the details to make your party easier to plan.
Celebrate My Whimsy
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
Kickin' Cayenne Cupcakes
Who loves the man in your life so much that you'd send him off kickin' and screaming? Yes, you know those macho men love to feel the burn of a nice smooth, deliciously hot and flaming hot sauce only to act like it's no big deal, no sweat...you know the drill. So why not add to that special day, you know Father's Day is right around the corner, and give that special someone a treat worthy of them. Yes, a Kickin' Cayenne Cupcake especially for those lovers of heat, worshippers of the burn and men of macho-ism...
Happy Father's Day!
This first time I made this delicious spicy treat, my son failed to mention to me that the hot sauce he had purchased actually had garlic in it too. To my surprise, and when I tasted the cupcake it was a surprise alright, the flavor of garlic stuck on my tongue like a nice subtle clove. Well, if you know anything about garlic, you know subtle is really not subtle. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but, I kind of liked it. It was unique to say the least. So, take it from me, it's probably best to steer clear of garlic hot sauce and stick with the straight up, burn your butt kinda sauce for the first time...
Yes...trust me, unless you really love sweet garlic, and then go for it.
Kickin' Cayenne Cupcakes
1 box yellow cake mix made as directed ( I used Duncan Hines)
Zest and Juice of 1 lime
3 Tbs Hot Sauce
Make Cake as directed, add zest, lime and hot sauce, and mix well. Spoon into cupcake liners in cupcake pan and bake as directed. Cool.
Frosting
16 Tbs Butter (2 cubes)
8 oz cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs Hot sauce
Make Frosting by creaming butter and cream cheese on high until mixed. Slowly add in sugar until mixed. Add Hot Sauce, mix slowly until mixed then beat on high about 1-2 minutes until nice and fluffy.
Topping
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 tsp powdered cayenne pepper
Mix in a bowl. After cupcake is frosted, sprinkle over cupcake with a sifter. You won't want to miss this ...extra burn...step!
Candied Jalapeno
Canned Jalapenos (drained)
Granulated Sugar
cooking spray
Quickly coat Jalapenos in sugar. In a hot non-stick pan lightly spray with cooking spray and add jalapenos, spaced apart. Cook about a minute or two and flip and cook on other side too. You want this jalapeno to look caramelized. Once cooked, place on tin foil to cool and harden.
*disclaimer~ these will create an aroma in your home that is almost like eating a pepper. So perhaps an open window is a great idea. All peppers are not created the same so I'm just trying to give you a heads up.
Garnish cupcake. Eat...Enjoy! Oh, and don't forget, milk is always nice to have on hand or a nice cold glass of ice water... Just saying... in case that man of yours just can't really take the heat.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Winnie the Pooh Shower
Today we had a very special baby boy to be shower celebration. The family was looking to do something similar to my daughter Erin's shower. Below is the link if you are looking for a baby girl shower.
As you see, the comparisons were very similar with one being pink and one being blue. I love the light coming in on the table so we set it up in the same spot for the cake and so on.
When I first heard the mommy Katie, my daughter's auntie, wanted to do baby JD's room in Winnie the pooh, well naturally we thought this little pooh themed party would be perfect. So we put our heads together and this is what we came up with.
I had envisioned Winnie the pooh and the blustery day be the main theme of the shower. I felt the blustery day was fitting considering the family just suffered the tragic loss of their loving father. This new baby was to be the son shining through the clouds and bringing light into a dark situation, and almost as if grandpa Jeffers was peeking down from the clouds himself and smiling on the celebration of this new little life to come. The Son, son or Sun has an amazing way of doing this. That is why you'll see the pooh with the umbrella on the sides in the 100 acre woods, you'll see the yellow burst of son coming through the white crepe paper clouds and the rain dropping in the background. (Can you tell I'm all about symbolism?) This little guy, JD, whom is going to be named after his Grandpa, is going to light this place up! What a joy and what a blessing it was for me to be part of this joyous celebration of Love....Lots of Love!
So here is the lovely family that made this all possible. Mommy-to-be Katie, sisters Tammy and Teri.
And here is my totally amazing daughter that once we thought up the theme, had made a computer print out to show everyone how things would look, how to set up and then she put together a totally amazing food menu. We also hosted this in Erin's lovely home. I love this girl!
And here is my stinkin' cute grand baby Scarlett, whom of course, matched the occasion with her little bee outfit! Muah! Smooches, grandma loves you...(oh wait, getting carried away with Scarlett and forgot I was blogging.)
