Harry Potter is for 21 year old girls too

 ACCIO blog post......Hey, it was a Harry Potter party so I thought maybe a HP spell would work on getting this blog post complete!  It was worth a try!!

So the Court turned 21 this past Monday and we had our little family party over the weekend.  It was a fun time and she requested a yellow cake with chocolate icing.  Sooooo, being the ambitious baker I attempted this....

yeah....ATTEMPTED, I swear I don't know what happened other than I lost about 4 hours of my life and made the biggest mess you've ever seen.  Maybe Darla over at www.bakingdom.com can help me out because mine.....KERPLONKED right onto the dryer.  

(I was hiding the cake in the laundry room in case you were wondering!!)

Then I didn't do a ton of photos on Saturday and mostly because I was just so sure that I posted the yellow cake last year but so help me blogger gods I cannot find that post.  So here we go again!!

I'm not going to run through the exact measurements and details of the cake but I've already got this Nifty Little Printable all ready for you with all the deets on this cake!!

Cake Crew

(minus the food colorings because well that was a cake fail!)

Dry ingredients sifted together. YES you MUST SIFT the dry stuff.

We've covered this...it's just a part of life that sifting is.

That's the butter and the sugar, we're gonna beat them together.

See now that they are nice and pale and fluffy, the vanilla is going to join in the party.

Now let's beat in the eggs, 1 at a time.  And scrape the bowl after each one.

Pesky litte eggs, demanding little things aren't they??

At a very low speed add in the buttermilk.

DON"T FREAK OUT when your batter looks like its curdled!!!

Two pictures... I promise it's ok for it to look like this you didn't ruin it!!

Now slowly stir in the dry mixture in 3 batches.

Stir only until combined.

Fill the pans evenly

Tapping on the counter to remove air bubbles.

Bake and let cool.

Just for grins and giggles you get to see a photo of the first cake.

I think you can see the Big Trouble we're heading for already.

We weren't making the Leaning Tower of Pisa cake after all.

These you will need for the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(just click on the link for the recipe...it's super simple my peeps)

also note...the cake is leaning more and more, it crashed after the icing.

This is the chocolatey yumminess you will be making

Now let's skip to the goodies....

A basket for the birthday girl.

Yes, once again, there are 21 items in the basket!!

I also made the picture/tray, added some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a nice Lego creation.

The birthday basket and the "good" tequila as its know by in our house!

Some HP party supplies and a Tiara for the birthday girl

Breakfast nook is all decorated

I loved the balloons hanging from the ceiling...thanks Pinterest!

The finished cake!!!

Yep, that's a little Hedwig on the cake.

At least this one didn't fall off the cake stand!!

If you want these printables to make your own HP banner for the cake just 

head over to Bakingdom.com's site.  She did a great job and I'm very jealous that her cake was so successful!!!    Good job Darla!!

More table pictures

I just used two food skewers and some twine to hang the Hogwarts banners

what you see if you stand in the chair

what???? don't you stand in your chairs??

The celebration basket

So that my friends is how you throw a Harry Potter party for a 21 year old girl!!

Peace, Love and Finite Incantatem

                                                       

Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts

 Happy Wed Nes Day my peeps!!
WOW I seriously cannot believe this week is already half over!!!  Where does the time go??

Anywho this past Sunday all the kiddos were home for the Courts big 21st birthday (and geez I still have to show you the cake I made her) and I decided to make some pumpkin donuts.  Donuts are a funny thing because you pretty much have to eat them when you bake them otherwise they aren't very good so I took the opportunity of lots of mouths in the house to make these.  They were super dee dooooper!!!

Let's start with the cast of characters:

1 3/4 cup flour                                

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

TOPPING:

1/4-1/2 cup melted butter

2/3 cup sugar

2-3 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the donut pan. 

Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.

Just whisk, no sifting today my peeps.

Just set that aside for now.

In your mixer bowl (with the paddle attachment)

Mix together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk.

Just mix until combined.

Now very S L O W L Y add in the dry ingredients.

Stir just until combined, you know don't beat up the donut batter!

Fill the donut pans pretty full but not overflowing and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

The donuts should spring back when pressed gently.

Turn those out onto a wire to cool while you get the toppings ready,

Melt the butter in one bowl

Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

(sorry, I don't know what happened to that photo??)

Now dunk that donut superquick like in the butter, just to coat

p.s.  if you hold the donut like this for too long while you are trying to take the picture it will break

it's ok because then you have the perfect excuse to eat that one.

Now roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture

And pop back onto the wire rack.

Try to take pictures before you have the urge to scarf them all down

I found that a nice glass of milk made them even tastier.

They are pretty and you know, relatively healthy.

I said relatively...not completely!!

The day is always nice when it starts with donuts!

So since you know you want to make these...I made you a nice little Printable.

So go ahead make some donuts!!!

Have you tried to bake donuts yet?  What flavor do you think would be awesomesauce??

I have a Red Velvet that I'm just dying to try myself!!

Peace, Love & Donuts!!!