Snow Cone Cupcakes

Last week we had the annual Family pool party at my Aunt & Uncle's place. Like last year, I decided to bring cupcakes again. I think we (my sister and I) may have started something last year with these cute teddy bear pool party cupcakes (if you missed the post you can check them out). A couple weeks back my sister and I went on a search for this years cupcakes. She found some bright coloured slushy ones and I found some snow cone ones so we decided to combine the two ideas and we created the following.  Once they were done and put away in the fridge for safe keeping, they created such a beautiful burst of colour  every time the fridge was opened!

Byron found these Twizzlers at the grocery store, which were perfect for our cupcakes!

 

Aren't the colours just so bright and cheery?

 

 

Cupcakes ready for icing. We just used a simple buttercream icing.

 

Icing is on, ready for next step.

 

 

The finished product ...

Since we had some Twizzers left over, we cut them into bite-sized pieces and scattered them around the cupcake tray, which added a little more colour.

At the party, they were a hit {mission accomplished}. Some people even thought they were real snow cones when they saw them at first! Again with my sister's help, we created some fun cupcakes!!

A Special Day for Hugo.

It is hard to believe that a year ago today we were celebrating Hugo's Baptism. The weather was so hot and our Lil Man was so small. I thought I would quickly share some of the things I did for Hugo's special day seeing as I never blogged about it last year. Here is a photo of him sitting on my lap all dressed up.

Guests were invited to come to our place following the Baptism for a lunch buffet. We served an assortment of finger foods (cheese and crackers, DIY bruschetta, veggie platter, pumpernickel & spinach dip, Portuguese style fava beans, butterfly shrimp, cocktail shrimp, Tuna Tart, 7 Layer Naco dip, Portuguese ground beef sandwiches). We also ordered a couple Subway party platters and some Subway cookies. Plus we had an assortment of desserts. There was a lot of food.

Initially I thought the Subs from Subway would be a great idea.  I figured they would be super convenient  and make things a lot easier on us, which they were. But I was not impressed with the Subway here in town though and I will not deal with them again as they did not complete my order as I had requested. When I contacted them about it the day after the party they didn't even seem to care that they messed up my order nor did they seem to care to keep us as future customers (they didn't even offer us a discount on future orders). When I went in to order the platters I specifically stated that I wanted the toppings on the side {which I have seen done at other Subways before} but our local Subway put all the toppings on the subs. This meant they all had hot peppers and we had a bunch of little kids that we were serving them to. Plus the cookies they gave us were over baked, hard and gross. To say the least I WAS NOT IMPRESSED. I have not gone back to them as a result of their lack of customer service.  If I ever have to order sub/ sandwich platters again we will be taking our business elsewhere.  Now that I have that off my chest, here are some of the details.

I find I really like sticking with a colour theme when we host a party. It seems to make things all come together nicely. So for Hugo's baptism it was no exception and the colours were white and baby blue. I also pay a lot of attention to detail because it's the way I am. When we host a party I try to get as much done as possible ahead of time, since there is always a lot to do the day of the event. For Hugo's special day, I prepped the cutlery a couple days before so that it would just be ready to set at each place setting the day before the party. I find when a buffet meal is served, it is nice when the cutlery is already on the table as oppose to having guests grabbing it when they are getting their food. Often guests already have their hands full carrying their plates and a drink and can't really carry the cutlery too.

I like sending guests home with a little thank you favour. Either something for them to snack on at a later time or something they can use. For Hugo's baptism I decided to give out a reusable shopping bag to each family that attended. I purchased the bags from Canadian Tire {I like how their company name isn't all over the bag, plus they are big and appear to be strong bags}. I set up a little assembly line.

 

I folded the bag up and attached a photo thank you card {I took the photos of the Lil Man at home, and then I designed the cards and had them printed at Costco. I could not decide on just one photo to use so I made a couple different ones with my favourite photos. Around the photo it said Thank You in three different languages - English, Portuguese, and Dutch} and I attached it to the top of the bundle. 

 

 Here they are all complete about two weeks prior to the party. 

 

I made little triangle treat boxes for each place setting.  On the outside of the box I included the Lil Man's full name, baptism date, and his Godparents names (they deserved a little recognition too). Inside each box there were a couple mint puffs. I think they turned out cute and were a nice touch. [I apologize for the poor photo quality, the following two pictures were taken the night before the party before I went to bed and the lighting was horrible].

For the centrepieces on each table I used white Astramaris (also known as Peruvian lilies) in mason jars.

On our dinning room table I had some more Astramaris flowers in between Hosta leave in a vase. I found the Hosta leaves helped fill up the vase and hold the Astramaris in place.

We decided to have cupcakes instead of a cake. I find cupcakes are a lot easier. You don't need a plate or cutlery to eat them which means less garbage. I made the cupcakes the day before the party. I stuck with the white and blue colour theme. Just before guests arrived I placed them on my 3-tiered stand and it worked out great.

They were blue and white on the inside too ...

And that's a summary of one of Hugo's Special Days in 2012 - his Baptism Day.

 

 

Pool Party / Beach Teddy Cupcakes

As promised here’s how I made the Pool Party/ Beach Teddy Cupcakes I mentioned in my January 22, 2013 post.

Cupcake at the Party -- Photo Taken by My Cousin

I found this cute cupcake idea on the Pillsbury site in the spring last year. I instantly stored the image into my human memory and made note to make them for my aunts annual summer pool party!

First I baked a Betty Crocker Rainbow Cake Mix according to the instructions on the package {I was tight on time and had no one to watch Hugo, so it was much quicker}. Usually I try to do things from scratch.

