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Edible Crafts

Mini Brownie Sundaes

Mini Brownie Sundaes via @DomesticFits

This is another one of my "it’s not a recipe" recipes. Because it’s not, it’s assembly instructions on how to assemble these cute little party desserts.

I made these for the Forth, a huge hit with with the under 5 set, and small enough to be the perfect size for little fingers.

The only thing I would do differently next time is nix the cupcake wrapper. It was too difficult to try and disrobe the mini brownies when they are piled high with ice cream and toppings.

Mini Brownie Sundaes via @DomesticFits

I used my favorite brownie batter, and next time will just liberally spray the mini muffin tins instead of using the cupcake papers. If you want to buy them, most "brownie bites" come sans cupcake wrappers, so you’ll be all set. If you want to make them from scratch, skip the wrappers, use a brownie batter not a cupcake batter (you want to avoid the domed top and hope for a concave one), and let them cool completely before topping with ice cream.

Mini Brownie Sundaes via @DomesticFits

If you have the freezer space, you can make up trays of these in advance and just pull them out when the moment strikes. I used an amazing grilled peach ice cream that I’ll be posting later in the week, but for a classic flavor combo, good ol' vanilla works just fine.

Mini Brownie Sundaes via @DomesticFits

Mini Ice Cream Sundaes

Yield: 24

Ingredients

  • 24 chocolate mini muffins, cupcakes or brownie bites
  • 1 pint ice cream
  • 2 cups whipped cream
  • sprinkles
  • 24 cherries

Instructions

  1. Place the mini brownies on a serving tray.
  2. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out a ball of ice cream and firmly place it on top of each brownie.
  3. Top with whipped cream, then sprinkles then a cherry.
  4. Serve immediately.

Notes

If making from scratch, use brownie batter rather than cake batter to avoid a domed top. Skip cupcake papers and spray mini muffin tins liberally. Use a cookie scoop for the perfect sized ice cream ball.

Mini Brownie Sundaes via @DomesticFits

Boozy (or not) Watermelon Stars

I have a confession to make. 

I stole this idea from my friend Tori. She is the genius behind The Shiksa In The Kitchen. And if you watch the morning news, anywhere in America, there is a chance she cooked up something special on your TV. She is a big hit in New York and San Francisco especially, but can you blame them? She’s gorgeous, smart and nicer than you could ever expect. 

Even when the inevitable day comes when she gets her own cooking or travel show, she will be the girl who sits in the airport terminals between flights and answers your cooking question via twitter, because she’s that nice. 

We met over crayons and wide ruled paper in Mrs. Newets 4th grade class room. We lost touch when I moved to Eastern Washington, because we are both older than the internet, but met up again through blogging. Which is one of the reasons I love blogging. And why I love when my friends in the computer, become real life humans who call me on the phone and invite me to have lunch with Mario Batali. 

I’m going to show you how to make these watermelons into stars for that I Heart America holiday that is rapidly approaching, but you’ll have to go over to her blog to find out how to put booze in them

Make sure you do, because whats more American than produce and booze? Good Bless the USA. 

Go check out: Tori’s Watermelon Mojito Pops!

Watermelon Stars

Materials:

1 medium sized watermelon

14-18 large blueberries

6 inch wooden skewers

Cap to a Chapstick tube


Step One:

Slice the watermelon into 1 inch rings. 

Step Two:

Lay the rings on a flat surface and cut out as many stars as you can with a Star shaped cookie cutter. You should be able to get two or three stars out of each ring. If the stars are too fat, cut them in half width wise to make two thinner stars. Be sure to reserve the watermelon "scraps."

Step Three:

I know this is a little skeevey, but bear with me, use the cap to a Chapstick tube to cut out a hole in the center of your star. It’s odd that I’m asking you to go find a tube of Chapstick to add to your kitchen equipment, but if you are anything like me, you have handfuls of those things in every drawer and purse in your house. 

Just push the cap all the way through the center of the star. The hole is the perfect size for a large blueberry. 

Step Four:

Place a blueberry in the hole in the center of the star. 

Step Five:

Press a six inch skewer into the watermelon and through the blueberry. 


watermelon stars5

Step Six:

Go to Tori’s site and she will tell you how to turn these suckers into boozy treats!

