I thought I would share with you something fun that I came up with-

For one of my best friend's baby shower I did a cupcake buffet.
I thought it would be fun, because everyone could have their cupcakes however they wanted them, plus, cupcakes are so much easier to transport when they're not already decorated.
You can make everything ahead. So easy!

I made three kinds of cupcakes- Chocolate, Vanilla, and Lemon.
I made four kinds of icing- Vanilla Buttercream, Fudge Frosting, Vanilla Whipped Cream, and Marshmallow Fluff (That one was store bought).
I had three kinds of toppings- Sprinkles, Chocolate Chips, and Coconut Flakes.

The possibilities are endless-
You could make red velvet cupcakes, orange cupcakes, banana cupcakes, etc.
You could omit the vanilla in the butter cream and add almond, lemon, or orange extract, or some strong coffee.
For toppings, you could use mini M&M's, crushed up candy bars, nuts, etc.

I broke the buttercream into smaller batches and colored some of it blue and pink. I made cute little signs too, and put them in picture frames. I cut out small strips of paper and hot glued them to silver twist ties that I bought at a party supply store, so I could make tiny signs.

All of the ingredients were organic or all natural. Even the food coloring, sprinkles, and paper cups for the cupcakes were all natural. Whole Foods had an amazing selection.

Here is my amazing buttercream recipe. It has been featured on Smitten Kitchen. If you read the comments there, you'll see that it really is the BEST buttercream recipe.
This recipe is the largest one that fits in a 5 quart mixer. Feel free to cut it in half.

2 cups of egg whites (Approximately 14- depends on egg size)
3 Cups of sugar
5 Cups of Butter, softened
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure bowl is sitting above the water and not in it. Whisk frequently until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Pour mixture into your mixer's bowl (make sure to wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl before you transfer it to the mixer's bowl) and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size.

Add the vanilla.

Finally, add the butter a stick at a time while whipping.

It may take a loooong time for the buttercream to come together. Don't worry- this is normal.
If it is too soft, you can chill it in the fridge for a bit and re-whip it.

This buttercream can be frozen. I stretch out some plastic wrap and plop some buttercream in the middle. I fold it up like a little package, pick it up, stretch out more plastic wrap, turn it 1/2 way, and wrap it again. It will keep in the freezer for up to six months. To reheat it- put it in the microwave in one minute increments at half power. I take it out and massage it after every one minute cycle to break it up a little. When it is softened (but not too soft!) I cut off one corner of the plastic wrap and squeeze the buttercream into my mixer's bowl and re-whip.

You can make chocolate buttercream by adding cocoa powder to taste. You can add a few tablespoons of strong coffee either by itself for coffee buttercream, or with the cocoa powder for mocha buttercream. You could also omit the vanilla and add whatever kind of extract you'd like. It's a very versatile icing.

In the near future I'm hoping to make a video showing you how to ice a cake with this frosting.
If you try the frosting, or have a cupcake buffet, please let me know if you enjoyed it in the comment section.

Posted by torrie at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I'm going to try something new here. I've been thinking of doing this for a while. I even added the category "know it all" months ago-
This will hopefully be a weekly post where I recommend products, web sites, TV shows, movies, etc.
I may even give you guys a recipe or baking tip- helping out at Smitten Kitchen recently made me realize how ridiculous it is that I used to be a pastry chef, and I never share any recipes or tips with the internet.

I won't have a theme every week, but this week I do- I'm going to tell you about all of the products I loved during my kid's first year.

The first item is the Bugaboo Cameleon. Now before you jump all over me for the $899 price tag, hear me out-
This stroller does everything.

It comes with a bassinet that detaches. For the first six months of Willa's life when we traveled she slept in the bassinet attachment. We didn't have to bring an extra Pack and Play or something for her to sleep in.
The stroller seat faces either towards you or away from you. I love this feature. We started using the stroller seat when Willa was about four months old and sick of being on her back in the bassinet all the time. Having her face us was great. We could see if her hat had slipped over her eyes, or if she was falling asleep. When she was finally old enough to face away from us (about 11 months) I missed having her face me because I realized I spent a lot of time interacting with her that way.
Another great feature of the stroller seat is that it has three different tilting positions. If Willa fell asleep in the stroller we could completely recline her- which is great- I hate when I see kids asleep in a stroller that doesn't recline and their head is in that awkward slumped position.

You can also attach a car seat to it. We had the Graco Snug Ride, which could be attached to the bugaboo using an adapter that they sell separately.

Other great features of this stroller-
the wheels have shocks, which means a less bumpy ride.
There is a wrist safety strap, which prevents the stroller from rolling away from you.
The handle bar height is adjustable, which is great if you are like me and are almost a foot shorter than your husband.
The storage bag underneath the stroller is huge.
You can hang heavy bags on the stroller without it tipping over.

My only complaint with this stroller is that it is heavy.
It's a great stroller for city living, or if you live within walking distance of town, but if you drive everywhere and you constantly have to get in and out of a car this stroller is not for you.

So, the price tag seems crazy right? Well, figure out how much you will be spending on a regular stroller, a snap and go stroller for your car seat, a jogging stroller, and a bassinet. The price doesn't seem so crazy now, does it?

Now that we moved to the suburbs I use the bugaboo for walks around town, and I got a Maclaren Triumphto keep in the car. It's a great little stroller and it folds up very easily and only weighs eleven pounds.

When Willa was a few weeks old she was projectile vomiting. The lactation consultant told us it was because she was over eating because she just wanted to suck. She recommended we get a Soothie. Not to be gross, but she said that the pacifier should look like what you nipple actually looks like.
It worked like a charm, and when Willa was about 5 months old she just stopped using it one day.

I'm sure it has beee said a thousand times before, but the one item I couldn't live without was the Boppy. I used it to breast feed (and if I happened to venture out of the house and had to breast feed without it, I was miserable), I used it to prop Willa up in, and I used it as a neck pillow during car rides. The best advice I got about the Boppy was from my cousin who told me to buy the one with the removable cover. That way if it gets puked or pooped on you don't need to wash the whole thing.

Being vegetarians who don't use leather made it very hard for us to find booties and shoes for Willa. Then, we found Isa Booties.
You don't have to be a vegetarian to love these adorable booties. Not only are they cute, but they are completely machine washable! Willa wore her fleece lined pair almost every day during the winter.
They are having a 15% off sale until July 22nd. Enter code "cleanshoes08" at checkout.

One last recommendation- you can never have too many burp cloths. We used them for everything. The smartest thing we did was put them wherever Willa would be sitting.
We put them in the stroller, in the bouncy seat, in the car seat, and on the Boppy.
They saved us so many times. You can not imagine, until you have a kid, how many explosive poops there are. One of my friends almost threw out her car seat because her baby had an explosive poop in it, and she hadn't put a burp cloth down.

(Sorry if all of the links are not working. Willa just woke up. I'll have to fix them later.)

Posted by torrie at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)