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June 23, 2009 5 Comments

hosting a hoe down

My youngest is turning three and he wanted a wild west cowboy bash. So as you can imagine, I gave him one. {wink} Those who read me often know that he has severe food allergies so I needed to make a cake and treats that were dairy and nut free. (He was released from the egg allergy thank goodness; cake is not cake without eggs!)

Candidly I was really unsure what I was going to do until a few days before the party. I decided on a chocolate and vanilla cupcake tier with a 4×4″ cake (for my little guy) on top. Not only does the tier give the table height, but it also made a clear separation between his cake and the guest cakes… especially since I tried my hand at chocolate transfer. {loved it!}

So for his cake, I could use dairy-free chocolate transfer (trust me you can’t tell the difference in taste), but I’ve only been able to find it in regular chocolate, no white chocolate or other colors, and I didn’t think that was very interesting so I opted for a rice crispy (which he loves) sherrif badge. No worries, I made more as favors for his little buddies.

However, I did use chocolate transfer for my guest cupcakes. This was actually my first attempt and I was amazed at how easy it is. Here are a few tips:

Print out your design. If small enough put multiple designs on a single sheet.
Tape your template to a cutting board (so that you can turn the image if you need to).
Cover the image with wax paper.
Use melting chocolate (available at all craft and baking supply stores). I used Wilton red, yellow and dark chocolate.
Use a freezer weight resealable bag, heating your chocolate in 8-10 second intervals and massaging it with your hands between heating. (Make sure and insert your connector before melting your chocolate.)
Pipe your design backwards, meaning pipe the design you want to show on top first and then layer the rest of the design on top of it. Here’s a pictorial from the Love-Sweet-Love blog.
Allow the chocolate to cool, peel it off, flip it over and apply. Tah-dah!

As for the cake plate decoration, this part was a lot of fun because I got to use my glue gun! You guys know I love it! {giggle} Anyway, I embellished Martha Stewart’s square tier cake plates (8″, 10″ and 12″) with a 2″ bandana ribbon and twine. I applied the glue to the ribbon and then applied the ribbon to the cake plate. Doing it this way allows it to cool slightly before applying to the plate. As for the twine, I put it on second leaving a two inch overhang at one corner. Once the glue set, it is almost instant, I separated the twine ends and frayed them slightly.

I’ll post more ideas, including how to make the sheriff rice crispy treat, from our bash later this week. So stay tuned and happy baking!

campout cupcake

camping-out-cupcakes-with-smores-and-tent1

I designed these fun cupcakes a few weeks ago for my beautiful little boys and of course they go perfectly with our “campout” and “great outdoors” birthday party themes too.

My boys love tents, roasting marshmallows and fishing, so I needed to incorporate each element. If you’ve not noticed yet, there is also a little sleeping bag in the tent {giggle}. I couldn’t resist piping one since my boys love to use theirs on their beds sometimes! Oh, and by the way, these are the cupcakes I entered in the parenting.com cake and cupcake contest that I mentioned last week.

Here’s what you’ll need to decorate your white cupcakes (use egg whites only to preserve the color of your cupcake wrappers):

Hershey bars (2 3/4 pieces per tent)
Mini goldfish crackers
Fiber one cereal (campfire logs)
Cream cheese icing
Blue, green and red gel food coloring
Toothpicks
#46 tip (flat side for sleeping bag)
#107 tip (campfire flame)
#233 tip (grass)
white bakers wire (could use floral wire with non-edible items)

And here are the easy steps:

Using the grass tip, ice your cupcakes. (TIP: You’ll want to add all of your decorations before the icing sets too much so that the grass will act as adhesive to keep the items in place.)
Build your tents next. Take two full blocks of chocolate and trim the third, the base, to 2/3 its normal size. On the base pipe your sleeping bag, a short strip for the pillow and a long strip for the bag.
Melt a block or two of chocolate in the microwave to use as adhesive for assembling your tent. Apply the chocolate with a toothpick and hold your tent in place for a few seconds to allow it to set. Place it on your cupcake.
Using Fiber One cereal as your campfire logs {I know… but they look just like little sticks!}, set them up in a pyramid shape and then pipe a dollop of icing on top for the flame.
Finally we create our fishing pole with a toothpick, I used colored ones, a mini goldfish and bakers wire. Simply wrap the wire around your fish and wind it around your toothpick pole. I placed it so that it is over the edge and then embellished the cupcake with a paper wave design as if they were on an island.

I hope you enjoy my little creation, my boys really did!

divine preview

divine-pink-and-black-table-decor21

We’re working on a new invitation design, but I simply couldn’t wait to share the beautiful table decor now. I only hope you are excited as we are. This table would be perfect for almost any type of girlfriend gathering: bridal shower, baby shower, birthday or even bachelorette party!

pink-and-black-chic-cupcake

Oh, and yes; the cupcakes are mine {wink}. Look for this decor and a beautiful new invitation to complement in about a week. Can’t wait! {UPDATE: New collections are in the shoppe: Divine, Blossoms and Bubbly!}

parenting.com cake contest

04-42ab Okay ladies… those that read me often {I love you guys} know that I like to create new cake, cupcake and treat ideas and to share other peoples wonderful ideas too. {My only quirk is I want to tell you how to make them… I hate seeing something fun but not having the “how tos” to pull it off! Anyway, I digress.}

Well for you fellow bakers out there parenting.com is having a cake, and cupcakes are welcome too, contest. It ends next Thursday, June 7, so pull out all those old pictures from birthdays and parties gone by and send them in. You never know, they may love it and you may walk away with a $500 gift certificate from Kmart.

And for those of you wondering, yes, I entered something you’ve never seen before. {giggle} I’ll post my creation soon. Can’t wait to share it with you!

American flag cupcakes

We should all treasure our American holidays: Memorial Day, July 4, Veteran’s Day. I’m proud that as a country we celebrate those who serve to protect us and those who have fallen to save us.

These cupcakes are my (small as it may be) way of saying thank you to those in my family who have served (my grandfather, several great uncles, my hubby, all of his brothers, his dad and our neice and nephew; the two youngest in Iraq). I hope you enjoy them and make them for your next American celebration!

Here’s what you’ll need to decorate your cupcakes:

Red, white and blue icing (remember that gel food coloring work best)
#46 icing tip
Lollipop sticks
2 resealable plastic bags
2 icing tip connectors

And here are the simple steps:

Once cooled, ice your cupcakes with white icing {cream cheese is my fav!}.
Color some white icing red and some blue. You’ll likely use several drops to get even a small amount of icing bright enough.
Snip the corners of your resealable bags and insert your connectors.
Spoon your red icing into one bag and your blue into another.
Apply your #46 icing tip to your blue bag and using the flat side pipe three stripes (1/3 the length of your flag) and then another stripe from the top {see picture}.
Take your icing tip off the blue bag, clean it out and apply it to the red bag. Pipe the red stripes starting at the top of the flag using your blue stripes as a guide to keep them even. Make sure you skip just below the blue as that should be a white stripe.
Finally, cut a lollipop stick in half and apply it to the side of the flag for your pole.

Have a wonderful holiday and as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!