Mama Cupcake

I can't believe it. I am about to be a mom.

I am 37 weeks pregnant with my little baby cupcake!
This pregnancy  has been a blur.

While growing this person, I've grown as a person (and not just my belly either).

♥My hubby and I got married & made this little baby on our wedding night in September (surprise)!

♥So then...we moved into our first home.

♥In January/February we all (my hubby, me, my little baby bump, my dad & brother) helped my mom fight for her life (and we won!)

...So I guess my body decided I needed a nap before my little one arrives.

I've been on bed rest the last week-ish, due to my heart rhythm going a little wild from all the crazy changes to the circulation in my body (afib/high blood pressure episodes). I just say that my blood is pumping so much glittery love for this little girl I've gotten to know so well since our wedding back in September.

Just for now...no cupcake baking for me..
Other than the mini cupcake baking inside of my baby bump.
I think that's enough for now, right? ♥

So even though my pregnancy hasn't been a "piece of cake"... sitting here, being still and reflecting right before my baby girl makes her debut, I would like to tell her some things:

To my daughter:(eeek, yes I have a daughter!)

You are loved.

While you've been growing in my belly, your aunt & grandma threw you a circus themed celebration where 35 of our best friends showed up to "sprinkle" you with love. Your dad & I left this circus tent up for over a month after the celebration in our dining room for several "fancy" dinners. The tent was made using dollar store tablecloths!

♥

You are surrounded by happiness & wild imagination.

This duck/walrus/unicorn pond was one of my favorite games at your celebration. I didn't want any super cheesy baby shower games. I wanted cute and colorful and happy-ness everywhere. You are going to be surrounded by a life of vibrant imaginative "bubbly" joy.

Unicorns and Disney and Sparkle Shoes in your nursery. ♥

I hope you like to bake with me.

I made your first party treats already. Over the top, over sprinkled, bedazzled cake pops.(I call them "amazeballs"). You probably won't remember, but you tasted them with me! I am looking forward to the day you create a beautiful mess of sprinkles, glitter, gooey cake batter & wipe your sticky frosting fingers all over our kitchen.

I sit in your nursery and imagine what your face will look like looking up at me from your crib.

Last weekend, a whole group of "fairy godmothers" came over and covered a wall of your nursery with hologram silver glitter.



Now that your nursery is done, it is my favorite room in the house.
When I need to relax I sit here in your nursing chair, read your children's books and imagine what it will be like when you are in the room with me! Right now it is so quiet. I know it won't stay that way for long. ♥♥♥

Your dad is sort of a nerd. ♥ In the best of ways.

(He is practicing carrying you in the Baby Bjorn here).

He really wanted you to have a Star Wars themed bedroom.
This Boba Fett print we have hanging up in your room is your dad's little touch. ♥

It's about to get real.

This is you...covering your face.
I always tell the ultrasound technician you cover your face because you want to surprise me with what you look like! Are your lips really going to be voluptuous Angelina Jolie lips like this? What are your sweet eyes going to look like when they gaze up at me with hope?

You are wiggling in my tummy right now. I can see your feet kicking. I always tell people that when you roll around in my belly I can feel your energy...it is almost like I can feel your personality! And you are a wild one. In the best of wild ways.

Soon we will meet. And neither of us know exactly what to expect. ♥ But when we exit the hospital sometime in early June, I won't be the only one leaving a trail of glitter behind anymore! You'll be there too.
(coming home outfit from Etsy shop Skylar & Me)

Sunshine Filled Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes!

My mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about 8 years ago now and was one of the biggest reasons I moved back to Wisconsin from California.

♥

This last January - very suddenly - we almost lost her. It was truly one of the hardest things I've ever been through.  I think what made it even harder is that I am pregnant with my first baby girl. And maybe in my own fairy tale mind, I've always dreamed of sharing this moment intimately with my mom. I just didn't know that I would need to share my baby bump with her to give her motivation to live.

Long story short, my mom was transferred to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee-they discovered the problem was that she had been retaining carbon dioxide, so her brain was starting to shut down. The doctors made the decision to hook her up to life support. I drove back and forth from Appleton to Milwaukee to visit and talk to her, just to be there for her. 

