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Are you a beach person?
I am...it's in my New Jersey DNA.
From the time I was a little kid,
the beach has always been there, ebbing and flowing
alongside the milestones in my life.
Wherever my next home may be,
I don't think it can be too far from the ocean.
To me, there's nothing like a day at the beach...
except for maybe a nap on the beach...
or a shower after a beach day.
Yeah, life's simple pleasures.
Living fairly close to the ocean
was definitely the best thing about growing up in NJ.
In just over an hour, your could drive "down the shore"
to spend the day slathered in baby oil and iodine,
in the full, blazing sun, perhaps with a reflector in hand.
Sitting under an umbrella? Unheard of.
Oh, how we didn't know what we didn't know!
I remember one day, my friends and I cut school to go down the shore.
(Be True To Your School? Nah!
We were high school seniors and already accepted into colleges,
so we figured, what the heck.
As we were driving south on the Garden State Parkway,
my friend's mother was driving north...
She spotted us with her eagle eyes, as we were quite conspicuous
in our Little Deuce Coupe -
a yellow Volkswagon Beetle convertible.
Busted!
I think we went anyway,
and suffered the consequences when we got home.
The beach always seemed to be a backdrop for the best of times...
A post-senior prom overnight at a beach house down the shore
(how in the world did my parents ever let me go?)
I am telling you right now, Junior Goo Shoes will NOT have that same privilege!
Renting houses at the Jersey shore for a couple of summers ...
We were college Girls On The Beach!
Taking my first "share" in a house on Fire Island, when I started working in NYC,
and continuing that for 10 years...
That was Fun Fun Fun!
Meeting Mr. Goo Shoes during one of those summers in Fire Island...
Ah, the Summer of Love.
Movin' on up, and spending summers in the Hamptons with a group of our friends...
We I Get Around, oh, yes I do.
Having Mr. Goo Shoes asking me to be
his permanent Surfer Girl on the beach of Westhampton.
Buying a house in East Hampton, because God Only Knows that we thought
there wasn't going to be a Baby Goo Shoes (read about it here).
But we were wrong :)
Is it any wonder that we picked these birth announcements?
Boy, this is turning out to be a pretty sappy post.
Time to switch gears and make some cupcakes.
I wish I could take credit for the design of these cupcakes,
but I saw variations of them all over Pinterest.
I combined a few ideas to try make them my own.
All that's needed to decorate them
are a few ingredients and a somewhat steady hand.
I tinted the frosting with Sky Blue Icing Color.
The waves were made with Sparkle Gel for cakes, cookies and cupcakes.
The sand? It's just brown sugar.
Vanilla Cupcakes:
(Yield: 15-16 cupcakes)
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350°
In a medium bowl, add cake flour baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with a whisk and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.
Add sugar, and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla and oil; beat.
Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half the flour mixture. Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour, and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined. Scrape down the side of the bowl.
The batter will be thin. Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full.
Bake cupcakes 12-14 minutes.
Cool in pan for 2 minutes; carefully lift out of tin and finish cooling on a wire rack.
Frost cupcakes when completely cool.
Note: Double the recipe for an 8 or 9 inch cake.
Buttercream Frosting:
I pound box confectioners sugar 3 3/4 cups
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
3 -4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, with electric mixer at low speed, combine sugar, butter, milk and vanilla.
Beat at medium speed 1 -2 minutes until creamy.
If desired, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.
For Blue Icing:
Add drops of Icing Gel (or food coloring), one or two at a time, to achieve desired color.
For Waves:
Draw squiggles with Sparkle Gel.
For Sand:
Dip edge of cupcake in brown sugar.
So, I'm sitting here on my deck on a glorious afternoon,
itching to hop in the car and head down the shore to Catch A Wave.
I could be there in just over an hour, which would get me there by 4pm.
Oh, Wouldn't It Be Nice!
Hmmm...Two hours on the beach,
and then I could drive home in rush-hour traffic.
I think not.
I'll just have to crank up the Beach Boys,
and eat one of these Sand and Surf cupcakes, instead.
These days, I have to take the beach in any way I can get it.
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