Simply Suzanne's AT HOME: February 2013

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Lauren Jane turned 2!

Our Lauren Jane turned 2!

We had an intimate celebration . . .

and invited her best friend "Giraffe" . . . and a few of her other close friends (and family) to join us for a day filled with birthday fun!

~ meet Lauren's best-friend, "Giraffe" ~

~ and close friends "Froggie" and "Monkey" ~

Our morning began with "birthday pancakes" . . . YUM!

~ buttermilk pancakes with mini chocolate chips ~

topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with confetti

Our youngest little lady is just that . . . little . . . and petite.

She's our doll baby . . . a daddy's girl.

Lauren Jane spends the majority of her days keeping up with her 3 year old brother and 5 year old sister! And she does a great job at it too!

She started asking "Why?" a few weeks ago . . . and I shake my head & giggle every time she asks me! Can she really be entering the "why" phase already!?

We adore her sweet smile . . . big, long, warm hugs . . . and playfulness.

Lauren Jane's 1st birthday was full of sunshine and pinwheels!

And her 2nd birthday was also celebrated with beautiful, bright colors!

Take a close look at the cupcake centerpiece!

It's a piece of art! Thanks, Emily!

I dressed up the cupcake centerpiece with pink paper medallions and white hydrangeas.

So bright and happy!

~ I LOVE these paper medallions ~

I glued them onto wooden sticks

~ fun birthday candy skewers ~

~ lots of candy confetti ~

~ my "Sunshine" girl ~

~ birthday dinner menu ~

a hot dog bar

with condiments, including chili

Hawaiian BBQ chips

nestled in polka dot cupcake liners

fresh pineapple & maraschino cherry skewers

~ the kids LOVED these skewers!! ~

Lauren's birthday cake was inspired by a Polka Dot Cake I saw on Pinterest,

except I created a . . .

POLKA DOT ice cream cake!

made with

Key Lime sherbert

Mandarin Orange sherbert

& Raspberry sorbet

with a Vanilla Wafer cookie crust

and topped with fresh whipped cream & heart confetti

Our night ended with lots of gifts, fun, and laughter!

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl!

I love you, Mum

yes, sometimes she calls me "Mum!" . . . and I LOVE it!

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

cupcakes ~ hello kitty cupcake toppers

Charley loves sweets . . . So planning the sweet treats for her dessert table is always so much fun!

There are some sweets that tickle her fancy . . . and marshmallows & cotton candy are just a few at the top of her favorites list these days!

So when I made cupcakes for her 5th birthday party, I had to include fluffy pink cotton candy!

We served moist, tender Vanilla Cupcakes frosted with Miette's Raspberry Buttercream. Each cupcake was topped with pretty pink pearls, pink cotton candy, and Hello Kitty Lollipops!

They were darling . . . and delicious too!

Here's what I used to make the Hello Kitty toppers . . .

I secured a Hello Kitty candy to the front of each lollipop

using melted white chocolate.

It hardens quickly, and makes a great edible "glue!"

I also secured a heart on the back of each lollipop. Sweet endings!

Add the cotton candy to the toppers at the last minute!

Cotton candy melts when it comes into contact with anything

that's damp/wet, like frosting.

TIP!!!!

Leave a small space between the cotton candy and the frosting

so that the cotton candy doesn't melt!

Each cupcake found a special seat atop a white cupcake stand at the base of the cake.

They were a perfect treat for Charley's dessert table! Oh so sweet!

Vanilla Cake

(recipe used for Hello Kitty cupcakes)

Ingredients

Nonstick baking spray

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 sticks butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, yolks separated from whites

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick baking spray and dust with flour. Line the pan with parchment paper and spray again.

Beat the granulated sugar and 1 stick butter in a large bowl at medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the egg yolks, beating until combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. DO NOT over-mix.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

A peak at a few other sweet treats at the dessert table . . .

~ heart marshmallow skewers ~

~ Vanilla and Chocolate French Macarons ~

~ white chocolate dipped marshmallows ~

~ vanilla meringues ~

bon appetit!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

a hello kitty birthday party

Wow! It's hard to believe that another year has passed, and Charley is now 5 years old!

It feels like yesterday when I was planning for, and then writing about, Charley's 4th birthday!

We celebrated Charley's 5th birthday with lots of pink (and turquoise), her closest friends (and family too!), Hello Kitty . . . and 160 sugar cookies!

This year's birthday was extra special.

Charley's enthusiasm and excitement is always a driving force for me, but she was so eager to help me every step of the way . . . and that's what made this year's celebration so memorable for me.

When I asked her what her favorite part of her birthday was, she excitedly told me "Blowing out the candles on my pretty cake, and baking all those cookies!"

It was truly a special day!

We honored this little lady on her birthday with a special lunch, cookie decorating, a friendly cookie decorating competition, and dessert!

Here's a peak into our day . . .

~~~~~~~

Our menu

(inspired by Barefoot Contessa)

Parmesan Crisps

Green Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Curried Egg Salad with tomato slices on butter lettuce

Chicken Salad with Tarragon on Croissant

Fresh Strawberries

~~~~~~~

the Little Ladies Menu

(menu created by Charley)

Pretzel Twists

Fresh Strawberries

Peanut butter and Strawberry Jam sandwiches

Peanut butter and honey sandwiches

~~~~~~~

With Valentine's Day just a few days away,
I turned skewers and heart cut-outs into LOVE arrows!

~~~~~~~

our drink menu

ice water

Pineapple sherbet punch

Cotton Candy Shirley Temples

~~~~~~~

~ hand-made fancy paper straws ~

~ Cotton Candy Shirley Temple ~

Charley's friends donned their cutest aprons and joined her in decorating sugar cookies!

I baked 160+ sugar cookies for this party . . . YES, 160+ sugar cookies!

Eight little ladies sat around a long table filled with cookies, bowls of bright colored cream cheese frostings, and over 15 kinds of sprinkles and edible decorations . . . and we giggled, laughed, and decorated hearts (small & big), tiaras, flowers, and cupcakes.

~ Charley's apron ~

~ so many cute aprons made an appearance! ~

~ Look at this cute one from Italy! ~

~ Let the cookie decorating begin! ~

Hello Kitty balloons!

I thought of this idea the night before Charley's party! It's fun to see what you can do with a Mylar balloon and scrapbook paper! I tied them to clear cookie cans filled with white sugar, and then finished them with bows.

I used a roll of thick wrapping paper to cover the top of the table, and it worked great! Such easy clean up too!

I used paper baking cups to hold the sprinkles. They worked great because they're thicker and sturdier than cupcake liners.

~ I wish my camera could have truly captured the bright colors

of the table cover, frostings, and sprinkles.

It was such a beautiful sight! ~

. . . and the winners were . . .

We opened gifts and enjoyed dessert after all that hard work!

________________________________

On to the good stuff . . . DESSERT!

It's tradition in our home for Auntie Alex to make our children's birthday cakes (warm smile) . . . so she made Charley a two tier strawberry cake with vanilla rose water Swiss buttercream (YUM!!!), frosted in white chocolate ganache, and covered in vanilla fondant.

You can't have a Hello Kitty inspired cake without bows, so Auntie Alex adorned each tier with a big pink bow! She added darling polka dots . . . and pretty ruffled roses . . .

and well, Miss Hello Kitty found the perfect place to sit at the base, right next to a bow (smile). I love her glasses . . . aren't they cute!

Isn't the cake beautiful!?! and its flavors tasted wonderful too!