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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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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Champagne Cupcakes just sounded like the right thing to do for New Years. But this coming New Year’s Eve happens to be particularly special to me and the details pertaining to that fact are what drove me to create this Almond Champagne Cupcake recipe.

This coming New Year’s Eve will mark the ten year anniversary of the very first date my husband and I ever went on together.

The early morning hours of this coming New Year’s day will be the ten year anniversary of our very first kiss.

And this coming summer of 2010 will be the celebration of our ten year wedding anniversary.

Our wedding took place in the Wine Country of the Temecula Valley, at the Wilson Creek Winery. Their signature Champagne which they are well known for is an Almond Champagne.

Now funny enough, my husband and I don’t drink alcohol at all, but I do often cook with wine and this time I decided to try making an elegant dessert with Champagne. If you want to serve a non-alcoholic version of these cupcakes for your family, or for the kids, just substitute the Champagne in the recipe with Sparkling Apple Cider.

Champagne in cupcakes just sounded so festive for New Years and using Wilson Creek Almond Champagne was the perfect nostalgic ingredient to represent the place where my beloved and I said our vows.

I hope this recipe can also make some of your coming celebrations extra special.

Start by combining brown and white sugars with butter and almond paste in a stand mixer bowl. Whip until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

This is almond paste. It can be found in some grocery store baking aisles and most cake supply stores.

In a separate bowl hand whisk together, eggs, milk, baking soda, and Vanilla.

It’s convenient to transfer this mixture into a container with an easy pour spout.

In a third bowl sift together flour, spices, and salt.

Now with all three bowls prepared it’s time to combine them into one delicious Almond Cupcake Batter.

Alternating between the egg mixture and flour mixture continue adding both to the sugar, butter mixture until all your ingredients are together in one bowl.

Mix on medium only until all ingredients are combined. Do not over mix.

You will end up with a light colored batter, speckled with spices, that smells like sweet Almonds.

Delicious!

To create clean, perfect Cupcakes, fill a Ziploc bag with your Cupcake Batter, cut off the tip of one corner, and pipe the batter into your Cupcake Papers 2/3 of the way.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove your cupcakes from the tins. While they cool there is plenty more to do!

On to making the Almond Champagne Buttercreme.

Now I know what you’re thinking… Marshmallow Fluff? What in the world is that for?

The Marshmallow Fluff is what allows us to have a thick buttercreme that can hold a fancy shape on top of our cupcakes, even though we will be adding a full cup of liquid in the form of Champagne to our frosting.

So here we go.

Empty entire contents of two jars of Marshmallow Fluff into your mixing bowl and begin whipping. The fluff should begin to soften and smooth making it easier to combine with other ingredients.

Slice 5 sticks of room temperature, unsalted, butter, into tablespoon size slices.

If you’re like me, you might often use “salted” butter because it’s just what you always have on hand, even in recipes that call for “unsalted.” THAT WILL NOT WORK IN THIS FROSTING.

You MUST USE UNSALTED BUTTER or your frosting will taste like a you are biting into a raw stick of butter on top of your cupcakes. Trust me… in this recipe it makes all the difference in the world!

Pop open a new bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and measure 1 cup.

Add Champagne to Marshmallow Fluff and begin mixing the two together. After 2 minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl to retrieve all of the marshmallow fluff stuck to the sides. Then, begin mixing again and continue until the marshmallow and Champagne are completely combined.

Begin adding slices of butter a couple at a time while the mixer is on a medium speed. Allow each addition to completely combine before adding the next.

Once all the butter has been combined into the frosting, add 1 tsp of Vanilla.

Next add Powdered Confectioners Sugar to your mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. Mix on medium speed until well combined.

And that’s it… your Almond Champagne Buttercreme is ready.

Make sure your cupcakes are completely cool before frosting them or you will have a sad, melted mess.

Using a butter knife, spread a thin layer of frosting on each cupcake.

Choosing well shaped Almond slices, place each piece of Almond into buttercreme on edge of the cupcake, in a single row, creating a flower petal appearance all the way around each cupcake.

Most of the time when I make cupcakes I just apply my frosting with a simple make shift piping bag made from a Ziploc.

