basketball cupcakes

My youngest baby just turned FIVE!!! Where does the time go?!

Every year I make him birthday cupcakes. First there were these meatloaf cupcakes, as well as funfetti cupcakes. Next came Elmo cupcakes, and the next year Cookie Monster cupcakes because he was super into Sesame Street at that time. And now the thing that he is absolutely and completely obsessed with is BASKETBALL. He loves it. Can't get enough of it. We watch almost every Golden State Warriors game on TV. He plays basketball outside in our backyard when the weather is nice. Otherwise, he shoots hoops inside, because we have one of those small plastic basketball hoops that hangs over a door near the kitchen. He knows all the numbers of every Warriors player. He can even commentate while we are watching Warriors games, and does a pretty good job of it! So naturally, this year he asked for basketball cupcakes!

For the batter, I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe (which you can find in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), which also works great for cupcakes!

Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese frosting (you can also find this recipe in my book). I tinted the majority of it with bright orange gel-based food coloring. And then I used a disposable pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, and piped big round mounds of frosting on each cupcake.

Then I tinted the remaining portion with super black gel-based food coloring, and used a small round tip to pipe the details of each basketball.

And then they were done!

I finished decorating them just in time to bring them to his preschool class party, so I loaded them up in my cupcake courier (my favorite way to transport cupcakes!) and brought them to school.

I also made goody bags for him to pass out to his classmates - blue and gold (Warriors colors) paper bags filled with mini bouncy basketballs, basketball-shaped whistles, basketball pencils, basketball chocolate candies, and basketball pillow mints. And all tied with matching ribbon and a handmade DIY basketball favor tag that I (painstakingly) drew with a sharpie and cut out of orange construction paper.

We decided not to have a real party (sadly, he has never had a real birthday party! Poor kid, I guess that's what happens when you're the third kid!) Instead, we bought him the ultimate birthday gift for a kid who loves Warriors basketball. WE TOOK HIM TO A WARRIORS GAME!

Happy Birthday, my Micah! Hope you enjoyed your basketball birthday!

cookie monster cupcakes

Last year for my son Micah's birthday, I made him Elmo cupcakes because he absolutely loved Elmo at the time. This year for his third birthday, I decided to make him Cookie Monster cupcakes, because he just loves to eat!!!

I made the same chocolate cupcakes as I did last year, and piped Cookie Monsters details with cream cheese frosting. I started by using a large round tip to pipe white frosting into two eyes...

And then a #3 tip with black frosting to pipe his crazy eyeballs.

Next I used the same #3 tip to pipe the mouth (and filled it in with the same tip).

And finally, I used a #18 star tip with blue frosting to pipe Cookie Monster's fur!

Isn't he cute?!

And of course, Cookie Monster wouldn't be complete without a cookie hanging out of his mouth! (I used mini chips ahoy, instead of baking my own, just to save time!)

 Happy happy birthday, my little cookie monster!

balloon cookie pops on a stick

To go along with the Elmo cupcakes that I made for the class party to celebrate Micah's 2nd birthday, I also made balloon cookie pops as favors. I actually got this idea from my good friend Helen, who had originally asked me to make balloon cookies for her daughter's 2nd birthday party (but that later on turned into making Pink Panther cookies and rainbow cookies!).

Since I didn't have a balloon cookie cutter, I had my hubby make me a custom copper cutter! Then I made a couple batches of sugar cookie dough (recipe in my new book!), rolled it out to about 1/8" thick, and used my shiny new cookie cutter to cut out the shapes.

As mentioned with my heart cookies on a stick, once the cookies were cut out, I placed them on top of lollipop sticks that I laid out on my baking sheet, gently pressing the dough to surround the stick. Then I baked them at 350F for 10-12 minutes until just golden.

Then I whipped up a batch of royal icing (recipe also in my book!), divided it into three portions, and colored the portions red, green, and blue. Using stiff icing, I outlined each balloon cookie, and then filled it with runny icing.

After letting them dry overnight, they were ready! 

Since I was giving them out as favors, I wrapped each one individually in cellophane bags tied with raffia and a custom birthday favor tag, but you could also use them as cute centerpieces as well!

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" better than birthday balloons, right? :)

elmo cupcakes

My youngest baby is obsessed with Elmo. To the point where he has to sleep with two Elmo dolls every night. "Two ... Ehmo", he says, if you only hand him one doll. And every morning he has to watch Elmo before school. And if there is a scene that Elmo is not in, he will repeatedly say "Ehmo ... Ehmo ... Ehmo ..." until I fast forward to a scene that Elmo is in. That is how much he loves Elmo.

So, in addition to the rainbow fruits layer cake that I made for his 2nd birthday this year, I also *had* to make Elmo cupcakes for his class party at daycare! I've made Elmo goodies for my other two kids in the past - Elmo cookies, Elmo cake, and also these Elmo cupcakes where I piped Elmo cupcake toppers with royal icing ahead of time. Even an Elmo ice cream cake (wow, was that really 4 years ago?!). This time I wanted to pipe Elmo directly on the cupcake, and I couldn't wait for Micah to see!

I started by making chocolate cupcakes (recipe in my new book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!). Once baked and cooled, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese frosting, and piped Elmo's eyes with a large round tip.

Next I used orange frosting to pipe his nose, also using a large round tip.

Next I piped the eyeballs and mouth with black frosting, using a small round tip (Wilton tip #3).

And finally, I filled in his face with red frosting using a medium star tip (Wilton #16).

Two dozen cupcakes later, I was done!

I couldn't wait to see the look on Micah's face when he saw them!

Here are some of the photos I took on my phone to document his Elmo cupcake encounter :)

And finally, a video so you can see how happy he was to be eating his Elmo cupcake :)

Happy birthday my little Micah! Love you so much!!!