One of my favorite things to do is arrange the large kitchen island seasonally, setting out plates and self serve pieces so everything is handy at meal time
Right now there is a summer vignette is set on the high top end, with beach chair and palm tree candles, an old surfer VW bus, a pineapple plate and a vase with a bright bloom all on a large wood fish that HHjr made
When you first enter the kitchen there is a “snack station,” with jars full of nuts, crackers and cookies
It’s a popular spot!
Small bowls and plates make it easy to grab and go, which keeps traffic out of the kitchen
The center of the island is full of dinner plates and flatware
Hibiscus and watermelon summer plates, and serving pieces in a Nora Fleming utensil holder
I change things around just about monthly, switching out plates and accessories…it gives us a chance to use and enjoy all the different plates I love to collect…pretty soon I will change this to red, white, and blue for the 4th of July
Around on the other side of the island is the “dessert/breakfast station”
Two handpainted domes full of cake, pie, cupcakes, muffins or cookies with small plates nearby
Speaking of cupcakes…
These little watermelon cupcakes brought a lot of ohhs and ahhs
I adapted a recipe from The First Year with a couple of changes
Her regular size cupcakes are green with pink watermelon {Jello} flavored icing and chocolate chips on top
I decided to make mine minis, with pink chocolate chip cake and green swirl icing…like a watermelon, green on the outside and pink on the inside 🍉
I used Wilton gel colors to tint the batter hot pink. You can find them at the grocery store by the cake mixes or at Hobby Lobby and many other stores
I opted for mini chocolate chips since the cupcakes were small
I baked these in paper liners and you can place them in an additional liner to dress them up after baking
I prefer to make my own buttercream, but I didn’t have enough powdered sugar on hand but did have this can of icing… it’s not quite as good in my opinion, but it sure is easy!
I added drops of green food color and swirled it around, not mixing too much as I wanted the icing to look variegated like a watermelon rind
CHOCOLATE CHIP WATERMELON CUPCAKES
Equipment
- silicone mini cupcake pan
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pink and green food coloring
- homemade or canned buttercream icing
- green sprinkles optional
- additional cupcake papers for garnishing
Buttercream Icing
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 Tbsp milk or cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease or line mini cupcake pans.
- Prepare batter by mixing the butter into sugar, beating until fluffy. Add egg whites and beat again. Fold in extract and sour cream with a spatula.
- Mix flour with salt and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add 1/2 of flour to wet ingredients by gently sifting over batter with a spoon. Mix to combine and repeat, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add pink food coloring to batter, stir to an even color and stir in mini chips.
- Scoop into prepared pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes, and remove from oven when just done. Cool cakes completely on wire rack before icing
Buttercream Icing
- Beat Butter with sugar and extract
- Add milk or cream 1 Tbsp at at time, and beat until desired consistency is attained
Notes
Society 6 is having summer sales for the next 3 days:
Sunday: Everything 25% off with code JUNEART
Monday: 30% off art prints with code HANG30
Tuesday: Debut of 3 new tabletop products!! Free shipping on everything with code S6FREESHIP
The best way to navigate through the site is to click on one of the products in the list on the left, such as art prints or throw pillows. This will take you to a page where all of the designs are shown and if you click on one you like, it will take you to that product page where you will find all the products available in this design displayed at the bottom of the page
You can also click on collections, at the top of the main page, and see the different collections, and what is in the collection, such as Summertime here, Tropical here, Take Me to the Sea here
Thanks so much for your visit!
Watermelon Charger/ tutorial here
Hibiscus plates, wood handled flatware/Bed Bath & Beyond
Watermelon plates, small fruit plates/Home Goods
🍉 🍉 🍉
I will be joining these fabulous parties and blogs:
Dishing it & Digging it, Between Naps on the Porch, Make it Pretty Monday
Cooking and Crafting with J&J, Celebrate and Decorate,
Delicious Dishes Recipe Party Oh My Heartsie Girl Full Plate Thursday