S Club Mama

Awhile back, I won a Wilton cupcake gift pack from the ladies over at Mayhem & Moxie. I was so excited to get this package in the mail! It included a dessert stand (which I haven't used yet *tear*), an icing knife, whisk, measuring spoons, sprinkles, cupcake holders, a measuring cup, and icing gels! I've wanted many of these things for awhile, but nothing more than the icing gels. I used so much red food coloring to get Moose's birthday cakes the right colors (Huskers & Wonder Pets - why is everything red?); these gels would have made that so much easier. So I was psyched when I finally got the idea (and time) to make cupcakes for the fun of it. I made cupcakes from scratch using the vanilla recipe from the Hello! Cupcake book (which I don't own but I got out of a magazine article highlighting the book a long time ago). The recipe called for 15-20 minutes; I left them in for 15; 11-12 would have been better. Then came the icing. I love to frost things but ...

As most of you know (if you've opened Google lately, you do know), today is the 40th birthday of Sesame Street. It has been a staple in my life. I potty trained while watching it (apparently so did my hubby). I watched it with my sister (as she obsessed over Elmo). And now I watch it with my son (who is also obsessed with Elmo). In honor of this historic day, I made Elmo cupcakes. Ok, so they're not the greatest but Moose knew they were Elmo. I used: - white frosting - red food coloring (half a small one and almost half a big one I had to go out and buy) - mini marshmallows cut in half - orange smile gummies cut (or bit) in half - chocolate pudding for the pupils (I was going to use chocolate chips but only had butterscotch ones) I also tried to use some juice mix to help redden the frosting so it turned out as strawberry frosting. So not a good idea to try. I'm going to try these again with red sprinkles (or red sugar). I don't know when but maybe for the boys' bir...