Birthday Cupcakes

I love making cupcakes for my kid’s class birthday party.  We are a school that still allows homemade treats and I really look forward to every birthday or class celebration.  Along the way, I have learned a few things:

1.  Make it easy on the teacher.  Make something individually portioned like a cupcake.  A whole cake takes a lot of time and is really messy.  You do not have to bring plates or forks, a napkin will be just fine.

2.  Kids really don’t care about the cake part of the cupcake.  It is just a delivery system for frosting.  I save myself some time and energy and use boxed cake mix, but make a really light, fluffy and sweet homemade frosting.

3.  Now is the time to break out the food coloring and sprinkles.  Go to town.  It is a celebration.  Make it really special and really fun.  I cannot remember what my mom made me for my 6th birthday dinner, but I for sure, remember the cake that she made me.

My favorite treat to make is Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.  What I really like is that it is really easy for kids to eat.  They can lick the frosting off like an ice cream cone.  You can really go crazy with the colors and sprinkles and I have yet to meet a kid that is not impressed when this is placed in front of them.  I have made many, many of these treats and have discovered that they can be a bit cumbersome to make.  I am going to share a tip with you.  Cut out squares of tin foil and wrap it around the base of the ice cream cone.  Place the cone in a muffin pan and it will keep the cone in place.  You can fill, bake, decorate, and transport without having to move them.

I really wish that I would have figured this trick out years ago.  I would have saved quite a few cupcakes from meeting an untimely death.

Fill the cones halfway with cake batter.  Bake as you normally would bake a cupcake.  Let them cool completely and frost however you wish.  I like to use a piping bag with a large star tip filled with Vanilla Buttercream frosting.  To make the swirls, add a few drops of food coloring to white frosting and gently fold it in.  Put the frosting in a piping bag and you are ready to go.  Swirl on top of the cupcake and decorate with your favorite sprinkles.

Bree Hester

Bree is a food blogger and photographer based out of Carmichael, CA. She lives with her husband and 3 children. Her blog, Baked Bree, is a recipe blog for the home cook who wants to eat well and laugh often.

About Bree

Bree is the founder and writer of BakedBree.com, a recipe site that shares her love of cooking, baking, and entertaining with others. BakedBree.com launched in February of 2010 as a way to merge Bree’s love of photography with her love of food, and share both with friends and family. Currently, Bree lives in the suburbs of Washington DC with her husband and 3 children.

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