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.