What to do with all those leftover Watermelon scarps:

Grilled Watermelon and Cotija Salad

Watermelon Ceviche 

Watermelon Jalapeno Margarita 

Watermelon Feta Mint Salad 


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DIY Chocolate Molds & SprinkleBakes Cookbook Review plus Giveaway

Cookbook is a bit of a misnomer with SprinkleBakes. It’s more like an education. Like your best friend who happens to be an incomprehensibly talented pastry chef standing in your kitchen teaching you everything she knows about baking. Of course there are recipes, they range from redefining the idea of a basic cake to fabulously well crafted mousses, but it’s more than that. As with most cookbooks these days, you get more than just a compilation of recipes, it’s a catalouge of all the tips and tricks you didn’t even know were missing from your repertoire. SprinkleBakes is filled with instruction that not only inspires you to create your own works of art, it gives you the tools you need to do so. From simple to extravagant, everything you learn is accessible, no matter what your skill level.

How To: turn anything into a chocolate mold using just brown sugar

(Photo, Heather Baird)

This is the perfect addition to the kitchen of anyone who wants to learn more about the art of baking, no matter how long or short your’ve been at it.

I was so impressed by the tips and tutorials in this book, they seemed endless, like every time I flip though it I am bound to learn something new. This is a book that I will be referencing for years.

Here is a fun trick that I feel in love with right away. She teaches you how to turn just about anything in your house into a chocolate mold using just brown sugar. This is a great tip for anyone who throws kids parties and doesn’t want to invest in a chocolate mold that you’ll use once.

How To: turn anything into a chocolate mold using just brown sugar

Brown Sugar Chocolate Mold

Step One:

Fill a small bowl with soft brown sugar and pack lightly.

Step Two:

Place your object into the brown sugar and press down, compacting the sugar around the object. Objects that work best are fairly flat, with minimal detail. Heather uses a shell in her book and it turns out great. I used my daughters Alphabet magnets. If it doesn’t look right, remove the object, fluff the brown sugar and start again.

Step Three

Add chocolate chips (or candy melts) to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for thirty seconds, stir and repeat until chocolate is melted. Remove the objects from the brown sugar

Pour the chocolate gently into just the depression made by the object.

How To: turn anything into a chocolate mold using just brown sugar

Step Four:

Place in the refrigerator until set, about 10 minutes. Remove from the brown sugar and dust off as much sugar as you can. Run a very slow, very cold stream of water from your kitchen faucet. Gently run the chocolates under water until the excess sugar has been removed.

How To: turn anything into a chocolate mold using just brown sugar

Things to keep in mind:

These will not be shiny and smooth like those you get from a silicon mold, they will have a bit of a pocked texture. This might be what you want if you are going for a weathered look.

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SprinkleBakes Cookbook Giveaway!

Win your very own copy of this fabulous cookbook!

All you have to do is leave a comment in the comment section to enter! This makes a great gift for anyone you know who loves to bake, no matter what the skill level.  

Contest ends Monday, June 4th at noon PST.

Contest Only open to residents of the USA.  

Update: 

Random Number Generator choose #32, Emily!

Congrats Emily!



Food Craft: Spring Flower Pot Mini Muffins

I like to play with my food. For some reason, it makes me less hungry.

When I got these little suckers from a vendor at work, I had no interest in eating them. But I did want to play with them. Maybe it’s a commentary on how much food we waste in America, or maybe it’s just because candy is pretty, Food Crafts are huge source of entertainment in my world. Although there are many cupcake toppers featured on websites across the land, I’m not a fan of inedible garnishes. Even if I don’t plan to eat it, it seems like you just didn’t try hard enough.

Sure you can print out a pretty flower decal from your home computer, or make a rose out of paper, or a fancy embelishment with ribbons and buttons, but if you can’t eat it what the heck is it doing on my plate?

No one glues plastic googly eyes to a pot roast. Or puts a wizzard hat on a chicken sandwich. Why are completely random acts of craftiness allowed on baked goods?

And paper flag banners on a cake? weird. Why not put a pile of mail on there, or decorative globe? What’s next, filling my plate with bedazzled paper mache vegetables?

Here is my entry for completely edible cupcake garnish, other than the stick, of course.

