We watch a lot of Food Network at our house. I love to cook, but even more I L.O.V.E. to eat. My kids have picked up on my love of food and prefer to watch Food Network over any other channel (including the Disney channel). A2's favorite program is Good Eats and insists that we cook just like Alton tells us to. A1, on the other hand, is a huge fan of Cupcake Wars. Something about trying to bake and decorate the perfect little cake sets her heart a-flutter.
So Cupcake Wars was the perfect theme for her birthday party a few months ago.
(Yes, that little cupcake goes inside the little wrapper. Yes, it kind of looks like an ice cream cone. Yes, I cut them all out by hand. Yes, it took me two full days to get the invitations ready. No, my husband was NOT happy about that. Yes, my mom has since given me a paper-cutting machine that will make this process so much easier. Yes, both my husband and I are eternally grateful for that new machine. Why do you ask?)
The girls started by making aprons to wear throughout the party. I bought cheap white aprons and sewed velcro strips along the front. Then I made ruffles with coordinating fabric and sewed the corresponding velcro strip to each of them. I also made flower pins. Then when the girls arrived they could put the ruffles in any order and place the pin wherever. And thus they were ready for baking!
We started by cutting out sugar cookies. I found a box of various shapes for really cheap and let the girls do what they wanted with the dough.
While those cooked and cooled, the girls decorated little cakes. I made cake platters for each of them (a tutorial will be forthcoming), made mini cakes (I baked them in a small Pyrex bowl to get the right size and shape), and covered them with marshmallow fondant (I don't like the taste of real fondant, but one of my greatest friends, Jenna, gave me this recipe, which is both easy to work with and very tasty).
The girls each decorated a cake with small bags of frosting in various colors.
(Don't mind Alicia and me in the background gabbing while the girls made cute, cute, cute creations! Also as part of this parenthetical, I would like to thank Alicia for helping out with the photography during the party. She is amazing. You can definitely tell which pictures she took (the ones that look professional) and which I took.)
A1 really enjoyed decorating with frosting.
I made A2 his own tiny little cake so he could be part of the action too.
Then the girls decorated their sugar cookies with those same bags of frosting.
Those girls did some amazing work. We definitely have some very talented artists among us.
Time for the birthday cake. I made a giant cupcake to go with the Cupcake Wars theme.
My husband insists that I include the total amount of sugar that went into this party: 7 boxes of cake (yes, I make my cake from boxes, not from scratch!) and 9 pounds of powdered sugar (the fondant gets its stability from powdered sugar). This was not a diet party by any means, but it was SO. MUCH. FUN! We were also going around our neighborhood for the next week trying to find people to help us eat so much cake! *smile*
Happy birthday to my sweet, smart, talented, beautiful girl. We are so blessed to have you in this family. We love you!
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