Happy Birthday John

Happy Birthday John!! This is him posing in front of his Birthday Cupcakes!! I don’t know if he likes it but based on many years of friendship…  I think he likes it. When he saw those cupcakes, he said “Whoar!” and that’s it. That’s the best you’ll get out of him… LOl!! Even his wifey, Pat agrees! 

What I did?

Well it’s basically the Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting recipe. To make it especially for John, who loves basketball, I used Wilton’s ‘Terra Cotta’ food color for the butter cream frosting to ice the basketballs, just a few drops of brown food coloring for the other cupcakes that the basketball players are on. Then, I used Wilton’s ‘Ready-To-Decorate Icing’ that comes in a canister in black to ‘draw’ out the lines for the basketballs, which is NOT an easy task at all!!! Highly NOT recommended even if you are a pro. Why? Because it’s really NOT easy to use those damned canisters!! I had to get Greg (my husband) to help me with it as it takes a lot to actually squeeze the icing out and a even harder task to get them in even clean lines. I would think the icing pens would have done a better job and much cheaper. Luckily Greg loves John just as much to ‘layan’ me and help me to do it as I was screaming bloody murder already! 

BUT! With all that said, I think it all came out pretty well and everyone thinks the cupcakes were nice. So it’s worth it! 

So it’s 3 snaps, 2 waves and a twirl from me, Elaine. 

Here are more pics of the cupcakes…

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Icing

 

 

I baked these cupcakes to try out the vanilla cupcake recipe that I am suppose to bake for John’s birthday. Of course They are going to look like the one you see here… He would think it’s too ’sweet’ and girlie…  

Well, anyway I have other plans for his birthday but I’m not telling what now. You’ll have to check back in here to see what it looks like. Well, actually… most of you who read this blog will be there that night anyway… So BE patient. In the mean time, feast your eyes only… or maybe you can take down this recipe to try. It’s really SUPER DUPER easy to make… I promise. Even Erica can’t get it wrong even if she tried!  

 

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

150g butter (at room temperature)

150g castor sugar

175g self-rising flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350F or 180C 
• Line cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake papers
• Crack the eggs into a cup/bowl and beat lightly
• Cream the butter in a mixer a little, put in sugar and continue to beat in the mixer for a while
• Put balance of the ingredients in and beat till light and creamy
• Fill mixture into cupcake cases
• Bake for about 15-20 mins
• Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pans and onto a cooling rack.
• Make sure that it’s completely cool before icing

Note: Do not open the oven door till at least the minimum baking time to maintain an even temperature in the oven for best results.

 

Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

150g butter (soften/ at room temperature)

250g Icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp hot water

*food coloring of choice

Method:

• Beat together butter and sugar till well combined
• Add vanilla and hot water, continue to beat till smooth and creamy
• Add in food coloring of choice if you want some color (optional) 

Note: Tops about 12 cupcakes generously.

Blueberry Cheesecake

This recipe is taken from Nigella (6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 125g digestive biscuits
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 75g soft butter
• 250ml double cream
• 300g cream cheese
• 1 × 284g jar Blueberry topping / filling
• 60g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until it starts to turn to crumbs, then add the butter and whiz again to make the mixture clump.
2. Press this mixture into a 20cm springform tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge.
3. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.
4. Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
5. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Put it in the fridge for three hours or overnight.
6. Unmould and spread with blueberry topping.