My mom and me on my wedding day ♥

photo credit to: Amanda Red Wedding Photographer

There were times at the Froedtert ICU when I'd succumb to weakness, lay my head on her chest and we'd cry together, I'd try so hard not to leave her shoulder wet with my tears. She needed me to be strong for her. So I'd explain to her that this wasn't going to be forever. That this situation was temporary and that all these tubes she was hooked up to were a way to help her recover from all she had been through. I stepped away from our hug to show her my baby bump and told her that she had a granddaughter to meet soon, and to use this as one of her big motivations to fight her way to recovery. Even though my mom couldn't respond through all the tubes, my pep talk about the baby moved her to tears so I  ran back to hug her and hold her again. This was one of those crazy life altering moments when I realized that between being a future mother myself, and caring for my mother, I was gaining enough strength to be the person I needed when I was younger ♥, For both my mom and my baby, and honestly...for myself too in the midst of all this.

(picture credit: sparksofhope.org)

When my dad, my brother and I made the difficult decision to take her off life support, we didn't know what was going to happen so we circled around her and prayed ♥. Miraculously, after the tubes were removed, she immediately started talking! The first thing she said to all of us is, "I just want you all to know how much I love you."

She had to have felt the love in that room, and that we were praying for a miracle. My mom is back. And she gets to meet my daughter in a few months. I have a lot to be thankful for. We still have some things to figure out, Parkinson's is a difficult disease and I hate it more than ever now!!! It can affect many people through many different random symptoms. And I still believe the issue with her breathing has something to do with it.

It's officially spring now, and we have a lot to look forward to. A June baby is coming! The summer, the SUNSHINE! 

So........I am dedicating this recipe to all who have had some dark moments this past winter, and desperately need some sunshine! Baking these brightened MY world!!!!! (and made baby dance in my belly when I ate them!)

Lemon Poppyseed SUNSHINE cupcakes!

I tell people that I pureed the sunshine and poured it into the center of each cupcake! The pureed sunshine filling and the lemon buttercream frosting are my favorite parts to eat!

Ingredients for a warm sunshine filled tummy:
(like a Care Bear?)

2 2/3 Cups Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

dash salt

3/4 cup softened butter

1 1/3 cups fine baking sugar

4 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon zest

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup chobani greek yogurt

2 tsp lemon extract
1-2 tablespoons poppyseeds (or more if you like poppyseeds!)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325. Line cupcake pan with 24 wrappers. In a stand mixer, cream butter until creamy & fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar for even more fluffiness! On a lower speed, beat in eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, measure out the greek yogurt and set aside. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract. Gradually begin to alternately add dry ingredients, yogurt, and liquid lemon to the creamed mixture in the stand mixture until all is blended. Once batter is evenly blended, fold poppyseeds in with a spatula. Using a scoop, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 22-24 minutes.  (It is ok to fill the cupcake liners up pretty full! They will puff up very nicely if you are generous with the batter).

Optional: While baking, whisk sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl on the side (6 tablespoons sugar, 6 tablespoons lemon juice). When the cupcakes come out of the oven, use a small spoon to pour the lemon juice/sugar over the top of each cupcake to saturate with lemon flavor!

Ingredients for "pureed sunshine" filling:
1 box instant lemon pudding

2 cups cold milk

Follow the instructions on the box!

To fill cupcakes: Wait for cupcakes to cool. Core out the center of each cupcake with a spoon or a cupcake corer. Set the "cores" of the cupcakes to the side. Fill each cupcake with "pureed sunshine" filling. Put the "cores" back on top of the filling of each cupcake for a wonderful (and delicious) surprise!

Ingredients for Marshmallow Cloud Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
(the stuff dreams are made of!)

13-14 oz Marshmallow Fluff or Cream
1 lb softened butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2-3 teaspoons lemon extract
Dash salt 

8-10 cups powdered sugar (depending on how thick or creamy you want your frosting clouds. Use less for creamy frosting or more for thicker swirls)

For decor: Sixlet pearls!

Instructions:

Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer. Mix well until fluffy and well blended. Gradually add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, and lemon extract. Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency. The more powdered sugar you add-the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating!

Use a large open star tip to swirl dreamy frosting on top of each cupcake. Sprinkle edible sixlet pearls on top.

