April is a CRAZY birthday month in my life. My husband, his father (who we live with), my daughter, and myself all have birthdays in April. There are even more April birthdays in my extended family.

A few years ago my oldest son wanted a Lego Star Wars theme for his birthday. The only problem was that there weren’t any Lego Star Wars party products on the market at that time. I had to improvise.

I bought Star Wars action figures and stuck them on a store bought cake.

For the Lego part, I bought Lego candy from the mall candy store, and stuck the pieces on store bought cupcakes.

Not super impressive, but it worked for him.

Another year my son wanted a Super Mario birthday theme. More specifically, he had just gotten the game, Mario Galaxy for Wii, and he asked for a Mario Galaxy birthday party.

Great.

Another theme request for which there were no party products in the stores.

So once again… I improvised.

I made those Mushroom cupcakes myself. Yep. I did. I can do cupcakes.

Now when it comes to layered cakes… that’s another story. I’m not there yet due to lack of counter space… and patience.

The cake itself was an Albertson’s signature cake that I ordered. It was supposed to be a Dora Magical Mountain cake or something like that, but it totally reminded me of the worlds in Mario Galaxy.

So… I ordered it, and asked the decorators to leave off the characters.

Then at home I found Mario characters on Google Images and printed them, pasted them to cardstock, cut them out, taped them to toothpicks, and stuck them in the cake.

I also piped some frosting eyes on the star shaped candles, to make them look like stars from the Mario games.

Now looking at this picture, I realize the only star I got right with the eyes, was the top one. Ooops! Oh well… no one noticed at the time.

It was good enough for a little boy’s birthday party.

Now…

Do you want to see a SERIOUS custom Mario cake?

Prepare yourself.

This is a Mario Kart Wedding Cake.

Incredible right?!

I cannot get over the beauty…

the perfect whimsy…

the magnificent details…

Just incredible!!!

This completely edible masterpiece was brilliantly designed and sculpted by Beth from Let Them Eat Cake in Costa Mesa, California. More fabulous photos of this cake, the wedding, and hand sculpted bride and groom Miis, are available for viewing on the Bride and Groom’s Flickr page.

And check out these AMAZING Mario and Luigi cookies made recently by my friend Amanda at iambaker.

I don’t know why I only think about decorating sugar cookies at Christmas time. This is such a great way to incorporate a sweet treat into a party theme.

Aren’t they FANTASTIC?!

My son would have gone crazy over having these at his party! Amanda makes all kinds of amazing goodies, and has done several beautiful cookie sets to match event invitations and decor. When you get done here, hop on over to her blog and have a look. She provides a whole lot of inspiration for making parties and important occasions, special and personalized, with custom treats.

For the Mario Galaxy party I did for my son, not only did I improvise on the cake, but I also improvised with the party ware.

I found that great party hat at my local party store, and once again using Google Images I printed a Mario pic, cut him out, and glued him on.

And for the plate… I’m getting to that.

Here are some examples of the several I’ve made.

The possibilities are endless.

If you can print it, you can make it into a character plate.

I’m thinking of using this slightly doctored pic of Papa for his birthday plates next year.

Perfect don’t ya think?

Happy Birthday Papa Norge! Grrrrrrrrrr!!! We are vikings!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!

And I would love to do some custom plates for a fairytale themed party for my daughter.

These photos are from Puddin Pop Designs Blog. She created an incredible custom Little Red Riding Hood Party for her daughter, complete with custom costumes, pinata, decorations, desserts, guest book, A Walk to Grandmother’s house game, and more. You name it, she made it. You’ve got to go read about the details and see all of her pictures. I just LOVE this idea, and she told me her daughter is already asking for a Goldilocks and the Three Bears party for next year. I can’t wait to see what brilliant things she comes up with for that one.

Here’s a plate I made for my youngest’s first birthday.

Miffy was his favorite character at the time but I couldn’t find Miffy party supplies anywhere. There were all kinds of things available online, but they all needed to be shipped from Sweden or Japan where Miffy is much more popular, and I couldn’t stand to put money out for the crazy shipping costs.

So what did I do?

You got it!

Once again… I improvised.

And here’s how you can too!

Here’s the trick.