 

Spring Flower Pot Mini Muffins

Supplies:

12 chocolate mini muffins

12 small suckers (dum dum sized)

18 standard size marshmallows

3 microwave save bowls

1/4 cup white chocolate

1 pair scissors

1/2 cup chocolate chops

1/2 cup chocolate graham crackers (or chocolate Teddy Grahams)

Cut the marshmallows into four to five slices. There are going to be a few that just don’t look right, so cut more than you need. They will curl up a bit, but just push them flat.

There will most likely be one end that is a bit more rounded and one that is a bit pointier.

Cut off a very small amount of the pointed end, about 1/8 of an inch.

Place the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on high for 20 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Don’t over heat or it will seize. Using a butter knife or a spoon, smear a small on the marshmallow petal where you just made the cut.

Press the chocolate side against the sucker, at the base, nearest the stick. 

Repeat for all pedals. You’ll want to put about 5 petals on each flower which will require a bit of overlapping of the pedals. 

Lay flat until the chocolate glue dries. 

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. 

In a food processor, process the graham crackers until nothing is left but crumbs. Transfer crumbs to a bowl. 

One at a time, take the mini muffin and submerge the top in the melted chocolate until completely coated. 

Before the chocolate cools and dries, roll the melted chocolate muffin top around in the graham cracker crumbs. 

Once all the chocolate has dried, plant your candy marshmallow flower in your little mini muffin pot. 

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Superbowl Snack: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Footballs

There are so many great things about living in Los Angeles. In my 20’s I got to partake in a lot of them. My husband is a musician and we ran around with a very Music Industry crowd. Late nights, parties, back stage passes, Rock Stars, watching our friends become famous, blah, blah.

The best thing about California? The produce.

Seriously. If you ever visit LA, skip Hollywood Blvd (don’t worry, it sucks) and head for a farmers market. We have them nearly every single day of the year, with the exception of a few major holidays.

Tuesday in October? Head to Culver City or Silverlake. Thursday in February? There is a great one in Hollywood called Yamashiro.

And Strawberries are in season nearly all year. Did you know that California grows 50% of the produce for the entire United States? It also grows 75% of the produce for the Western side of Canada.

And, California has the best strawberries in the world. If you ever make it to California, put: "Eat a real California Strawberry" on your to do list. California grows 85% of the strawberries in the US. 

I do realize that there is a chance that when that little ball game rolls around in a few weeks, (what’s it called again? The Super Bowl?) you might not live in a place as lucky as Strawberry-afornia or have access to these beauties year round. That’s OK, just tuck this idea away in your head and make them for a sports themed birthday party sometime over the summer.

 

Chocolate Strawberry Footballs
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
12-14 large strawberries
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
you will also need:
2 Coffee mugs
piping bag
#2 tip 
Parchment paper
In a microwave safe coffee mug add the dark chocolate chips. I’ve found this to be the best vessel for strawberry dipping. If the bowl you use is too wide then the melted chocolate is too shallow, and it’s hard to get the strawberries dipped. 
Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until melted. Don’t over heat or your chocolate will seize and there is really no coming back from that. 
Grab the strawberry by the leaves (make sure strawberries are completely dry or the chocolate won’t stick).
Dip in the chocolate and swirl around carefully until coated. 
Hold above the coffee mug for a few seconds to allow the excess to drip off.
Place on a sheet of parchment paper to dry. 
Push forward slightly to avoid a pool of dried chocolate forming in the front of your berry. 

Allow to dry for about 15 minutes. 
In a separate coffee mug (or really, any microwave safe bowl will work for this), add the white chocolate. Microwave on high for 20 seconds and stir, repeat until melted. You have to be even more careful with white chocolate, it tends to seize quicker. It isn’t actually chocolate, its cocoa butter solids so it behaves differently. If it does seize, you can try and add a few drops of canola oil, but you might just need to toss it out and start over. 

Pour the white chocolate into your piping bag. Pipe on a stripe at the top and one at the bottom of your strawberries. 

Then pipe a line down the middle of the berry. 
Then pipe 5 or 6 lines across the middle line. 
Tips:
-Let the white chocolate cool a bit, but not harden, before piping. If it’s too hot, it’ll be really runny. 
-When piping the lines, double back a bit to avoid the "strings" of white chocolate from dripping down the sides. 
-Serve chilled
-Don’t make more that 24 hours in advance, strawberries tend to shrink a bit as they age. 

