Birthday Party!!

Last Sunday, we celebrated The Munchkin's First Birthday. It was a very bittersweet day for me...I can't believe it's already been a year (she's growing so quickly!), but it's been a phenomenal year of watching her grow, develop, and learn!

To celebrate her birthday, we decided to go with a Sesame Street theme, featuring Elmo and Cookie Monster...based on ideas I saw on Pinterest (shock!). We served cupcakes and punch (one gallon of red Hawaiian punch mixed with two liters of ginger ale) to family and a few friends, and it was a blast! My mom was kind enough to help me bake and decorate 72 cupcakes (we obliterated the kitchen!).

And all the guests (and my coworkers) were kind enough to help me get rid of the evidence. :)

Here's what we made and how we did it:

The Elmo cupcakes were Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting colored red (I suggest using Wilton's No Taste Red color gel) and piped on using a star tip. The eyes were made of a marshmallow cut in half with cut sides down and black frosting piped on for the pupils. The nose was piped on using orange frosting, and the mouth is half an Oreo cookie (the cookie breaks easily when cut, so I would suggest softening the cookies by placing them in an airtight container with a slice of bread for a day or two before cutting). Be sure to let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY before frosting them!

The Cookie Monster cupcakes were a basic White Cake colored blue with a chocolate chip cookie center (see below for instructions) with vanilla buttercream frosting colored blue and piped on using a star tip. The eyes, again, were made of a marshmallow cut in half with the cut sides down and black frosting piped on for the pupils. Half a chocolate chip cookie was then smooshed into the cupcake slightly at an angle. Again, be sure to let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY before frosting them!

To bake the cupcakes with a cookie center, form cookie dough into balls roughly 1/2-inch in diameter, then freeze overnight. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full of cake batter and place a frozen ball of cookie dough on top. Bake according to cake recipe. The dough will sink to the bottom of the cupcake and bake into a tasty cookie. :)

COLOR WARNING: You will need quite a bit of red and blue food coloring for the cakes and frosting (I recommend Wilton gels), and it will stain everything it touches, including your hands! I had a fingernail and finger that was stained red for a couple days. :) It also took several cleaning wipes for the kitchen counters...each one I used was turning pink!

From what I heard, everyone loved the cupcakes (I even left a few for the staff of the venue we rented for the party). Here a few party pics just for good measure (compliments of Cassandra Pence Ostermeier). :)