My daughters' school hosted the community this last Saturday. Even though the rain was pouring and the lighting was striking, the party went on. There was a plant sale, circus performers, scientists, raffles, silent auction, games, karate demonstration, hot dogs and a cupcake extravaganza! What is a cupcake extravaganza? A wide array of cupcakes decorated by kids and/or parents...eaten by all. Here are some pictures of the beauties that were there.
We contributed vanilla cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting. What better source than the Joy of Baking. Here's what we did.
½ cup room temperature unsalted butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 large lemon
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup milk
Steps
1. preheat oven to 350F and line muffin baking sheet with paper liners
2. beat butter and sugar, with electric mixer, until light and fluffy
3. add the eggs, one at a time, beat in vanilla and lemon zest
4. in separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder, salt
5. add flour mixture, alternately with milk, to wet ingredients - scrape sides of bowl as needed
6. evenly fill muffin cups - bake 17-20 minutes - until toothpick inserted comes out clean
7. place cupcakes on wire rack to cool
Buttercream Frosting
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
½ cup room temperature unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon milk or light cream
Assorted food colours
Steps
1. cream the butter with the electric mixer until smooth
2. add vanilla extract, gradually blend in sugar
3. add milk and beat until it is fluffy, 3-4 minutes
4. add food colouring as needed and decorate away!
So we opted to add a little blue food colouring and decided to decorate the top of the cupcakes with flowers and swirls. The girls loved them...and they were delicious. We made 12...but only 11 made it to the extravaganza...I think we did pretty well.
Sarah says
Mm. That looks delicious! I have to cook when I babysit sometimes, and I think some of my kids would love to try decorating like this! bookmarking now - can't wait to try!
KitchenCounterChronicles says
What kids wouldn't love a babysitter making cupcakes! Thanks for stopping by!
KB and Whitesnake says
They look delish.