Puppy Dog Cupcakes

For my daughter's 5th birthday, I handed her my "Hello, Cupcake!" book and asked her to pick out some special cupcakes that she would like to have for her little birthday party this year.  Of course she picks the cute little puppy dog cupcakes on the cover of the book and decides she wants a puppy themed birthday party.  I used a few different things to decorate these cute little "pup"cakes that what was in the book they turned out amazing and weren't as hard as I thought they would be.

Ingredients and supplies needed:

• 1 box cake mix and extra ingredients according to package
• 1 container pre-made white frosting (or chocolate if you want brown puppies)
• mini marshmallows
• red/pink colored sugar
• pink or red plain M&Ms
• mini chocolate chips
• Pull and Peel Twizzlers (for dog leash rope)
• regular sized cupcake papers (white)
• mini-sized cupcake papers (white)
• 1 quart plastic baggie
• Cellophane tape
• Scissors

Method:

Make up cupcakes according to the directions on the box.  A regular cake mix will make up to 24 full sized cupcakes, so you can make up 12 regular sized cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes and use the rest of the batter to make up more mini ones or regular sized ones.  I made up more mini ones and just made faces on them and not full bodies.

Let the cakes cool fully before you begin frosting them.

The first step was to cut 12 mini marshmallows at a diagonal with kitchen shears.  If you dip the shears in water before cutting the marshmallows they don't stick as bad.  Next pour some of the pink or red colored decorating sugar in a small bowl and dip the sticky cut edge of the marshmallows into the sugar.

Prepare the icing bag by wrapping one corner of a quart sized bag with 6 layers of cellophane tape (Scotch tape).  Fill the bag with the frosting from your pre-made frosting and squeeze the air out and seal the bag shut.

With a sharp pair of scissors, clip an upside down "W" in the tip.

Squeeze a little bit of frosting on the flat side of the marshmallow ears.

Then stick them in a proportional spot on the top of a mini cupcake.  Put two ears near the top and then use a whole mini marshmallow to stick on as the nose.

Now pipe on frosting down the edges of the ears on both sides and in between.

This is what it will look like from the front when you get the ears covered....now for the front of the face.

Starting from the top just under the ears pipe down and to the sides of the face on each side to cover the face. When you get to the nose, start at the top of the marshmallow and pull down the sides of it and towards the outside of the cupcake.  You can kind of poke at the frosting all around the face a bit to create more of a spiky affect to the "fur."

Finally, you can put two eyes and nose on with mini chocolate chips.  I used an M&M for the tongue and pushed that in under the mini marshmallow nose.  Set that aside while you make the body of the puppy.

On a regular sized cupcake, start by pulling down about 1" ribbons of frosting that radiate all around the outside of the cupcake.

Then fill in the middle part of the cupcake with ribbons of frosting and then with the same poking action at the frosting with the piping bag to make a more spiky appearance to the "fur."

Now you can place the mini cupcake with the puppy face on it's side on top of the puppy body cupcake.  

You can put piece of liquorish on the side of the neck and drape to the side for the dog's lead if you'd like.

To store the cupcakes until the party, I put them on a large baking sheet and set it inside a box that could be covered.  I would recommend refrigerating or freezing the cupcakes a little bit right after frosting them to help firm up the frosting.  I would also beware making these if you are going to serve them in any type of really warm temperatures because they may melt a bit and cause the puppy heads to potentially slide off (past experience with other cakes). Normal room temperatures should be fine for holding their shape.  As you can see I also made up just faces on some of the leftover mini cupcakes and served these to the mommies at the party.

You can also use food coloring to make the frosting different colors for different colored dogs or use chocolate frosting for darker colored puppies.  I stayed with plain white as my daughter's favorite little puppy toy is all white as well.

Homemade Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake

For my son's 3rd birthday party, he really, really wanted a Lightning McQueen birthday cake.  I searched the web for ideas on how to make a 3D Lightning cake, but they all used a marzipan layer on top, but I wasn't really familiar on how to use that so I wanted to go a more traditional icing route.  I think it turned out great and now that I've sorted out how to make it all work it will be easy to replicate.

I started out by making a cake mix in a greased and floured 9x13" pan.  Bake according to box's instructions and let cool on cooling rack.

Then I wrapped the whole cake in cling wrap twice and then put the whole cake in the freezer for at least 45 minutes (you could do it overnight as well).  Freezing the cake helps firm up the cake so that it is much less crumbly when you cut it.

Then using a serrated knife I cut up the 9x13" cake into the pieces I needed to make the car.  I cut one large rectangle 7x10."  That left a 9x3 piece (on the right above) and a 10x2" piece (on the top above).

From the 9x3" piece I cut it to be about 6 inches long (this will be used for the top of the car and angled a bit to make the windshield.  From the 10x2" piece cut it to be about 6" long as well and then cut it in half at an angle to create two triangular strips.  Use of the triangular strips lay behind the "windshield" piece and then stand the other piece up on end to make the spoiler.  From the corner pieces that are left, cut those in half in triangular pieces and use the rounded outside ends to create the rounded wheel fenders for the front hood on each side.

