how sweet

My littlest niece turned one this past week and so her momma threw her a sweets party.

{my mom always bakes the kids their own birthday cake for their birthday – isn’t this one cute?!}

For favors, Hillary made cake pops {from this recipe} and the booklets {from here}.

My contribution to the sweets table were the same filled cupcakes we had at the Summer Boutique that were such a hit.

So I thought I’d show you how easy they are.

To make the lemon-filled cupcakes, you’ll need:

a boxed cake mix, tub of frosting, box of instant lemon pudding, whipping cream and sprinkles.

I found this pack of cupcake liners at Marshalls a while back and couldn’t resist. They were perfect for Hadley’s birthday party so I was glad I had them.

Okay, so first make the cake according to the box and bake in a mini cupcake pan. I used double liners {one fancy, the inside one white} so that the fancy one would stay dry during baking}.

The filling is a take on Lemon Mousse {only the completely cheating version}.  First, whip the whipping cream. I like to add a teaspoon of vanilla and a bit of powdered sugar to flavor.

Next, mix the pudding mix and cold milk in a resealable container. Then shake. Or get your active boys to help. Shake for a few minutes until the pudding thickens.

I have no idea what kind of chemicals they put in this pudding mix to make it thicken so quickly, but I’m just going to pretend like its healthy. Blissful ignorance.

Now add about a cup or two of whipping cream into the pudding and fold together.

Yum : creamy lemon pudding {aka Lemon Mousse}.

To fill the cupcakes, use a pastry bag and round tip. Insert the tip into the center of the cupcake and squeeze the filling in until it begins to come out of the top.

Then use a fancy tip and pipe on fake frosting from a tub. No one will be the wiser. Sprinkle with sanding sugar and you have some darling little cupcakes.

So sweet.

P.S. Thanks for the nice comments about our family photos. We had a fun time and thankfully the kiddos enjoyed themselves long enough to get a few great images.  As you can tell, I have taken to skinny jeans {even though I never thought I would}. I’m a little afraid that I’m going to regret my outfit choice in 15 years when we look back at the photos, but I guess that is part of the fun. My sisters and I have had some good laughs at our old family photos – banana clips, Esprit, layered polo shirts with the collars popped, side ponytails with scrunchies, keds : oh man, I should dig up some of our old photos to share with you all. Anyway, ya’ll are sweet. Kinda like those cupcakes.