Over the past few weeks, we have really been in Birthday Land, with so many friends and family members celebrating their special day. These pictures were taken at a birthday play date we had for my daughter’s class. In New York, and especially Tribeca, the parties can be crazy-fancy, with clowns, famous singers strumming guitars, catering by Megu and whatnot. We kept ours super simple, focusing the entertainment on the cupcake decoration and the free play.
Armed with a bag of Sundrops, organic m & m’s whose color palette is really great, a bag of pretzels, and a special turbo icing gun filled with my favorite chocolate frosting, we perched our butterflies atop cupcakes made using the easiest yummiest recipe, Beatty’s Cake (Thank you, Barefoot Contessa).
I cannot say enough to praise this cake. It is meant to be a sheet cake but makes incredible cupcakes as well. It is moist, just chocolaty enough to please many palettes, and very simple to make. Both of my Yummies helped me bake the cupcakes the morning of the playdate, and even my two-year-old was able to help in earnest a few times, much to his delight. This recipe has graced our birthday table several times in the past few years, and it always leaves a chocolate smile on our faces.
A couple of notes for first time makers of Beatty’s Cake:
*The batter is very watery. We like to pour ours into a very large bowl with a pour spout and avoid using spoons altogether when we make this cake as cupcakes. Bake the cupcakes about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of one.
*To be extra bad/good, add just a touch more cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. I will leave the exact amount up to you but suggest at least another 1/4 cup. You do not have to alter the rest of the ingredients at all, adding up to 1/2 cup extra, since the cake will still be moist and delicious.
As for the butterflies, I had seen pretzel butterflies on Martha and in some bakeries around town, and my mini-chefs and their friends are always holding up two mini-pretzels and creating their own versions spontaneously. Since we wanted something that the average 2-4 year old could create easily, we chose to break some of the pretzels up to use as antennae and to use chocolate candies as the body. The possibilities as to what you use for the body are really endless-lemon drops, small gum drops, Sugar Babies, Skittles, etc. would all be gorgeous.
In the end, we had a group of the messiest, chocolatiest, happiest kids. Notice the tarp? Unh hunh.
