It's a Birthday Party!

My youngest child - my first and only (and last, to quote my husband) son - turned one on Sunday.  We had his party on Saturday.  It was a hopping party - but that's because it was a frog-themed party more than anything else.  I had decided when he was just a wee one that we would do the frog theme.  I searched Wilton's website for frog ideas.  I elected to go with this cake - hoping I'd be able to do it without losing my religion in the process.  I mean, what fun is your kiddo's birthday party if you're stressed out about the cake?!  None!!!  Since I'd recently done Elizabeth's Hannah Montana electric guitar cake, I thought I could surely do this one. :) 

He's not perfect, but he was cute enough to make me feel like I had done what I'd set out to do.  I'll also know what I need to do differently when I make the cake again for my youngest daughter's fourth birthday in December (she loves froggies!).

My week was insane and at the last minute I decided to just go with a cake mix - Pillsbury Strawberry (my kids love it).  Frosting is the Wilton Vanilla Buttercream but I use real Bourbon Vanilla Extract instead of the imitation clear vanilla.

Since we'd invited almost 40 people, I wanted to make certain we had enough cake to go around, just in case everyone showed up.  So, I also made some cupcakes...from scratch.  I was going to make the Caramel Cake cupcakes but didn't have enough caramel syrup in the fridge and since it was two-and-a-half hours until the party I needed something quick. I decided to go with Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes.  I'd had them before and I knew they'd be perfect.  They were.  I frosted them literally minutes before we walked out the door.  I'd forgotten that the last tip I'd used with the kelly green frosting was the grass tip - so we ended up with one "chia cupcake" (my kids didn't get it, but all the adults thought it was funny). 

The birthday boy loved his cake and cupcakes.  He had a little of each - along with some vanilla and some strawberry ice cream!