Baby Shower: Owl

This passed weekend I helped throw an owl themed baby shower for my cousin, who I am super close to because we’re almost the exact same age, had been dating our men for the exact same time and got married just once month apart!  Unfortunately for me, she beat me to the baby making stage 😉

Everything turned out super cute! I made the mini cupcakes and mini {gluten free} chocolate donuts (which I will share an easy recipe for later because they were SO good).  I also made a bunch of various paper things with owls on them that I forgot to take photos of including name tags, gift bags, food cards, & some other misc. signage.   Just two months until the due date! ❤

Hello, cake.

I haven’t ever been much of a cake-maker.  I’ve made a couple small individual cakes to go with cupcakes, but that’s about it. I remember making them as a teenager and the middles always caved in, so I figured I sucked at cakes.

A few weeks ago I had a girl ask me to do a Hello Kitty cake and red velvet cupcakes for her sister’s baby shower. I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of freaked out. I was like “yeah…I can do that!” {I hope!}.  I always do a ton of research when I’m baking something new, so I think I found a great white cake and icing recipe that I can use from now on.  Another new-ish thing to me was using fondant.  I’ve used it very briefly before just to cut out some heart shapes for cupcakes.  Anyways, here’s how it all turned out, I’m hoping she will send me a photo of the cupcakes and cake all set up together soon!

Some things I learned: having your AC go out during baking is not fun, and frosting will not be your friend at this point.  Need more kitchen space. Need more fridge/freezer space.  Everything always takes longer than you plan. Red velvet cupcakes are better days later.  My handwriting is not pretty, hence fondant letters.

I Bake: Cotton Candy Cupcakes

I know, doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing?!  So, I toyed around the idea of making cotton candy cupcakes starting a few months ago when planning a baby shower for Morgan and baby Jack. Steph & I found the idea somewhere online, and since we were planning a vintage baseball themed baby shower for her (which was this past weekend, yay!) it definitely fit the bill and sounded perfect!

There’s a few different recipes you can find online, but I didn’t really follow anything…I just kind of messed around with a few different versions of the cupcake to what suited best for this baby shower.  Since she’s having a boy, I obviously decided we had to go with blue cotton candy. I researched a few different ideas for flavoring as well.  Cotton candy flavoring does exist, however, I only found a couple brands online and all the reviewers said it didn’t really taste like cotton candy at all – so I nixed that idea.  I also found some cotton candy flavored crunch online, that I ended up buying to see what I could do with them.

Here’s a little recipe; it’s super simple since I used a boxed cake mix 🙂

Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Ingredients:
I box vanilla cake mix
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2+ tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Cotton candy (Flava Puff is a great store-bought brand)
Cotton candy crunch topping (I found mine on Ebay)

Prepare cupcakes using directions on your cake mix box. Optional: add 1/2 cup of cotton candy crunch topping to the batter before baking. Bake according to manufacturer’s recommendations.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.  In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 2-3 minutes.  Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed per your liking.

OPTIONAL: add 1-2 ounces of your cotton candy to the frosting to give it the yummy cotton candy flavor. I only used blue cotton candy for mine, but pink would be cute for a girl as well. Or, mix the blue and pink together for purple. Pretty! If the color of your frosting isn’t  deep enough, add a little gel food coloring until you get your desired color.

Top your cooled cupcakes with your frosting, and decorate with either cotton candy or the cotton candy crunch topping.

Tip: The cotton candy will start to wilt/melt if sitting on the cupcake uneaten too long.  Make sure you top with the cotton candy just moments before you devour them 🙂

Vanilla cupcakes with cotton candy crunch, topped with plain buttercream frosting and blue cotton candy.

Vanilla cupcakes with blue cotton candy frosting: I added some white sugar pearls for some extra cuteness. This frosting is so good!

The inside of the cupcake with the cotton candy crunch in the batter.

My other favorite way to make the cupcake was to use the blue cotton candy frosting and top with the cotton candy flavored candy bits. I ended up not using them to top the cupcakes because of the purple and pink bits; but it would be totally adorable for anything else!!!

Hope you try them, they are so good. Enjoy!!!