my blessed life

This past weekend was my hubby's birthday and we had a lot of fun celebrating with our family.  Each year I make Vince his birthday cake.  Usually he chooses Black Forest Cake ( this is our fave ) although one year he picked banana cream cake .  This year he chose a cupcake recipe that I'd recently found.  They turned out yummy! Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes 1 cup butter, at room temp 2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt grated zest and juice of a lemon 1 cup milk, divided ***** Preheat oven to 375F and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake papers.  In a large bowl beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add in the vanilla. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add this to the butter mixture a third at a time, alternating with the milk and lemon juic...

We~and I say *we* because I could not have gotten this done without my amazing hubby's help~also whipped up this guy for Mr. B to share with his Wednesday night class at church. Of course, we got all our direction from one of our fave books: What's New, Cupcake? . That one and Hello, Cupcake! have been some of my best cookbook investments~love them! While it was really very simple to do, it was a bit time consuming. I'm so thankful for Vince's help getting all of the robot decor made~and even at that we still didn't drop into bed until 1:30 am! However, it was totally worth it to see the look on Mr. B's face and the kiddos in his class as they shared in the treat. Cupcakes are just so fun!

Happy 6th Birthday, Mr. B!! I can hardly believe it's been 6 years already since my youngest child was born. What a blessing he is~and, boy, does he keep me on my toes! For our family birthday lunch Vince and I whipped up this homemade Lego cake. For not having any kind of guidance except our own imagination, I thought it turned out pretty cute! We also whipped up some cupcakes and Mr. Robocup for Mr. B to share with his class at church tonight. He's been talking a lot about a robot cake recently, so I thought this would be fun to share with his friends. Of course, we used the book What's New, Cupcake? , we LOVE those cupcake books! Now we're off to celebrate for the day!

Meet *Cupid the Cupcake*! Isn't he a cutie?! My hubby whipped up a little batch of these last night for our early Valentine's dinner with the kiddos. Yuuuummmmmyyy!! First he took a French Vanilla cake mix and mixed it according to the box instructions, adding one extra egg to the batter. After filling the cupcake cups, he added chunks of Hershey's Cookies & Cream candy bar. Then he baked them according to the box directions and cooled them. Next he made Cupid's wings using large marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Using kitchen scissors he cut the marshmallows in half, then made 3 snips with the scissors on one side of the halves to create the *wing effect*. Then he mounted them onto the pretzel sticks. Next came Cupid's hair curls~made with Rice Krispies cereal. I failed to get a photo of Vince putting on Cupid's face and hand holding the heart. He used the store-bought icing packs that come already dyed and with the decorating tip (sort of a store versi...

Occasionally Vince gets inspired in the kitchen. Even though he doesn't do the majority of the cooking, he's certainly not incapable of it. He's actually quite good! I enjoy it when he works in the kitchen with me. He has his own * special sandwich *, has made pickles and decorates cupcakes with more patience than I do. Sometimes he even watches the Food Network and makes me a special meal or two . Well, he's done it again. Two of his fave shows to watch on the Food Network are *Cupcake Wars* and *Unwrapped*. Apparently there were a couple of episodes lately that brought about this wonderfully inspired cupcake that he made for me last night. And supposedly it's just a prelude to what he's making for Valentine's Day....I can hardly wait!! Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Map le Syrup Frosting 1 box of chocolate cake mix (can be double chocolate, devil's food, etc.) ***** Make cake mix according to box instructions, but add one ext ra egg to the ...

Y'all know I like to party for at least a week or so for my birthday, right? I mean, what's the fun in getting older if you don't take the opportunity to really celebrate?! This year is no exception. I've already gotten a couple of awesome packages in the mail (yea!) and my hubby and kiddos have made me... (wait for it) .... CUPCAKE S !!! From the Hello, Cupcake! book, of course! They are SO yummy! He made them chocolate with a sweet surprise tucked inside: mini 3Musketeer bars~one of my faves! After baking in, they made the insides all gooey and delicious! Mmmm.... He was a little frustrated with the butterfly wing technique and had some problems which is why more of them aren't decorated with wings. I told him I didn't know of another husband anywhere that would go to all of this trouble to make his wife cake for her birthday and I think they're all awesome!! And he's awesome!! So as you can see, my birthday is off to a won...

Well, my hubby decided to do some impromptu patriotic cupcakes this weekend in honor of his brother's visit from California. I was a little weary with making lots of other things in the kitchen, so all I did was whip up a cake mix for him and he did the rest! He developed the design all on his own and did all of the decorating. Very impressive, I must say! They turned out really cute. I love the way he presented them in a star shape!

This weekend we celebrated Mr. B's 5th birthday. And once again he made his birthday cake request from the Hello, Cupcake! book. That book is awesome ~and did I tell you that my kiddos got me the sequel, What's New, Cupcake? , for Mother's Day? LOVE it!! I sense more cupcake requests in the future. This year's party was *space* themed. And I mean the planets, stars and alien kind of space theme, not more room. Although more room would have been nice, I must say:) But I digress. I just had to share with you the making of the alien cupcakes. Because they are just TOO CUTE!! First, the cast of characters: We have the Hello, Cupcake! book, the Martha Stewart Baking Book , doughnut holes, foil cupcake liners, neon gel food coloring, 2 cans of vanilla frosting, at least a dozen large marshmallows (not pictured), black licorice and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. First, we bake our cupcakes. You can use any kind you want, a mix is fine. I used this recipe...