End of School Celebrating

Cool, huh? Psychedelic cupcakes are always a hit with kids. Spread them with frosting and pour sprinkles over top and you are the cats pajamas, so to speak. Maybe I should say the dogs pajamas. Some of the cupcakes I did with sprinkles, some I froze and two of them became dogs for my daughter's end of the school year celebration. I never had such celebrations when I was a kid. You got out of school. Running and playing and going wild WAS the celebration. But with all the Mom guilt I have over the fact that other Mom's seem to do so much, I feel this is one thing I can do for my kids to put a little smile on their face. (Mom guilt is an inherent part of child rearing, I think).

Not to mention, any excuse to celebrate is a good excuse to me. Life is too darn short. For me, a few days ago I was 23 and then a day passed and I was 36 and now I just turned around and 43 hit me in the face. How exactly did that happen?

So I won't tell you because you can see for yourself that I NEED a class in cake decorating. This is suppose to be one of the dogs that is on the cover of Hello Cupcake. Yup, say hello to "goodbye cupcake".

The recipe on the other hand is tres magnifique!

Vanilla Cupcakes
recipe adapted from Magnolia Bakery

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with mini cupcake papers and 12- cup cupcake tin with papers.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together. Set aside.

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Do not overmix the batter.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 10 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.