This post has been due for over a month now. My daughter turned 1 last month and I wanted to share the pictures with you. But September was dedicated to 'A-Z dishes from Andhra' and with the other things that were going on in couldn't post this earlier. It is better late than never, so here are with some pictures of my little one's first birthday.
Since it was a late Summer birthday I wanted a backyard party. We were lucky to have a perfect day weatherwise. I wanted to have a Minnie Mouse theme -- just because I wanted too 🙂 Our friend N did all the decorations. Only thing we made (actually it was my idea, but the whole project was done by my husband) was the time-line garland with the pictures of the birthday girl from every month (in the first pic).
It was a buffet style lunch and I made almost all of the dishes ahead of time. We had toss salad (mixed baby greens with canned corn, cherry tomatoes & cucumbers) with 2 dressings, Quinoa salad with roasted veggies (almost like this one but with Quinoa), Wraps (2 types of filling): veggie & spinach-chickpea. My friend N made her famous veggie Spring rolls -- these are always a hit at every party. Will try to post her recipe soon.
Then I made Cauliflower-potato curry, jeera rice, raita and store-bought naan. We also had some fresh fruit salad.
I made cupcakes 2 types -- Chocolate-Vanilla marble & Pistachio-Rosewater. This one with the candle on it is the chocolate-vanilla cupcake. I couldn't take pictures of the inside since they were all gone in no time.
Coming to the recipe of the day, I made these Rosewater-Pistachio cupcakes for the adults. Recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes take over the world. They were a hit too, rose syrup I added to the frosting gave them a pretty pink look.
Ingredients
For the Pistachio Cupcakes:
- 1 cup All purpose Flour plus 2tbsp
- 2 tbsps Cornstarch
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- pinch Cardamom Ground - generous
- ½ cup Vanilla Soy Yogurt (I used sour cream, even regular yogurt would work)
- ⅔ cup Soy milk Rice Milk or
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil
- ¾ cup Sugar - plus 2tbsp
- 1 - 2 tbsps Rosewater
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract (optional)
- ⅓ cup Pistachios - finely chopped (lightly toasted, if desired)
Rosewater Glaze:
- 1¼ - 1½ cups Sugar Confectioners - sifted
- 1 tbsp Butter Margarine /
- ½ tsp Rosewater
- 1 tsp Rose syrup
- 2 - 3 tsps Soy milk Milk / (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, soy milk, oil, sugar, vanilla extract (if using) and rosewater.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Mix until smooth, few small lumps are fine.
- Fold in chopped pistachios.
- Fill liners ¾s of the way. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.
- With a fork, cream together half of the confectioners sugar and butter/ margarine till mixture resembles fine crumbs.
- Add in soymilk/ milk, rose water and rose syrup and beat in the remaining confectioner's sugar. Mixture should have the consistency of a thick batter with a satiny sheen. Adjust consistency by adding soymilk or confectioner's sugar.
Notes
Priya Srinivasan
Happy birthday to the lil one!!! that month-wise photo garland is awesome!!! Pink frosting perfect for the day!!!!
Usha Rao
I love the timeline garland of the birthday girl's picture and that is a nice spread of food. Love the color of the rosewater glaze. I am sure even the Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes were gone in no time!
Global Tastes & Travels Inc.
such a great post. I love the timeline idea..so nice and your friends spring rolls look amazing - you must post her recipe soon - cupcakes look amazing - you decorated so beautifully with pink and green from pistacchios make them look so pretty!
Global Tastes & Travels Inc.
such a great post. I love the timeline idea..so nice and your friends spring rolls look amazing - you must post her recipe soon - cupcakes look amazing - you decorated so beautifully with pink and green from pistacchios make them look so pretty!
Janani
oh nice flavorful and satisfying.
Vinitha
Birthday wishes to the 1 year old and lovely cupcakes 🙂
Harini-Jaya Rupanagudi
Lovely setup, great tasting food and warm wishes and blessing to the little one!!
PJ
Hugs and B'day wishes to the lil one The time line pic idea is really cool! Love it and the post is really an awesome one. Thanks for sharing the bday party pics. The cake is yum and love the color with the pista garnish 🙂
nayana
wishes for birthday and cute pink cupcakes, loved the rose flavour....
veena krishnakumar
Lovely post. Loved the cup cakes and the rolls too!!1
veena krishnakumar
Lovely post. Loved the cup cakes and the rolls too:-)
Srivalli
Wow that's seems to have been so much work Pavani..love the decorations and all your spread..I am sure your guests enjoyed the spread!