Cinderella Undercover

Lindsay and Sean are expecting their baby boy, their little Work In Progress, any day now.

In June, I and a cross section of their friends threw them a baby shower to welcome little WIP (or "Baby Adonis" as he is also affectionately known).

The five of us decided that the baby shower should be co-ed because it takes two, baby, and it made for a really fun and relaxed party.

We weren't big on traditional baby shower games but we came up with a game that was fun to watch and hopefully fun to play! Lindsay and Sean love good food so we enlisted a fellow foodie to whip up some delicious meals, then puree them into baby food. There were 5 meals: sushi, vegetarian pizza, pork chops and applesauce with potatoes and two desserts -- a chocolatey one and a caramelly one. Lindsay and Sean squared off against each other, tasting each glob of gourmet mush and wrote down what they thought they were eating. The winner won a gift certificate entitling them to 24 hours of freedom from diaper duty. Way to go, Lindsay!

I volunteered to make cupcakes for the shower and nope, I'm not sick of them yet! My challenge was to make at least one flavour that was gluten-free. I choose vanilla after finding a wonderful recipe here (scroll down to #116).



For quick reference, the recipe is pasted below. It is absolutely delicious and I'm glad to say that our gluten-free guest really enjoyed them!

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
From The Food Philosopher

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1¼ cups brown rice flour mix (found at Bulk Barn)
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon xanthan gum (not actually a gum but a powder...you can buy it at Bulk Barn)
½ cup canola oil
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place cupcake baking liners in 12–cupcake baking pan.
Beat sugar and eggs in large bowl of electric mixer at medium speed.
Add flour, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, oil, milk and vanilla; beat at medium speed for 1 minute.
Pour batter into prepared pans.
Place in center of oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until center springs back to touch and cake is very lightly browned.
Cool on rack for 5 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from pans onto rack and cool completely before icing.
Top with your favorite icing.

The other cupcakes were chocolate and lemon. Remember the recipes from my cupcake post? The chocolate and lemon cupcakes had blue icing to help distinguish them from the vanilla gluten-free ones. A nice subtle blue, right? :)



For giveaways, we made gift bags containing all blue candy. Did you know that Bulk Barn has 5 different blue candies and all of them match? The little bags were tied in peacock blue and white yarn. You can see the bags in the background of the cupcake photos.



Finally, my piece de resistance -- the Hemlock Ring blanket. I am a huge fan of this pattern and I was lucky enough to make it twice this summer (photos of the adult-sized blanket to come soon). I found it on the Rainey Sisters blog via Brooklyn Tweed. After four false starts, I was on my way and I am so happy with how it turned out. Here it is modeled by a bear:



Congratulations Lindsay and Sean!

Labels: Gorgeous Things Undercover, kniticisms, The Undercover Kitchen