Funfetti Birthday or Cute Cupcakes Quest finally makes some headway

If you have read any of my past posts, you know that I am always on the quest to make and photograph cute cupcakes.  You know what I’m talking about, don’t you.  You see these adorable cupcakes on the web or in a magazine or cookbook and you say to yourself, “I am going to make those cupcakes because they are just so adorable.”  Well, at least I say that to myself and, really, anyone else who will listen.

I had another opportunity to make cupcakes because it was my oldest son’s birthday and the family celebrated it on Sunday.

The above photo was taken a few years ago.  But here’s another more recent one.

I love everything about this photo (except the quality…it was scanned.)  I love that he’s riding the skateboard backwards.  I love his pants with the elastic on the bottom.  I love that his clothes are probably a size too small and his haircut could have been done with a bowl on his head.  But the look on his face is priceless.

Well, he looks a bit different these days.  Gone are the snazzy clothes and the bowl haircut.  He does still have quite a bit of hair, though.

He says he’s growing the beard for a Halloween costume, but I wonder if he will actually shave it off when the party is over.

At any rate…Funfetti Cake is his absolute favorite cake.  I always feel a little bit bad when I make the cake using the Box Funfetti Cake Mix. So, I was quite pleased when I found a homemade Funfetti Cake mix here. But, I made cupcakes instead of a cake because of my eternal quest to make cute cupcakes.

The batter is basically an angel food cake batter and then you fold in the jimmies.  Now, I must say that I used some jimmies that I already had left over from Christmas, so they were green, red and white.  For true Funfetti, you should probably use the multi-colored ones.  The batter made about 24 cupcakes.

I think the red and white polka dot cupcake holders take it away from the Christmas theme.  None of my guests made any Christmas comments, so I don’t think they noticed.

I must also confess that I used canned frosting (boo!).  It was quick and easy and my son loved it.  It came in a can like a whipped cream can with a fancy top on it so it would make a nice topping. Then I sprinkled some tiny candies (also left over from Christmas) on top.  A magic red candle (that burned red flame) was placed on the top.

When it was time to do the Happy Birthday song, I presented the cupcakes to the birthday boy.  We have  a Schmautz Haus tradition that has developed in the last couple of years.  We no longer sing the Happy Birthday song.  We either clap Happy Birthday (Clappy Birthday) or we snap our fingers to the tune of Happy Birthday (Snappy Birthday).  The honored birthday person makes the choice.  It’s sometimes awkward when we have guests over who have never experienced this tradition because they usually start singing and then when they don’t hear anyone else singing, they awkwardly say something like, “What?  What’s happening here?  What are you guys doing? How come nobody’s singing?”  But then, they usually catch on.  This tradition is also fun to do at a restaurant.  It’s delightful to see the other restaurant guests stop what they are doing and stare in wonder.  Yes, it is the Schmautz Haus Clappers/Snappers.

Anyway, my son really liked the cupcakes and said they tasted as good as the boxed Funfetti Cupcakes. (I’m not real sure if that is a compliment, or not…) All that matters is that he liked them.

Well, there is one more thing that matters.  I’m pretty sure I got some Cute Cupcake Photos.

And here is the picture that I think qualifies as “Cute Cupcake Photo of the Day”

Here is the recipe.

http://www.thekitchn.com/cake-recipe-funfetti-cake-from-147011

In case you are wondering where Yes!Chef! was all this time.  Well, I will post more on his activities later.