A month ago when I started asking my son what he wanted for his 4th birthday, he would reply with the same answer every time:
"I want to have a party at Chuck E. Cheeses and play games and have a strawberry cake."
Sounded simple enough, right? Well, his older sister is very much allergic to strawberries and I didn't want to make multiple cakes - cupcakes were definitely the way to go. When I found out that this month's challenge was to create a cupcake for a loved one, I knew I would be entering Keaton's birthday cupcakes into the running.
I have this very versitile cupcake recipe that I use for almost everything, and just alter certain ingredients as I go along. Someone once told me that baking is an exact science, you can't just wing it. Well, everytime I wing it, I have a new favorite cupcake!
I made a white cocoa cupcake and filled it with a mixture of strawberry Squeezie Fruit (ever try the stuff? It's amazing!) and white cocoa buttercream. Then I topped the cupcakes with more white cocoa buttercream. My son loves gummy treats - gummy bears, gummy worms, all of the above. So I took some Wonka squishy Sploshberries and placed them on top of the buttercream. After adding a little red sugar crystals, I was done!
Of course, I set some unfilled cupcakes aside for my daughter so she wouldn't have to endure the hives that strawberies give her.
The cupcakes were a hit at his party. Our party hostess even requested one! I'm glad I brought some to-go bakery boxes too, because some other parents wanted to take cupcakes home to their famlies.
The winner of December’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:
Thank you to all our prize sponsors!