I know, I know, her birthday party was almost 3 months ago, you should just be used to me falling behind on the blog, if you arent, get used to it now :)
Anyway, I really didnt know what to do for her party, she doesnt have a character she really likes and I was really getting stressed. Then I saw a picture of pink, purple and blue cotton candy on pinterest and I had my theme!! As you all know I love cotton candy, and I love to bake, and I often call Amelia "my sweet girl" so I thought, lets do a pastel themed "sweets" party, but not candy sweets, baked good sweets. It kinda morphed from there and in the end we didnt even have cotton candy (mainly cause it was too hard to find or too expensive), but it turned out cute and most importantly super yummy.
I spent at least a full week baking in preparation, I knew it would happen so I made sure to make all the crafty paper products well in advance so I was not a crazy person the week of the party. I pretty much found recipes for everything from pinterest, I made everything except the sugar wafers (which were a last minute addition, but either way I still wouldn't have made them). I'll post the links for each recipe at the bottom of the post, they were super yummy, you should try them out at home! I'll also list out my baking schedule, that way if you want to bake a whole bunch of stuff for one party you will already know when to start but still keep things fresh.
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| Since there were so many treats I went with mini cupcakes to match her smash cake, they might have been small in size but no in flavor! |
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| Luckily all the Easter decorations were out so instead of having to make my own sprinkle blend this lovely pastel color combination was on the shelves just asking for me to buy it. I did go ahead and add some extra white ones I had laying around, but otherwise I just needed 1 container of sprinkles. I say this because the blog I found it on said to buy a lot, so I did, $35 worth of sprinkles, and I returned about $30 after the party :) |
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| These little cupcakes do not have a liner, they have an edible liner made of thinned white chocolate and then dipped in sprinkles. Personally I think they were a bit too rich for my liking, but I seemed to be the only one who thought that :) She had a recipe for the cupcakes on her blog, I decided to just use a box mix (and use the rest for the smash cake) because it was easier plus her blog is from the UK so it was not our normal measurements. If I do it again I will use her recipe, my cupcakes got too big and I had to cut eat "muffin top" with a pairing knife before I could dip them in the chocolate shell. |
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| Her smash cake, love the pink glitter candle from Target (plus it was only $1) |
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| Fruity Pebble Treats (just like Rice Krispie treats but like 100% more sweet!) |
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| Look at all that marshmallow goodness |
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| Guava Pastries - one that many people have not yet tried but they should cause seriously, I could eat the entire tray in one sitting. Its puff pastry, cream cheese and guava jelly all baked up and yummy. Cuban food is the best! |
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| Chocolate Sour Cream Cake - Now Im not a huge fan of chocolate cake, but this cake just looked too beautiful online to not make, and it sure did live up to its picture. I had one bite, it was soooo rich i almost needed a whole glass of milk, but again, Im not a big chocolate cake person. I did this for looks, I think it held up its end of the deal :) |
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| I mean seriously, look at this, doesnt it make you drool just a bit.... |
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| I love coconut macaroons, LOVE them, like could eat a whole bunch at one sitting, love them. My mom shares in this love, plus they are super easy to make and can be made ahead of time, so they seemed perfect. I decided to dip half in chocolate since I had some extra from the Buckeyes. They were yummy, very yummy, plain and chocolate alike. |
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| Coconut, Almond Extract and Chocolate - such a wonderful flavor combination! |
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| Buckeyes and Sugar Wafers, as much as I loved all the other stuff I made this little tray of yumminess was the most tempting to me. |
