Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I recently threw a baby shower for my cousin and was in search for the perfect theme. I happened to be looking at SweetSugarBelle's Facebook page and saw this recipe for a strawberry lemonade cupcake. I thought it was the cutest idea ever and decided to make this the theme of the baby shower. They are the perfect combination of a tangy lemon cupcake with a super sweet strawberry icing with a hint of lemon. My husband who never eats cupcakes ate about 5 of them. The frosting has to be the best part of the whole thing. I ended up taking the left over frosting and putting it on top of brownie bites. It was mighty delicious on those as well.

Recipe- adapted from http://www.thecakeblog.com
(makes 24 cupcakes)

For the cake:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemonade powder mix (I used Country Time)
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
1 tsp vanilla
lemonheads (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners
2. In medium bowl mix together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, lemonade powder and lemon zest, set aside.
3. In bowl of stand mixer cream butter and sugar on medium speed until combined.
4. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
5. Add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix well.
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating starting and ending with the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
7. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Once cupcakes are completely cool, ice with Strawberry Lemon Frosting and garnish with a lemonhead on top.

For the frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
3 Tbsp strawberry puree (from about 4-6 strawberries)
1 tsp lemon zest

1. In bowl of stand mixer cream butter for 1-2 minutes.
2. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar and continue mixing scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. Mix in strawberry puree and lemon zest.
4. Place the icing in a piping bag fitted with tip 1M to decorate cupcakes.

These cupcakes made such a cute centerpiece on this spinning carousel cupcake stand.

DIY Cake Stand

I absolutely LOVE cake stands and apothecary jars. I feel like I could never have too many. These cake or dessert stands are so cute and make such fun and easy gifts. Perfect for taking a small treat over to a friend or a neighbor. And the best part is they are fairly inexpensive to make. I made some for my mother and mother-in-law for mothers day and placed chocolate covered strawberry's on them. YUM!
Supplies

• Candle stick (I found mine at Hobby lobby)
• Plate (Also found at Hobby Lobby)
• Glass dome (Found at Goodwill for 40 cents!)
• E-6000 Glue
  

Be sure and wash your plate to get any sticky residue off from the stickers on there. Next take your E-6000 glue and put a thin strip of it around the top of your candle stick.
Position your plate on top of the candlestick and and put something heavy on top to keep it from shifting around while it dries. Let it dry thoroughly for at least 24 hours. I made the mistake of not doing that and as I was delivering one to someone the top fell off. It was a disaster! These seriously take about 10 minutes to make and once they are all done you can top it off with a glass cake dome.

Beverage Wrappers

Beverage wrappers seem to be a big trend in party decorations these days. And why not they are SUPER CUTE and totally add those finishing touches. You can find them all over Etsy but today I thought I would share with you how to make your own, inexpensive ones.
Supplies needed

• Paper
• Scissors or cutting mat
  
• Decorative edge paper cutter (mine is the Fiskar brand)
• Goo Gone
• Bottle (glass or water bottle)
• Double sided tape or hot glue
  

First you are going to cut your paper into even strips. Mine were about 2 inches tall. Then you will punch the decorative edge on them.
I wanted to add a little design to it so I put a stamp on the front. Once you are all done wrap them around the bottle and glue the edge. Simple as that! I recommend filling your bottle with your beverage before wrapping them with your paper. I also love the glass bottle look. I bought Crush soda bottles and peeled the stickers off. They leave a sticky residue you can clean off with Goo Gone. This stuff works great. I tossed them in the dishwasher when I was done cleaning them to get them all nice and clean. Once you are done filling them you can either recap them or put cute paper straws in them. I decided to cap mine with a bottle topper you can purchase online. It is super easy and adds a great look. Have fun with it and your guests will be sure to be impressed!

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Tissue Paper Pom Poms
I'm sure you have all seen the adorable tissue paper pom poms that people are using to decorate with at their parties. I Love throwing parties and get togethers and think this are the perfect touch to bring decorations to the next level. So here is a little tutorial on how to make your own tissue paper pom poms.
Supplies

• Tissue Paper
• Scissors
• Metal wire, twist ties, or stapler
• String
  

First you are going to use your entire pack on tissue paper. Most include 8-10 sheets. Lay them out flat and fold them up accordion style back and forth. You want your folds to be about 1in-1 1/2 in. When you are done folding it up secure the center in place by stapeling it in place or tying a twist tie or metal wire. Cut the end of the tissue paper to have rounded or pointed edges.
Lay the tissue paper down and spread its folds out.

