Birthday Cupcakes

So I settled on baking mocha cupcakes with raspberry buttercream for my Dad's birthday.

I used the mocha cupcake recipe that I found here from Pinterest (of course!). 

 

The raspberry buttercream I adapted from my "taste. Cupcakes" cookbook. I found it at Sam's Club, and originally bought it solely for the Advocaat buttercream recipe; which I will post at another time. Anyways, here is my version of raspberry buttercream.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting
Yields enough to frost 12 cupcakes

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
3-5 Tbls. seedless raspberry preserves or jelly

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. On low add in the raspberry preserves until desired taste and color is achieved. Either spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Enjoy!

These were the best looking from my batch. Note to self: get piping tips for better results! I also got to use the DIY Cake Stand that I made in this post. :)

I love to hear your feedback! Please comment if you try this recipe. Or what have you baked lately?

DIY Laundry Detergent Update & Pictures

Happy New Year! Every year I make the goal to post more often, and in 2013 I'm hoping I'll do better than I did in 2012 or 2011. I like posting about crafts I do with my class. It seems the most traffic to my blog is from Pinterest (thanks!) to craft projects I've done. So I'll try to post more of those, too! Since it's been awhile since I posted I've got a few posts ready to go already so here I go...

About a year ago I posted about my little adventure making laundry detergent after I broke out in hives. I'm happy to report that I'm still using the same box of Borax & Washing Soda, and I just finished the big pack of soap I bought at Target. I was making a single batch every few months, but when my Mom got hives too (she still used a generic detergent) I've had to start making a double batch each time since it's being used more often.

Here are some pictures to demonstrate how it's done:

One batch uses 1 bar of soap (I use Up & Up Sensitive Skin but any kind will work), 1/2 cup Borax, and 1/2 cup Washing Soda.

 

Start by finely grating the soap into a bowl.

 Add the Borax

Add the Washing Soda

Mix it together and you're ready to do laundry!

If you're new to my blog please follow me! Also, I love your comments and feedback. :)

Delicious Rhubarb (and a garden update)

This post is slightly past due since it was actually two weeks ago, but it's still worth writing about. It's rhubarb for goodness sake, and who doesn't like a good rhubarb pie? I know I certainly will choose rhubarb pie over cake any day!


Any ways, two weeks ago I went back to water the garden and everything had seemed to sort of explode growing-wise (weeds included to my displeasure). The best part is that both rhubarb plants were ready to harvest for the first time this spring!

Here are my freshly picked and cut rhubarb stalks. :) Eight isn't so bad for the first harvest! And what do we make with rhubarb...

  

...a rhubarb crisp of course!! Since rhubarb is quite tart I like to add extra sugar to sweeten it up a little. Also, since rhubarb is watery when cooked down I stick it under the broiler at the end of cooking time to crisp up the topping. :) I'll try to take pics while I'm making it next time for a post about rhubarb crisp.

Since I  haven't posted much lately I also have a general garden update for you.

I planted my starts in my little greenhouse a few weeks ago. Much to my frustration a windstorm a week ago knocked it over, and I had to replant ALL of them! I was not happy about that. :/

This little beauty was a surprise daffodil in the front flower beds. Still need to weed those...

These are the gorgeous daffodils that come up year after year in the front corner flower bed.

So that's it for my brief garden update. Hopefully I'll post soon about whatever gardening and/or crafting I do this weekend with the wonderful warm weather we're supposed to get here in Seattle.

Laundry Detergent

This week has been frustrating. On Wednesday I started breaking out in hives from an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent I had been using. I came to this conclusion first because I had similar symptoms around Christmas last year, and second because it was only in areas where my clothes touch not on my face or hands. The last time it happened it was due to the fragrance/dye in the soap, and a simple switch to free & clear kinds did the trick for awhile. This time I was a little frustrated because I've been using free & clear since then. So I tried a different brand, but it didn't get any better. I started using Benadryl lotion as well, but it would go away for a bit and come back again. I'm assuming that over the last year or so my skin has become sensitive to the chemicals in the soap. I looked in the store for organic, and found that it costs about $8 for a 24-32 load bottle. Being a poor college student I can't afford that. Then I went looking online for homemade recipes. Some were for liquid and others were for powder, but all used the same 3 simple ingredients. The recipe I chose is as follows:

Homemade Powder Laundry Detergent
1 bar of soap (I used Target brand Sensitive Skin)
1/2 cup Borax (I found it at Target)
1/2 cup Washing Soda (I found it at Ace Hardware)
Grate the soap with the fine grate into a bowl. Add the Borax and Washing Soda and mix well. Store in an air tight container. Use 1 Tbls for regular load, 2 Tbls for large or extra dirty load.

After a quick Google search where to buy borax and washing soda I headed to the store. I found all 3 items with no trouble. Right away I found an old bowl, fine cheese grater, measuring cup, and a storage container. I got to work grating the soap (which is the most work you do for this), added the other 2 ingredients, mixed it together, and started a load of wash. By this time I was desperate for clothing that wouldn't make me itchy! As of today it's only been 2 days of wearing clothes washed with my homemade laundry detergent, but the hives are going away. :) All that remains is light pink outlines where the spots used to be, but with Benadryl they're fading. I hope this never happens again. Although, I'm thankful that I could figure it out on my own, and not have to pay a doctor to try figure it out for me.