Happy Mardi Gras Ya'll!

My first carnival season here in southern Louisiana is nearly over, and I have thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures, catching beads, drinking cans of Abita, and dancing on the sidewalk. So far we have been to two parades in the town we live in (Selene and Dionysus), and have gone to New Orleans for Endymion (which involved sitting in the pouring rain waiting for the parade to start. It was worth it though!), Thoth, Bacchus, and the Box of Wine parade.

We have TONS of beads and cups, and various other trinkets....

I even caught a few stuffed animals for Magnus. He deserved a special toy after I made him wear beads:

Throw me somethin' mister!

I have already been on Pinterest searching for craft ideas so I can upcycle all of these beads. I might make a few wreaths for friends and some bead trees. So far these are the crafts I have done:

Mardi Gras Wreath

Bruno helped me with my wreath...

Candle holder: leftover beads and vase and votive holder from Dollar Tree

We were invited to a party and were asked to bring something to eat. In addition to throwing together dip and a few other snacks, I of course decided to make cupcakes. I wanted to make a cupcake that would really capture the essence of the king cake. I think I came pretty close; I would just add a bit of nutmeg and maybe thin out the cinnamon and brown sugar swirl with more butter. Still, these cupcakes were pretty fabulous if I do say so myself.

KING CAKE CUPCAKES

For the cake I made a yellow cake (okay it wasn't quite yellow cake because I didn't go with all egg yokes and used whole eggs, but pretty close). I wanted something moist that I could swirl cinnamon filling throughout. FYI this recipe makes 18 cupcakes. I will try to change it so that it makes a more logical number at some point.

Cake:

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Filling: 

 1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbs ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

3 tbs unsalted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin pans. Stir together all ingredients for filling (brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, melted butter) until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Fill muffin cups a third of the way. Add tablespoon of cinnamon mixture and swirl with toothpick. Top with more batter until muffin cups are approximately 2/3 full. Top with additional cinnamon mixture and swirled (if desired--I like lots of cinnamon goodness!).

   

   Swirl Cinnamon into Batter

   
   

   

   Top with more batter until 2/3 full. Add more cinnamon filling if desired.

4.  Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool completely before frosting.

 

Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream

3 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup butter

3 oz cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla extract

 2 tbs half and half

In a stand mixer, mix sugar, butter, and cream cheese until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add half and half, a tablespoon at a time, until creamy and at the consistency you want.

Mmmm...frosting

Decorating note:

I am too cheap to spend $8 on a jar of colored sugar to decorate my cupcakes. It just ain't gonna happen. So, I whipped up some colored sugar. Its easy enough, especially if you have liquid food coloring. You just add a few drops and stir. If, however, you are like me and only use the Wilton gel colors, you might find that gel does not mix smoothly with sugar. Got vodka? Add a few drops and it will smooth those little lumps of color gel. And don't worry, your sprinkles won't taste like vodka and you won't get your kids drunk. But don't take my word for it...hell I don't even have any kids. 

Tada! Yummy.