Holiday Snob: cupcake

Showing posts with label cupcake. Show all posts

7.31.2011

Low Key Pool Party Ideas

I'm getting a few friends together tomorrow for a low-key pool party. I hate to even call it a "party" because then my psycho snobby brain starts thinking I need favors, labels, a dessert buffet... you get the jist! But, "pool get-together" doesn't have the same ring. I think I'm calling it a pool play-date. Ooo-kay, this is turning into a tangent that needs to end!

Anyway, here's a few ideas that are inspiring me:

I am thinking of giving the girls this cute free printable in 4x6 from Vintage Marigolds:

I don't have a source, but I have this on my pinterest board and it looks easy enough:

This one is like the pool party in my dreams! The Joys of Home Educating has the cutest idea for serving food at a pool party, I might end up with a version of this if my friends are lucky!!!

And MMMmmmm, I think I must make these pina colada cupcakes from Keri at Pressed Down, Shaken Together:

*update!! Of all my fun ideas, I actually only did the pina colada cupcakes, here's mine:

They were sooooo good! But they seemed slightly more pineapple upside down cake that straight pina colada. I did use the pineapple juice I had leftover from the can to add to the buttercream instead of as much milk. I liked it better than I was feeling about the buttercream. So just FYI :) But head over to her site and try this recipe out!

And I saw a recipe in the latest issue of Family Fun, but there isn't a picture. It's for a "pool noodle" salad. You use ziti pasta so that it looks like pool noodle toys, cucumber rings, and watermelon cut into balls. And it doesn't have mayo so it should outlast the heat. I know it needs a picture, but here's the recipe anyway from Family Fun's website:

Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4

Pool noodles, swim rings, and beach balls -- this splashy pasta salad has it all. Plus, it's mayo-free for easy, delicious picnicking.

Ingredients

1/2 pound ziti pasta
3 pickling cucumbers
juice and grated zest from 1 large lime
1/2 cup vegetable or light olive oil
1 tablespoon suger, 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint
1/2 cup crumbled feta
2 cups balls cut from a seedless watermelon

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook the pasta until just tender, and drain.
Cut the ends off the cucumbers, then use an apple corer or run a wide drinking straw through the center to core them. Slice them into rings. Whisk together the lime juice and zest, oil, sugar, salt, and garlic.
Toss the still-warm pasta with half of the dressing, then add the cukes, mint, and feta, toss again, and taste. Add more dressing and salt to taste, then fold in the melon.

6.05.2011

Banana Cream Cupcake, June's Snobcake!

How good does that look? I am thinking really good right about now. This was from Dot's little bday soiree and they were good!! Ever since I had a banana cream pie shake from Chik Fil A I can't quite get my fill.(If you haven't tried you are really missing out) So June's Snobcake is a Banana Cream Pie Cupcake. Now I don't generally just make a recipe up but this is pretty close to a made up recipe...and I don't ever make a cake from scratch so for those of you bakers like me who love Duncan as much as I do...hope you enjoy.

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix
1 stick of butter, melted
3 eggs
1 cup water
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 box of banana pudding

Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin cups with paper liners. (this makes slightly more batter than 24 cupcakes) Pour cake mix into a bowl and add melted butter, 3 eggs, pudding mix, mashed bananas and 1 cup of water. Mix on low for 1 minute. Scrape bowl and mix on medium for another minute. Spoon a heaping spoonful into the liners. They should be half full.

Bake for 18-24 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool completely on cooling racks.

Banana Cream Pie Frosting Recipe

1 package instant banana pudding
1 cup fat free half and half (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1 container whipped topping
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Mix pudding with half and half until thickened slightly; fold in whipped topping and confectioners sugar until frosting is creamy. Chill for at least 30 minutes to set. Then frost each cupcake. I like to put frosting into a large ziploc and snip a hole into the bottom corner and pipe onto each cupcake. Keep cupcakes in fridge until ready to serve. Serve with crushed vanilla wafers sprinkled on top if desired.