Santa Hat Cookies & Why I Hate Santa

I guess HATE is too strong, but I don’t like Santa.

Except maybe this Santa. He’s awesome:

(Photo taken by my brother-in-law, and Hawks fan, Austin Metz)

It all started years ago when I was working at a group home with teenage foster and probation kids in South Central Los Angeles. I know, the white girl from the farm, in South Central.

I loved it.

I was able to see these kids as more than just Gang Members with horrible parents, but human children with potential, talent, hearts and brains. Being raised by grown-up damaged children.

It changed me.

I was teased, laughed at, listen to, and trusted.

I’ve posted so many serious posts lately, I’m no going to go into great detail about that first year, the first christmas. The kids who, at 16 years old, received their first Christmas presents of their lives, or how none of the parents came to our "Holiday Party."

But I will tell you this: Nearly every kid had a story about thinking he was bad because Santa didn’t bring him presents. After all, that’s the story, right? "Santa brings presents to good boys and girls. Bad kids don’t get any."

Or knowing that Santa wasn’t real because the Christmas after he turned 5 he sat in the living room, all alone on Christmas morning with no presents because Mom was on a bender and never came home.

This probably doesn’t apply to you. You will probably never have a Christmas when your kids don’t have presents. Hopefully.

But this year, more kids than ever won’t have presents. And the last thing I would want is for my daughter to carry that message with her to the kids at school who didn’t get presents, for her to think the reason those less fortunate kids didn’t get any gifts during the holidays was because they were bad. 

And I would never want ANY kid to think that the reason he didn’t get presents was because he’s bad.

We don’t need this.

Even though I don’t like the message that comes along with Santa (and I won’t even go into my fear of Mall Santas and their inherent creepiness) Santa is still an iconic symbol of Christmas. He is a great decoration. Which is why I made these Santa Hat Cookies.

I even have one Santa decoration at my house. Just one. I bought it in Paris a few years ago because I really wanted a Christmas Ornament from France and this was all I could find in September.

Links to donate to those in need, if you want:

Toys For Tots

Salvation Army

Angle Tree

Donation Town

These Cookies are pretty adorable, and really easy to make.

Santa Hat Cookies

Sugar Cookie Base:

1 cup (2 sticks) of Butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 package of cream cheese (8 oz) softened

1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup, room temperature (very important)

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup powdered sugar

Hat:

24 large strawberries, stem and leaves cut off


In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat until well combined. In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix with a fork until combined. Add the flour to the stand mixer and mix until the flour is just incorporated into the butter mixture.

Form into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. It is important that the sugar cookie dough is cold or the cookies will spread too much during making.

Preheat oven to 350.

Once the dough is chilled, roll out and cut into 2 inch circles (or just larger than the base of your strawberries).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just barely start to brown. It will probably look as if they need another minute or too, but cookies continue to bake once they are out of the oven and you don’t want these to be too crispy.

Allow to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on high for about 2 minutes. Add your room temperature butter and mix until combined. Add the vanilla and beat again until combined. Turn the mixer off and add the powdered sugar, return mixer to a low speed and mix until the sugar is incorporated into the cream cheese.  Add the frosting to a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag, add to a large, heavy duty, zip lock bag and cut about 1cm off the bottom corner of the zip lock bag, this can be used as a make-shift piping bag.

Pipe a dime sized amount onto the cut end of the strawberry and place in the middle of your sugar cookie.

Pipe the frosting around the base of the strawberry, as well as a pea sized amount on the tip of the berry to resemble Santa’s Hat.


Thanksgiving Craft: Chocolate Turkeys Made From Halloween Candy

Edible Thanksgiving crafts! Tater really isn’t old enough yet for this (but that kid will be tortured with many holiday crafts in her life, once she is old enough) but this is perfect for kids who are a little older. And an excellent way to use up that left over Halloween candy. They only take a few minutes each, and would make an adorable name card holder for your Thanksgiving feast.

