My Birthday

It's already mid-July and half of summer is over. As much as my kids can drive me nuts at times when they are home with me all day, I still love not having to share them with school, homework, and other activities that run our lives during the academic year. This week was super special because my kids wanted to celebrate my birthday by doing what I do for them quite a bit - bake a cake! They opted for a peanut butter cupcake with a chocolate cheesecake frosting. Mmm, peanut butter and chocolate - one of my favorite combos...
This was the first cake that the two of them baked from start to finish. They made the batter. My daughter wielded the Kitchenaid like a pro, adding the dry ingredients alternating with the wet, mixing until just combined. She scooped the batter into cupcake liners in an even, neat manner. She says she wants to own a bakery when she grows up and I believe it. I am convinced she will be a seasoned pro by 10. When the cupcakes were cooled, the kids wanted to decorate them, of course! The usual spread-the-frosting-on-with-a-spatula wasn't up to their expectations. So I had to fill a piping bag fitted with the requested tips. My son was cute, squeezing more frosting out of the back of the bag than the frosting tip! He did manage to get some out onto the cupcakes and declared them to be worms...... hmmm.. chocolate worms, I can handle. My daughter used a flower tip and made such beautiful swirls on her cupcakes! It was so exciting to watch these two kids having so much fun doing something I am very passionate about..

We ended up having a tea party and enjoyed these goodies along with a mini chocolate cheesecake and tea sandwiches.

Toward the end of the week, I made my hubbie a welcome-back cake to celebrate his return from a long trip. It was a vanilla Bundt cake with a layer of crunchy chocolate hazelnut filling.

Of course, we dug right into it before hubbie returned from his trip..... :-) Luckily, he understands..