Friday, March 5, 2010

We're not in kansas anymore


With about 200 March birthday celebrations going on this month, the thought of making vanilla and chocolate cupcakes on repeat is actually what inspired me to make these psychadelic little treats.  Lucky for my friend Brit, her birthday rolled around first, so I made them for a little dinner party we threw for her.

These cupcakes (or cake) really add a little element of surprise to dessert.  Why not?  They were a big hit at our dinner, and I had a lot of fun making them.  Here's how you do it:


I used a basic cake mix (*I also added 1 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup milk to make the cupcakes really moist).  You also want to get gel food coloring for this, not the liquid ones.



After combining all the cake ingredients, separate the batter evenly into 5 (or however many colors you're using) bowls, and add a touch of color to each.



Stir until you get..



To get the layered look, spoon a little bit of each color into a lined cupcake pan.



Bake them as directed, and wash the dishes.  Dishes don't look so bad when they look like this, huh?


And here's how they came out!



I really like how they dyed the paper, and the coolest thing was a few of them turned out tye-dyed.  You can really do whatever you want - mix up your colors or even swirl them around a bit for a 70's vibe.  It's also fun that when frosted, you can't really tell what's going on underneath until you take a bite!


These could be fun for holiday parties - orange and black for Halloween, red white and blue for 4th of July; or even the colors of your favorite team for Superbowl.  The possibilities are endless!

Inspiration: Our Best Bites

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Stayed tuned...

Tomorrow's post is going to be colorful to say the least!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I Want to go to There


Wouldn't it be fun to go to a party with a dessert table as sweet as this one?  Ok, so it screams Veruca Salt a little bit, but I love all the colors and different sized candy jars, not to mention the fun triangle garlands.  As baby shower planning continues over here, photos like these inspired me to set out to find a candy shop that could help me make a similar table.  Low and behold...



Holy sweet tooth!  I love that there are still old fashioned candy stores like Powell's Sweet Shoppe around, and I had some fun browsing around.  Not as much fun as all the little munchkins running around going sugar crazy, though.  But I scored some goodies, and I'm thinking the baby shower I'm hosting is going to be the hottest place to be come May - as long as no one finds all the candy I've stashed away before then.



Inspiration: Style Me Pretty