For each Candy Turkey you will need:

2 miniature Reeses Cups

1 Hersheys Kiss

1 Yellow Starburst Candy (one can be used for up to 4 turnkeys)

1 Red Starburst Candy (1 can be used for 8-10 Turkeys)

1 Orange Starburst Candy (1 can be used for 2 Turkeys)

6 Almond Slices

Candy Melts to be used as "glue" (you may also be able to use Hersey’s kisses for this job)

1 Squeeze Bottle (can be found at most craft stores)

1 toothpick

Start by putting about about 1/2 cup of Candy Melts (Hershey’s kisses should work fine as well) in your squeeze bottle. I’ve only had one of these squeeze bottles for about a year and I use it all the time, so handy. After I’m done with it I just store it, with the candy melts still inside, in a large ziplock back and reheat it when I need it. Place in the microwave for 30 seconds, remove and shake to check consistency, heat for another 30 seconds and repeat until the chocolate is melted.

Then squeeze a small amount of melted chocolate on the top of a Reese’s cup (removed from all wrappers) and place the narrow end of the almond slices in the chocolate.

Use all six almond slices to make the Turkey tail, about halfway around the Reese’s cup.

Set aside and allow to dry.

Unwrap the red Starburst candy and cut off a small sliver (if this is a craft that kids are helping with, make sure to make all cuts yourself, or have the kids use a butter knife)

Cut the slice in half the long way to make a long skinny strip.

Take your long skinny "gobbler" and wrap it half way around the point of your unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss

Pressing the candy into place should be enough to hold it.

Cut the corner off your unwrapped yellow Starburst Candy.

Smash it and pinch it, to soften it and mold it into the shape of a beak then gently press into the point of the Hershey’s Kiss until secure.

(Man, I wish I’d gotten a manicure before I made this post)

Then cut off a small amount of the orange Starburst Candy and roll into a ball, flatten and press onto the kiss above the beak to make an eye.

Make another one, the same size to make the other eye.

Dip one end a toothpick into your melted chocolate and place a small dot in the middle of the orange eye.

Retrieve your Reese’s cup and turn it to the smaller side, opposite end from the one with the almond feathers. Place a dot of chocolate in the center.

Then place your Hershey’s Kiss head on top of that.

Slice off a small piece of your orange Starburst Candy.

Squeeze two thirds of it, making it narrow while leaving one end flat.

Make two cuts in the flat end to resemble Turkey toes (there is probably a more scientific name than "toes").

Make another Turkey leg, using the same method. Then place both over your second Reese’s cup, hanging down just slightly to the side of the middle. Place a dot of melted chocolate on the top (this is be used to fuse the Turkey to the base)

Retrieve your Turkey, and shave a small amount of the bottom Reese’s cup, below the Turkey face, between the almond feathers.

Place the Turkey, cut side down, on the base, over the legs.

Cute, right?

You can use this with your name card holders for your Thanksgiving place settings, or just put them on each plate. So cute.

Girly Pink Skull Cake

Somehow, over the past half a decade, the iconic symbol of rebellion, mayhem and destruction has morph itself into an adorable emblem of girly fun. I’m not sure who does PR for the Skull, but BRAVO! This cultural make-over surpasses even Mark Wahlbergs move from the Funky Bunch to Oscar Nominee. My current cake creation was in celebration of my wonderful friend, (who is a symbol of Girly Fun times in my life) and her most recent birthday.

To start, I made a four layer lemon cake. I decided to make Mango Cream Cheese frosting because that is a favorite of the birthday girl. It was good, but the mango bits made the frosting a bit chunky and it wasn’t mango-y enough. If you like  mild mango flavor, here is the recipe. To mango it up a notch, you can add Mango Extract: http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Mango-Extract-29-Fl/dp/B002BX351A

