Monday, September 8, 2008

Party Time



The last of the celebrations are complete. This past weekend we had the much anticipated "kids' party" (the weekend before was the family component). But, I should clarify - much anticipated by the kids, not so much by the parents and grandparents. For the kids (or should I say young adults to be more correct), it's dress up time, a party room decorated with red and blue lights, disco balls, loud music, a dj who moderates the insanity and gives out loads of prizes to those willing to compete in dance contests and individual show stopping dance stunts.

E and J, sister and brother who had their bat and bar mitzvahs this summer, are a year apart so this party became a joint celebration. They each invited 25 friends so without question - they were both pumped and I mean pumped. Miss "E" is our resident Valley Girl:

E - Like Auntie Giz, this is my party so like don't even think of starting cupcakes without me, kay?
G - Sure E, come on over and get busy.

While saying this I knew this would be a labour of love. E is notorious for big on the mess, not so much on the clean up.

I used the Magnolia Bakery recipe for vanilla cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers
3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
6. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.
7. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters (3/4) full.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. (mine were done in 20 minutes)



Anticipating that on E's arrival, the calm could quickly turn into storm, I decided to go ahead and do the chocolate icing on the cupcakes. I used the icing from the Bar Mitzvah cake. It's not a bad icing but combine it with heat and you have a real challenge. It didn't hold up well and had to be in the fridge more often than not.


Let's just make sure this is very organized so there's no question about what's what and where it is.


Miss E arrived and immediately began. It's such fun to watch beginners and feed off their enthusiasm. It's also fun to watch them feed off their arms.


Miss E was so pleased with her smiling success


The blue eyes made me a little uneasy - I'm sure there's a horror movie somewhere with similar type eyes. No matter, we ended up with a choir and they all had different eyes.


In the end, the kids had a great time - they must have, the party room looked like an Armageddon and Miss E cried herself to sleep because the party was over.

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32 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Beautiful job and looks like the kids had a fab time!

NĂºria said...

Oh how fun! I love that muffins' faces!
I've noticed you had a large paper over the counter... what a great idea!!!

kat said...

what fun, I can't wait until my nephews are old enough to help me with cupcakes

Ivy said...

I like it when the kids get involved in decorating. Okay I know they mess everything up but it's nice to see them creating. Great job.

Lori said...

How cute is that? Very sweet. I was thinking of doing a monkey cake for my girls on their birthday. I saw it one Martha- so cute.

Anonymous said...

They all look great--so cute! (Were you thinking of Chucky, perhaps--??). And boy, are you ever organized!

Oh--just an aside--the word verification below my message tonight is "gizoxk". Though the "giz" part was funny ;)

That Girl said...

My husband saw the first cupcake and now he's complaining I must not love him since I'm not making him cupcakes.

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

That's one thing I definitely missed about the east coast and NYC, Magnolia cupcakes. Nothing more rewarding than waiting on a 20 minute line for 1 cupcake. These look like home away from home.

grace said...

ha--judging by the icing on her arm in that picture, i can only imagine how the room looked by the end. party indeed. :)

Anonymous said...

CUTE!! I LOVE the smiley face cupcakes!

Adam said...

Gotta love the child slave labor for making cupcakes, j/k :)

They look great. Kids (myself included) love eating even more when they're the maker.

Anonymous said...

Fun! My son is turning 12 and, although we're gentiles, we have a lot of Jewish friends and neighbours. In fact, O's best friend is Jewish. I'm looking forward to next year when everyone is having their coming of age parties!

Laura Paterson said...

Very cute! Ah - I remembering crying at the end of parties when I was little... now I only cry the next morning when I wake up and feel like an elephant has stood on my head!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

These cupcakes are so much fun...great for the kids to decorate themselves too:D

OhioMom said...

LOL .. I so enjoy your posts, and the mess wouldn't bother me, since I am the tornado in my kitchen :)

Eyes on anything freak me out, which is why I don't do whole fish!

Anonymous said...

The hair is so cool looking, how fun these are!

La Bella Cooks said...

Big messes aside, it sounded like a fun time and the cupcakes were darling! I love Magnolia's recipes.

Bunny said...

awe the cupcakes are cute. Giz do the eyes follow you everywhere in the room??!! My son use to have a My Buddy doll when he was very young and he said the eyes on it were a little disturbing too!

giz said...

Bunny - if those eyes would have followed me, I'd be eating them before they knew what hit them.

Dee said...

I love the Magnolia vanilla cupcakes, too! But mine aren't as pretty as Ms E's. Wonder if she's free to do a bunch for Eli's school? I really should let Eli help some but he's uhm, exuberant, shall we say.

PG CakeCraft said...

Hi. just dropped by ur wonderful blog. What cute and pretty cupcakes!I'm sure the children must have felt really proud of their work.

Dharm said...

The cupcakes look just great and it looks like the kids had fun too. Just love the decorations!

Ruth Strong said...

Wow!!! That's a lot of cupcakes!!!!!!! Any spare you can send me!

Love the smiley faces!

Anonymous said...

it's kinda sad that i make pretty much the same amount of mess as the kids did when i cook. le sigh.

i've never loved magnolia recipes, although i've never tried this one. my fav plain cupcake is gale gand's.

Patsyk said...

Those cupcakes are adorable! I imagine they were a huge hit with all the kids!

Deborah said...

You did an amazing job with this whole thing! The cupcakes look great!

glamah16 said...

Your family isw aring me out with all the parties! Great idea to keep the kids occupied and involved.

Anonymous said...

Oh yum! I love cupcakes. Mmmmm :)
I think you already know this, but adopt a blogger matches are up! Thanks for participating!

Vera said...

Giz, the cupcakes are so cute? And how many of these did you bake? You certainly deserve some rest now :)

Darius T. Williams said...

I can't bake worth crap...but you bake...and I eat - lol. When's that party again?

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

i like that tower of frosting in the first picture ;)

Anonymous said...

What a fun time! I like the blue eyes.

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