THE BIG 3

     Just winding down from a day of lots of busy excitement as my little boy turns 3.  His birthday isn't actually until Thursday, but we celebrated it today with lots of fun and friends.  I look back at last year's birthday party and wonder how  I managed to do it all!  I pared down the extravagance big time this year due to the fact that we now have two little ones to tend to, but I tried to still keep it special and delicious. 

     As you may remember, I have committed to striving to live as plastic-free a life as possible, which means not buying products packaged in plastic or made of plastic.  So last year at birthday time I bought Chinese paper lanterns instead of balloons.  The beauty of these lanterns is that they can be used over and over again, and they add a nice festive touch to parties.  The paper theme continued over to the corner where we hung a pinata shaped like a sun wearing sunglasses.  I stuffed this sucker full of little wooden toys, chocolate coins, and fruit sticks.  I had an uneasy feeling this "pull ribbon" variety of pinata was a dud.  I was right, after pulling off all the ribbons the darn thing didn't open.  I had to seriously put a lot of effort into busting the thing open to get the candies out....oh well.

     Since Faegan is now three, I thought we could try letting the little ones make their own pizzas.  The dough and toppings were made in advance and ready to go for when the guests arrived.  After some outdoor play and a snack of popcorn with (unintentional) burnt butter, they went to work creating their very own pies.  My favorite was the pizza face, made by chewing away bits of pepperoni to make a smile and pupils.  

     The sweetest part of the party of course was dessert.  Today was a great opportunity to try making super large cupcakes with the pan I've had kicking around since last years aborted baking idea.  I thought it would be neat to give each kid their very own cake to eat instead of cutting into a traditional birthday cake.  My favorite maple chocolate cake recipe translated fairly well over to cupcakes, except they sort of sunk in the middle.  No matter though, they still tasted great, especially when served with a side of homemade honey ice cream.  

MAPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE

(makes one 6” layer cake or 9 large cupcakes)

¾ cup organic whole wheat flour

1 cup organic unbleached white flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¾ cup organic cocoa powder

½ tsp sea salt

1 cup organic whole milk

½ cup organic vegetable oil (sunflower or safflower)

1 ½ cups local maple syrup

1 tsp organic apple cider vinegar

2 tsp pure organic vanilla

Method: Preheat oven to 350*.  Prepare two 6” round cake pans by greasing them with some oil and then lining with parchment paper cut into rounds.  Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl.  Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, and then stir in the cocoa powder until dissolved.  Whisk the oil, maple syrup, vinegar and vanilla into the cocoa mixture.  Stir the wet ingredients into to the dry.  Pour into prepared cake pans and bake in 350* oven for 45-60 minutes in cake pans and for 22 minutes in the cupcake pan.  Allow to cool on a  baking rack for 10 minutes before removing cakes from pans.  Cool completely before icing.


MAPLE CHOCOLATE ICING


1/2 cup organic cocoa powder, sifted
100 g organic unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp pure organic vanilla extract
1/2 cup local maple syrup


Method:  Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  Add the vanilla and maple syrup.  Slowly stir in the cocoa powder.

HONEY VANILLA ICE CREAM

4 organic egg yolks

1/2 cup local honey

1 cups organic cream

1 cups organic whole milk

1 tsp organic vanilla

Method:  Whisk the egg yolks with the honey.  Set aside.

In a saucepan over medium low heat, bring cream and milk to a simmer and then gradually whisk into the egg mixture.

Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Stir in vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate until cold.  Stir and transfer into an ice cream maker.