To assemble put a layer of icing on top of the 7x10" rectangle and assemble the cut pieces on top.  I would recommend securing the back spoiler with some toothpicks in the back.

A front view of the car cake

Next cut out the holes for the wheels.  With regular sized cup cakes you'll want to cut holes about 2 1/2" tall and 2" deep.  Then wrap up the cake in cling wrap and stick back in the freezer for about 40-45 more minutes. (NOTE: I had already started icing the car cake before I cut out the wheels as I was making this all up on the go, so it would have been better to cut the holes first and then stick it back in the freezer to firm the cake back up again to put on my crumb layer of icing.)

While the car is in the freezer, you can coloring your icing.  I used about 1 1/2 containers of vanilla icing in which I used A LOT of red food coloring.  NOTE:  the food coloring will change the consistency of your frosting to a little more liquidy.  I think homemade cake icing would be more ideal as you could keep adding more powdered sugar to it to firm it up.  I think you could do the same with the store bought frosting as well to firm it up a little.

When you take the car back out of the freezer, you will used about half of your colored icing to apply a crumb layer.  Take a few strips of waxed paper and place them slightly under all the edges of your cake to keep your cake plate protected (you will remove these later).  Then take an icing knife and spread a thin layer of icing to "seal up" the cake.  Place the cake back in the freezer for another 40-45 minutes to harden up the crumb layer of icing.

When the crumb layer is chilled, take the cake out of the freezer and apply the final frosting layer.  Use the icing knife to create a flat surface at the windshield and smoothed flowing lines to shape the car.

You will also want to freeze 4 regular sized cupcakes (I just made up a second batch of cake mix to make these and have extra cupcakes for the birthday party).  When they are firm from the freezer, you can take a metal melon baller and cut out holes on the top.  Also remove the paper wrappers from each cupcake.

Frost the cupcake tops with chocolate frosting and sprinkle them with black colored sugar.  After removing the waxed paper from under the final iced cake, carefully position the cupcake wheels in the cake.  (NOTE: your fingers will get gooey with this step, it is inevitable.  Don't worry because you can touch up the frosting later and sprinkle on some more sprinkles)  Fill in any extra chocolate icing needed to cover up the exposed cupcake.

Finally with an icing decorator with a flat tip you can apply white icing in strips to create Lightning's eye windshield, side windows, and mouth.  I also used it to make a "3" in the back.  

Next I used a pointed tip to create the lightning bolts, headlights, and Happy Birthday in the back with yellow icing.

Finally, I used two blue plain M&Ms to create Lighting's bright blue eyes and dotted some chocolate icing in the middle to bring him alive.

Everyone loved this little guy and every part of him was edible.  I spent only $2 on the two cake mixes and $3 on the icing.  I had the sprinkles at home along with the food coloring.  So it only cost me $5 to make an amazing 3D cake that could have cost a lot more at a cake shop.  We served well over 20 people with this cake plus had extra cupcakes from making the "wheels".  I hope you can enjoy re-creating him yourself for your special Lightning McQueen fan!!!

Pound Cake

I found this pound cake recipe in one of those Kraft Family and Friends magazines years ago but haven't found a time to make it until now. We were having friends over for "fondue" and thought this would be perfect to serve with it drowned in chocolate. But it's great for all other sorts of recipes. Usually this would be made in a bunt pan but I made two loaves out of it so I could cut it up in cubes. This recipe gives the cake a nice dense consistency with a little bit of texture. Also you can freeze the extra loaf if you aren't ready to eat it right away.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
6 eggs
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking Powder
1 tsp salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 1 min.

Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition. Beat an additional 5 min. or until very light and fluffy. Add cream cheese and vanilla; beat 1 min. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

COMBINE flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture. Beat 1 min or until well blended.

Pour batter into greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan.

BAKE 1 hour or until golden brown. Cool 10 min.;

Loosen from sides of pan with spatula or knife and gently remove cake.

Cool completely on wire rack.

Since this recipe can make two loafs of cake, I use one away and then freeze the other. Simple put it in a plastic freezer bag and remove all the air.

Butterfly Birthday Cake

For my daughter's 4th birthday she wanted a butterfly themed party. This cake is very easy to make and fun to decorate. I actually made up one 9 inch round cake and used the rest of the batter to make cupcakes for the guests to actually eat at the party.

Ingredients:

1 white cake mix

1 tub white frosting

food coloring

mini marshmallows

two toothpicks

sprinkles and edible glitter

Method:

Make white cake mix as directed on package. Bake one 9 inch and use the remaining batter to make cupcakes (12). Let cakes cool on rack. Wrap circle cake in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 45 minutes. While the cake is chilling, tint your white frosting with food coloring to get the right consistancy.

Take cake out of the freezer and cut it in half down the middle.

Separate the cakes and reposition on cake plate to resemble wings. Place one cupcake at the top between the wings for the "head." (be sure to remove paper casing around cupcake)

Cut strips of baking paper and place them underneath the edges of the cake. Use 1/3 - 1/2 of tinted frosting to cover cake to create a crumb layer sealing the cake.