You buy your colored plates, and you buy the same size set of clear plates.

With a good color printer, print out any images you need for your theme.

This is where your imagination can really run wild.

You can go so far beyond kids birthday parties with this, using personal photos to celebrate family reunions, sweet 16 parties, Anniversary plates made from a wedding photo, hilarious pictures of friends or relatives, birth announcements for baby showers, … sky’s the limit!

If you can print it, you can plate it!

I like to use a cake plate as my tracing template for the image that will go onto a dinner plate. It’s a great size.

Use a clear cake plate so you can see your image through it, and determine exactly where you want to place it on your image.

Using a pen, marker, pencil, crayon… whatever… trace the plate to create the circular image.

Cut out the circle, and then using a glue stick on the backside of the paper, give the image a light coating of glue, making sure to put glue particularly all the way around the edge. Then stick it to the center of one of the colored plates.

Next apply some glue just to the bottom round edge of a clear dinner plate.

Attach the clear dinner plate to the colored plate.

And there you go!

A clean, smooth, shiny, FABULOUS, custom dinner plate.

Of course you could follow the same steps and create custom cups too, but I’ve never bothered to take it that far. Regular party cups and napkins that match your color scheme work just fine.

Taking advantage of available store bought products that match your theme and colors, and mixing them with custom elements you’ve created, offers the best of both worlds for parties with ease and originality.

For popular character themed cupcake toppers and much more, check out my online store. Every purchase made there helps my family financially with a commission, and we appreciate your business SO MUCH!

And by the way… they have now made Mario and Luigi party supplies available. I have them for sale in my store here.

Party on!

(This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Frugalicious Friday, TidyMom, Trendy Treehouse, Metamorphosis Monday, Made it Monday, The Girl Creative, DIY Project Parade 10, Motivate Me Monday, Craft Schooling Sunday, It’s So Very Cheri, Making the World Cuter, Made By You Monday, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Talented Tuesday, DIY Day, Boardwalk Bragfest, What You’re Workin’ With Wednesday, A Little Creative Therapy, Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party, Look What I Made, Make It Yours Day, Fun to Craft, Tatertos and Jello)

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This cake WILL change your life!

Seriously.

It will.

Part of why it will change your life is because it is so easy to make.

It starts off with a box mix like this one.

Yeah yeah I know… so it’s not completely from scratch. Let’s not be cake snobs.

No one will ever know you didn’t slave over this thing for weeks in a 17 step process.

They’ll think you ordered this from some exquisite authentic Italian bakery and when you ever so modestly let it slip that you made it yourself…

Well…

You just wait and see what the reaction will be.

Yep.

I told you.

This cake is going to change your life.

It’s also going to change the lives of those you serve it to.

Follow the directions on the back of the store bought cake mix box, and bake accordingly.

Once your cake comes out of the oven and has cooled, transfer it to whatever lovely serving dish you would like to present it on; preferably one with an upturned edge like you see in the picture above.

Now the fun begins.

You get to poke your freshly baked cake with a fork… like this.

All over.

Everywhere.

Go crazy.

You have my permission to play with your food.

Just don’t tear it.

The more holes you make, the more portals available for yummy, drippy, sweet, creamy, goodness to seep through.

We are in fact going to add some of our very own ingredients now.

This is what will make this cake our own.

And this is what will make our cake a DREAM.

1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1 whole can Evaporated Milk

1 whole can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Stir it all together. It makes about 3 cups of goodness.

Now if you thought poking this cake with a fork was fun, check this out.

You get to pour the milky goodness ALL OVER.

Well…

All over the cake anyway.

Here’s a tip:

You’ll tend to want to pour a whole lot of cream in the center because that’s where you’ll feel safe. When you get over near the edges you’ll start to freak out and lose faith in yourself worried that you’re pouring too much OVER the edges. This will create a super soggy cake in the middle and a super dry cake around the edges. With this kind of cake people who receive an edge piece will not get the delicious unique experience we’re trying to go for here, and people who get a middle piece will think you went a bit overboard with the soaking.

That’s not what we want.

What we want is a super even distribution of liquid over the entire cake. So don’t worry so much about the middle. By all means cover the middle, but that part is easy… the cream will get there.

