Cupcakes for a New Baby Boy ♥

"Straight from heaven up above, here is a baby for you to love"

We are so happy that our great friends welcomed a new baby boy into their sweet family earlier this week - he is a baby truly loved already, and we were so excited to be able to go and visit when he was just 1 day old - treats and gifts in tow of course!

I have been busy for a good little while now making some secret projects (that I had to hide away when they came over to visit!) in advance of their new baby and have a lot of blogging to do about it but first, seeing as I had shared a Sneak Peek of my cupcakes on my Facebook page I thought these could come first.

There was definitely a theme to my handmade gifts, you will definitely see elephants popping up on this blog a few more times as I write more about the projects.  A lot of the inspiration came from a cookie cutter/press I found months ago in a small kitchenware shop that I KNEW I would want to use for their new baby!  I hadn't used it until now, but I am so so pleased with how it turned out.  

The best bit about choosing an elephant theme... elephants may be making an appearance in the new nursery they are preparing!!  SO excited to see more elephants everywhere, we are all zoo lovers after all!

We found out their new baby had arrived on Monday afternoon, so straight after work I got to making the final sewing project for him (whilst watching the Leafs get knocked out of the NHL Playoffs BOO) before starting on some cupcakes to take with us when we visited the next day!

I had known all along I wanted cupcakes to be a part of the gift, and this set of 3 designs meant a little bit of variety, but still on the same theme - blues and elephants of course!

I used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, with buttercream frosting piped on top (see the recipe below), and whilst I was aiming for a pale blue buttercream colour - the liquid food colouring I was using (which was definitely blue!) turned this beautiful shade of mint green after a few drops, and I was happy with that - it's such a summery colour (and one of my very favourite colours!) and provided a good contrast with the cupcake toppers and decorations I was going to use :-)

As I mentioned before, I used a cookie cutter/stamp to make the elephants but rather than cutting out cookies, I cut out fondant I had coloured grey!  BAH I love the press - and am definitely going to buy more from that same shop!  I also cut out pale blue fondant stars, and then used blue and white sugar big round sprinkles (that came from a pack of red, white and blue jubilee style sprinkles!) for the other two designs of cupcakes.

I am SO pleased with how these cupcakes turned out and cannot wait to share the rest of my projects with you, although the most important people this time already received them...the new beautiful baby boy, the cutest big sister and excited parents of two little ones! :-)

Recipe - makes 12

Ingredients:

4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
4oz self-raising flour

I told you it was basic right?!  I also added a splash of vanilla :-)

8oz icing sugar
4oz butter
1 tablespoon of milk
Flavouring or food colouring if required

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a 12-hole cake tin with paper cases.
2.  Place the butter, sugar, eggs and flour in a large bowl and beat together until smooth.  Add vanilla if you like!!
3.  Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.
4.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and when a cake tester (I use a potato skewer) comes out clean.
5.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
6.  While they are cooling, make the buttercream:  Place the butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy - sift in the icing sugar and beat together until smooth.
7.  When the cakes are cool, spread or pipe the icing on top of each cake and decorate as you like!

Nice and easy, which was lucky as it was 10.30 at night - but all totally worth it.  And I got the best approval of the taste - when a not quite 2 year old keeps coming back for more bites... Now that makes me a happy baker :-)

*** Two links to click today! ***

Check out the incredible photography business our friend and cousin runs here in Toronto - taking a little break while she enjoys time with their new baby gives you lots of time to read her blog and check out her great website full of beautiful babies and their families :-)  

Click here to see the fantastic Krista Lii Photography website.

And don't forget my new Facebook page is always looking for new followers and friends!  Click here to 'Like' my page and get Sew Lah Tea Dough updates right to your newsfeed.