Birthday Cupcakes & Cake Balls

My aunt had a surprise party for my uncle's 60th birthday last week, and I was in charge of making desserts for the event. It was a low key thing she had at a sports bar so I didnt want to get to crazy with a cake since many people dont eat cake and drink at the same time. Anyways I decided I would be pretty simple and stick to basic, vanilla & chocolate cupcake and red velvet cakes balls or cake ball pops since I put them on a stick!

It has taken me a few days to get a post together mainly because I am a moron and didnt take any pictures or anything, not during or even after. Though I will say I got stuck at work later than usual last Friday and was in a rush to get everything ready and out the door for the party. Thank goodness my mom was there and she got a few pics so I can share with you guys!

I made vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with both vanilla bean and chocolate frosting. I also made chocolate letters that spelled out happy birthday on the cupcakes just for added decoration. Every sprinkle I had just seemed to girly to me. So I went for simplicity on these! :)

Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising*

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes (Room Temperature)

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat cupcake pans in nonstick spray with flour; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour. Consistency will be crumbly.In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.Divide batter evenly among pans, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hershey's Chocolate Cupcake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

3. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Vanilla Bean Frosting from Cupcake Bakeshop via Monica at Lick the Bowl Good

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
4-5 cups powdered sugar ( I used 4 cups)

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and 3 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

All in all the cupcakes turned out great, but the vanilla vanilla cupcakes were by far the best! I am acutally going to use this cupcake recipe for mini Tiffany's Box Cakes I will be doing for my best friends brial shower coming up here in a few weeks!

The dessert table where clearly I was unaware of the color scheme :) haha I was originally going to do a Houston Astros theme, which is why I went with the red and yellow. I change my mind when I decided to go for a more simple look.

Another picture, and you can see people started to get dessert at this point, the "B" in birthday is gone and the cake balls are starting to disappear!

Haha again with the "B" missing..

Sorry I didnt get anymore photos, I promise next time I will do better! Thanks mom for taking the pics you did :)

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