In a sauce pan over low heat, add 2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of butter and one large mango, diced, skin removed. Stir infrequently until the mango chunks are super soft and falling apart, about 30 minutes. I left this on the stove, semi-forgotten, while I gave Tater a bath, so you really don’t need to babysit it as long as the heat is on low and you stir it occasionally. Let it cool to room temperature, then puree in a food processor until as smooth as you can make it. The biggest rule for making cream cheese frosting is that your ingredients NEED to be at room temperature. You can’t cheat and try and trick your frosting, you’ll end up with a big mess the consistency of ground beef.  In a stand mixer, put 32 ounces of room temp cream cheese 2 sticks of room temp butter and mix well. Then add the room temp mango mixture and blend well. Everyone likes a different sweetness level on their frosting, I like mine closer to savory than overly sweet. I added about 1 cup of powdered sugar to this, taste and add more depending on your preference. I also added quite a bit of pink food coloring

pink-frostingStarting with a white 14 inch cake board circle (you can buy at cake supply stores or Michaels Arts and Crafts) I stacked up the layers with a hefty amount of frosting in between each layer. After that,  I iced the cake completely, this will be the first coat. Some call it crumb coat, because the cake crumbs will invade this first layer, and others (including myself) call it dirty ice, because it sounds more fun. Allow that to set completely, about an hour.

dirty-iceThe next coat is your final coat and it helps to sooth everything out and cover any bumps or holes in your cake. Think of fondant as that super shiny, thin bridesmaid dress that makes you look awful and shows every flaw, and you would never be caught dead it in it, let alone PHOTOGRAPHED in it over and over, if you didn’t really love your friend–and the final ice is the Spanx that allowed you to keep your sanity and hit on the cute bartender. The final ice is the compression garment of the cake world, makes everything look smooth and pretty.

cake-final-iceFondant is tricky and unforgiving. There are several different kinds of fondant, including homemade. The easiest to work with, although the yuckiest to eat, is Wilton’s. It would probably be the most accessible for you because it is the most widely carried. I do recommend using it for beginners because it is the most forgiving and will allow you to get a feel for fondant work before moving on the bitchier fondants. Just tell your guest that it is edible, but that you recommend they peel it off and don’t eat it. I used Fondx, actually pretty tasty but very soft and unforgiving. You can buy it in all different colors but I would recommend white and then color it yourself. Just use gel food coloring instead of liquid and if it gets too goopy, add powdered sugar. Then grab an unspecified amount (just gonna have to guess based on your cake size) and put on a clean surface dusted with powdered sugar. I used a softball size, colored hot pink

fondant-ballThen roll it as close to a circle as you can. I would highly recommend the use of a marble rolling pin.

pink-rolled-fondantSlowly  and carefully pick it up (you can use your rolling pin for assistance) and move to the cake. Here is a good picture tutorial from Satin ice: http://www.satinfinefoods.com/how.htm

Starting at the top, gently smooth the fondant. This will cause the bottom of your fondant to have bit of a ruffle effect

cake-fondant-precutTo cut the ruffle off, I use a sharp paring knife that I push the fondant a bit under the cake. A lot of people use a pizza cutter. Just use what works for you.

bottom-fondant-cutYou will notice quite a bit of powdered sugar left on your pretty cake. You can buy a brush at cake supply stores, I used a clean make-up blush brush. Just brush the cake until all the sugar is gone. You will still have a light layer. The next step is vodka! Not a shot for the weary baker, but a spray for the cake. Vodka is used in nearly every bakery to clean up cakes and give them a pretty shine. I use a small travel size spray bottle, probably intended to transport hairspray across FAA lines, but works really well in my kitchen. Just spray a light layer over your cake for a pretty, powder sugar free shine

cake-fondant-coveredI rolled a small hunk of white fondant on my cuttin’ surface and used a skull cookie cutter to cut out some decorations for the cake.

fondant-skulls-cut-outI used food coloring and a small artist brush to make a boy skull and a girl skull as well as left over fondant to make little bows

fondant-skulls-just-madeI decided that the boy and girl skulls made for a Hot Topic Wedding Cake look that I wasn’t diggin’ so I just used the girl skulls

fondant-skulls-no-mini-cupcakesAt some point in this decorating furry, I managed to make about 18 mini cupcakes and 3 regular sized cupcakes in black cupcake papers. I also ran out of pink frosting, as well as cream cheese, so I made Vermouth Whipped Cream. Sounds super hard and fancy, right? Not really. In a stand mixer, combine 2 cups heavy cream (or whipping cream, both will work just fine), 1 cup of sugar, 1 shot of vermouth and I added the pink food coloring. beat on high for about 4 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Opposite of the cream cheese, the cream has to be chilled or you’ll be churning butter. Then spoon it into a large Ziplock bag for the cheater piping bag. Cut the corner off, about the size of your pinky nail. Then pipe the whipped cream on in a swirl pattern. Looks SO fancy and it’s easier and faster than any other frosting method.

