Happy 90th Birthday!

Yes, you read the title right!  90!!  This past Saturday, Jennifer's family threw a gathering for her grandfather's 90th birthday!  Amazingly, the weather here in San Diego was just beyond perfect that Saturday!  I mean, we had that nasty storm just the week before, and today, it's overcasty with the threat of rain.  Yes, they were lucky indeed!  And, they had given me the honor of baking cupcakes for them!  Which, indeed, was a joy because it's not everyday one gets to bake to honor 90 years of living!  So for the birthday party, I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I also made some vanilla sugar cookies for the family in the shape of "90."  This was something a little extra from me...the perks of having a baking friend?  Sure, why not?  I iced the cookies with fondant and garnished it with some grey sugar crystals on the "9" and dusted the "0" with pearl luster dust.  I find that I love to decorate sugar cookies with fondant more because it usually looks perfect every single time.  I have more trouble with royal icing...don't quite have that steady hand!  I used Duff brand fondant because it actually tastes pretty decent compared to the Wilton ones.  Although, I do think it's time to make more marshmallow fondant.  Now that is a tasty one!  And I'm sure it will taste even better on sugar cookies!!  (It's like a light bulb suddenly went off in my head...).  Hmm, the brilliant ideas that come to mind when one least expects it to!

[Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream]

 [Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting]

[Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream]

I certainly had a grand time making these cupcakes!  I hope Jennifer and her family enjoyed these cupcakes and I am eternally grateful for their loyal support! 

Cheers!