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| Buckeyes - this was a nod to my Midwest upbringing, I have found that as I have lived in other states not everyone knows about these suckers. They are dangerously good, and I say that not even being a huge fan of peanut butter. Cracker Barrel makes killer Buckeyes, so my goal was to try and make them as close to theirs as possible (this was one of the few items I have never made prior to the party). Well, they were not 100% like Cracker Barrel's but they were pretty freaking close, and super yummy, so I was happy. The only bad thing was I kept half in the fridge during the party (just cause we didn't have space on the table and I wanted to keep them cold) but everyone thought these were all of them, and they didn't eat as many as they wanted. After everyone left I saw all of them in the fridge and had no choice but the eat them myself over the next week. Since we ended up having to put Annie down the next day these helped ease my sorrow, so I think maybe secretly I am happy I had so many left ;) If you have never had a buckeye and even remotely like peanut butter and chocolate together make these, or get over to Cracker Barrel and buy one, you will be happy you did! |
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| Sugar Wafers - the one item I didnt make, but when I saw them at the store I knew I had to include them in the party |
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| Cannoli Cups - I decided a few years back that I wanted these for my birthday, they were so easy and so yummy, plus they are easy to eat, so they had to be included. |
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| Whats not to love, a cinnamon sugar shell, yummy sweet cheese filling, and pistachios or mini chocolate chip topping! |
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| Swirled Sugar Cookies - I was most excited about these, the ones that I found online used a blue swirl and rainbow sprinkles and they were beautiful! Well, since I was doing pastels I did a pale pink swirl and the same pastel Easter sprinkles, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the outcome. They were pretty and everyone said they tasted yummy (I ate so much junk over the week preparing everything I didn't even eat some of the foods on party day), but they just weren't as vibrant as I wanted. Plus they were not as hard as I thought they would be but were more time consuming than everything else (maybe cause I hate rolling out dough). If anyone decides to make these in the future, do bright vibrant colors and sprinkles, I think they will look much better than mine. |
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| Like I said, they were still pretty, but just not as pretty as I wanted :( |
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| Cream Puffs - Ah, the cream puffs. I love these, I have always had the ones that you buy frozen and again could eat the entire container (my lack of will power is a running theme if you havent noticed) but I decided I would make them from scratch for this party. Will I do it again, probably?? Will I still buy frozen ones, for sure!!! They were good, dont get me wrong, the dough was pretty easy to make, the filling was super simple, but the filling of the puffs was enough to make me want to pull out my hair. Keep in mind I like to bake, I am decent at it, but I dont use fancy tools. I am horrible at piping things (which is required for this) and have little patience, so perhaps this wasnt the best thing for me to try, but I so wanted to! |
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| the hard work was worth it, look how yummy these look!!!! |
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| We had to have something "healthy" plus Amelia loves fruit. I put healthy in quotes cause if you used the dip with the fruit you might as well have just had some cake. The dip is cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar, but oh so yummy ;) |
Recipe Links and Preparation Schedule (only if you want to make early):
Edible Cupcake Liners
Prepare cupcakes and dip 1 day before event, store in fridge.
Instructions for rolling sprinkles onto smash cake:
Prepare cake, ice and roll in sprinkle 1 day before, store in fridge.
Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Icing
Can be made up to a month in advanced and frozen, or make up to 2 days ahead and keep in airtight container in fridge.
Fruity Pebble Rice Krispie Treats
Store in room temperature airtight container up to 24 hours
Guava Pastries
Best served slightly warm
Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Can be prepared a day early and stored in cake dome on counter. The glaze can be prepared early but I did that on party day
Bakers One Bowl Macaroons
Can be stored in air tight container at room temp (or fridge if chocolate coated) for 1 week
Buckeyes
Not sure on the official shelf life on these, but they are stored in the fridge and can last a few weeks in there (if you dont eat them all 1st)
Mini Cannoli Cups
Shells can be made the day before and stored in airtight container on counter. Filling can be made a few days ahead and stored in fridge.
Swirled Sugar Cookies
Dough can be frozen once it is rolled, so go ahead and make whenever you want, they can be baked from the frozen state.
Classic Cream Puffs
Shells are best made the day of the event, filling could be made a day early and stored in fridge but its so easy I just made it all the same day.
Creamy Fruit Dip
Can be made the day before and stored in fridge, just make sure it take it out early on party day to soften, it is cream cheese after all!
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