Belly Cakes and Eye Candy: Petite Lemon

Spring is here, summer is around the corner, and I'm in the mood for things that are fresh and bright. Those are the perfect words to describe today's lemon belly cakes and the nursery eye candy from Petite Lemon.

Prep time: 10 min
Bake time: 20 min
Makes: 12 cupcakes (6 belly cake jars)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup yellow cake mix (Note: boxed cake mixes are generally about four cups, so one cake mix can make three different belly cake recipes. If you want to use the whole box, multiply all the other ingredients by three.)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp sour cream or greek yogurt
• Lemon extract
• 6 empty baby food jars 
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• Lemon zest (optional)

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 12 cupcake papers in a cupcake pan.

(2) Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix egg, water, cake mix, vegetable oil, and sour cream (or greek yogurt) together. Add a few drops of lemon extract to taste...a little bit will make the cake fresh, a lot will lemon it up enough to keep morning sickness at bay. Pour into cupcake papers, filling 2/3rds of the way.

(3) Bake 20 min and set out to cool.

(4) To make the buttercream frosting, use an electric mixer to blend softened butter and confectioners sugar. If it's too powdery, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.

(5) To make the belly cakes, put one unwrapped cupcake into the bottom of the jar. Using a pastry bag or a Ziploc with the corner cut off, add a layer of buttercream frosting and top with a second cupcake. Pipe more frosting and finish it off with little bit of lemon zest if you'd like. You can eat them right away or, even better, refrigerate them and they'll be a refreshing snack on a hot day. The frosting hardens up, but it's still delicious!

These little cakes were inspired by Petite Lemon, a company that offers the most darling customized children's goods. Prepare to fall in love...

Eye Candy: Bamboo Teething Keys by Urban Infant

How cute are these? And they're eco-friendly and ethical to boot. I love these kind of things for baby gifts because they're so simple and sweet.

via Fab.com

Belly Cakes: Banana Nutter Butter

This is a favorite in our house and if you only ever make one cake from this blog, go with this one. The cake is insanely moist (almost like it was steamed) and the chunky peanut butter frosting is so good you could pretty much eat it by itself. Heaven!


Prep time: 10 min
Bake time: 20 min
Makes: 12 cupcakes (6 belly cake jars)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup yellow cake mix (Note: boxed cake mixes are generally about four cups, so one cake mix can make three different belly cake recipes. If you want to use the whole box, multiply all the other ingredients by three.)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 egg
• 6 oz jar of Gerber 3rd Foods bananas (If you don't want to use baby food, you can skip this ingredient or sub in an extra half of a banana. That being said, there's nothing but bananas and water in Gerber's baby food and the moisture it adds to the cake is phenomenal. Plus, this is a great way to acquire an extra baby food jar if you're still pregnant and sans baby food!)
• 1 very ripe banana
• 6 empty baby food jars (you can use the one from the bananas above)
• 1/3 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• Mini Nutter Butter cookie (optional)

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 12 cupcake papers in a cupcake pan.

(2) Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix egg, water, cake mix, vegetable oil, baby food, and banana together until mostly smooth (small chunks of bananas is fine). Pour into cupcake papers, filling 2/3rds of the way.

(3) Bake 20 min and set out to cool. The cakes will look spongy and a little less risen than usual cupcakes, but as long as you can poke a toothpick into the middle and bring it out clean, they're fine.

(4) To make the chunky peanut butter frosting, use an electric mixer to blend cream cheese and peanut butter. Slowly mix in the confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. If it's too powdery, add water a tablespoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.

(5) To make the belly cakes, put one unwrapped cupcake into the bottom of the jar. Using a pastry bag or a Ziploc with the corner cut off, add a layer of peanut butter frosting and top with a second cupcake. Pipe more frosting and finish it off with a mini Nutter Butter if you'd like. Personally, I think these cakes are amazing but those little Nutter Butters still manage to add something special...