Cupcakes galore

When did this turn into a cupcake blog? Well, it hasn't really but I bake a lot now! I used to think baking was hard for some odd reason. Now I have realized that baking is actually incredibly easy. Just very time consuming. I'm no Martha Stewart, my cupcakes will never win award for beauty - but hey, I try!

Anyone who knows me well knows that my son turns 3 years old tomorrow (shocking, I know). I'm very excited for his birthday. This year instead of buying him an elaborate cake I baked him cupcakes and tried to incorporate things that are quintessentially Daniel. Daniel really loves two things right now: bugs and SpongeBob Squarepants. And when I say he loves bugs, I mean LOVES bugs. He can talk about bugs all day, read books about bugs, watch videos about bugs on Youtube - all of the above. He also really gets a kick out of SpongeBob even though that is definitely not my favorite cartoon.

To make his cupcakes, I used recipes from Martha Stewart's cupcake book. I used a recipe for the chocolate cake and her swiss meringue buttercream recipe. I have never used the buttercream recipe before but they're all pretty much the same. This one used regular sugar and of course egg whites for the meringue. I like this recipe a lot because it's not a very sweet icing. Definitely buttery, though! Four sticks of butter will do that. I wasn't too keen on putting four WHOLE sticks of butter into the icing but that's what a lot of these icing recipes call for. Anyone who is watching their weight need not indulge in these cupcakes. The icing also sets up nicely and will hold it's shape, perfect for piping. I don't know why I feel the need to pipe the icing for every cupcake I make. I just love piping. It's my favorite thing. It's actually the one reason I even make cupcakes at all! I also love coloring the icing. Messy but a lot of fun. As you can see we split the icing into two portions (it made a lot, about 5 cups). I colored one part green and the other a blue. The green I piped into grass for the bugs and  the blue I piped into swirls for SpongeBob.

My "throw away" cupcake for taste-testing :)

We got the little boxes from Michael's - they fit 4 cupcakes in each and they're perfect for our party. The little candy treats we obviously bought pre-made. You can be a true Martha Stewart and make the little decorations yourself but I'm not that much of an over-achiever.

Tomorrow my baby turns three. I'm kind of in denial about him getting older. I love that little booger so much!