Now that I’ve addressed just how horrible sugar is let’s talk about CUPCAKES! No, seriously, I hope I have stressed how I am not little miss organic health nut (although kudos if you are!).
Cupcakes are such a fun option for birthdays. Many times I bake them in lieu of a cake. For SJ’s 5th birthday which was a tea party theme, I got this pink cardboard cupcake stand on clearance and as you’ll soon see I have really gotten my use out of it.
The cupcakes had the most amazing light and fluffy frosting. I’ve wanted to share the recipe for a long time. It was also fun to make the display more enchanting by adding fake flowers with butterflies all around it.
The same cupcake stand was used for Ezie’s 3 little pigs party. I never thought of being able to use a pink for a boy party, but for 3 Little Pigs it totally worked!
Most recently we spray painted the pink cupcake stand black to use for Ezie’s batman party which worked out great.
The next birthday party will be Elle’s bumble bee birthday so I’ll be using the black cupcake stand again. I’m not quite sure what kind of cupcakes I’ll be baking yet, but I still have two weeks to think about it. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
I’ll admit all of these cupcakes were made from a store bought cake mix, but it’s the toppings that vary. Here are the directions for all three.
White Cloud Icing
(from the kitchen of Melissa Griffiths at Blessthismessplease.com )
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature for the ears,
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¾ cup light corn syrup
- 1 t. pure vanilla extract
- Beat the egg whites and salt on high speed until foamy.
- With the mixer still running, slowly add the sugar. Beat mixture until soft peaks form (when you pull the mixer out of the white mixture you should get a little point that bends over).
- Bring the corn syrup to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. When the corn syrup comes to a boil, remove from heat. Slowly pour the hot corn syrup into the egg mixture while your mixer is mixing on high. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
Pig Cupcakes
For little pig cupcakes all you need is pink frosting topped with pink wafer cookies cut into triangles for the ears, candy eyes (or you can just use chocolate chips), and a marshmallow cut in half with mini chocolate chips for the nose. Really easy, but stinking adorable.
Dye-Free Cupcakes
These are just regular old cupcakes where I used a cake mix and a can of frosting. What is special about them is that they are free of artificial dyes, preservatives, bleach, or flavors. I never realized how hard it was to find dye free foods until I started looking into it! I almost gave up until I found Pillsbury Purely Simples.
They have multiple options available at most grocery stores and they are not expensive. If you are ever looking for something more natural without baking from scratch I would definitely recommend it.
That’s all I’ve got for now as far as cupcakes, but for more kitchen related information check out the rest of my series Captain of the Kitchen going on all month long here at messymom.com. Thanks for stopping by!
So cute!
Oh Cupcakes! I haven’t made any for quite awhile but I always perferred them over a cake. Single serving… easy peasy… and so fun to decorate! These look amazing!
Yummy, now how not to pig out on the pig cupcakes!
Chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting and hmm…black sprinkles. You are so creative. I made Luke a Spider-Man cake with black webs. It turned out great, but was more work and a lot harder than I expected!
I love that idea. Now you’ve really got my wheels spinning.
Very cute! We do cupcakes all the time too because all 3 kids’ birthdays are within 3 weeks of each other.
I love making cupcakes in lieu of cakes – they’re just so cute! This recipe for icing like looks fantastic and so much better than the usual suspects – I can pronounce everything in here!