Almost Happy Birthday to Ava!

Yesterday was another snow day for the kids.  I think ice day would make more sense.  Our country roads were turned into ice skating rinks with all the rain we had the previous day and then freezing.  

So...I had fun baking cupcakes for Ava's class as her birthday treat.  Her birthday is tomorrow (February 23rd) and since she don't have preschool on Wednesdays I decided to bring in her treats today.

While the cupcakes didn't turn out the way I had envisioned them they were still totally awesome!

Can you tell what kind of cupcake it is?

(Cupcake toppers:  the speech bubble and the number 5 were cut out using the Cricut machine and then using glue dots to adhere them to long toothpicks;  I wanted to add a funny bee or something but I ran out of time!)

 A whole gaggle of cupcakes waiting for little four & five-year olds to enjoy!

 POTD (picture of the day): Ava in a sweater knit by her great grandmother (Uroma) from Austria and Daddy.

 My almost five-year old!

Did you guess what kind of cupcake it is?

Here's a hint:

 Have I ever mentioned that I love rainbows?

hee hee hee....

I made rainbow cupcakes last year for my nephew's birthday.  How can you resist something so cheerful?  It makes me smile every time I see the bright, cheerful colors.  I used a cake box mix (the Butter Recipe kind).  I know...pretty weird for me to use a cake mix but there it is. I don't feel too badly about using a cake mix considering how long it actually takes to make these cupcakes.  I won't give you an in-depth tutorial on how to do them as there are plenty of them floating around the Internet.  Here's the short-short how to: separate the prepared cake batter into six bowls.  Add gel food dye (I know, I know...I try so hard to buy food items without dyes in them and yet here I'm using a lot of dye)- enough to create the color you want.  I wanted vibrant colors so I used quite a bit.  The gel food coloring tends to create more vibrant colors as well.  Next spread each color into the cupcake tins (I got 23 cupcakes total).  Smooth out the batter, layer by layer, and then bake out as suggested on the box (or recipe).

I did an Internet search for a new frosting recipe to try.  This is the recipe I landed on: Best Frosting Recipe Ever (via Tasty Kitchen) .  OH MY GOODNESS!  I absolutely fell in love with this quirky, weird frosting!  I think the key to success it to beat the heck out of the frosting (I'm pretty sure a stand mixer is necessary to make this one).

Now....once the cupcakes were cooled I frosted them.  This is where what I had in my head didn't quite translate into reality.  I realize now I needed a much larger tip (like the oversize variety) to make the big, puffy, cloud-like swirls I was hoping for.  Oh well.  Thank goodness the size of the swirls doesn't effect the taste.  :-)

I can't wait to try again....after a stop at Hobby Lobby for another cake decorating tip!  (and maybe some day I'll take a cake decorating class!)

:-)

Have a joyful, cheerful, rainbow kind of day!