Fluff your pom pom by taking the first layer and pulling it up. Try and get the layer pulled all the way up to the twist tie. Do this on one side, then the other rotating back and forth from sides until you get half way through.
Once you get half way through flip it over to the other side at continue the same technique
It should now look like this when finished. You will want to mess around with it some to fluff it all out and get evenly spaced. Once you are done tie some string around the center and then dangle it from the ceiling however you desire. I tied the other end to a thumb tack and stuck it in the ceiling. The color possibilities are endless. You could even do multicolored ones by stacking the colors every other and then folding them.
Pair them with paper lanterns like I did or have them by themselves or with streamers. Be Creative!

Spray Paint Goodness!

I was redoing my daughters room and found these adorable letters at Hobby Lobby. They have them in pink, black, and green. However those were not the colors in her room, and I have been LOVING this blue that seems to be so popular right now so I decided to go with that.
I started out by priming the letters and then I gave it a few good coats with the blue spray paint. Be sure to let the paint dry good in between coats and do light coats each time so you don't get running.

After the paint was all dry I took some black acrylic paint and lightly dabbed a foam brush into it. I then dabbed off the excess paint onto a sheet of paper so that I was doing dry painting to give the detail on the letters a distressed look.
I am loving them and Love how they pop with the black distressing.I liked them so much I made some for my sons room too with grey paint and black distressing.



The color possibilities are endless! Oh the Wonderful goodness of spray paint!

Ice Cream Sundae Cupakes

~Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes~

For my daughters 3rd Birthday party we did an Ice cream Sundae Theme. I found this tutorial on these adorable cupcakes and just had to share. They are SO easy and a great statement piece at a party. (Sadly I don't remember the blog I found these on to give them the credit)

Supplies needed

• Cupcakes
• Ice cream cups (I found mine at michaels)
  
• Chocolate melts or almond bark
• Sprinkles
• Red Gumballs
• Butter cream icing-see below for recipe
  
• Ice cream scooper

First bake your standard cupcake. I used a box mix but homemade would be delicious too! After you let them cool I cut off the tops of them and took off the wrapper. This way they were flush with the top of the ice cream cups. I then put them in the cups and with an ice cream scooper put about 3 scoops of icing on top of each cupcake to give them the effect of actual ice cream scoops. (you can put the icing in the fridge for a few minutes to let it harden up if wanted before scooping.) Next I melted the chocolate in the microwave and then placed the chocolate into a zip lock bag and cut the very tip of the corner off so I could drizzle it over the icing. put sprinkles on top and then top with a red gumball. I only did a few at a time so the chocolate wouldn't harden too much before I could get the sprinkles on them and stick.
And there you have it super cute and easy ice cream sundae cupcakes sure to WOW your guests at any party.

Buttercream Icing Recipe

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Great Find!

Am I the only one that gets super excited and giddy like a little girl on Christmas morning when I find a great find? I literally will call or text anyone that I think would be interested in the deal and tell them about it. Well, my great find of today was these cute beverage containers from Hobby Lobby. I spotted them back in the spring when the price tag was $59.99. I being the bargain shopper that I am couldn't justify spending that much on them. Not even $30.00 when they were 50% off every other week.
About a month and a half ago I spotted them in the 66% off section for somewhere around $20.00. It was tempting to get one then but I decided I better hold off. Tonight I was on my what seems to be weekly run to Hobby Lobby and spotted these beauties in the 80% off section. They were only $12.00. How could I not resist. I picked up the blue since that was the only color available at the location by my house then ran over to the other one in town and got the pink. I am SO excited to be able to use the pink one at the strawberry lemonade baby shower I am hosting this Saturday. So there you have it, My 2 beverage containers for less then the price of 1 at 50% off.
Oh boy how I do LOVE a GREAT FIND!