Cheating :)

So this year for Sam's birthday I cheated. Hehehe. . . I had to plan two seperate parties because of our schedule and the fact that there was no way I would be able to entertain all of the kids Sam wanted to invite this year at my house. We now have preschool, playgroup, Kindergarten and church friends whose parties we attend and really want to have at our parties. So. . .

I went to Dairy Queen and got an Oreo Blizzard Cake for the swim party in our backyard.



Then I made R2D2 cupcakes for the bowling party. I don't know that they neccessarily looked like the little droid guy but Sam loved them and the kids recognized them. I think they look kind of cool when you see all of them together. (I have also made Death Star cupcakes with gray and black frosting before.)

Have a Party, Make a Cake!

Childhood = Birthday Parties!
I remember from my own kidhood how important birthdays are. More importantly, the parties. The biggest insult one little friend every dealt my son was when he got mad and said, "Oh yeah, I am not even inviting you to my birthday party!" Sam was devastated!!!
My advice when it comes to throwing a successful birthday bash is:
#1 Pick a theme
#2 Decorate a cake
#3 Throw in some children
#4 Mix together and don't forget the candles.

I am serious. As long as there is cake; square, round or of the cuppy kind with the appropriate number of burning sticks of wax, the kids are happy! Here are a few successes from our past:

This fairy cake was super easy. It is a double layer 10" round cake on the bottom and a double 8" cake on top of that. I used Wilton's Buttercream Frosting and a can of purple Spraymist foodcoloring. I was worried about mixing enough frosting of the color I wanted. If I mixed too little I would have to try and match the color. If I mixed too much I would have wasted frosting that I could have used for another color and I HATE MIXING FROSTING!!! So using the spray color made it super easy to just frost the cake with white and then spray on my color:-) Then I just made ivy with a round writing tip and a leaf tip. Last of all we just stuck on the fairy figurines that we picked up at the Disney Store. I didn't get any pictures of the inside but I used food coloring to turn the yellow cake into all of our favorite fairy colors bright pink, purple and lime green.



Nothing like a cup cake with LOTS of fluffery frosting! Even better when there is purple stardust sprinkles and princess candies.

This is a take off of the "Barbie Cake" that we have all seen with the giant Cinderella Dress.


I pulled this cake off by using my Pampered Chef Classic 8 Cup Batter Bowl.
Any boxed cake mix can be used. Just mix it up and put it into the batter bowl that is either greased with flour or sprayed with Baker's Choice (oil spray with flour). Fill the bowl 2/3 full and bake at 350F for about 25 minutes or until the middle bounces back when you lightly press with your finger. (This eliminates dry overbaked cakes or having to stick a toothpick or knife into the top of your cake.)
I put the domed cake ontop of a double layer 9" round cake. I frosted the domed cake, then I pushed Aerial down into the center of the cake and when the frosting was still fresh and sticky I covered it in brown sugar to look like sand. Her fin is made of green frosting that I piped on with a large writing tip and built up in layers. I then frosted the ocean and added a little bit of seaweed and some bubbles onto the sides. Flounder and Sebastian were from a playdough toy set that I had purchased earlier. It was the perfect cake for my two year old that was obsessed with "Merdaids" and singing ah ah ah ah everywhere she went.

Another fun idea with barbie cakes is to use the Pampered Chef Prep Bowl Set (each one cup) prepared just like the batter bowl to bake your cupcakes (350F for about 20 min. using the same finger test mentioned above) and then use Polly Pockets in each cup cake. Have frosting bags or the Pampered Chef Decorator Bottle Set ready for all of the lucky party goers to decorate their own individual "Barbie Cake." (I always have orders going in if you need the bowls.)

The Castle cake was awesome! We celebrated that year in a real castle with Sir Samuel Tyler of Parks. All of our little guests came in knight and princess costume ready to hunt the treasure steeling dragon. Of course we had to have a cake that would properly commemorate the occasion.


The castle cake was a two layered 10" on top of a double layered 12". I used half of a cake cone as the turret decorated with frosting with an upside down sugar cone on top. A toothpick with a little flag fit nicely into the bottom of the sugar cone. Everyone wanted a peice with the turret. I only halfway mixed the grey frosting so that it gave the cake a marbles stone look.

Okay, Now this is where I share my biggest birthday cake secret and it is spelled C-O-S-T-C-O.! When life is crazy and I am having way too much fun building pinatas and homemade dragon eggs for the upcoming festivities, or I need to feed an army and the little cake I made is just not going to cut it, I order up a yummy cake from the friendly neighborhood wholesale warehouse. Then I get creative. We have had a couple Star Wars cakes, a mermaid cake, a Hello Kitty Cake and a princess easter cake to name a few. I just add pictures, toys or sometimes I get fancy and do a basket weave with roses. It cuts cake making time down a few hours and feeds 50 for under $15.00.

Goody Goody Gumdrops

I love to bake and I love to share! Few things are more satisfying to me then making yummy food and serving it to people who love to eat it! This blog is dedicated to all of the fun things I have baked or will bake.
Hopefully it will be just as fun sharing digitally.
This is what inspired me to start blogging about my own adventures with food.

You have got to click on the picture and check out Bakerellas fun blog.
Cute and yummy are my cup of tea!