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doodle cupcakes for q’s 4th birthday

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I can’t believe my little man is four today! The time is just flying by, it seems like he was just born. He is the most precious gift and my life would not be the same without him in it.

As with all birthdays in our house, we celebrate all week long and his celebrations started on Friday at preschool. There were cake pops and Spiderman and he came home so happy that he got to celebrate with his school friends.

For his actual birthday, I wanted to ensure that it was extra special and the cake always has a part in that. For the cake, I loved the idea that I saw on Sweetapolita with the doodle cake. I knew Q would have a blast decorating his own cake.  I decided to make cupcakes with individual toppers which we all decorated together. It was a lot of fun and it gave us a project to do on Monday evening.

The toppers were made with fondant which I cut into circles with a cookie cutter. I’m not sure why, but fondant really scares me. Well, it did anyways until I found this fabulous recipe via Pinterest.  A fondant made with only marshmallows and icing sugar via Clockwork Lemon. It didn’t take long to come together and, when it did, it was perfectly smooth for some of Q’s (and mamma’s) artwork.

I decided to forego on the icing and instead use a glaze. I’ve been using this recipe for years and it’s so simple to make.

The resulting cupcakes are perfect for celebrating a 4 year old!

Chocolate Glaze

3 TB water
2 TB butter
3 TB cocoa
1 cup icing sugar

Place the water and the butter in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.  Take it off the heat and immediately mix in the cocoa. Gradually add in the icing sugar and keep mixing until you get the proper consistency.

Marshmallow Fondant
From Sweetapolita

1 cup mini marshmallows
3 TB water
1 to 2 cups icing sugar

Place the marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl and coat them with water.  Warm them up in the microwave in ten second intervals until the marshmallows puff up and can be stirred.  Slowly add icing sugar into the mixture.  When it starts coming together, grease your hands with butter and knead the mixture until it stops being sticky and can be rolled out.

mini pink cupcakes with chocolate icing

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We are slowly recovering from my sister-in-law’s week long wedding extravaganza.  It was a great week spent with close family and friends.  It was also a week surrounded by lots and lots of food!

Most of the cooking was done by family and they fed crowds of up to 500 people!  I tried to do my part and made items such as quinoa salad, couscous salad, kulfi and smores on a stick.  One favorite were these little pink cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing.  They were really supposed to be red velvet cupcakes, like the ones I had made last month for my sister’s birthday.  In my hurry though, I forgot to add the cocoa and out from the oven came these little pink morsels.  I figured since I missed out on the chocolate in the cake, we must add some on it.

Congratulations to R2.  Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness!

Mini Pink Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup homemade yogurt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoons red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating until a creamy texture. Add 1/4 of the flour and mix, then add 1/3 of the buttermilk mix .

Continue adding the flour and the buttermilk until all the ingredients are mixed.

Use two teaspoons and carefully scoop the batter into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack to cool. Chocolate Buttercream Icing

6 tbsp. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
2 to 3 tbsp. milk

Cream butter.  Add sugar and cocoa mixture to butter and mix again. Add milk to the butter mixture until a proper consistency is reached.

mini red velvet cupcakes for my sister’s birthday

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My sister’s coming for a visit!  S currently lives in Tajikistan, a mountainous country in Central Asia.  It’s a long way to travel and her visits are always way too short!

With yesterday being my sister’s birthday, we definitely need cake to welcome her home.  I had some cream cheese icing in the freezer, just needed a cake that we could slather it on.  Besides carrot cake, the only other thing that came to mind was red devil.  I had never made it before and on my hunt for a recipe, many had full bottles or more of food colouring!  The recipe that I finally settled on only had 1 tablespoon.  This recipe for mini red devil cupcakes comes from Simple Recipes.  I didn’t have buttermilk so swapped it out with some homemade yogurt (which my mom makes for us weekly – I know, I am so spoiled!).

This was a simple recipe and these cupcakes were delicious!  Hope S loves them too!



Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup homemade yogurt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoons red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating until a creamy texture. Add 1/4 of the flour and mix, then add 1/3 of the buttermilk mix .

Continue adding the flour and the buttermilk until all the ingredients are mixed.

Use two teaspoons and carefully scoop the batter into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting, I used this cream cheese icing.