Phew! August has been a bit of a busy month for me already with even more to come. Saturday was the party for Hub (he'll soon be 30 too! ha!) and to celebrate 3 other birthdays and 2 anniversaries on his side of the family at our home. This required lots of preparation (cleaning, cooking/baking, gift-buying, etc...). Then, later this week we're heading to the Cities to see the PGA...my first golf tournament ever. After that it's Hub real birthday, our 7th wedding anniversary, and a much-anticipated final trip to the cabin to really wrap up the summer right. I can already tell that summer is winding down as the days seem to be getting shorter. I both long for the fall season and yet want to keep it at bay for as long as possible all at the same time...but I do relish living outside as much as possible since the winters are so long here.
So back to the party...it's a little ironic, I guess, that for all the cupcake toppers I've been making as of late...I have never ever made cupcakes. Nor have I ever even made a cake from scratch. I've done a box mix or 2 and of course the 3-step (or 2-step if you're really lazy) angel food cake mixes, but never a real homemade cake. So I decided to attempt this for the party, 8 egg whites and all. I made the white cake recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. I love this cookbook and it would be the best gift for anyone really. We received it as a gift years ago (thanks D & A!) and have used it so much. It has everything about everything in there (food-related, I mean). The cake batter was heavenly and light and sweet-smelling. So pretty I had to snap a photo for you! 
For the frosting I used Martha's (very Martha-ish) buttercream frosting recipe. I say "Martha-ish" because the instructions tell you to mix the butter and confectioner's sugar for 5 minutes after each 1/2 cup addition of sugar! I don't have a stand mixer so you can imagine how weary my wrist was after about 20 minutes or so...I cheated every so often on the entire 5 minute intervals...3 minutes or so was just dandy, I thought. (Perhaps these instructions are not unusual though?) But it was worth it as I did receive rave reviews about the fluffy frosting in particular.
I also wanted to find the numbers "3" and "0" (obviously for his age) in candles and the only ones I could find at party stores, Target, and grocery stores (perhaps I really have too much time on my hands!) were incredibly ugly, tacky ones...bright, obnoxious, plastic-y looking colors, dressed up in gold outlining, etc. I realized there is a real need (at least in these parts) for a hip, modern, cute party store. Where they don't sell the typical theme party junk and paper plates with age-related numbers on them that look as though they were designed in the 80's. There was also a lack of cute cupcake toppers. Hmm...Just for fun, prior to party-time, I squeezed in a few moments to take a few shots of some of my toppers I have on hand...and a couple new ones that will soon be going into the shop.
Anyway...so despite the foggy & dismal, yet totally typical, Duluth weather we had the entire day on Saturday, at least the cupcakes with buttercream frosting were a hit. :)How was your weekend?
P.S. Happy Anniversary wishes sister and brother-in-law! Wowee! 12 years? Really? 
1 comment:
I can't believe this was your first time making cupcakes! Well, I can't talk - my first time was this year too, but still - wow! They look lovely, and happy birthday to your husbo!
Ooooh the PGA. My friend is a pro golfer and loves it. He tried to teach me once, but I couldn't even get the putter to make contact with the ball! It's so hard!
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