Seal up the sides and around the cupcake. Place cake back in freezer for 45 minutes.

Use remaining frosting to apply final layer of icing. Use knife to create fun textures. I created ribs in the wings.

I created antennae by sticking a toothpick through four mini marshmallows. I used a highlighting colored frosting and sprinkles to make a face, body and accents on the wings.

I also sprinkled on edible glitter and colored balls on top of the accents to make it even more spectacular.

The Princess Cake

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, she wanted a princess party and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try making "The Princess Cake" where you use a real doll and make the skirt of the dress out of cake. Eventhough it was very time intensive to make, it was totally fun to create, decorate, and eat! And nothing could replace the amazing look on my daughter's face when she saw it for the first time the morning of her birthday party!!!

I used the instructions and video provided on the Betty Crocker website to help guide me in making the Fairy Tale Princess Cake. Since I made some modifications you can check out how to really make the cake on the website and look at my site for how I did it. (Click here to see their instructions and video)

I didn't have 3 - 8 inch round pans so I had to improvise a bit and use three box mixes, but it had the same results in the end.

One key was to grease and flour the baking dishes properly. Using real shortening versus a spray oil was key. Then rolling around ample flour to coat the entire inside of the pans.

I mixed up each mix separately but you can mix them up together and separate them out according to the types of pans you have. The key is to mix up the batters for the same amount of time no matter how many mixes you use. (In this case about 2 1/2 minutes with a hand mixer total before adding batter to the pans). You will need to note that baking the batter in bowls will take well over an hour so if you don't have a big oven it will take at least two baking sessions to get your domed pieces.

I utilized my Pampered Chef Classic Batter Bowl for the top of the skirt, then two 6" round pans, and then I used Pyrex bowl for the bottom. One great tip that Better Crocker gave was to put each cake in the freezer for about 45 minutes before cutting into it as to make less crumbs. Then using a serrated knife you should rotate the cake as you cut it to help reduce crumbling as well. I flattened out the 6" cake tops and then took about 1 - 1 1/2 inches off the "bowl" cakes to even the out and get me the right height to get to the top of the hips on my doll. The extra cake seemed to be a lot but I snacked on some and the rest I stacked up, wrapped up and put in the freezer for a rainy day!!!

Next I cut holes in each of the cakes so that I could easily insert my doll. Most instructions call for a 2" hole to be cut out but my doll wasn't that big and I didn't want to waste too much cake so I used a knife and cut about a 1 1/2 inch hole in the top layers but only about 1" in the lower one for the feet to fit. I also placed a few strips of parchment paper underneath the bottom layer of cake to help keep my cake plate cleaner when I put on my "crumb layer."

I opened up two containers of frosting and added enough food coloring to get my desired color of pink. Between each layer of cake I added a big dollop of frosting and spread it out.

I really like how my extra "bowl" cake on the bottom actually flips out a bit. What is so nice about this whole process is that you can cover up any mistakes you think you make quite easily.

I used a fair amount of frosting to put on a crumb layer. This is a layer designed to cover the cake and hold tight any loose crumbs so that when you put the final layer on you won't see the little black specks.

A neat tip that Betty Crocker offered was to simply hold a piece of paper with both of your hands and pull up on the side of the cakes to smooth out the frosting.

As you can see it works really well. Now that the "crumb layer" is done, they suggested that you could put the whole cake in the freezer for a while to harden things a little bit, but my freezer wouldn't accommodate that so I started right into the final layer. At this point you could remove the parchment paper and smooth out the bottom frosting.

I removed the clothes from my doll and then wrapped from the bust down with cling wrap. Then I stuck the doll down through the holes. Next I used an offset knife and started putting large dollops of frosting on the outside of the skirt. I went with the method of making little up and down spreading movements to give the dress a whispy look. At the base of the cake, I used a star tip on my little cake decorators from Pampered Chef to make it look like a little sash or lace at the bottom of the dress. This really finished off the bottom nice.

When covering the skirt, you need to bring the frosting all the way up to the waist line of the doll to fill in. For the bodice, I used another tip with a zig-zag ridge and made a V-neck and added little candy pearls for jewels on the dress. I tried matching the style of dress on the doll close to the one I made for my daughter to wear so I added some puffy white sleeves on it as well.

I also added the pearl candies in the back for buttons down the back. The final touch was to sprinkle on edible glitter all over the dress. This gave it such a cute sparkle and magical look. The candles I angled slightly frontwards and lifted the arms of the doll up as to not start them on fire.

The cake was almost as beautiful inside as well. To serve the cake I removed the doll and used the Pampered Chef Cut and Serve tool (you could use a regular knife and server as well). I cut down through the cake with the pieces being about 1 - 1 1/2" wide and then served the top section to one guest and then the piece with the bottom three layers to the next guest.

Our doll was pretty worn out by the end of the day and my daughter got a hold of it and started licking off the icing from the bodice. The cling film really helped keep the doll pretty well protected and made for easy clean up.