The Feisty Girl Turns 1!

We celebrated Julia's first birthday this past weekend along with the 4th of July. It is completely unbelievable that it's been an entire year, but I guess that's just what happens. Somehow our little feister became an even bigger and sweeter feister.

To celebrate, we needed a Julia-safe dessert so we could get the requisite messy face photos. We considered putting a candle on half an avocado, on a wedge of watermelon, and on a mango. Then we considered making a three-tiered fruit cake from giant pieces of cake-shaped fruits - watermelon, honeydew melon, and cantaloupe (thank you Pinterest and Emily). And then I had an idea while in the gluten-free aisle at the grocery store (ok, the sign says "aisle," but it's really more like three shelves). Maybe I could bake her cupcakes, I thought, probably out loud because I don't sleep much. I noticed the baking mixes, and checked out a bag of Pamela's brand cake mix: it's just rice, sugar, leavening, and vanilla. Stuff like that. So I bought it and baked a batch of cupcakes. 

Perfect! Now they just need icing.

The only missing piece was the frosting. Chocolate is out, as is dairy, so I decided to make a blueberry sauce. Why not, right? It was so good. It tastes like blueberry jam, actually, but blueberry jam is delicious so it was a win! 

I had to act quickly while there was still something to photograph!

Feisty Girl Cupcakes with Blueberry Icing

1 bag/box safe cake mix (Pamela's!)

3 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup water

I followed the package directions, except that I used olive oil and added extra vanilla because, well, vanilla. Mix up and bake according to package instructions. 

Blueberry Icing

1 1/2 - 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

scant 1/2 cup sugar

Optional: few drops of citrus juice (I used orange - lemon would work too)

Mix up in a small pot and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar dissolves and some 

of the blueberries explode. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook a few minutes more. Taste! Thicken if desired with xanthan gum, but do note that it'll thicken up a lot as it gets cool. 

Don't frost them ahead of time or the cupcakes will get mushy. Tastes a bit like pound cake with blueberry jam to me. Delicious!