Buttercream Ruffle Cake

Had the pleasure of making a cake for my friend's daughter's first birthday party.  It was a ballerina themed party; so, this pink buttercream ruffle cake fit right in.  The cake was kept fairly simple given I also made 2 dozen cupcakes, carrot and white cake with chocolate chips, as well as the smash cake for the birthday girl.

I am becoming quite a fan of this design; given this is my second attempt at a buttercream ruffle cake now.  As I mentioned before, it helps a lot to score vertical lines around the cake to keep your columns of ruffles uniformed.

White Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting

I was headed to a friend's birthday party and I knew I had to bring these cupcakes.  I have been eyeing the cookie dough frosting since I saw them on Sally's Baking Addiction.  I am guilty of sampling cake batter and cookie dough while baking and this frosting is exactly like the real thing but minus the raw eggs.

I used an apple corer on the cupcakes in order to give them just a bit more frosting after realizing that the cupcake itself wouldn't hold up to a pile of heavy frosting.  I wish I went with a more sturdy and dense cupcake, ie. yellow cake.   The white cake was too fluffy for such a rich and heavy frosting.  But, it sure balanced out the sweetness perfectly.

Cookie Dough Frosting
from Sally's Baking Addiction
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons milk
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat butter and brown sugar in a mixer until light and creamy.  Add vanilla extract.  Add the flour and salt, continuing to beat until no white streaks are visible.  Stop and scrap down the frosting as necessary   Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until a creamy consistency is reached.  Stir in by hand the mini chocolate chips.  Frost as desired.

Frosting keeps at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

This past weekend, I made a quick batch of cupcakes for my friend's purple and black themed bachlorette party.  I even made a matching cupcake tower using Annie's simple and easy directions here.  However, instead of gluing two cake boards together and then covering it in construction paper, I used silver cake drums.  Definitely helped cut my time in half.

The chocolate chip cupcakes were adapted from my favorite white cake go to recipe.  Frosting was made from Pastry Pride non dairy whipping cream dyed purple.  The cupcakes were topped off with the remaining mini chocolate chips.