Take a moment to smile, enjoy this beautiful moment, let the sun warm your tummy as you eat your cupcake(s)...because life is short ♥.

Baby Cupcake!

SURPRISE! I'm having a little cupcake.

My Mister Cupcake and I had a magical enchanted fairytale wedding (see my previous blog here). The wedding day was so magical in fact, that we conceived our first baby on our wedding night!

..And it's a girl.

Since I love all things glitter and I still have plans for the revamping of my cupcake brand, I am super excited that my first baby will be a girl. She can follow me and my sparkly glitter filled trail of adventures. (Which include baking and making people happy and many other things!)

Now maybe I'll have someone to wear tutus and throw fantastical joint birthday parties with. (She is due on my birthday, June 12th!!!!)

Here she is. At 21 weeks ♥

She has my cheekbones.

Looks like she has her dad's hair!

Isn't it amazing what they can do with ultrasound pictures?

.

...And wow, does she move around in my belly a lot!

She is photogenic & loves pop music, sweets, milk, potatoes, and orange juice.

I am thinking she'll be a big fan of dancing?! No matter what she wants to be..I want to be the best example to her that she can do anything she dreams of. The sky is the limit. 

♥

Here I am at 25 weeks, baby cupcake is growing quickly now. (This picture was taken this week!)

♥

Since my pregnancy is considered "geriatric" now that I am over 35 (sigh that word, geriatric, though), Kyrik and I found out the gender very early (around 9 weeks). A DNA test revealed she was a very healthy baby, no genetic problems. .....And it also revealed her gender!

♥

...On a very snowy day in December we  threw a mini gender reveal party for several of our closest friends & family. Mister Cupcake & I already knew the gender. But our families and close friends did not.It was really fun to surprise them!

I made this cake (with a very gender reveal appropriate pun as the message):

When we cut the cake open....

it exploded with shiny girly pink glitter!

Our closest friends and family signed this adorable onesie ♥

We are going to frame it and hang it in the nursery.

(buy it on Etsy from BugnBun's shop!)

We served unicorn Fur! (Cotton Candy)

My little niece and nephew truly believed this was unicorn fur. I might tell my little girl that there was magical unicorn fur at one of her very first celebratory parties!

......After all, wouldn't unicorn fur taste like cotton candy?

Since we are going to be a bigger family, we also bought our first new home. We officially closed at the end of January. This is our kitchen.

♥

I am going to bake my heart into art here.

I am a Cupcake Fairy Godmother!

This is dedicated to my friend Alicia in California. Remember her? I flew out to her a few years ago when she was getting married (see the blog story here).

She recently found out she is expecting a baby girl, and this is her adorable little baby bump ♥

And when I made these stenciled baby shower cupcakes, I thought they might match her belly perfectly.

A sweet baby girl, already leaving a trail of sparkly footprints (in the belly..and soon on her own path in the world).  

♥

Yesterday...  I received this wonderful surprise in the mail, and it made me think about something interesting:

A thank you letter from Daisy Troop 2289 with a custom made cupcake patch!
The girls from the troop designed this Amanda Cupcake patch after taking one of my classes, and now they proudly wear the patch on their sashes!  This by far was one of the best presents I have ever received in the mail.   That's when I realized I too, am on a maternal journey in my very own way. I am a cupcake fairy godmother to all these girls and all the babies/kids I meet along this cupcake journey!  But you know what else is awesome about this "cupcake fairy godmother" responsibility? All the moms and mommies and daddies to be that I meet along the way.  I share the excitement with them every time they visit me or I create a custom cupcake order for them. Maybe Alicia will ask me to be the cupcake fairy godmother for her baby girl?! I hope so.

See these two?  They are husband and wife. Lizzi and Alex Brockmann.

They drove out to my cupcake mansion in the snow (as you can see above) and ordered an item off of my secret menu.  A wish (and wishes are free at The Cupcake Mansion). All you have to do is ask for a handful of sprinkles to take outside and throw in the wind and make a wish. Lizzi didn't tell me what her wish was when she was throwing the sprinkles until her wish came true ♥  Lizzi is wishing in this photo..to have a baby..and she recently revealed to me that her wish came true. She is pregnant! 