cheater-piping-bagThen I sprinkled the cupcakes with small pink sugar pearls. I placed them on the cake board at the base of the cake, securing them the the Wilton’s Candy melts that I use so often for my pastry glue. Just put a small amount of candy melts in a glass bowl, microwave for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Smear a bit on the bottom of each cupcake and place on the cake board.

fondant-skulls-on-cakeThe top cupcakes I used a wooden skewer to secure in place, I didn’t want those babies going anywhere

cupcake-skewerI used those same Wilton’s candy melts in a Pirate Skull Pick Mold

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=1E26F64B-1E0B-C910-EA95C108A7B263D0&killnav=1

and stuck two of them in each of the cupcakes to make a two sided skull topper

cupcake-topIt didn’t look quite done so I made some black fondant and cut out three hearts to add balance. DONE!! Happy Birthday Kelly!!

cake-done-6cake-donecake-done2cake-done3
cake-done4

Easter Table Center Peeps

 

Peeps, love ‘em or hate ‘em, will always conjure up spring time memories of pastel plastic baskets and egg hunts on the back lawn. Even as a kid I was never a huge fan of sugar coated sugar in the shape of farm animals, but I would have been disappointed had I not seen a row of co-joined marshmallow quadruplets on top of my green plastic Easter Grass. This center piece (oh, excuse me, Center Peep) was made to bring those lovely memories into my current day celebration, a way to reminisce without the calories.

 

Materials (per one center peep)

 

One empty ribbon spool, about a half inch wide

 

9 Bunny Peeps (I used Yellow)

 

1 green chick Peep

 

Wilton’s Candy Melts (can be used in the color of your bunnies, or in white)

 

1 plastic squeeze bottle, like a mustard bottle (can be found most craft stores, restaurant supply stores and sometimes grocery stores)

 

1 wooden skewer

 

Hot glue gun, with glue

 

Sprinkles in the color of your bunny

 

Floral Foam

 

1 Terra Cotta pot (or any color that you choose)

 

1 sheet of tissue paper

 

Start by ripping the ribbon spool apart so that you just have the middle cardboard hoop

 

centerpeep-ribbon-ring

 

The hot glue the flat end of the wooden skewer to the hoop and don’t be shy with the hot glue, really slather it on for a strong hold.

 

ring-stick-glue

 

The pull your bunnies apart and castrate them (yikes!) so that their bottom is flat

 

centerpeep-bunny-cut

 

Then put about 3/4 cup of candy melts in the squeeze bottle. Put in the microwave for thirty seconds, remove and shake a bit. Repeat until candy is melty and squeezes out of the bottle easily.

 

Squirt a bit of the candy melts on the freshly exposed bunny undercarriage

 

centerpeep-bunny-chocolate

 

Push against the cardboard ring. I made two of these and the easiest way to do it is to start close to the stick and crowd the bunnies close together so that all nine will fit on the ring.

 

The rim the exposed carboard ring with the candy melts. This makes it look prettier as well as provides a stronger hold for the rouge bunny. Before the candy melts dry, cover it with the sprinkles.

 

centerpeep-sprinkles

 

The take your green chick peep and cut a bit of an angle where his shoulder would be

 

centerpeep-chick-leaf-cut

 

Fill his cut with the candy melt and place him on the stick, a bit higher up that you might want so that the bottom half of the stick can go into the pot without a problem.

 

You can also add more candy melts when he is on the stick to make the hold better.

 

The cut a wedge of floral foam to fit snugly inside your pot

 

centerpeep-floral-foam

 

Put your foam into your pot and cover with the tissue paper, tucking the ends into the pot. Allow your Center Peep to cool completely before moving. It will take about 20 minutes. When you lift it up, support the head so that all the weight isn’t on the hot glue joint. Then skewer it all the way into your pot

 

centerpeep-stick-in-pot

 

Cover the tissue paper with your favorite Easter candy (jelly beans, mini candy eggs, pastel M&M’s) I just used candy left over from the Candy Buffet at Tater’s first birthday party.

 

All done!!