Baking with the Boys

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Many of you may not know that I have 2 very cute and fun boys, Benjamin (almost 6) and Samuel (almost 4).  They constantly ask me if they can help and generally get told no, because the particular thing I am making is going to someone else!  They are great assistants in the kitchen, so I enlisted their help to make my Dad (their Grandpa’s) birthday cupcakes!

Dad loves Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream, so that’s what we set out to make!  I missed the opportunity to get pictures of them helping with the cake, so I’ll give you the recap!  Sam used the nut grinder to chop the pecans while Ben helped shred the carrots on the box grater.  They each took turns measuring, dumping, pouring, and mixing.  Then they put the liners in the pans and helped scoop the batter into them.  They helped make the buttercream too.  When the cupcakes were all cool, we made white chocolate decorations out of melted chocolate.  They piped designs on sheets of waxed paper and then allowed them to harden.  They helped pipe the buttercream on the cupcakes, smooth it out and then decorated them with the white chocolate decorations.