graduation cupcakes

Life has been a whirlwind lately. We whooshed off to Disney World over the weekend for a Food Blog Forum conference, (which, by the way was much better than last year) and came home just in time for a graduation. Of course, any big event like this in my house calls for cupcakes.

Actually, small events call for cupcakes too….

“You didn’t have any homework?”

Cupcakes.

“You stubbed your toe?”

Cupcakes.

And, having cupcakes at home is the perfect excuse to bow out of dessert when you’re out to eat.

“Would you care to try our new dessert menu?”

“Oh, not thank you, we have cupcakes at home.”

And, that’s exactly how the conversation went.

These cupcakes were made for my daughter’s Kindergarten graduation, which makes me realize that one day I will be making cupcakes for high school graduation- a thought that is very hard for my mind to wrap around.

But, I’m not going to worry about high school now. Right now- she’s all mine in her 5 year old glory. Complete with tea parties, dressing up and getting messy eating ice cream.( Or cupcakes.) Actually she is still at the stage where she only eats the frosting. (When I let her) I’m sure at some point she’ll develop a taste for the “bread” (aka cake part) until then, I’m happy eating “the bread” for her.

Now- quick confession: I didn’t go homemade with these. I did a good quality box mix and replaced the water with milk, and the oil with melted butter. Little mama test kitchen secret. 😉 Makes any old box taste homemade. I did go homemade with the frosting, however. I loathe canned frosting. As for the chocolate, I used Ghiradelli squares. Because they’re square and awesome (but, you already knew that)

At first they may not look like much, but after you add a few tassels…