Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

My brother requested I make Funfetti Cupcakes for his birthday. So loving any excuse to make cupcakes I did so willingly.  I found a recipe through Pintrest from How Sweet It Is.   I love how bright and colourful the funfetti cupcakes are and they have always been one of my favourite cake mixes, but this time I wanted to make them from scratch. 

Creaming butter and sugar

After adding the sprinkles, the batter turned a lovely purple colour... I may have over mixed it

Colourful wrappers for colourful cupcakes

So many Sprinkles! 

My brother said they tasted just like the ones from the box. I don't know if thats a good thing or not... shouldn't they taste better! haha. Trust your brother to tell you the truth. He loved them though, and I thought they tasted amazing. He did say the icing was amazing.  I provided the recipe for you below. 

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes (from How Sweet It Is)
makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 whole eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles + more for top of frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool, then frost.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in assorted sprinkles.

Vanilla Buttercream

2 1/2 cups powered sugar 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of milk, if needed

2 sticks of butter, softened

Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly. Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl. If frosting is too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached If it’s too thin, add sugar gradually until it thickens. Frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles.

What is your favourite cupcake flavour? 

Jaclyn

Homemade Oreos

My friend and I love to bake together. We get together make cupcakes, cookies, pies etc.  Our first stop when deciding what to make is usually Annie's Eats. This time we decided to make some homemade Oreos because everything is better homemade.  We followed her recipe here. They were super easy to make and they turned out great. My family loved them and they were gone within days.

Cookies out of the oven

Making the yummy icing filling

What is your favourite food blog?
Jaclyn

Nail It

I have an obsession with my nails. I hate it when they are chipped, and I am constantly redoing them. I love OPI polishes but just recently discovered essie polishes. I knew they existed but I had never tried them. I wanted a bright blue colour since I was going for a nautical theme at the time and couldn't find an OPI one that I liked, so I decided to go with this shade from essie.

mezmerised by essie

My nautical nails.  

Close up of my free hand anchor 

I loved the colour so much that when the nautical design started to chip, I repainted them and added glitter to my ring finger. I used my Sally Hansen top coat (pictured above) as a glue to adhere loose MAC glitter I had from a long time ago. 

What is you favourite nail polish?
Jaclyn

Magic Mike

Look at those Abs! 

So I went to see Magic Mike the other night. All I knew was that it was about male strippers and that Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey were involved. So I was all yes please count me in! Seriously, I totally would have been an extra in this movie. Just saying. All that being said it was actually a good movie (the amount of good looking men of course didn't hurt). But there was a story line going on behind all of the stripping.  I think it is for sure a must see, even if its just to stare at Channing's abs.  I however got most excited when the CUTEST miniature pig came on screen. I am obsessed with them and cannot wait to get one of my own one day. I already have a name picked out and everything.

How could you say no to that face? 

Are you planning on seeing Magic Mike? If you have, what did you think?

Jaclyn

Summer Reading

 Just Finished: Swapping Lives by Jane Greene

This would be a great beach read. It was a great book to read during summer school. It gave me that escape that I needed. 

Currently Reading:  Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda 

So far I am LOVING this book. It is about a girl who is adopted from India. It follows her life, the life of her biological mother and the life of her adopted mother. I recommend this for sure!

Up next: Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon 

I am super excited to read this book and take part in  The Everygirl's Book Club.

What are you reading this summer? 

Jaclyn

Summer Beauty

In the summer I like to keep my make up light and fresh. I find it takes too much effort to apply a ton of make up in the heat.  I choose to feature all Sephora items as they are easily accessible online.   I love the tinted moisturizer its a lighter version of the foundation I normally use and adds just enough colour.  I find in the summer a bit of mascara and a touch of blush is all I need. I love the light colour and added SPF of the Sugar lip gloss ( I recently discovered this, it was the Sephora Beauty Insider's Birthday gift this year!).  Of course if I don't wear any make up, I always apply some sunscreen!

What is your Summer Beauty Routine?
- Jaclyn