Pink Champagne Baby Shower

Whew!  What a week...Super Saturday, lunch meetings, MPI (Meeting Professionals International) all day meeting, more meetings, deadlines, craft night and finally catering a baby shower. Needless to say I completely crashed this afternoon!  But I was so excited that the baby shower food turned out after hours of slaving cooking away in the kitchen, I must share with you.  Always good to post some recipes as well.

So when I was asked to come up with a menu for the shower, of course all I could think about was pink cupcakes.  It's a girl!  Then I saw this recipe for Pink Champagne Cupcakes and I had to make them.  Slight problem...I don't drink.  So both of my brothers had to be my taste testers.  One of my brothers is a chef so I had no qualms about that. 

Recipe

Pink Champagne Cupcakes
1 box of white cake mix
1 1/4 cups of champagne
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
4 to 5 drops of red food coloring (I used the gel food coloring)

Champagne Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup champagne
1 tsp. vanilla
4 to 5 drops of red food coloring
Pink sugar crystals or pearls

Step 1
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.

Step 2
In large bowl, mix dry cake mix and champagne. Add oil, egg whites and food color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Step 3 Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Step 4

In medium bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Sprinkle with garnishes. Store loosely covered.

Makes 24 cupcakes

I also made some darling little fruit kabobs.  But these were not just any fruit kabobs, they were rainbow fruit kabobs with a delicious cream cheese pineapple coconut dip.  Pretty easy and great looking.

Recipe

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

1-2 pints of strawberries

3 peaches or oranges or 1 canelope

1 whole fresh pineapple

green grapes

1/2 pint of blueberries

purple/red grapes

1 bag of skewers

Pineapple Coconut Dip

1/2 cup frozen pineapple juice concentrate

8oz. of cream cheese

1/2 cup of shredded coconut

1 tsp. of imitation coconut flavoring

1/2 cup of toasted coconut

Step 1

Prep all of your fruit.  Just chop in big chunks.

Step 2
Put fruit on the skewers in order of color (strawberry, peach, pineapple, green grape, 3 blueberries, purple grape...just like a rainbow!) and arrange on a platter.

Step 3

In a bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the dip.  Put in a serving bowl and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

My favorite part of the menu was this.....Brie En Croute or translated as Brie baked in puffed pastry.

Recipe

Maple Raspberry Baked Brie

1 large sheet if puff pastry dough

1 round of Brie cheese or Camembert (leave rind on)

Raspberry jam

Brown sugar

Maple syrup

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2

On a stick free cookie sheet or use parchment paper underneath, lay out puff pastry. 

Step 3

Cut off thin top of Brie.  Put the jam on top.  Turn over quickly and place down on top of the puff pastry.

Step 4

Wrap up the Brie.  Just bring up each corner and press together.  Turnover smooth side up and bake.  (if you want a cut out, take it from the first corner you would fold up, see pic)

Step 5

Drizzle maple syrup over top and sprinkle brown sugar.

Step 6

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool 10 minutes before slicing open and serving.  Serve with crackers, bread, or apple slices.

Serves 10 people

This is a crowd pleaser for sure and so easy!  I have some other party throwing tips for you.  I think a few things that could be difficult to decide is how much food to make and how many different items.  There are some different things to consider.  What time a day is the party?  Woman or men?  Are you providing a full meal or just some tasty bites?  For today's tips I will assume it is an afternoon party for 24 women and we are serving small bites.  I decided to serve mini chicken salad croissant sandwiches, baked Brie, (2) different types of cupcakes, and our rainbow fruit kabobs.  

Here are my suggestions for a party like this baby shower I catered...

1 savory meat item (chicken salad sandwiches)

1 savory vegetarian item (Brie)

1 healthy item (fruit) 

2 dessert options (cupcakes)

I normally would not have done two sets of cupcakes, but it was requested by the client.  I probably would have done one cupcake and one other item making sure that one is chocolate and one is not.

In deciding how much to make per person, a few notes.  You want to think about what items someone would have one or two...or three of and cost.  And then make the appropriate amount.  In the hotel business when we suggest amounts for how many appetizers for a light reception it would be 5 to 8 pieces per person.  So for this example, I made enough mini sandwiches for each person to have two, they were really small. One fruit kabob (only because fruit is expensive, but I am sure one person could easily have two).  I made two baked Brie, one serves about 10-12. For the cupcakes I assumed 1 1/2 cupcakes per person.  Figuring some will want one of each and some will just want one.

I hope this is helpful.  If you have any questions, please comment below.