Monday, February 14, 2011

8 Happy Valentine's Day and Butterfinger Cupcakes

On Saturday, I had some sweet friends over for a Valentine's Dessert Exchange! It was fun to catch up over punch and delicious desserts! I am so thankful for the amazing friends the Lord has blessed me with!
Nate was so sweet! Not only did he get "kicked out" of the house on Saturday (don't worry, he went and built a work bench with a friend. . . sooo manly!) but he also gave me my Valentine's flowers early! :-) 
So elegant and pretty!
Can't be Valentine's Day without pink tulips!
Everyone emailed me their dessert recipe earlier this week so I could put them on the "Valentine's" recipe cards I ordered from Freeprintable.net. The recipe cards provided a cute seasonal label in front of each dessert!
One of my friends, Kara, went ALL out and even tied pretty little bows around each of her cupcakes!
We also had to have some non-sugar snacks! 
When people were ready to leave they filled up their Valentine's "to go" plate with goodies for their love and received a Valentine's gift bag and a copy of each recipe! 
The bags included a Valentine's card from us that sweet Serena from Rylie Boo Events made for me. . .
herb seeds to plant (when it gets a little warmer) and a bag of Texas Trash! 
I made Butterfinger Cupcakes for the party and OH MY GOODNESS . . . The icing. . . oh the icing. . .
(Nate even had a cupcake for breakfast yesterday morning! Yes they are that good!)
Heather from Pirates and Princesses shared this dessert from Annie's Eats and I knew it would be PERFECT for the dessert exchange! :-) (Have you checked out Pirates and Princesses? SUCH amazing parties and beautiful cupcakes!)
Here's the recipe from Annie's Eats:
Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together and set aside.  Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter and discard the pod (or reserve for another use.)  Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.
Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.
Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full (you will likely have batter left over after filling 24 wells.)  Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Replace paper liners and bake remaining batter if desired.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.
Yield: approximately 30 cupcakes
Frosting:
Before you frost the cupcakes, cut a fun size Butterfinger in half and place on top of the cooled cupcake, then pipe your frosting on top.  Makes for a fun surprise! 
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
½ cup creamy peanut butter
3¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until smooth.  Slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth and well blended.  Mix in the whipped topping until smooth and fluffy.
For garnish:
4 fun size Butterfinger bars, coarsely chopped
Annies Eats
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8 comments:

  1. gorgeous! happy day friend!!!!! xoxo

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  2. Wish I lived back in TX! That was some spread! Everything looked amazing! Thanks for sharing me! :) :) :)

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  3. Hey, I know those friends of yours! That looks so fun! How do you DO that?! Made me hungry.

    Ellie is having a Texas-themed party for her first birthday. Any ideas on what to serve for lunch? or party favors?

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  4. Heather, I wish you lived in Texas TOO because then we would totally be "real life" friends! Caroline, I already have a million thoughts but am going to fb message you tomorrow morning! :-) Love you!

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  5. That butterfinger cupcake recipe sounds divine! Also, that's a great candid shot of everyone at the party - did you get a new camera? Lovely!

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  6. okay, how cute is your idea to have a valentine dessert party?!? i might have to steal that idea!
    my dad would love the butterfinger cupcakes...he loves all things butterfinger!

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  7. Oh Elizabeth, I loved the Valentine list of 10 things you love about Nate! It made me cry, how sweet and I bet he loved it!! Ya'll come see us. Luv,Sharon Barber

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