Birthday party time

The baby's birthday has come around again.  I am a procrastinator and of course cake needs to be baked the night before anyway so always a late night before the birthday party.  Makes for baggy eyes every year!  Buuut, I guess that's what makeup is for.  The baby's enjoyment is much more important than looking good in pictures, right?


Anyhooooo...I must say that despite the fact that I wait until the last minute to get things done, I am quite pleased with the creativity that ensues surrounding her birthdays.  This year,  I had to work around one dietary restriction - NO dairy.  Undaunted, I made two dairy free cakes frosting and all.  All to great acclaim.  Interested?  Recipes in links below.

This is a chocolate cake with a most delicious cashew nut frosting.  I mean, why wouldn't I love a blog titled "detoxinista"?

And this is vanilla cake with a chocolate "superfood" frosting.  Yes, all dairy free.  Meanwhile, I must thank Leelabean for a delicious cake recipe.  I substituted water for almond milk.

And for party favors, I think I found the idea for pink pony jars on Pinterest.  I kinda goofed on the execution cuz it was just supposed to be ponies on the top but because I wasn't meticulous about the glue drippings the tops were looking real sloppy.  Whoops!  No worries, I covered it all up with some moss.  :o)

Then came the question of what to put in the jars?  Candy would be too simple...and against my personal judgement given that I try not to contribute to the candy craze.  Perfect solution - play dough!  Homemade.  

Pink coloring (which was supposed to be purple) was made with blueberries.  Yellow coloring was made with turmeric and well, the last batch which kind of looks peachy colored was supposed to be pink and made with beets (that's what I get for not using a whole beet and only the stems)!