Vegan Fairy Cakes with Caramel Frosting

It has been pouring rain in Vancouver over the past 24 hours.  Just pouring!  The kids and I were getting overwhelmed with cabin fever.  We read books.  We played "mad scientist" (where we do things like set up the dinosaurs around the "volcano" (a small glass jar) and mix baking soda with vinegar so that the volcano erupts).  We did every puzzle in our house (my son can now do all of them without my help while sister chases after and chews on the pieces).  And we made these colourful, kid friendly cupcakes this morning (the caramel icing would be delicious on a coffee cake or chocolate layer cake).  They are so easy and your kids can help with measuring, mixing and scooping.  And since there's no raw eggs they can even lick the spoon if they are so inclined.

Finally the rain subsided.  My 3 year old son just loves splashing in puddles, so I dressed him in his rubber boots and his muddy buddy and we went puddling.  It was so much fun.  At one point, he and a little girl he was playing with both got stuck thigh-deep in a mud sinkhole.  I had to fish them out and then had to be rescued myself.  Ahh, to be a 3 year old again.  Such fun.

Now my little guy is sleeping, and the sun is shining bright.  I can't wait for him to wake up so we can go for a play in the park.

But first, the cupcakes.  Enjoy!

Fairy Cakes with Caramel Frosting
Makes 12

For the cupcakes
1/4 c non-dairy butter (I used soy-free Earth Balance)
1/2 c sugar
1 flax egg (mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 3 tbsp water and let stand 5 min)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c rainbow sprinkles

For the frosting
1/4 c non-dairy butter (I used soy-free Earth Balance)
1/3 c non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c icing sugar

First make the cupcakes.  Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tin with liners.  Spray muffin pan with liners very lightly with non-stick spray.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and flax egg and beat until well combined.  Stir in salt and baking powder and mix well.  Add milk and flour in 4 additions, alternating, and stir until just combined but all flour is mixed in.  Stir in sprinkles.  Divide between 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool.

Once cupcakes are cool, make the frosting.  Melt butter along with milk and brown sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring often.  Once boiling, stir constantly for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and icing sugar.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Remove from fridge and whisk or using electric hand mixer, whip icing until it turns lighter in colour and thickens, about 5 minutes.

Top the cupcakes with frosting and additional sprinkles. Pin It Now!

Celebrations: Superhero 3rd Birthday Party

We had much fun celebrating our little guy's 3rd birthday this weekend.  The theme was "superhero", and guests were asked to wear costumes.  I got much of my inspiration from pinterest. Here are some pictures.
 

 For the "H" on the door, I cut out a cardboard "H" and covered it with comic book paper.

The green superhero balloons were just black construction paper masks taped on to bright green helium balloons. 

I ordered capes for each child to wear and then take home after the party.

The food spread was so much fun.  I made the backdrop by cutting out black foam core board into a skyline and pasting yellow paper windows on the buildings.  The yellow bags are treat bags - yellow paper bags with super Hs printed and pasted on.

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Celebrations: 2nd Birthday Party

It's been almost ten months since my little guy turned two.  We had a lovely little party, as I was 5 months pregnant and life was busy, we weren't up for the big celebration we had for his first birthday.  Here are some pictures from that day.  I had so much fun with the bright colours, and found most of my ideas on pinterest.

The food was simple: rainbow jello cups, PB&J sandwiches cut into flower shapes with a sandwich cutout, rainbow fruit kebabs, cookies with rainbow m&ms, sundried tomato dip, and salads (chickpea, heirloom tomato and greek).

I made the birthday banner with felt pieces bought from Daiso.  I printed large letters on white paper then traced them onto the felt and cut them out and hot glued them to the contrasting triangles.

Our downstairs was set up as a kids play zone with a ball tent, bowling and colouring station, and I made this bright streamer doorway to lead the way.

Here's the cake and cupcakes - the cupcakes are lemon with vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles.

I made the rainbow layer cake by dividing up vanilla cake batter into five bowls, and adding food colouring to each bowl to make red, orange, yellow, green and blue. I iced them with vanilla icing between the layers and around the cake, and added rainbow sprinkles.

A fun time was had by all at our little party!

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