Put extra thought and focus into wetting those edges.

Just pour slow, take your time, and try to pour the cream not past, not behind, but right into the edges of your cake.

This is what we’re going for.

Creamy Lemony Dreamy Deliciousness.

And see…

A milk moat.

It’s perfectly normal.

Don’t worry.

You’ll see.

Just make sure those edges, center, and entire cake are good and soaked with the ENTIRE 3 cups of dreamy creamy.

Now place the whole thing in the fridge to chill.

When you pull it back out, that moat will be gone! The Lemon cake will have soaked it right up.

See.

No more moat.

Just a leftover creamy glisten, reminding you, you have made something wonderful.

Something special.

Now we’re going to cheat with some store bought stuff again.

To make the topping add 3/4 cup store bought Lemon Frosting to 1 and 3/4 pints of Cold Heavy Whipping cream.

Also add 3 tbsp Sugar.

Whip it on low until it gets thick enough not to splash all over your kitchen and then crank it up to full power and watch the magic happen.

There is just something so fun about watching liquidy cream turn into fluffy whipped goodness like this!

This is such a fun recipe… the whole thing!

Cheating with store bought ingredients, fork poking, cake soaking, cream whipping.

You must try this!

So here’s my yummy bowl of whipped lemon topping, next to my cream soaked lemon cake, on a perfect Spring day with family.

Get out your spreader and start-a-spreadin’.

Don’t be shy now.

Remember we gave up on our fear of edges hours ago.

And here it is.

Lemon  Dream Cream Cake.

I made it up, so I get to name it and I say you have to say the DREAM part when everyone asks you,

“What on earth is this miraculous creation?”

And trust me… they’ll ask.

It’s always nice to give everyone a little hint about the tastes they’ll soon encounter by putting a couple of little lemon slices on the top.

Makes it look pretty too.

Then just serve it up and dig in!

This cake also tastes amazing after it’s been in the fridge a while.

I served it up immediately after making it today, but you can make all of it ahead of time and then put it in the fridge. When you pull it out for your guests, it will knock their socks off.

Adding that lemon frosting to the whipping cream creates a topping that tastes and feels like whipped cream, but when you chill it, it sets up like icing.

The only thing I wouldn’t recommend with this cake is leaving it out for any length of time. It tastes best chilled and it stays together best chilled. Remember, you’re dealing with a whole lot of milk and cream here. And if you somehow forget that…

The cake will remind you.

Look close.

Can you see the milky goodness?

This is when it’s as cold as can be.

If you let this creamy dream sit out on the table for too long, you’ll start to have a creamy puddle.

Keep it cool.

Then it’s perfect.

It’s moist, sweet, lemony, and wonderful.

Serve it up with some great coffee and you will have VERY happy people in your midst.

Here’s What You Need…

Lemon DREAM Cream Cake

Serves 12

1 Box Lemon Cake Mix Prepared – Recommended Duncan Hines Super Moist Brand

3/4 cup Lemon Frosting – Recommended Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 pints heavy whipping cream divided (1/4 cup for soaking and the rest for topping)

3 tablespoons sugar

- Prepare cake according to box directions, and set aside to cool.

- Flip cooled cake out onto serving platter. Platter should preferably have turned up edges to help trap liquid.

- Using a fork make multiple punctures all over the surface of the cake including along the tops of the edges.

- Mix 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream in pitcher or measuring cup with pouring spout.

- Pour entire contents of milk and cream mixture evenly over the surface of the cake making sure to soak the edges as well as the center. Set cake in fridge to chill and set.

- Prepare whipped topping by mixing remainder of heavy whipping cream (1 and 3/4 pints) with 3 tbsp sugar and 3/4 cup lemon frosting. Whip in stand mixer on low/med for 2 minutes until thick. Switch speed to high and whip until light and fluffy.

- Spread whipped lemon topping on cake and serve immediately or set in fridge to chill. Garnish with halved lemon slices.

I’m Lovin’ this cake! To see what other people are “LOVIN”, check out “I’m lovin’ it Fridays” at TidyMom.

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When I think of Valentine’s Day treats I immediately think of Conversation Hearts candies.

I love those little things.

