Happy birthday cupcakes!

I have returned! And for a very special occasion!

Happy 3rd birthday to my wonderful babies!!

"It's our birthday!?!?"

Some people have children and great for them. I have cats. And eventually, a pug as well. They are my world, and I don't care who knows it. In fact, I prefer to have the world to know. My Elliot and Elphie turned one today, and to top it off, it's Ken's and my five-year anniversary, too! Great things have happened on June 29th! As Elphie sits on Daddy's lap right now having birthday snuggles,  I observe them, blog, and think about what an amazing life I have. All three loves of my life are the best!!

So of course, this day called for a special treat. The chosen treat: chiffon cupcakes from scratch (of course) from Alton Brown. He may be my favorite Food Network personality. Goofy but relatable. Hubby helped in the kitchen despite my usual preference to go solo in the baking department. 

This recipe calls for a lot as far as directions, yet the process is pretty straightforward and goes by quickly. So instead of writing alllll of that out, I will post the link for you right here: Alton Brown's Chiffon Cupcakes. We made our own buttercream and rum frosting, but used a traditional recipe. We just added in three tsp. my grandmom's light rum to jazz up the flavor (Hubby's brilliant idea. No sarcasm intended; it was delish.) As always, it was awesome to incorporate something of my grandmom's in a recipe I know she would have loved! Though she may have complained the frosting was, "too sweet" and pursed her lips as she usually did when displeased with something :)

Due to the whipped egg white mixture these cupcakes were, quite literally, light as a feather. I was thrilled they came out so well because my attempt at angel food cake last year was a complete disaster. Hubby and I wanted to somehow capture how light these were in a picture, but we  couldn't figure out a good way to do it. I tried to balance one on my finger, but the bottoms weren't flat enough to stay put. Ah well. You'll have to believe me when I say these were light, delicate pillows of goodness.

Checking on the birthday cupcakes with my birthday boy!

We had a bit of extra batter after filling the tins, so I thought our ramekins would be fun to fill. They turned out great! In fact, they were the first to go! :) Yum, yum, yum. We agreed this cake was moist, spongey, and nearly weightless!

Our ramekin mini-cake!

Elphie loves anything dairy, so she was sniffing these down!

Thanks, Gramom :) And happy birthday to my fuzzy little babies!! Mommy loves you so bad!