Party Preparations: Cupcakes

First of all....I am totally in denial that Caleb will be one this month.  Seriously?  Where has time gone?!  I cannot believe I am planning a first birthday for him!

As my regular readers know, Caleb has to eat dairy free.  This added an interesting element to party planning, but its been fun.  I have tried (remember these are ALL dairy free):

• Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting using only butter alternative-Cake and forsting tasted good but but the frosting melted before I could even finish frosting three cupcakes!
• Raspberry vanilla with cream cheese frosting:  Cakes was awesome, but I did not think the kids would like the raspberry "surprises" throughout.  The cream cheese frosting was ok, but not good enough.
• Raspbery vanilla cake with buttercream frosting:  Again, the cake was awesome but I did not think the kids would like the "surprises".  The buttercream frosting used all shortening---I realized, we were on to something it was GOOD, but thick!
• Snicker doodle cupcakes:  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  THE WINNER.  See recipe below; next step--figuring out how to decorate in a fishy theme.

After I found the winner, I sent several of you a picture of the test cupcakes and many of you asked for the recipe.  I hope I remember it correctly because I sort of made it up, here goes.....

Cake Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 Pamela's white cake mix (bonus this is also gluten free)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Frosting Ingredients (3 cups):

• 1 cup shortening
• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (if you want pure white frosting use clear vanilla)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch kosher or fine sea salt
• 1-3 tablespoons rice/almond/coconut/soy milk (i used almond this time, but will use rice at the party)

Topping:

• 6 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Steps (cake):

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 16-18 standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Combine eggs, oil, water and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk (either by hand or with a handheld mixer) for 2 minutes.
3. Gradually add the cake mix and cinnamon, whisk just until combined, mixture will be a little lumpy
4. Divide batter among prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of the topping on each cupcake.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen, lightly browned and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool.

Steps (frosting):

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat shortening until smooth.
2. Add Cinnamon, salt, vanilla and butter flavoring.
3. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until its all mixed in with mixer on low.
4. Add one tablespoon milk alternative. Gradually add more rice milk until the mixture becomes a spreadable consistency.
5. Turn mixer up to medium-high and beat for 30 seconds or so until very creamy.
6. Frost the cooled cupcakes.
7. Sprinkle the frosting with the remaining topping.

Yum.  Yum.  YUM!!!!!  I cannot wait to figure out how to decorate these things!!!

Halloween Cake

Matthew got a random itch for some cake a few nights ago so we made chocolate cake from a box and then homemade vanilla butter cream frosting. The touches to make it halloween were quite last minute.

She sure is Mommy's helper lately!

Whoops, she got batter on her fingers :)

Every kid needs raw dough or batter eventually right??

The final product

In the words of my Little Tummy Yummy blog...YUMMY IN THE TUMMY

Vegetable Lasagna

Many of you have asked for the recipe for the Vegetable lasagna I was facebooking about the other day. Since Little Joy LOVED it, I blogged about it on the Little Tummy Yummy blog: Vegetable Lasagna. Check it out and enjoy!

One taste bud warning, this is a southwestern take on lasagna so if you are expecting an Italian taste, you will be disappointed. Go in with an open mind and you will love it as much as we did!

Easy Berry Cobbler

I have made this cobbler several times for several different groups of people. I absolutely love this recipe and several people have asked for it so I decided to share it here.

I love the recipe not only because it is SUPER easy, but also because I can always have the ingredients on hand for that last minute "need".

(adapted from Southern Living Magazine, July 2008)

Ingredients

• 4 Cups fresh blackberries (alternatively I use one package frozen mixed berries when berries are out of season; you can also use any other fresh berries/fruit; peaches and strawberries are a great combo when they are in season)
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 6 tbsp butter (I use less, maybe 3-4 tablespoons)
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice (I just guesstimate this)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Place berries/fruit in a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish
• Sprinkle berries/fruit with 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• Stir together 1 large egg, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup all purpose flour until mixture resembles coarse meal; sprinkle over fruit
• Drizzle butter over cobbler evenly (this is what makes it crispy and YUMMY)
• Bake at 375 for 35 min or until lightly browned and bubbly (mine usually takes closer to 40 or more minutes)
• Serve warm with whipped cream

The frozen fruit works great because you can always keep the ingredients for this on hand AND it makes LOTS of juice J

Pumpkin Pie

I made homemade pumpkin pie for the first time several weeks ago. And when I say homemade, I mean---Pumpkin filling at all. It was fairly simple except for one step: getting all the water out of the pumpkin. That step was only challenging because I did not have the proper equipment (cheese cloth). I used the pumpkin pie recipe (and pie filling) and whipped cream recipe from JoyofBaking.com.

Matthew gave it a 4.25 out of 5 stars; not too shabby!

Pumpkin Filling:
3 large eggs
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree*
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-9 inch frozen crust

Whipped Cream:
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated white sugar

1) Make pumpkin puree

• Use the smaller pumpkin varieties like Sugar Pie, Baby Bear or Cheese Pumpkin (approximately 5-7 lbs., 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 kg.). I used a Sugar Pie pumpkin
• Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise, remove all the seeds and stringy fibers
• Place cut-side down on a greased baking sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees F approximately 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours (depending on size) or until easily pierced with a knife.
• Scoop out the pulp and puree in a food processor until smooth.
  
• Extract all the liquid, so strain the pumpkin through a cheesecloth lined strainer and then cool the puree before using. ***I did not have a cheesecloth so I used a coffee filter for every 1/2 cup of puree I extracted liquid from**** This took about 15-20 minutes to do.
  

2) Make the pie filling

• In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
  
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell (I used a frozen crust) and place on a large baking pan to catch any spills.
• Bake the pie for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center will still look wet; A knife inserted about 1 inch from side of pan will come out almost clean.)
• Place the baked pie on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature with maple whipped cream. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator

3) Make Whipped Cream

• Place mixing bowl and wire whisk in freezer before making whipped cream (I used a kitchen aid mixer and it was SUPER easy)
  
• In mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and beat until the mixture until stiff peaks form.

4) Serve pie at room temperature and make whipped cream just before serving


Easy, easy!!!! Try making your own pumpkin filling!!! It was fun!

Pumpkin I used

After removing seeds and fibers.This takes a while too. Pumpkin fibers are much more difficult than squash fibers, ARG!

After cooking pumpkin, pretty color huh?

Done!

Time to eat!