Final Update: August 25, 2021!
When I was pregnant last year, there were so many reasons it felt like a cloud was hanging over us, the pandemic being just one of them. Most of the time we powered through, busy with work, getting the house ready for the baby, and like everyone else in the world, tracking down toilet paper and disinfecting our groceries took up 80% of whatever time was left over! The upcoming early months with the baby seemed very daunting at the time, especially since we were not going to have anyone to help out at home, so to make it fun and to have something to mark the milestones and celebrate the fact that we were “surviving” early parenthood, I planned this very special little side project: I decided that for each of our baby’s monthly birthdays (the 25th of each month), I would make a seasonal cupcake recipe, and take his picture with the cupcakes!
Early baby days often seemed like a blur. All days felt the same, and many times, it was hard to distinguish day and night, let alone tell apart one day from the next! Thinking about what I’m going to bake at the end of the month made things more exciting, and it was also fun to slowly get back into baking and the kitchen, my first second third love.
Thanks to our amazing friends and family near and far for helping us – dropping off homemade meals for us, picking up groceries for us, checking in on us, guiding us, and just being there for us – Nikhil and I have made it through the first 6 months of Aaroh’s life! 6 months ago today, this milestone seemed so, so far away! But here we are: happy, excited (and exhausted of course), ready for what’s next! I, for one, am particularly excited about introducing him to food. If he’s anything like his parents, it is going to be a fun ride full of adventure!
I am full of gratitude today for a happy and healthy baby, a superhero of a husband, and family+friends near and far. I am also grateful for everyone’s continued good health, and the shared sense of HOPE about the vaccine making its way through the world.
Sharing my seasonal bakes in this post, and I will continue to update them through August 2021, when Aaroh will be a year old (and cupcakes probably won’t cut it). Watch this space for more!
The goal of this project was to bake something with a fruit (or flavors) in season that month in California, possibly incorporating an adjacent holiday/festival if applicable. For some of these, I didn’t get a chance to document with step-by-step photos the way I usually do, but I have written up the recipes and my hope is to do my usual step-by-step thing before I conclude this project in August 2021.
September | Pear
pear walnut muffins (dusted with powdered sugar) and an eyebrow-less 1 month old Aaroh, already giving us glimpses of his smile (this one was a complete fluke).
October | Apple
chai-spiced applesauce cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting, and a 2-month old tiny bird, smiling, responding to music, and pooping up a storm!
November | Pumpkin
pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and a 3-month old Aaroh, totally nailing the ol’ grandpa vibe in these suspenders! Rawr.
December | Christmas
chocolate gingerbread cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting and a 4-month old baby Santa, giving Aai and Daddy the best Christmas present ever: sleeping through the night!
January | Grapefruit
grapefruit and poppy seed muffins with yogurt poppy seed glaze and homemade candied grapefruit slices, and a 5-month old Ninja, testing his skills on my cupcakes and smashing them with his imaginary nunchucks!
February | Orange
blood orange and chocolate chunk cupcakes with whipped chocolate ganache frosting and sprinkles, and a wee little 6-month giggle monster, grabbing everything in sight and putting everything in his mouth!
March | Lemon lemon cupcakes with lemon icing and our 7 month old ready to head to the beach (in our heads, anyway)!
April | Blackberry blackberry coconut cupcakes with blackberry buttercream for our li’l moose, full of trouble and mischief!
May | Mango vegan whole grain mango cupcakes with vegan mango frosting, and our 9 month old who we could distract long enough with a mango to click this picture!
June | Strawberry
strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting for our li’l man who hadn’t yet noticed the 22 pink squishy things within arm’s reach!
July | Blueberry
blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting for our tiny energizer bunny, who cannot be persuaded to be still for even a minute these days!
August | Peach
peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting for our ONE year old! Yes, he is ONE!
zezoo cooks 
Very cute
Sent from my iPhone
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Marvelous way to burst post partum pressure…( in oven)..
Bless you Aroha on your orange chocolate chunk birthday 🎂
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Such a innovative idea with cupcakes and baby Aaroh 👌👍 with smile on his face Aaroh is also enjoying it
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Very nice idea.. Sweet and cute Aaroh enjoying with small copcakes….and I am also excited to see the next month Aroh with cupcakes..
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