Kid-Friendly Chocolate Cupcakes

Kate asked for chocolate cupcakes for her birthday. I asked her if I could use the same recipe that I used for the raspberry chocolate cake and the answer was a very loud "NO." Although I loved how rich the chocolate raspberry cake was, she thought it was too bitter. So this recipe has a lot less chocolate and a lot more sugar. Very kid-friendly. And just look at these cupcakes, aren't they cute? They are a little melted-looking because I am impatient and iced them before they had cooled completely. Silly me. 

Ingredients :

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar (icing)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup almond milk (icing)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (icing)
• Food coloring (icing)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. 
4. Mix until the lumps go away.
5. Prepare cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
6. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop (I recommend the scoop. It's a little easier and it makes more evenly-sized cupcakes), spoon batter into cupcake papers. 
7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. For the icing, mix powdered sugar, almond milk and vanilla in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth. Add food coloring as desired.
9. WAIT TIL THE CUPCAKES HAVE COOLED BEFORE ICING. I didn't, and look how they turned out. 
10. Store in the fridge overnight or until served (this sets the icing). 

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Kate's Birthday Party (No Recipe Here!)

At my job, I plan events for the community. Most of them involve families and children, and they have all gone pretty well with only a few hiccups here and there.

However, I have never planned a birthday party. When my aunt asked me to plan my cousin's party I said yes because don't I do this for a living?

The planning stage was a lot of fun. Kate wanted a mermaid theme so we decided to have one hour at the house and the other at the pool. I bought decorations, food, supplies for crafts. I made cupcakes, mini sandwiches, popcorn. I created a treasure hunt, and made crowns for the girls to decorate. It was a lot of fun to plan and decorate the house and cook the food. I loved it. I thought "people should hire me to plan birthday parties!"

The actual party was a different story. Don't let anyone tell you that 12 screaming 6 and 7-year-old girls in one room is a piece of cake (pun intended). They made a huge mess, ran around kicking balloons everywhere, and decided they didn't like the food after eating most of it.

I think that in the end, they did have fun, but I was so exhausted that I slept for 13 hours that night!

[PS I'll be posting the cupcake recipe later today!]

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