Vanilla Cupcakes and a Birthday celebration

Hello everyone... Thank you so much for your well wishes. I thought I would be able to get back into the blogging world in a few months but boy was I wrong.. it's been super hectic to say the least and before we even realize that a day has dawned it's drawing to a close. 2 kids are definitely a handful and they constantly keep us on our toes. That didn't stop us from having a small celebration at home in view of my daughter's 4th birthday on October 10th. She also had a small party and a Montessori ritual at her school so I baked some vanilla cupcakes for her friends and decorated it with a light pink icing and she put the sprinkles on top and was positively excited about it. For the 'cake cutting' at home, I baked a carrot cake and again enlisted Anushka's help to decorate it with her favorite candy - m&ms. She was all smiles and said that she loved the 'celebragens and decoragens' :)

SIMPLE VANILLA CUPCAKES - makes around 12 to 15 cupcakes


Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour - 1.5 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick), at room temperature
Sugar - 1 cup (slightly more if you want it sweeter)
Eggs - 2
Milk - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1.75 tsp

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with paper cups.
Sift together the flour & baking powder.

2) In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. I used a hand beater and kept at it for a good 6 to 8 minutes.

4) Beat in eggs one at a time, beating really well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract next and beat really well again.

5) Now stir in the sifted flour + baking powder until almost mixed. Add the milk and beat till the batter is smooth.

6) Spoon it into the paper cups - 3/4 full is good because they rise quite well. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes clean.

These are great plain or with an icing of your choice.. since my daughter likes Cream cheese I used that to make this icing and topped with some sprinkles. "

Here's a picture of the other carrot cake also topped with cream cheese icing


and also one of the birthday girl, the baby brother & my mom.

Comments

  1. Belated B'Day wishes to Anushka :) They are cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. aaw! love that picture! Happy birthday to Anushka! she has a promising future as a cake decorator!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Happy birth day to the cuttie.. cake and sweet baby looking smart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. nice picture..happy birthday Anushka!! n nice cake too :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy B'day to Anushka! Love the picture..

    ReplyDelete
  6. yeay! u r back! :)

    a bunch of girls started a food blog and i have joined it too... u shd visit us sometimes! :)

    http://girlsgonecookin.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Welcome back and Belated wishes to Anushka, both of them are such cuties! the cake looks very inviting....

    ReplyDelete
  8. that looks so cute..happy birthday to your daughter...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Welcome Back yaar, wishing many many happy returns of the day to ur princess, cupcakes looks fabulous..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wishes to the birthday girl. The delightful cupcakes a must for a celebration at school :)
    The baby keeping you busy?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Belated wishes to Anushka! Nikhil and Anushka look cute together with amma of course. Nice cakes Laav.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Belated wishes to Anushka... Lovely cupcakes!

    ReplyDelete
  13. lovely cake...please do participate in my first cooked food event...check my blog for details

    ReplyDelete
  14. Belated Birthday wishes to Anushka... love the picture :)
    welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Laavanya,good to see your post :) thanks for sharing that lovely picture :) Hugs dear ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. b day wishes to dear anushka...soo cute..therez a small gift for u..plzz receive it..

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey Laavanya!
    Long time. How are you? Belated birthday wishes to Anushka. The cup cakes look so pretty! I want to have one!

    ReplyDelete
  18. thnks for this lovely post....cupcake looks yum...

    ReplyDelete
  19. hey laav..you are back!...the pics are great and the cake and cupcakes look delish...i love the black and white pic...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Please pass on my belated birthday wishes to A. I am so late!

    That b&w pic is a beauty!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. That is a cute pic! Belated bday wishes to Anushka!

    ReplyDelete
  22. belated wishes to anushka.She looks cute in her new dress, little also one looks very cute. and it is absolutely true,managing 2 kids is a great task.Cake loks so yummy lavanya.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Its been a long while since I came by Lavanya..Belated birthday wishes to Anushka and that's a very nice family pic. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dear Laavanya, my heart congrats to you. I can imagine how busy you are now with two little ones. My belated b'day wishes to your daughter. Nice to see her also. Take care and I really miss you my dear. Wishing you a all success. Your pal Viji.

    The cakes are tempting really. Carrot cake with cream cheese toping, nothing can beat this taste.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Belated Birthday wishes to Anushka. the cup cakes look delicious.you have a nice blog. you can visit my blog and give ur comments.

    ReplyDelete
  26. oh laavanya! here i was searching for just the thing for the past hour and then finally i decided to go with pound cake. the cake is in the oven and i was checking posts in reader and see this one of yours..

    sigh..

    ReplyDelete
  27. Belated B'day wishes to Anushka ! Lovely pictures...

    ReplyDelete
  28. Belated bday wishes to Anushka...love the cute cupcakes!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Belated b'day greetings to ur little one.
    Lovely cup cakes and the decoration looks so cute.
    Way to go anushka :)
    Have a great time!
    TC

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hey,

    Since I've been following ur posts for quite some time now, Kindly collect ur Beers to you!!! award from my blog... :-)

    thanks,

    Ash....
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

    ReplyDelete
  31. Chefschatter team has found your blog to be very interesting and unique!

    And so we invite you to become one of the authors of our website www.chefschatter.com which is the most exciting place for all innovative chefs out there!

    Here you can not only post your new recipes but can also edit other recipes according to
    your taste !!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anushka was thrilled to get all your best wishes - thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Oh not sure how I missed this cute post!..Anushka looks so pretty!..and lil baby is adorable!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for stopping by and providing your valuable feedback. NOTE: I have disabled Anonymous comments (since I was getting a lot of spam).

Popular Posts