With my sister’s help and Hugo’s co-operation {he had a decent nap this day}  we started...

 

 

First we did the bikinis or swim trunks on the teddies – we melted some coloured candy melts ... {this was very time consuming, but they turned out so cute}.

 

 

Then we made our blue icing for the water while the teddies dried. For the sand we sprinkled brown sugar on half the cupcakes. We used gummy lifesavers  {they are so yummy} for the teddy floating tubes and a soft mint puff for the beach ball. The cupcakes were finalised with a mini cocktail umbrella.

 These guys turned out so cute!!

This Teddy took a dive {My Sister's Idea}

 Photo taken by my Cousin

 



If you give these cuties a try, please share how they turned out for you. I would love to see!!!

Yellow & Green

Had to share a picture of these cute and yummy peanut butter cupcakes my sister baked for me this past weekend for my Birthday dinner at my parents place. The mini cake was adorable and I absolutely loved the yellow and green colours!! Nicely done Little Sis!!!

Also wanted to share a quick Hugo update --today he walked from the laundry room all the way into our bedroom {Hooray}. Roxy does not know what to do with this recent development though. It almost seems like she is worried that he is going to fall so she tries to stay beside him [not a good thing though because it is distracting him and then he ends up falling ... not sure what to do about this].

Trying to Warm up On a Cold Winter Day.

Well the weather outside is not only frightful it is REALLY COLD.  I just checked the weather network and the temperature is -28^o C with the wind-chill.  We have had colder days in the past, but I think this is the coldest it’s been this winter. Poor Roxy came in from outside with her one back paw up in the air = instant indicator that it is extremely cold out.

We cannot really complain about this winter ... really.  To date the temperatures have been hovering just below zero and we have not really had to deal with wind chills or significant snowfalls.  At the end of the winter season last year, we bought a new snow blower.  I think Byron has used it 3 times so far this winter. Two of the times he used it, it was just a light dusting and he could have shovelled the driveway, but he was anxious to try out the new toy to make sure it worked. It works wonderfully. He was done really quickly compared to when he use to use the MacGyver blower {this is a story for another day}.

Back to the cold temperatures we are encountering today, here’s a photo we snapped of Roxy trying to warm up and we had to share it. Within seconds of this blue blanket making its appearance, Roxy is on it trying to make herself comfortable or like in the picture bellow, warming up.

It's COLD ...

 

On really cold days like today it is always nice to have warm thoughts. When I was putting away some of Hugo’s pictures in his album I came across the following photo from our family pool party this past summer. The temperature that day was probably + 28^o C .

 

Hugo’s 1^st time in a pool & he loved it!!

 

Then I came across the following picture that one of my cousin’s posted on facebook of my cupcake I made for the pool party {I’ll have to do a post about these fun Pool Party/ Beach cupcakes in the near future}.

Teddy Bear Pool Party Cupcake - Photo Taken By My Cousin



The temperature outside doesn’t seem so bad now. I guess it could always be - 48^o C. You always have to look on the bright side!!

 

 

Byron's Birthday -- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Byron loves peanut butter cups, so this was my inspiration for his birthday cupcakes this year!! I find I like making cupcakes more than a whole birthday cake because it's easier to control the portions we eat and they seem to be a lot more fun to decorate.

I went online and searched through a bunch of recipes to find the perfect one to make for my wonderful husband ... only the best for him!!

I decided to go with the following recipe from Annie's Eats - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with a couple minor revisions and they turned out GREAT!!

It is a very thick batter.

Since my time was limited to nap time, I did not make the peanut butter ball filling. Instead I used a Reese's peanut butter cup. Hugo doesn't nap for very long, so I knew I would only be able to make the cupcakes. I figured why push my luck. Perhaps these guys would have tasted even better with the filling listed in the recipe, but they still turned out great the way I made them ... maybe next time.

 

The other revision I made was to the frosting. Since my mother in-law can't have the frozen whipped topping {it gives her a tummy ache}, I used real whip cream instead. I had bought a carton of it when I was out grocery shopping, but when I got home I noticed it was leaking out the top ... arrrrrr... {what if it had gone bad} ... so I didn't want to use it and possibly make us all sick ... I had to find an alternative. As a result, I figured out how to make whip cream from scratch and it worked beautifully for this recipe, not sure if it would work all the time though. {Since my time is limited, I will do a post hopefully in the new year on how to make real whipped cream}.

I have heard that Peanut Butter Cream Cheese frosting is the best, but in our house, we like regular cream cheese icing best!

If you feel like giving these guys a try here's the recipe from Annie's Eats

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

 

For the filling: [I used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to speed things up]

1 cup confectioners' sugar

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup sour cream

2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ cups sugar

2 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup creamy peanut butter

3¼ cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed [I used real whipped cream]

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

To make the filling, combine the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk together and set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated.

Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake well and top with the remaining batter so that all the cups are filled. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until smooth. Slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth and well blended. Mix in the whipped topping until smooth and fluffy. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

 

 

 

 

I topped the cupcakes off with little chocolate mustaches. (Byron had to shave his movember mustache off for our family pics we had taken at Zehrs. I thought I was ahead of the game when I called to book the appointment, but I wasn't and all they had available was 2nd week in November).

 

Overall cupcake result ...

 

Byron gave them a Thumbs Up!!

 

 

For Byron's Birthday lunch we had baked Brie (we sprinkle some brown sugar on top and then we pop it in the oven until the brie melts), we shared some with Hugo. It was his first time having Triscuits and Brie.

 

 

 

If you give this recipe a try, let us know how it turned out for you. Hope you have a good day!!