For this special occasion however, and for this fancy of a cupcake, I suggest actually using a real piping tip with a special star or flower shaped cut, to finish off your Almond Champagne Cupcakes with an elegant design.

Pipe the frosting in a swirl and sprinkle on clear decorating sugar.

Beautiful!

The combination of the sprinkles and the color of the frosting looks just like bubbles in Champagne.

I just love it.

I made my first few cupcakes just like this because it looks so beautiful, but after eating one, I decided to continue piping the rest with only 1/3 of the frosting you see in the picture.

Just one spiral around and into the middle so that the cupcake top is covered, is plenty of frosting. This will make your cupcake/frosting ratio better balanced for taste, and allow your guests to fit their mouths over the cupcake to more easily take a bite.

And now for the fancy Chocolate topper!

This part is so fun and it opens up a whole new world of possibilities in cake and cupcake decorating.

Here’s what you need.

This Candy Kote by CK is like hard but melt-able chocolate in a tube that makes it easy to write with. I found mine at a local Cake Supply store, and there are many places that sell it online.

Place your candy tubes in hot water to melt them. To make toppers for eighteen cupcakes I recommend purchasing at least four tubes.

If you’re not comfortable creating your toppers free hand, you can create and print your designs on a simple piece of paper from your computer.

Then place your sheet of designs on a flat surface and cover it with a piece of parchment paper.

Use your tube of melted Candy Kote just like a pen and trace your designs. Make sure to allow a thick enough flow of candy to come out in order to create a strong piece that can stand up once dried.

Double check to make sure that each letter or number in each topper is connected to create one fused piece, and draw a stem on the bottom of your design to create a type of stake to stick into your frosting.

Allow your candy toppers to dry for at least 20 minutes to ensure their strength and ability to stand up on cupcakes.

Gently peel your candy piece from the wax paper and lightly press it’s stem into the cupcake frosting and…

Stand back and be amazed with yourself!

These cupcakes taste really good on their own but they’re even more delicious with some chocolate covered strawberries.

I hope if you decide to make these cupcakes, they make your special events even more spectacular!

Here’s What You Need…

Almond Champagne Cupcakes

Bowl 1

1 stick – 8 tbsp – unsalted butter, softened

3 ½ ounces almond paste (baking supply store)

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

Bowl 2

3 large eggs

2 ½ tsp baking soda

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp Vanilla

Bowl 3

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ salt

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp cocoa powder

(These spices are all optional… you can create your own mixture of your favorite and available spices. Just keep them to a minimum so as not to overpower the almond flavor.)

18 Silver and Gold Cupcake Papers

For Almond Champagne Buttercreme and Decoration

2 Containers – 32 oz. – Marshmallow Fluff

5 sticks UNSALTED butter – This is crucial!!! Must be unsalted or your frosting will taste like greasy, salty, butter.

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 cup Powdered Sugar (plus more if needed to thicken)

1 cup Wilson Creek Almond Champagne

2 Bags Thin sliced Almonds

Clear decorative Sprinkling Sugar (baking supply store)

Dark Brown CK Candy Kote (baking supply store)

Clear parchment paper for baking

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. In stand mixer bowl whip together almond paste, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. In separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, Vanilla, and baking powder. In third bowl, whisk together flour, spices, and salt. Alternate adding egg mixture and flour mixture to sugar and butter mixture just until completely combined. Do not over-mix. Spoon batter into plastic sandwich bag, cut off tip of bag, and pipe batter into paper cupcake liners until each is 2/3 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cool completely.

Almond Champagne Buttercreme

Cut sticks of room temperature butter into tablespoon size slices and set aside. Scoop two jars of Marshmallow Fluff into Stand Mixer Bowl and begin to mix on medium speed. Pop open new bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and measure 1 cup. Add Champagne to Marshmallow Fluff and continue mixing until combined. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl to retrieve all of the marshmallow fluff and combine with Champagne. Continue mixing.  Pour in Vanilla. Gradually add in slices of butter while beating well to combine each addition. Continue until all butter has been added and mixture is smooth. Scrape bowl again and continue mixing while adding Powdered Sugar until all is well combined. Add extra sugar if needed to adjust texture. Frosting should be soft and creamy but able to hold a shape for decoration on cupcake.

