All posts tagged party

My Birthday Cake

by Erin on February 19, 2012 in food, holidays with 2 Comments

Well after two weeks of various family members being sick, we all finally got together for my birthday. I decided to go with a cake I saw on Pinterest. And while I was a teeny bit disappointed in how close two of the colors were to each other, I say “Bravo!” to myself for not only making my first 4 layered cake but also for making my own icing!

And there you have it. :) I had a wonderful time with family and yummy food.

Directions for cake:
2 boxes of white cake mix (I used the 4 egg whites option)
Add in gel coloring (I used Wilton’s Violet)

Buttercream recipe as follows, from Glorious Treats:

American Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (salted, or unsalted)
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (best quality available)
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or milk.

*Optional- As mentioned above, I like a cream cheese version of this frosting best.  The cream cheese adds to the creamy texture, and cuts down on the sweetness just a bit.  If desired, for a very light cream cheese flavor add 1/2 block (4 oz). cream cheese, leaving the other ingredients (as listed above) the same.  For a more traditional cream cheese flavor, reduce the butter to 1/2 cup, and add 1 block (8 oz.) of cream cheese.  If using a full block of cream cheese, you can reduce the cream or milk to 1 tablespoon total.

Directions-
* In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute). (If you are adding cream cheese, add it now, then beat until smooth)
* Add salt (if needed).
* One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.
* Add vanilla, or other flavorings and beat to combine.
* Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.
* Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.
* Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached.  If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick.  Continue to beat another minute or so.  The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.

I did go with the cream cheese option. I also made a thicker frosting even though I was just icing the cake (no piping involved). I was really shooting for a white frosting so I also added in a bit of Wilton’s White Icing Coloring. Made a world of difference (to me anyway, lol).

To Die For Cookies!

by Erin on February 5, 2011 in food with 2 Comments

Last month I came across a cookie recipe from Picky-Palate for Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Sandwiches. I immediately knew I just had to make them for my birthday. So I gathered all the ingredients (and honestly, check out the list—it’s super simple!) and waited and waited for the day. Today was that day!

I won’t go into detail since there are extremely well documented instructions included with the recipe, but I will share my final result:

Even before I tasted it, I began to crave milk—that’s how sweet they smell. And the smell was not misleading. These suckers are soooo full of chocolate that they will cure any hankering for something sweet.

I think I added a bit more chocolate chips than I should have (the recipe calls for a 10oz bag, I could only find a 12oz bag so I eyeballed the amount to put in). However, that didn’t stop me from sucking half of one down! (Yes, half of one. Believe me, when/if you make these you’ll completely know why!)

I only made 18 of them (I got a little tired after a bit) but I had made a cake right before it. I really can’t wait to see everyone’s faces when they see and then bite into these tomorrow!

It’s nearing the birthmonth time…

by Erin on January 13, 2010 in food, geekness, trials & tribulations with 2 Comments

I love my birthday. There really isn’t much more I can say about it other than, I LOVE IT. I’m sure as I get older and older, I won’t as much, but as it stands, I love it right this moment.

Of course, I seem to be the only one enthusiastic about MY day. But that’s ok. I have enough enthusiasm to go around.

The husband has already bought me my bday present—the Barnes & Noble nook. We pre-ordered back in November, but it was suppose to arrive in January, so we trashed it as a Christmas present and made it a birthday present. It arrived on the 30th.

I cannot wait to get my hands on it. But I’m waiting. And patiently. I’m reading a book right now anyway, so I’m good. I did just order a cover for it though. I went with the Jonathan Adler Punctuation Cover. I love the whole punctuation look (although it would have been awesome had it been a & z instead) plus the inside is one of the nicer ones I’ve seen.

So now that my presents are all settled, it’s party planning time. I’m going with the normal birthday girl theme, however, I’m adding a vampire twist (since we all know how much I love vampires!).

For the invitation, I used the doodle’s from Lauren Grier’s At the Bus Stop kit and the pieces from SuzyQ’s And Many More … {Bold} kit. With the addition of some fangs and drops of blood, we have a sweet little vampire party invite:

{*Please forgve the larger invite image. I’m testing out a new auto-resizer and obviously, it doesn’t work too well}

So far I’ve got some cute labels for soda bottles (à la True Blood) and am going to make bloody mary cocktails. I’ve also decided on a red velvet cake, however I’m going to do a cherry filling and cream cheese frosting. I’m using Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet recipe and Paula Deen’s Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. Now to hunt out more vampire-ish goodies. :)