So let's talk cake! To make the beehive cake, we purchased a beehive pan. If you want one cheap...search eBay or amazon.
To make this drizzle~
In a bowl, I put about 1 cup of powdered sugar and mixed with a few tablespoons of coconut milk (you can use water or regular milk too) 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste, a few drips of honey and a small drip of yellow food coloring. I wanted this really really pale yellow. I stirred and added just a couple drips at a time of coconut milk until I had a nice thick, drip able slowly off the spoon, consistency. Then I drizzled on the edges of the hive to hide where it was assembled and then drizzled a little bit over the top. I set this aside to let it cure and then started on the bottom.
I frosted the bottom cake doing a woodsy bark cake style. Here is a link to how I did it...
I then piped on the heart. Using a technique that Wilton Cake decorator Beth Somers taught me while I was at a Duncan Hines Cake decorating class in New Jersey. I took a small tip paint brush and brushed from the outside of the heart to the inside of the heart to give it a "brushed embroidery" look.
I then piped on the initials to appear like it had been carved into the tree (cake).
I added a sprig of green to give it the woodsy look. I put the beehive in place and it was already so darling!
When I got it to the shower, I added a little banner that I had made with recycle grocery bags, two skewers and some buttons and bows.
Once the bees were added, the cake was complete and so sweet too!
For the shower gifts, Tammy, Teri and Erin put together these adorable little honey pots using small Terra cotta flower pots and some paint. Then they glued little bees onto each one. They were filled with "Bit O Honey" candies.
On the walls, Tammy, Teri and Erin put cute pinwheels and kites up.
Here are some of the amazing flowers Teri did too...
Erin's living room also received a makeover. There was plenty of seating after moving the couches to the edge of the room.
Teri's handy work. Gorgeous flowers in Mason Jars for each table.
There were also cutely adorned mason jars for each guest to use and keep.
Tammy bought a punch and made each of these little straw suns by hand.
Here are the girls making the Sonshine Punch for the little mason jars now.
The punch was made with Blue Hawaiian punch (2 liter bottle), a 2 liter of Sprite and some orange sherbet. It was heavenly delightful!
The Candy Buffet
I made some Bee-lue Rasperry cupcakes for dessert. Here is the quick and easy recipe:
We had orange sherbet popcorn, honey dipped rice crispy treats, rabbit garden cookies, and candy....
...and even more candy, 100 acre acorn cookies and tigger tails.
For the lunch table, everything had a pooh story themed identifier.
I tell you what, Tammy, Teri and Erin worked their bee-hinds off to make everything picture perfect!
So here is a photo of how we utilized Erin's kitchen to the fullest. With lots of help, and Erin's huge kitchen island, we had plenty of work space. (If you don't have a big island, bring in a large table or use your dining table for space.) This was the orange sherbet popcorn that I made using a Duncan Hines Frosting creation's packet and white chocolate. Recipe link below but using the Orange creme packet and orange sprinkles instead of the cotton candy flavor:
http://www.duncanhines.com/recipes/specialty-desserts/lombardi.kimberly/cotton-candy-popcorn-crunch-munch/
For the 100 acre acorn cookies, we took mini nutter butter bite size cookies and assembled them with dipping chocolate, a Hershey's kiss and a small chocolate chip to resemble an acorn.
Here are the tigger tails. They were three large marshmallows on a stick, dipped in melted caramel, then dipped in white chocolate tinted orange and swirled with dark chocolate. Cute right?!
We also had long pretzels that we dipped in caramel, dark chocolate and then swirled with light blue chocolate over the tops.
My daughter put together this adorable sign, diaper wipe contest drop off with raffle ticket draws and some cute little bees for the "don't say baby" game. I hate this game because the whole shower you have to be "On guard" not to say "The Word!" Of course, if I win...I loooove the game!
The sweet little bees were made out of clothes pins! A-dorable!
They also had a diaper clothes line and guest were encouraged to write a note to daddy for "late night" diaper changes. Some notes were so funny, that you almost had to change your own diaper after reading them!
Here was the match game. When the guest matched a word, they won a coordinating candy prize. Learn how to make this game here listed as Baby word match/ concentration:
And for the final spot, the Thotful spot...well, that was where all the cute baby shower gifts were placed.
This shower was so much fun. I hope it inspires you to have fun at your next event, shower or party. Any questions or comments for me? Feel free to leave them below.
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