Using butter knife or frosting spreader, cover each cupcake with thin layer of buttercreme. Choosing well shaped Almond slices, place each piece of Almond into buttercreme on edge of cupcake, in a single row, creating a flower petal appearance all the way around cupcake.

Spoon rest of frosting into piping bag or tube with star shaped tip. Pipe one full spiral of frosting onto top of cupcake until covered. (it is not recommended to pipe on more frosting than this to create a cone shape appearance on top of cupcakes like seen in picture. This much frosting looks pretty, but is too much frosting for eating when serving to guests.)

Lightly sprinkle frosting with decorative sugar.

Decorative Candy Cupcake Topper

Place liquid candy tube in hot water to soften. On computer select desired font, size, and word content for cupcake topper. Place several copies of text on word document and print on a regular sheet of paper. Place page of text on flat surface and cover with clear parchment paper. Using liquid candy, pipe and trace over text on parchment paper. Make sure all letters or numbers are attached to one another creating one single cupcake topper. After text is completed, pipe on a thick attached stem to bottom of text creating a type of stake to insert candy text into cupcake frosting. Allow candy pieces to dry completely, about 20 minutes.

Gently remove candy text from parchment and delicately press into frosting on cupcake.

Happy 2010!

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]]> http://www.mommytopics.com/food/almond-champagne-cupcakes/feed 10 http://www.mommytopics.com/food/2009-christmas-cookie-extravaganza-this-is-it http://www.mommytopics.com/food/2009-christmas-cookie-extravaganza-this-is-it#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:33:55 +0000 admin http://www.mommytopics.com/?p=112

Here are the boxes of Cookies we are giving as gifts to our family tonight!

I just love the windows in them so you can get a peek at what’s inside.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the cookies shall we?

I love making these face cookies. These are what inspired my idea for the cupcakes I entered into the “Hello, Cupcake Challenge.”

This is my own design, and it comes from little faces I’ve drawn my whole life. If you could see any of my notebooks from high school where I was supposed to be taking notes, they are covered with doodles like this.

The eyes are made out of mini marshmallows cut in half. We made the mouths by putting  holes in the dough with a straw before baking the cookies.

Here’s Santa and an Elf.

My mom made this one. She says he’s a Christmas Caroler with Earmuffs. He looks Italian to me. I picture him singing on a street corner in New York City outside of his Pizzeria.

Speaking of New York City…

Here’s a NYC Snow Globe. I’ve never been to New York, but if I ever go, I’d love to go at Christmastime.

Merry Christmas NYC!

Here’s another Santa.

This is probably my favorite Cookie out of all of them. Remy made this all by herself. She saw how we were making our Faces with the marshmallow eyes, and she made this one completely on her own. It looks just like all of her little characters she draws. So cute!

Here Remy is decorating a Christmas Bulb Cookie… I’ll show you those further down the page.

And here is another Cookie Remy made. Again… just like one of her little characters. I’m such a proud Momma.

Here’s Leo hard at work making a Snowman Cookie he saw in one of the many books we had on hand for inspiration.

Leo made this one too. He says it’s a portrait of the Professor.

We made sure to put it right in the window of the Professor’s Cookie Box!

He’ll be flattered I’m sure.

My mom and her sisters made these ones. They are Ginger Cookies filled with Lemon Butter-creme. Yum!

My Aunts are great Cookie Decorators.

They made all kinds of fun Cookie designs.

They are also great bakers.

My Aunts provided these delicious little Cookies to add to our boxes. They are called Anzac Bicuits and the recipe is from my cousins in Australia. They taste like Chewy, Buttery, Coco-nutty, goodness. You can’t eat just one!

Speaking of Australians…

This is Daniel. He’s from Australia too. He is one of my cousins friends and he’s been staying with my Aunt while visiting California.

He made several very good looking Santa Clause Cookies. We thought he was doing a great job. But then…

He made this.

He couldn’t explain it… He just made it… and left it with us.

Kind of reminds me of one of the stores I did some of my Christmas Shopping at. Also reminds me a bit of a certain hat… worn by a cat.

Everyone contributed to the production of Christmas Tree Cookies.