Let us know what you think if you do make these!!

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5.01.2011

Cinco de Mayo

I don't know about you, but I don't need much of an excuse for Mexican food! And not having any Latin heritage and living in a state that is only loosely considered "southwest" I'm not totally sure that my Cinco de Mayo is completely "authentic," but who cares?? Not me! And being a bit of a snob about my holidays (as you know) I get a little crazy in my plans for holidays like this!

I do dream of throwing this shindig for my family and friends:

courtesy of kara's party ideas

But my Cinco de Mayo might get as festive as running by Chipotle! (I almost just typed Taco Bell but then threw up in my mouth a little and thought, "Dot, you'd never sink that low...")

Here's some ideas to help us all land somewhere in between! (Although if you celebrate on par with Kara's Party Ideas up there: More. Power. To. You.)

First off you might want to stop by Christy Robbin's blog where she has a round up of good ideas, including this Churro cupcake (filled with dulce de leche):

recipe here

I'm also thinking of just buying a couple of Costco churros, slicing them up into fourths and serving with Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream. But if you want to make some real Churros from scratch, Christy has a recipe for that too!

Personally, I have to have some good guacamole with any Mexican food too. My friend Kristin has a recipe that I'm going to try this Cinco de Mayo!

efn recipes

I might also make fish tacos, if you haven't tried them, you need to! My friend Pam has a super yummy recipe but I substitute in the tortilla-crusted tilapia filets from Costco. 'Cause I'm classy like that.

Pam’s Fish Tacos

Inspired from the Fish tacos at The Mission in Scottsdale

Lemon/Herb Marinade*

Chop together:

½ c. cilantro leaves (or whatever herb you want)

zest of one lemon

Then add:

Juice from the lemon

1/8 c. white wine

¾ c. olive oil

1 t. garlic/shallot puree (or 1 T. garlic)

Whisk then let meld for 30 min.

Marinade white fish (Mahi Mahi is best) for 30 minutes, then grill approx 8 min.

*Delish for any meats or white fish

Garlic/Shallot Puree

10 cloves garlic

½ shallot

1 t. olive oil

Blend in food processor

Then add 1 T. olive oil and blend longer

Use 1 t. when recipe calls for 1T of garlic

Refrigerate for 7 days or freeze

Fish Taco Sauce

1/3 c. mayo

1/3 c. plain yogurt

1 t. lime juice

1 dash of chipotle sauce

Serve sliced white fish on small white corn tortillas

Along with:

Chopped white (Chinese) cabbage

Chopped tomatoes

Sliced mini sweet red peppers

And another few delish recipes to try are these copies from a popular Mexican restaurant scattered through the southwest, Cafe Rio. My SIL emailed them to me ages ago when we left Salt Lake City for Seattle and I was dying for some Mexican food. Her words:

These are REALLY good copies. Try them, you will not be disappointed.

Café Rio Pork

3# Pork roast (butt or shoulder)
1 c dark brown sugar
1 c Worcestershire sauce
1 t dried oregano
1 t powdered ginger
1 t salt
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic powder
2 T dried minced onions

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot all day. One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it, dump out cooking juices. Put shredded pork back into crock pot and add…

1 c dark brown sugar
1 c red enchilada sauce

Lime Rice

1 c white rice
2 T chicken broth, + broth to cook rice in
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T garlic powder
1 T dried minced onion
Pinch of salt

Cook all ingredients for rice directions, substituting chicken broth for water. When rice is done, add…

½-1 c chopped cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
1 c green enchilada sauce

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

Place the following in a blender:
3 tomatillos, peeled and cut in ¼’s
Juice of ½ lime
½ c buttermilk
½ c mayo
½ c sour cream
1 pkg dry ranch buttermilk dressing
1 c fresh chopped cilantro
6 green onions, with ends
2 cloves crushed garlic
3 t sugar
1 jalapeno, sliced thin, and added to taste

Mix well, refrigerate 1 hour.

