Birthday Sweets

Lara's party was a moon bounce extravaganza, and we farmed out most of the parts and labor (hey, listen, we're human - and BounceU is fantastic at doing this kind of 20-kid blowout). There were a few handmade touches though that I thought I'd share!

Lara and I baked, frosted, and sprinkled some mini vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for her to bring to school:



The vanilla ones are from a Martha Stewart iPhone app recipe. They were super-easy and came out great. The chocolate ones are actually a Trader Joe's brownie mix that I spooned into the tiny cupcake cups. Delicious.



The frosting is also from Martha, but at 1 stick of butter to 3.5 cups of sugar was way, way oversweet! Not that the kids complained, of course. Next time, I'm going to try 2.5 cups of sugar and see that how goes.

I put the frosting into a Ziplock freezer bag and cut a tiny piece off of one of its corners... et voila, an improvised cake decorator. I have to say I have a newfound respect for bakers - doing the frosting in some kind of premeditated design is crazy hard!



I also made a poster of Lara through the ages. Each picture is six months older than the next. I love being able to see how she's grown! It's amazing!



Lara with her professional cake. She requested rainbow flowers, and was totally thrilled with the beautiful multi-color roses. Sometimes it pays to get a pro to do the job right.