In addition to making Sugar Cookies, we made some Chocolate Sugar Cookies by replacing 1 Cup of the flour in our recipe, with one cup of Cocoa Powder, and reducing the vanilla content down to only 1 tsp.

These Chocolate Cookies make a nice contrast for the Frosting and add another look to the designs.

They taste really good too!

Speaking of delicious! Don’t these look yummy… if you like candy… which I do.

My husband always makes fun of my affinity for candy. He thinks it’s weird to still like candy as an adult. He says it’s because I wasn’t aloud to have much of it as a young child. My Mom preferred to give me Carob Chips, raisins, and sugarless gum when I was little. Now I prefer candy over most any other sweet treat.

Aren’t these cool? We made the cord with Black Licorice Rope… strictly for photographing purposes. Then we divided them up and put them in the boxes.

Another Snow Globe.

These kind of look like Snow Globes too.

Gifts.

A Wreath.

And a partridge in a Pear Tree!

Merry Christmas!!!

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]]> http://www.mommytopics.com/food/2009-christmas-cookie-extravaganza-this-is-it/feed 3 http://www.mommytopics.com/food/hello-cupcake-challenge http://www.mommytopics.com/food/hello-cupcake-challenge#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:45:07 +0000 admin http://www.mommytopics.com/?p=111

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We’re done with all of our baking, but I’m still working on editing and uploading the pictures of all of our Christmas Cookies.

I thought I’d wet your appetite by giving you a glimpse of my Cupcakes I’ve entered into the “Hello, Cupcake” Challenge on Facebook.

“Hello, Cupcake” is my most favorite cupcake book. I’ve talked about it plenty on this blog and made a few of their designs. I thought I would forever be copying their ideas until they challenged me to come up with one of my own.

“What’s New Cupcake?” is the new book being released in April 2010, created by the same authors as “Hello Cupcake.” In honor of their new book they are holding a cupcake contest on Facebook… Here are the details:

“Want to win an autographed copy of What’s New, Cupcake? Want to show off your cupcaking skills?
During this baking season, show off your talents by coming up with a new cupcake design using only cupcakes, frosting, and one or all of the following candies:
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
Marshmallows
Gummy bears
Wafer cookies
M&M’s Minis
Submission deadline is January 31, 2010. You have a chance to win one of five books when they are published in April.”

So here’s what I came up with…

It’s the Big Guy Himself. Santa!

His eyes and hat pom-pom are made from mini marshmallows. Everything else is cupcake and frosting.

This is Frank. He is the most stable of all the Elves.

Frank’s hat is rimmed with mini M&Ms and his hat pom-pom is a mini marshmallow.

This is Kissy. She’s a sweety. Harmless. Basically stable as well.

Frank is proposing to her on Christmas Eve….. shhhhhhhh! Don’t let the secret out.

This is Howard. He’s a good guy… just a little paranoid. He’s always freaking out and lives in a perpetual state of shock.

“Prancer’s a girl?!

“Santa’s my uncle??!!!

“No trans fat” doesn’t truly mean, NO trans fat???!!!

And this is Bucky. Clearly… not stable.

And I like to try and stick to that rule from Bambi about how, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” so… we’ll move on.

And last but not least, a reindeer who needs no introductions, the guiding light to Santa’s sleigh even on the foggiest of nights….

Pinnochio!

Doh!

I mean… Rudolph. Rudolph!

Sorry about that buddy. Honest mistake. No hard feelings I hope.

Rudolph’s antlers are made from gummy bears covered in frosting and stuck on toothpicks, inserted into the cupcake. They are also adorned with mini M&Ms.

And that’s the crew.

Things really slow down for them come December 26th so they are super excited about being involved in a cupcake contest.

I didn’t use any Cookie Wafers or Jelly Beans… I hope that’s okay.

If you want to try your hand at some new cupcake designs, head on over to the “Hello Cupcake Challenge” on Facebook” and give it a whirl. If you don’t want to give it a try you can still head on over and check out all the other fun ideas people are submitting.

Contest runs until January 31, 2010.

Merry Christmas!!! And Happy Cupcakey! (Not a real phrase.. but it should be.)

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