozen, like every other little girl in the world right now. It was fun to see her face when I walked in with these.

Elsa and Anna joined in on the party too!

I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I arranged the cupcakes on the platter first and then used my 1M tip to pipe the rosettes on. I went through and covered up the holes with a star of frosting. I made snowflakes with white chocolate and silver bead pearls for the bottom of her dress. I first piped them onto wax paper and once they dried I added them to her dress. 

Lucy was so excited to meet the princesses!

Happy 60th Rita!

I made these for sweet Rita's 60th birthday.
Strawberry:

Strawberry cake
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.

*this frosting is a little runny so it doesn't pipe anything fancy unless you add more powdered sugar which makes it more sweet.

Chocolate:

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 semisweet chocolate chips

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 love the polka dot table cloth Rachel used.  She bought a few yards of fabric and used it as a runner.  What a cute idea!

Chocolate letters:
traced a 60 backwards onto wax paper so when I pulled it off the opposite side was smooth.

Happy Birthday Rita!