We're still recovering from the little man's first birthday weekend. One of his beloved aunties came up from NYC for the weekend with her honey, and many a fun adventure was had, including...
The little guy's first haircut! He loved tolerated it, and my sister was a champ at holding him still.
Hanging out and playing in an awesome aunt-built fort.
And plenty of just hanging out in the kitchen, noshing and chatting... the best part of any weekend.
But the highlight of the weekend, my friends, were the cupcakes.
Oh my, the cupcakes...
Why did I bake 50-odd cupcakes for 10 people? Because I have issues. And because different people like different kinds of cupcakes, and I aim to please. So we had vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and, arguably the best of the bunch, carrot cake cupcakes with classic cream cheese icing: all homemade, all delicious. My sister lives blocks from and loves the famous Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, so I used their vanilla cupcake and buttercream recipes and they did not disappoint. Next time an occasion calls for cupcakes, I highly recommend these:
And then, those carrot cake cupcakes...
Cream cheese icing = to.die.for.
These were RIDICULOUS. I made carrot because they are the fave of my dad, my sister's boyfriend, and my cousin's wife who just had a beautiful baby girl two weeks ago and should be brought whatever she wants on a silver platter at the moment, and these blew all my expectations out of the park. So. Good. And why were they so good? Because the recipe is from my personal guru and unofficial godmother of my child, Ina Garten. I swear, I have yet to prepare a recipe written by this woman that hasn't been proclaimed THE BEST of whatever it is by anyone who eats it, and this was no exception. If you love carrot cake, you must try Ina's recipe ASAP:And I am not ashamed to admit that one of these with a cup of strong coffee makes a heavenly breakfast. And with that, our little man is 1 and we are all feeling happy, proud and on a pleasant sugar high around here. Cupcakes and babies... does life get any better?
Sounds delicious. When your son turns 3 or 4 you might consider purchasing a book called "Hello Cupcake" to fulfill any remaining cupcake fantasies. In the last week I've made the pandas & the space aliens in preparation for a kid centered cupcake decorating party this weekend (for 5th graders).
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