Cupcakes just scream PARTY, don’t they? These festive little bundles of yumminess are so cute that you hate to bite into them, but you can’t resist that sweet, buttery frosting …it’s calling to you … “Eat me. Eat me! You know you want me!” It’s a rare person who can resist a cupcake, and no one at my party even tried.
The day before the baby shower, I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes and a smaller batch of gluten free chocolate. The morning of the party, I whipped up some buttercream frosting and set to work. My goal was to decorate each of the 36 cupcakes with a unique design. All of my kitchen helpers thought I was crazy. I actually heard whispers of “She’s INSANE!” coming from the living room!
My niece Karli was my indispensable helper. I piped on the frosting and she enhanced the designs by carefully placing green and blue pearlized sprinkles, one at a time, with tweezers. What an artiste!
When I was about two-thirds of the way through the decorating process, I was beginning to run out of ideas and almost gave up on making each cupcake different, but by that time I had six women there cheering me on. “You can do it! You can’t give up now!!” So I kept going and managed to come up with 12 more designs ranging from a baby face (at Karli’s request) to a tic tac toe game.
They looked so cute arranged on the pastry stands …
They were just as I had envisioned!
But, alas, woman cannot live on cupcakes alone, so I had to round out the menu with some other tasty treats. The shower was held at 2:00 in the afternoon, so I planned food similar to what you would have at an afternoon tea.
The Ranch Roll-Ups were creamy and delicious, while the Pimento Cheese Triangles had an unexpected kick to them. (I’ll post these recipes later in the week.)
Colorful fruit skewers made it feel just a little bit like summer. Cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, and cherries were threaded onto wooden skewers, each sporting a miniature pennant.
Raspberry Strippers were a bit hit, as usual. (You can find the recipe here in an earlier post.) The tartness of the fruit filling and the lemony glaze contrasts with the buttery shortbread cookie – simply delectable!
Minty Cream Wafers are one of my favorite cookies. They’re divinely delicious and, oh, so cute! I couldn’t resist including them in the baby shower menu.
And, as if there weren’t enough sugar on the table already, I made two kinds of fudge! A rich, semisweet chocolate one, and Maple-Walnut Penuche.
2 Comments
Leslie, It all turned out so fabulous!! You really out did yourself with the cupcakes! They are irresistible! . . . and the individual designs makes it even harder to choose! Something for everyone. : ) I like your menu choices too. It all goes so well together. I look forward to getting the recipes.
Great job! I know that your daughter must be so pleased and proud. – Many blessings -Becky Raymond
Zentangle cupcakes. What an artist. Makes me want some of all of the things you posted. I could die happy.