And I think I am going to make the completely swoon-worthy pinatas from One Charming Party. They are AMAZING! Or I might get sucked into the ones on sale at the grocery store. But I dunno, these are pretty dang cute!

Linking here:

Sunday:

http://iheartnaptime.net, http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com

Monday:

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/, http://makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com/, http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/, http://www.skiptomylou.org/, http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/, http://marvelouslymessy.blogspot.com

Tuesday:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/, http://ladybug-blessings.com/, http://tipjunkie.com/, http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/, http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com

Wednesday:

http://eisymorgan.blogspot.com/, http://www.paisleypassions.blogspot.com/, http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/, http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/, http://www.mybackyardeden.com/, http://reasonstoskipthehousework.blogspot.com

Thursday:

http://www.momnivores-dilemma.com/, http://www.houseofhepworths.com/, http://nightowlcrafting.blogspot.com/

4.24.2011

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I wish I could tell you that these yummy cupcakes were what I made for dessert for Easter, but Costco was out of raspberries and I was out of time for errands after Costco! So I made an meh dessert tonight instead. Blech. I hate a lot of work for meh.

Moving on... I made these for a birthday party and they were a hit! I've been craving more since they disappeared so quickly, so they most likely will be Mother's Day dessert! Anyway, they're super easy and you should try 'em!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
1 box of white cake mix, eggs and oil according to package
1 small cartons of raspberries, rinsed and drained
1 c. (approximately) of white chocolate chips, melted

(yep, that's the ingredients)

I followed the package directions, then added about a cup of melted white chocolate, mixing quickly as it was added. Then I dumped in a small carton of raspberries and mixed those bad boys in. This made 6 dozen mini cupcakes, which was about 2 more than a cake mix usually makes for me. Cook according to directions.

White Chocolate Frosting
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
(1/4 c to 1/2 c) whole milk
2 lbs of powdered sugar
1 c. of melted white chocolate
dash of salt
1 small carton of raspberry

Blend together softened cream cheese and butter, then add powdered sugar and milk in increments to make sure the consistency is right. Then add melted white chocolate. If it's too thick, thin with a tiny amount of milk. Add a dash of salt and blend. Top with a fresh raspberry!

Dot and Glitta

Linking here:

Sunday:

http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/

Monday:

Tuesday:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/, http://ladybug-blessings.com/, http://tipjunkie.com/, http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/, http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com

Wednesday:

Thursday:

http://www.momnivores-dilemma.com/, http://www.houseofhepworths.com/, http://nightowlcrafting.blogspot.com/

Friday:

http://www.whipperberry.com/, http://www.kojodesigns.blogspot.com/, http://www.thegirlcreative.com/,http://tidymom.net/, http://sassysites.blogspot.com/, http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/, http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/, http://www.littlebrickranch.com/

Saturday:

http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

3.23.2011

Down the Rabbit Hole...

A Holiday isn't a Holiday without a cupcake! Dot made these little grassy spots (with Easter eggs randomly hid amongst them) and rabbits diving into their homes a couple of years ago. Hence the picture quality and that they're placed on the ugly pan! Hey, I didn't know it would be blogged someday, alright?

Shy little things...

The idea came from this awesome book:

click on image to go to their site!

And if you don't have a copy, you should get one!

The authors demonstrate a super easy technique for making the grass, the "dirt" is crushed cookies, bunny feet are made from smashed mini-marshmallows (the book recommends white circus peanuts, but I couldn't find them), and the tails are mini-marshmallows dipped in corn syrup then rolled in nonpareils.

Also... If any of you have a spare moment, we would love it if you would give us a little vote over at Babble, for the top 50 Mom Craft Blogs! It only takes a second (just one click, and no signing up!) to vote. You can click HERE to cast your vote! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And remember, if you vote, leave us a comment to be entered into our giveaway for the bunny vinyl, which ends Thursday night!

We are linking up here:

House of Hepworths