Brownies and Cupcakes for my son's first birthday!

Vanilla rainbow and chocolate cupcakes with Wilton buttercream icing

It was my youngest' first birthday last weekend. I thought I should add deserts to what the caterer provided so I decided to make some brownies and cupcakes - two of easiest deserts to bake in batches.

Of course, there has to be a project plan.

Task 1 - Make 2 batches of brownies and bake.
Task 2 - While the first 2 batches are baking, make chocolate cupcake batter.
Task 3 - Bake 2 dozens chocolate cupcakes.
Rest and let everything cool.
Task 4 - Make another 2 batches of brownies and bake.
Task 5 - While second batch of brownies are baking, make vanilla rainbow cupcake batter.
Task 5 - Bake 2 dozens vanilla rainbow cupcake batter.
Task 6 - Bake last dozen of vanilla rainbow cupcake batter.

This plan successfully yielded:

• 4 9"X13" pans of brownies, equally divided into 8 on the long side and by 4 on the short side (32 rectangles)
• 2 dozens chocolate cupcakes
• 3 dozens vanilla rainbow cupcakes

Success!!!

Recipes:

Brownies - Grandma Barb's Brownies from A Farm Girl Dabbles

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1-1/2 c. flour
• 10 T. unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional, to sprinkle on top
• chopped nuts, optional, to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, oil, and eggs. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with optional chocolate chips and/or nuts. Bake for 20 minutes. Then turn the heat off, leaving the pan in the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove pan to a rack to cool completely.

Note: Best brownie recipe ever!!! No melting chocolates, no melting butter - very simple and easy to make! Also, recipe calls for 9X13 pan so you make more brownies out of each recipe!

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes - Recipe posted here

Vanilla Cupcakes - Recipe posted here

• To create the rainbow effect, I divided the batter into 4. I then tinted them red, green and blue separately. The last one I left untinted (to retain the yellow color). Once done, I placed 1/2 tbsp of each colored batter in the cupcake liners.

Red 1

Green 2
Blue 3...Sorry, no pic for Yellow 4 and there's no Pink 5. If you get the joke, you're too old! LOL

The rainbow connection :-)

I used Wilton's buttercream icing on both cupcakes.

Wilton's Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

I packaged the cupcakes in a special box with cupcake holes. These are just P26 at Baker's Hub! Definitely a good buy - I didn't have any problem transporting them to the party venue.

Lesson learned: Plan ahead! I filed for vacation before my son's birthday because I knew that aside from cooking these goodies, I still have to iron out a lot of other things for the birthday. End result - Not haggard at all! :-)

PS - Thought I'd share with you our welcome banner at the party! Our cowboy theme party was a success!!!