Birthdays

March was *the* birthday month and I had a birthday party to go to (including my own!) almost every weekend. The lovely (headless) girl in the photo here is my birthday twin Rachele and we decided to have a joint birthday party at the end of the month.

And birthday party means birthday baking which meant a baking date to get some treats together. If there is one thing I love it's baking dates with hilarious ladies and adorable aprons.

 

Rachele got some busy making lime curd for our strawberry and lime mini tarts. It's just as delicious as lemon curd but a very very pale green instead of bright yellow.

 

With the lime curd was simmering on the stove Sam and I put together a double batch of swirled cupcakes. After the batter was ready we separated it between two bowls...

 

..and folded some coco powder into one to make it a contrasting colour for the swirls.

 

The two batters were layered with alternating colours in their papers..

 

..Which made them bake up with swirls inside!

To top the cupcakes off with we used the nutella cloud frosting from Sweetapolita's blog. This stuff is dangerous. Before making the icing we were joking around, baking, being relatively productive.

 

..But after the icing was made we had to taste it to see if it was any good (so important to taste your baking!). And that led to more tasting. Which led to..more tasting. After we piped the cupcakes there was still a lot left over and there was a good possibility that we were going to eat the entire bowl of leftovers. Plus we had gone from productive to ridiculous.

 

The fact that if you pipe chocolate icing the wrong way it looks like cartoon poop really didn't help. Eating a lot of sugar makes everything just that much more hilarious. First we debated just playing up the whole look with some cartoon eyes on each cupcake. Instead, we decided that we should probably go for lunch and eat something that didn't consistent of just chocolate, butter, and sugar.

 

After getting some real food we used different piping sprinkles to help the cupcakes look less hilarious and more delicious.

Then we assembled the mini tarts.

 

Each shell got a spoonful of lime curd and was topped with slices of strawberries and a sprinkle of lemon sanding sugar. Right before we served them we added a dollop of whipped cream. They were amazing!

The birthday party that evening was a lot of fun but I think that if I had to choose what part of the day was the best it would be the baking date. Baking is my weekend activity of choice but it gets a lot more entertaining when you add some other ladies and a whole lot of sugar.

 

 Swirled Cupcakes

From the Globe and Mail (my recipe)

½ cup butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups all purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup milk

coco powder (to tint half the batter with)

 

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Next beat in the eggs one at a time letting each egg mix in completely before adding the next one. Scrape down the bowl, add vanilla and beat until fully incorporated

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Either by hand or with the mixer on low, stir in ⅓ of the flour mixture into the egg and butter mixture followed by half of the milk. Repeat with another ⅓ of the flour mixture and the rest of the milk. Then add the final ⅓ of flour and stir until just combined.

Scoop half of the batter into a different bowl and fold in coco powder until the batter is chocolate coloured.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers. Using a regular teaspoon, put a small spoonful of the plain batter in each cupcake paper. Then put a small spoonful of the coloured batter right in the centre of the plain batter. The cupcakes look best with 4 to 5 layers of alternating colours. Don’t worry about making the batter lay flat, it will even out in the oven.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before decorating.

Comments

[Paula]

What an enjoyable (and delicious) baking date you had. The cupcakes and the tarts look delicious. I love that rolling pin!

[kristin]

Happy birthday! I agree. Chocolate icing should always be piped with a star tip! ;)

[yummy supper]

Stephanie, Happy Birthday to you! I wanna have my birthday at your house;)
-E

[Rigel_p]

Ah, nice friends and baked treats, such a joyful way to spend a birthday. Ha ha...I love the cheeky little poop cakes :)

[Maggie Muggins]

That looks like so much fun! Most of my friends tend to go for the eating side of things instead of the baking. Also, happy birthday!
I nominated you for one of those versatile blogger awards! Check it out here: http://cookbookaficionado.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/newfoundland-toutons/

[Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe]

Happy belated birthday Stephanie. I was told about your blog by a friend of mine that you went to school with. It is amazingly awesome to find another Albertan food blogger! (I think we reside in the same city actually...) Your recipes look wonderful and I can't wait to give some of them a try!

[Jessica @ bake me away!]

Happy (belated) Birthday! I baked with friends for mine also and agree that it's the best thing to do. Both the cupcakes and tarts look delicious!

[Becs@Lay the table]

Hope you had a lovely birthday. Love Rachele's apron by the way! (And the sweet treats of course!)

[TasteHongKong]

Lovely cakes and tarts, which look hilarious too. Yes, I noticed you were wearing beautiful aprons, both!
Happy belated birthday!

[Antonio Mcclatchey]

Lovely cakes and tarts, which look hilarious too.

[matt ryan jerseys]

Very interesting topic, I think your will have more reader.