I can remember as an eight year old girl sitting in my bedroom the night before Valentine’s Day, putting together my homemade Valentines to hand out at school the next day. I took great care to select each candy heart that would go inside the valentines making sure the right messages went to the right people.

To this day whenever February rolls around I can’t help but grab a box or two of the candy hearts while checking out at the grocery store.

So… naturally these little candy hearts were the obvious inspiration for my Valentine’s Day cupcake design.

I even got inspired to use my favorite Valentine Candies as an inspiration to make some tasty Brownie Pops you can see here.

I started with a basic boxed brownie mix and spread it out about 1/3 inch thick on wax paper, laid on a cookie sheet.

There wasn’t enough mix to fill the whole cookie sheet, but the batter was so gooey that I was able to spread it with a spoon to the desired thickness and it stayed in place.

I baked it at 350 degrees for 12 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.

After the brownie sheet was baked and cooled I placed the whole tray in the fridge for an hour to allow the brownie to firm up.

Next I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to make my hearts.

I dipped the cookie cutter in powdered sugar to keep the brownies from sticking to it.

Again, after all the brownies were cut, I placed them back into the fridge to firm up again.

These melting candies can be found at most craft stores or baking supply stores. They come in all kinds of fantastic colors.

After microwaving the candies in a coffee cup for about a minute and stirring it until smooth, I placed a brownie on a fork over the cup, and began using a spoon to scoop the melted candy over it until it was covered.

Once the brownie was covered the melted candy was so thick that the heart had lost much of it’s shape.

I gently shook the brownie on the fork over the cup allowing excess coating to drizzle away from the heart and cause it to regain it’s shape.

Next I placed the candy heart onto wax paper and allowed it to dry while dipping more hearts.

I then repeated the coating process a second time on each heart in order to completely and smoothly cover each brownie.

After the two coats of melted candy have dried some of the hearts may still be miss-shaped. Simply use a sharp knife to carefully cut away excess candy around the edges.

Any rough edges that remain can easily be smoothed out with the warmth of your finger by gently rubbing them away.

Now it’s time to add all those fun messages.

Markers with edible ink can be found in the bakers aisle of your grocery store or craft store.

I prefer the look of the marker over piped candy or frosting because the effect of the marker better mimics the look of the stamped Conversation Hearts Candies.

These candy covered brownie hearts make a great little treat all by themselves, but they make an even better treat on top of some delicious cupcakes.

I chose Strawberry cupcakes to compliment the chocolate brownies and used food coloring to make pastel frostings that would match the candy colors.

If you want to play along…

Here’s what you need…

Brownie Mix and its required ingredients

Wax Paper

Strawberry Cake Mix

Cupcake Papers

White Frosting

Pastel Food Coloring

Pastel Melting Candies

Red Edible Ink Marker

Enjoy!

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I started out making Valentine Cupcakes.

I made these candy covered brownie hearts to go on top, and then it dawned on me what cute Brownie pops they would make.

If you’d like to make some yourself, just follow along below.

It’s pretty simple.

I used regular ol’ boxed brownie mix and poured my batter onto wax paper laid out on a cookie sheet.

There isn’t enough batter in one box to cover an entire cookie sheet… unless it’s a small one.

But, because the brownie mix is so gooey, it didn’t run. I was able to spread it out with a spoon so that the entire thing was about 1/3 inch thick, and it stayed in place.

I cooked it at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

After the brownie sheet was baked and cool, I placed it in the fridge for an hour to harden.

After the brownies were good and cold I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the hearts.

I dipped the cookie cutter into powder sugar in order to keep the brownies from sticking to it.

For each pop I used two brownie hearts.

I spread some whipped chocolate frosting on one side of each heart.

Then I used a lollipop stick and pressed it firmly into the frosting on one of the hearts.

Next I took the second heart and placed it on top pressing both hearts firmly together around the stick.

Next, use the spreading knife to smooth out any frosting that has squished out between the cracks.  If there are any gaps between the two brownies, add more frosting to fill them in and then smooth it out.

You’re half way there.

It’s really important at this point to place your brownie pops back into the fridge to let them firm so that they don’t come apart when you are dipping them in the candy coating.

