sprinkles!!!

Aren't rainbow sprinkles just happy and festive? My niece turned 6 a couple of weeks ago and, like any human, is obsessed with rainbow sprinkles. Obviously she needed these at her birthday party. 

Truthfully, I've been eyeing this Funfetti recipe from a cookbook Kent gave me. It's called Baked Occasions and on the cover is a tiered Funfetti cake. It's glorious as a cake, but thought cupcakes were a bit more appropriate for a kiddie party. 

I’ve made many homemade vanilla cakes before but wanted to make this recipe for a couple of reasons: 1. They had me at vanilla extract. Have you seen the amount of vanilla called for? That’s right, it’s two TABLESPOONS, not teaspoons, and no I didn’t change that. That’s what these guys use and I was impressed. 2. The frosting is a unique recipe that I’ve never seen before, so I was intrigued. It involved cooking milk, sugar and flour together until it boils, then beating (which cools it down) and adding the butter. It ended up having the consistency and creaminess of the Swiss MeringueFrosting I like so much, but may be a bit easier to work with (although I had my issues with it too…).

The temperamental frosting may have been a bit of human error (not really paying attention to a pot of creamy boiling liquid) as well as a bit of confusion about the temperature of the butter. Nonetheless, I was able to fix my errors and have included how you can avoid making my same mistakes. But if you do make my mistakes, I've given you the answers on how to fix them!

data dump

So sorry for the delay but I've been pre-occupied potty training a certain two-and-a-half year old and all of my energy has been on getting her to achieve something we now deem as "super simple". Sometimes it's easier to just unload the thoughts in my brain than it is to do full posts for each of these topics- although they may turn into posts eventually.

* Just got this popsicle maker and am excited to use it! If you've got any ideas for healthy recipes I'd love to hear them.

* Remember when I professed my love for the Fresh Sugar lip Balms? When I heard Fresh had a new bright pink Sugar Lip Balm coming out, called Tulip, I got so excited. Thankfully, my anticipation was worth it- I'm obsessed! My new favorite summer lip!!

* Have you ever watched America's Test Kitchen on PBS? I love that show because they do all the exhaustive research to produce the best possible recipe. One of the contributing chefs, Yvonne Ruperti, recently came out with her own cookbook called One Bowl. I just got the cookbook because I like the simplicity of only needing one bowl to bake with- I'm sure I'll be sharing some recipes from it.

* I can't believe I've never used EOS lip balm before (because they're organic and I know what each ingredient is), but since Elise Ruby recently went through my makeup bag and smeared a new tube of pink lipstick all over herself, I decided it was time for her to have something of her own. I got the mint one for me, and the strawberry one for Ruby and she loves it. Now the challenge is rationing her because she wants it. All. Of. The. Time.


Any ideas for Father's Day? Ties are always a given, but this year I'm making my husband a special donut treat... to be continued!