My Newest Addiction!

So the last few days, I haven't been blogging, but it's because I've been baking!  Well, attempting it anyways!  I think the urge hit me the other night when I was looking up wedding cakes on The Knot.  Wedding cakes today are amazing.  They don't even look like cakes.  They look more like icing covered castles or frosted fountains of flowers...they are so extravagant!  So I decided it would be a fun activity, for both myself and my son, to make an attempt to decorate our very own spiderman cupcakes! We all loaded into the car, ran up to the grocery store and began grabbing a variety of cake mixes, icing, frosting and tubes of decorative gel.

As soon as we got home, my Martha Stewart skills kicked in and my son grabbed his spiderman figurines so I would have something to go off of.  I let my son throw all the ingredients into a big mixing bowl and I let him put his hand over mine while we used the beater to mix it all together.  I let let him help me pour the batter into the cute little cups we picked out and watched them rise.  He loved peeking in at them throughout the cooking process to see how they grew over time.  When the timer went off on the oven, his face lit up and he went running for the kitchen! I had to find a way to entertain him while they cooled for a few minutes, but that was easy to do since we had all the fun icings and frostings to pull out of the bags and open up to prepare for our decorating adventure.  

Once they were cooled, I showed him how you put the icing on, then told him from there, it was all his decision what he wanted to do with his cupcake!  We had a great time, but in the end, I was sitting at the table with 22 cupcakes to decorate!  After throwing way too many sprinkles on his, he took a huge bite and voila! "All done", he yelled, and ran off to see what dad was up to.  Luckily, I enjoy doing these types of artistic things and finished up most of the cupcakes.  It was great practice for his birthday, which is coming up next month!  I have a feeling we will have to have either a spiderman or batman themed party, so I'll have to break out my skills for the family and friends!  So if you want a fun activity for your little one, definitely give this a try, because he loved it!  And one of the best parts was getting to take one to give grandma this afternoon for her birthday.  (along with the carrot cake that we baked this morning and decorated ourselves) I told you I was going through a baking frenzy! Now I'm watching Fabulous Cakes on TLC!  I have a new addiction!  I suppose it's okay, as long as I don't get addicted to eating all of my fabulous treats!

Step 1: Add 1 1/2 cups water to cake mix

Step 2: Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Step 3: Add 3 eggs

Step 4: Mix ingredients and pour into cups & bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes

Step 5: Decorate with icing & sprinkles

Final step: ENJOY!! :)