A Little Girl’s Dream: The Cupcake Baking Party.

I’m pretty sure when I turned 6 years old, I had a princess party. We dressed as princesses, and played the board game Pretty Pretty Princess with all the fake plastic jewelry…. (Mom, am I making this up?)…. maybe I’m remembering the zillion play dates where that game lay scattered all over the basement floor.

At 6 years old, my imagination was somewhere between Cinderella and playing house…. and I wonder why I am the way I am 🙂

I guess today however, the reality is very different for a 6 year old. So when I received an email a few months ago from a family up the street, asking me to help organize and throw their daughter a baking party – I knew that fantasy that I still carry with me to this day was no longer all powerful in the little lives of cute innocent munchkins.

Now instead, there’s the influence of real reality, like Cake Boss. Do you all have ANY IDEA how aware every little one I babysit or am close with is of Hoboken’s quite shitty, yet creative, bakery? My 12 year old Brooke and I are long over due for a date to the actual bakery – I love her so much that I would never say no to an adventure to try a craptastic red velvet cupcake again… Hey maybe 3rd times a charm.

But, regardless, this reality that we live in now is breeding a whole generation of food lovers and fans alike. It’s exciting!

… Just call me Chef Aly, or that is what the little girls were saying on the day of the party… many of them even asking me if they could work in my bakery when they grow up. (I melted of course..). I arrived with close to 200 mini cupcakes (chocolate and vanilla), 16 different tipped and colored icing bags, and my apron securely fastened. Oh, and a seriously huge chocolate chip cookie cake that I made from scratch and decorated with poppy colors and fondant lettering (per the little one’s request).

 

The girls started by decorating their personalized aprons with fabric marker and stick on jewels. Already so cute and focused, I knew they were going to love when the cupcakes came out.

And they did. So maybe next time around, I will cover the floor in a plastic tarp, but a sign of good times is when the carpet looks fertilized with sprinkles, and the girls are covered from fingers to toes to cheeks with icing and crumbs…. I taught them how to make beach cupcakes, some wanted to know how to pipe properly …. and then there were the little girls that were beyond taking advantage of having free range of sugar packed treats without mom’s watchful eye stopping them. In that case, more icing was licked, than was piped.

 

I was so happy watching each girl’s personality shine. And just happy to see the birthday girl getting the party that she wanted to have with all of her friends.

 

Talk about a sugar rush – all I ate that day was buttercream, but it was worth it. The decorations turned out so beautifully, the cakes tasted amazing, and besides needing to practically bathe each girl when they were done, I think I smell a little business idea baking.

 

So, enjoy the photographs in my SmugMug gallery (CLICK TO VIEW)  

and if you know any 6 – 60 year olds that have the same dream as little Olivia, you know who to email.