yummy cupcakes + cake

I know, I know, you're probably sick of seeing these by now, but yesterday was the mini papercut's 1st birthday party and all of those pesky little monarch butterflies were finally completed, and happily consumed by all our family and friends.























I have to say, they looked pretty good, and the cupcakes were super yummy (read SWEET!!). Everyone really loved those chocolate butterflies, especially all the kids, which made it completely worth the time and effort.























So did the mini papercut like them?























The expression on her face kind of summed up the whole day for her. Umm...yeah, not impressed at all. The only time she even smiled was while she was eating her cake, and when we got home. Gotta love her! But that's what you get for waking up a sleeping baby, even if it is for her own party. At least everyone else got to enjoy the yummy cupcakes :)

recipe for disaster

Recipes don't like me. You would think that as long as you follow the recipe, the end result shouldn't be too bad, right? For me, not so. I have yet to meet a recipe that ever turns out the way it's supposed to. After several tries I'm still unable to make an edible risotto.
















Today was our big baking day for the mini papercut's birthday party on Sunday. 140 vanilla cupcakes + vanilla buttercream + extra frosting for the cake my grandmother was baking for the special occasion. Now this isn't the first time I've used this recipe, but I haven't made it in over 2 years, so I figured better follow every step exactly to ensure no mess-ups. WOW, what a mistake that was! Let's just say the first batch of 24 cupcakes ended up in pieces and eventually in the garbage. Yup, that's right 2 dozen cupcakes completely wasted. Thankfully the recipe was also wrong in how much it actually makes (it was supposed to make 48 mini cupcakes and we ended up with 60 after you take into account the ruined ones) and I only needed to repeat the recipe 1 more time.
















In the end we had roughly 150 perfect vanilla cupcakes, after I stopped following the instructions:) But I don't think the mini papercut minded all the wasted cupcakes at all!