Since I am over 2000 miles away from Alicia during a precious time in her life, my hope through this blog is to share some fun cupcake ideas/recipes with her, and maybe someone who loves her can try to recreate their own cupcake love and it can be expressed to her across the miles!  (and what's really awesome..now you can try these too).

Some Cupcake Fairy Godmother Inspiration: 

BEEHIVE CUPCAKES ♥

Cupcakes are Lemon Sundrop flavored. (easy bake at home recipe below!)    Can you tell..it's a girl?! I filled a disposable piping bag with my buttercream frosting (see recipe below). The tip I used was a giant 1A round tip to swirl dreamy fat beehive swirls on top of the cupcake.  The colors used: Americolor Electric Yellow and Americolor Electric Pink. ♥ The bees on the top are made out of yellow fondant, white heart shaped sprinkles for the wings, and a chocolate jimmie for the stinger.  The stripes are drawn on with a black edible ink marker.  You can also buy pre-made bees as pictured above too if you want a quicker option!  The pre-made bees are by Wilton and are sold at cake decorating supply stores ♥

Mini Baby Bump Cupcakes ♥

These were for a boy. You can tell because the heart on the belly is blue! (but you could easily change it to pink).  How I made these:  2 mini cupcakes, and one large cupcake for body shape! I stuck them all close enough together to make "mini baby bump" cupcake cakes! People are always making big Baby Bump cakes lately..I figured I'd give baby belly cupcakes a shot:

Baby Reveal Cupcakes (It's a boy):

I filled the inside of each vanilla cupcake with sky blue frosting for the boy (using Americolor Gel Paste.  If it was for a girl, you could use Electric Pink Gel Paste by Americolor).  The top of the cupcake is a heart..divided between pink and blue ♥ Is it a girl..or a boy?  I've heard it truly doesn't matter because you'll love him/her no matter what (that's why I made the heart)!

Ladybug cupcakes:

Everything edible and made by hand! The face made out of an oreo, cut not in half, but about 3/4.  The mouth made out of a red heart sprinkle. Sugar eyes.  M&Ms as the spots.  The antenna are drawn on parchment paper using chocolate candy melts (I cut a hole in the end of a disposable piping bag filled with melted candy melts and drew little lines on a parchment paper lined pan to make the antenna!  I added little heart sprinkles to the top of the antenna while the chocolate was still wet).  Frosting color used:  Super Red ♥

For the NICU Nurses:

Handmade and delivered in person to the NICU nurses at St Elizabeth Hospital here in Appleton, Wisconsin.  NICU nurses are wonderwomen! They should wear capes with their uniforms (and I believe that they are also fairy godmothers) ♥

Lemon Sundrop Cupcakes: (great to use with the beehive cupcakes)

♥Bake At Home Version of Amanda Cupcake's recipe♥

Ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 cup Sundrop

1 tbl lemon zest (optional)

1 small box instant lemon pudding

1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs

Directions:

Pour your box mix into stand mixer. Make sure you pour your Sundrop out of the can ahead of time into a bowl or clear measuring cup so it will lose some of its “fizz”. Once this is done, you can add to your box mix. Add box of lemonpudding, in powder form to the mixture. Add lemon extract & oil. Mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes until well blended. Last, add your lemon zest using a spatula. Bake at 350 in cupcake tins (filled about 2/3 full) for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

Optional: Dip your cupcakes in a lemon sundrop syrup so they have a deeper Sundrop flavor.  Mix 1/2 Cup of lemonsundrop with 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar.  After your cupcakes have cooled, dip the top of each one in your Sundrop syrup. The syrup will saturate the cupcake so the Sundrop flavor is more intense.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting:

1 lb of unsalted butter

5 tbl of heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1-2 tsp lemon extract

2 tsp lemon zest
5 Tablespoons Mountain Dew or Sundrop Soda

Around 8-10 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Cut butter into small squares into a large bowl and blend with mixer until fluffy. Add soda beverage, whipping cream, vanilla, and lemon extract to butter. Once ingredients are incorporated, turn mixer down to low and gradually add powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired consistency (the more powered sugar you add, the thicker the texture of frosting-if frosting is too thick, you can always thin it out with heavy whipping cream so don't be afraid to add powdered sugar!  Frosting pipes out more beautiful when it is on the "stiff" side). Last, add your lemon zest by hand.