Birthday Cuppycakes

I made some cupcakes for Benjamin's mock birthday party at school last Friday. He has a summer birthday, so his thoughtful teachers offered to let him celebrate with his preschool friends a few weeks early. I made white cupcakes with a delicious vanilla frosting, both from The Cake Bible. If you have read my posts before, you know I've been going through a phase with this book!



Here is the recipe for the Neoclassic Buttercream. It's so smooth and easy to frost and is wonderfully delicious. I altered it a bit and omitted one stick of butter. My children find the frostings from the cookbook not sweet enough, and so, I tried to accomodate their tastes with this one tweak. I added a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt and also left out the liqueur. I sampled a bit of it with amaretto, and I loved it. I hope to have a grown-up affair where I can use the amaretto! The texture of this frosting is so unlike the grocery store variety - silky smooth with no Crisco aftertaste lingering on your tongue. If you've got the time to try it, please do! I used Davidson's pasteurized eggs so that salmonella wasn't an issue.

Decorating the cupcakes was so much fun! I bought a new box of parchment triangles. I folded up a bag and used my new 1M decorating tip. It made beautiful swirls! I just can't get enough cake decorating - I need some more birthdays to celebrate!!

Let me know if you decide to try the frosting!

I thought I'd quickly share some photos and a recipe for some yummy Cinnamon Rolls!



They are really easy to make in the bread machine - the dough is ready to be rolled after about an hour and a half.



Somewhere recently, I read a tip to brush an egg, rather than butter, on the dough because the egg holds on better to the filling, preventing it from leaking out the tops and bottoms of the rolls. I found it to work quite well.



After rolling, filling, and cutting them, I cover them with plastic wrap and pop them in the fridge overnight. Then, I set my oven to turn on early in the morning and I bake the rolls as soon as I get out of bed. To prevent the inner rolls from staying gooey and the outer ones from over-baking, I've started putting them into smaller baking pans. Every roll is on the perimeter this way and gets done evenly.

They're ready for a delicious breakfast!



I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, a great go-to site for almost any recipe. In the most recent making of these rolls, I was out of vanilla pudding mix, which I'm a little opposed to using anyway, and so I added an extra splash of vanilla and a good sprinkling of sugar to the dough. I figured that is all the pudding mix adds. My children and husband go bonkers over these - and me, too, but I have to exercise some restraint!

Enjoy!