You can use melted white chocolate and add your own food coloring, or these colored candy melts that can be found at most craft and baking stores.

Fill a coffee cup 2/3 of the way with the candy melts and microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Remove the cup from the microwave and stir the candy with a spoon until it is smooth. Allow the melted candy to cool for at least 5 minutes before beginning to dip your brownies otherwise the warmth will pull your brownie off the stick.

Next, dip your pop half way into the cooled melted candy.

If you dip the pop all the way down into into it, the weight of it may pull the brownie off the stick. It’s better to use a spoon to help cover the base of your brownie.

Hold your pop over the cup and allow some of the excess candy to drip off.

Turn the pop a few times to allow each side to run smooth.

Set your pop upright in a glass and allow it to dry.

The pops will do best if they are quickly placed back in the fridge to firm up.

Even at room temperature, the brownies and frosting inside can soften and cause your pop to slip down your stick.

Once the brownie pops have cooled completely, choose the smoothest side on which to write your message.

You can find a pen with edible ink in the baker’s aisle at your grocery store or craft store.

Viola!

You can add some decorative ribbon to really make them special.

Here’s what you need…

Brownie Mix and Brownie Ingredients

Small Heart Shaped Cookie or Fondant Cutter

Powdered Sugar

Wax paper

Chocolate Frosting

Lollipop Sticks

Marker with Edible Ink

Decorative Ribbon

Happy Brownie Pop making!!!

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Aren’t these Tuxedo Strawberries adorable. They are so great for Valentines Day, Weddings, Engagement Parties, Bridal Showers, Bachelor Parties, and of course… New Year’s Eve.

They are also fairly easy to make.

So… let’s get to it!

First, rinse strawberries well under water to clean. Set them on a paper towel and allow them to dry completely.

The melted chocolate will not adhere to the strawberries properly if they are wet at all.

In microwave safe bowl heat White Chocolate discs for one minute. Remove and stir. Heat again for one minute. Remove and stir again until all chocolate is melted into a smooth liquid form.

You don’t want to cover the strawberries entirely with white chocolate, because when you add the darker chocolate on top, the berries will become so heavy that they will break off from their leaves and stems. It will then become very difficult to work with them. To avoid this, only partially cover the strawberries with White Chocolate.

Also, make sure that all chocolate you are using is very smooth, and that each layer goes on thin, rather than thick, goopy, and heavy.

Roll out a sheet of parchment paper on the counter.

Gently grabbing a strawberry by the stem or leaves, and holding it at a slant, dip one side into the white chocolate making sure to cover the berry from its leaves to to its tip.

Place berry bare-side down on the non-stick parchment paper to dry.

Repeat this step with all of the berries.

In a new microwave safe bowl, heat dark or milk chocolate disks for one minute. Stir and repeat until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Make sure you have enough chocolate in the bowl to create a pool deep enough to emerse an entire strawberry.

Once the white chocolate has completely dried on your strawberries (about 15 minutes) you are ready to dip your jackets.

Gently pick up a white chocolate dipped strawberry by leaves, and dip it at a slant into the dark chocolate, creating a diagonal line on white chocolate like a jacket lapel, and also partially covering the back half of the strawberry.

Then at an opposite slant, dip the strawberry into the dark chocolate again, creating another diagonal line for the opposite lapel, and covering rest of the back of the strawberry.

Immediately place strawberry, backside down, on the parchment paper, with the white chocolate triangle facing up.

Repeat for all strawberries.

While the dark chocolate is sill melted and smooth, use the remaining amount or a new mixture, to fill a plastic sandwich bag.

Press all the air out of bag and Ziploc it shut. Twist the empty part of the bag until chocolate is held tight in bottom corner of bag, ready to pipe. Cut a VERY, VERY small tip off of the bottom corner of the bag, and pipe two or three buttons, and one bowtie onto each of the white chocolate shirts.

Perfectly Fabulous for any Special Occasion!

Here’s What You Need…

1 lb White Chocolate for Melting and Hardening on Fruit

1 lb Dark or Milk Chocolate for Melting and Hardening on Fruit

3 Dozen Large to Medium Size Strawberries

1 Ziploc Bag for Piping Chocolate Buttons and Bows

Roll of Parchment Paper

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