1st Birthday Cupcakes

    I baked two different kinds of cupcakes for Ethan's party; Peanut Butter & Banana and Oreo Crumb Cupcakes.  I started out looking for a recipe for banana cupcakes because I thought it would be cute with the sock monkey theme. I found the perfect recipe at Annie's Eats.  The cupcakes were light and fluffy, not too dense like a lot of banana cake recipes. Although the caramel icing sounded delicious, I was hooked on the idea of peanut butter icing. Peanut butter and bananas is one of my all time favorite combos. So I began my search for a delicious sounding peanut butter icing. My journey ended with Lick The Bowl Good 's peanut butter cream cheese icing. MmmmMmm good!

    I needed an alternative to the banana cupcakes for anyone who wasn't excited by the thought of creamy peanut butter atop a fluffy banana pillow. Who the heck wouldn't be interested in something so wonderfully delicious, you ask? The only person I can think if is my Daddy whose throat closes up at the mere thought of eating a banana. But one thing he does love is OREOs!! And what better counterpart to my light and fruity banana peanut butter cupcakes, than the rich and chocolaty Oreo crumb cupcakes from Your Cup of Cake. Nothing I tell ya, NOTHING!!
     

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing
(makes 24 cupcakes)



  
For the cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana

For the icing:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Using either a stand or hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar, on med-high speed, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to med-low and add eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Mix in mashed banana until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add in the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing until just combined.
Fill liners 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake 20-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, the transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

For the icing; cream the butter, peanut butter and cream cheese together with a mixer on low speed. Beat until the mixture is smooth and no lumps remain. Add the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, blending on low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down sides and beat the mixture on medium speed until light and fluffy.

When cupcakes are completely cool, spread or pipe about 2 tablespoons icing onto each cupcake.




Oreo Crumb Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)



For the cupcakes:

24 tsp oreo crumbs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

Devil's food cake mix

For the icing:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter. softened

oreo cream from cookies

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbsp heavy cream

I cup oreo crumbs, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. Separate about 24 Oreos and scrape out the cream, put aside. Place cookies in food processor and pulse until well crushed, sift oreo crumbs. Set aside one cup sifted oreo crumbs for the buttercream. Combine the remaining sifted crumbs and the larger pieces. Place 1 teaspoon oreo crumbs in the bottom of each liner.

In a large bowl, use a whisk to combine buttermilk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir well between each addition, being careful not to beat the eggs. Slowly add devil's food cake mix while stirring, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Fill cupcake liners ( with cookie crumbs on bottom) 3/4 full and bake for 13-18 minutes. The top should spring back when touched. Place in airtight containers while they cool to seal in moisture.

For the buttercream, beat cream cheese, butter, and oreo cream centers for about 5 minutes. Add vanilla, powdered sugar,  and heavy cream and beat again.

Stir in cookie crumbs and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.



Enjoy!!

Sock Monkey 1st Birthday Party

   We finally had Ethan's 1st Birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked great and Ethan had a fantastic time. It was absolutely perfect. Which means, the bazillion hours I spent crafting the past 3 months, paid off. I couldn't have been happier with the result. So without further ado, here is Ethan's Sock Monkey 1st Birthday party!

      When the guests arrived, they were greeted by this little guy hanging out in his radio flyer wagon with "ONE" spelled in cardboard letters from the craft store.  I also made a welcome sign for the front door. I started by making a template for the monkey head using card stock. Then, I cut out the pieces using foam. Finally, I printed the welcome page and layered it with different scrapbook papers in the sock monkey theme.  I used the template for both the welcome sign, and Ethan's birthday shirt.

      Ethan's shirt was by far the most meticulous and time consuming of all my projects. Using my template, I cut each piece out in felt. I used embroidery thread and sewed each piece on by hand. It took me a total of 6 hours to make the shirt from start to finish. But it wasn't as bad as it sounds, most of it was done lying in bed, watching TV. Here is Ethan in his birthday shirt. I think it was definitely worth the effort :)

     I made a birthday hat to go with his shirt. But, he wouldn't wear it for even a second. I'm kind of sad I couldn't get a picture of him in it because it is so cute. It was pretty simple to make, I just wrapped a paper party hat from the dollar store with felt and trimmed it with ribbon. Then I hot-glued a '1' onto the front and a red pom pom on top. I finished it with a little ribbon to tie around the neck.

   One of the most exciting things about Ethan's party was the time capsule. I found the idea on Pinterest and couldn't resist including it in Ethan's party. I had everyone write a note to Ethan, to be included in a time capsule, he will open on his 18th Birthday.  With each invitation, I sent a couple of note cards, along with an explanation of the time capsule, and a few ideas of things to include.  Ethan got a lot of sweet notes, and I am going to throw in a few things from the party, too.

    For the food, I really wanted to keep it simple and mainly focus on the centerpiece; the cupcake tower! I made two different types of cupcakes; Banana with Peanut Butter Icing and Oreo Crumb Cupcakes (you can find the recipes here.)I found some cupcake trees on the Internet, but I refused to pay $50 for a piece of cardboard. Instead, I bought some styrofoam boards from the dollar store and had Brian build a cupcake stand. I saved $45 by doing it this way! I got the cupcake wrappers and toppers from Etsy and printed them out from my computer. I bought Ethan's smash cake from the grocery store. I ordered an awesome fondant sock monkey to sit on top of the display, but sadly, it was delivered to the wrong address. At the last minute, I cut a '1' and a sock monkey out of paper and stuck them in the top of the cake with a wooden skewer. I was a little bummed because it didn't make the same statement (and it wasn't 3D) but I was the only one who knew and it still looked fantastic.

Aside from the cupcakes, I kept the food pretty simple. I served a nugget tray from Chick-fil-A, chips and dip, and fruit skewers with yogurt dip. My Dad made sausage balls, spiced pecans, and pimento cheese on celery.

         The last of my craft-apalooza included 2 banners. A 'Happy 1st Birthday' banner and a highchair banner that read 'I am 1'. They were made using scrapbook paper matching the sock monkey theme. 

          

       After presents, Ethan was ready for his birthday cake. He absolutely loved it and ate almost the entire thing. Although, he was nice enough to share a bite with Daddy! :)

       I hope you enjoyed Ethan's 1st birthday party as much as we did!

All printables from Cupcake Express

Inspired by See Vanessa Craft & The Macs

Craft supplies from Hobby Lobby