Emma’s birthday was on Monday.  Lots of birthdays around here– hers Monday, mine today.  She turned 3 which, to me, means she’s not a baby anymore.  3 means almost ready for kindergarten.  Makes me sad.

Anyway, we threw her a little surprise party on Sunday because she had been staying with my parents for the weekend and they were bringing her back home.  We had my Nutburgers (which everyone LOVED– my Dad even asked for the recipe even though he claims that most of my vegan recipes are “too labor intensive”), along with some broccoli, watermelon, and store bought potato chips and popcorn.  Emma loves popcorn.

For dessert, I made some strawberry cupcakes!  I have never in my life had strawberry cake before, but I think it is now one of my favorites.  I may even try the same recipe with peaches this summer when fresh peaches are so abundant.  The recipe is in the The Joy of Vegan Baking.  I frosted them with a Strawberry Buttercream, which was a modification of the Raspberry Buttercream recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Since it’s not exactly the same recipe, it’s probably safe to post it here.  I found the cake to be delicious, but the frosting to be insanely sweet when combined with the cake.  Tips for improving the sweetness level at the bottom of the recipe.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

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1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 TB strawberry flavored syrup (the kind for making Italian sodas, not for waffles)

Cream together the shortening and margarine. Add the powdered sugar and syrup. If frosting is too thin, add more sugar.

As you can see, this recipe is pure sugar (and fat).  Next time, I will order some strawberry extract from the internet somewhere (impossible to find in the stores) and use a teaspoon of that.  Then cut back the syrup by half and add a splash of soymilk if it is too thick.  That would probably be the best way to achieve a strong strawberry flavor without it being overwhelmingly sweet.