Birthday Cake

Okay so these pictures are horrible. The battery of course went dead right when I finished the cake. By the time it was recharged it was evening time and so the pics are not great at all. I just snapped a few and he blew out the candles and we ate.


So this little 3 year old wanted a puppy cake. Now that it is done I wish I had made it Red and had it be Clifford, because it looks a lot like Clifford. And once again I made brownies instead of cake. Cake doesn't get eaten around here, but brownies do. Plus I think brownies are actually easier to work with. Less crumbly and more stable.




The next day we had cupcakes with Grandpa & Grandma & Aunts & Uncles. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes, which were steller, and the frosting was delish. It was a cream cheese white chip frosting. Yum!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
From allrecipes w/ adaptations


3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2.Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Get chocolate chips a bit wet then mix in with flour (this helps them not sink to the bottom). Then mix dry & wet ingredients.
3.Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted a bit from Baking Bites blog

4-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp milk or cream
2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and melted white chocolate. Beat in vanilla and milk, then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency (make it a bit stiffer if you wish to pipe it onto the cupcakes instead of spreading it with a knife).
Spread frosting onto cupcakes with a knife, or transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.