Alayne’s 30th Cupcake Party!

June 16, 2011 at 7:00 am | Posted in Appetizer, Dessert, Dinner, Entertainment | 8 Comments

Alayne, sweet and fun Alayne. We met through cookbook club and I am SO THANKFUL I can call her my friend now. She and I have some growing pains to share in our lives and I know we will make it through and come out on top! So whats cute about Alayne is that she lovvvveeeessss cupcakes, basically obsessed. So when the cookbook club ladies started planning this back in April we knew cupcakes had to be front and center! Here she is with one of the delicious chocolate ones with that awesome party hat.

Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderfriend Alayne! Go for the jump and see more food and fun…

There were lots of bright colors and fun margarita glasses with umbrellas and everything! We went all out!

And the cupcakes were just as festive!

The chocolate cupcake recipe came from my favorite as of late and this attempt did not dissapoint! Joanne made the buttercream icing from our new Bake book and split it in half, one for a chocolate batch and another for a coffee batch. The coffee/chocolate cupcakes (with the caramel drizzle) were definitely the tastiest of the day.

The red velvet ones were good, there was just something that made them too tangy and heavy. Next time I’m going to pass on the pioneer woman recipe and use Annie’s eats!

Joanne and Renee whipped up some deviled eggs. I had fun helping to peel the eggs… ewww eggs…

We also had some nice and fresh watermelon courtesy of Joanne.

I made my quintessential party recipe, black bean confetti salad! Although this batch needed some more salt and a bit less onion….

Joanne whipped up a batch of fresh salsa to go with the fresh Tortilleria Sinaloa chips.

And there were margaritas… out of a jug! Renee and Robby whipped these up and it was a new and interesting recipe because they used the whole limes and made a lime puree!

Maria brought these amazing appetizers. First was dried apricots topped with blue cheese, pistachios and honey. To die for.

And some caprese salads on skewers. She topped it with a bit of red pepper flakes so they were spicy!

Maria also brought her now famous broccoli salad that she had made for the Bake! party. Love this recipe, I could eat it all day, and then consequently burp up broccoli for a week…

There some other treats brought to the party that I neglected to photograph… some delicious black bottom cupcakes and some oatmeal cookies that smelled so fresh and tasty. Julie brought some prosciutto wrapped asparagus and that was also to die for. Tinacria is where its at for cured meats! And Joanne made an awesome huge salad with mushrooms and easy dressing. Definitely chowed down on that alot.

But the star of the show?? The paella that Finn and Joanne made. Amazing! The two types of sausage (chorizo and lamb) paired with the mussels and shrimp and squid and chicken thighs was amazing! I think there was a ton of leftover. We sure do know how to feed a party!

And after all of the eating Alayne got to open some presents…

Karaoke machine with CD’s!

And we proceeded to karaoke the night away, followed by more impromptu dance parties well into the late night.  Dancing parties that may or may not have involved a ceramic cat…

Love my dancing queen wonderfriend! And love all of my other cookbook club gals. We sure know how to treat each other right, I am so thankful!