Birthday Dreams - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Cupcakes

As some of you that follow me know that I love a charity called Birthday Dreams, they bring birthday's to homeless kids.  I love to bake cakes (or cupcakes for them) and I'm trying to get the word out about them.  If you don't live in the Washington area a cash donation would go a long way.  

I signed up for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party for a 6 year old at one of the rescue missions close to home.  I went on the search and goggled some ideas. I found several different cakes but I thought cupcakes would be the easier way to go. I then went on the search for a TMNT cookie cutter. I found one Ebay that was perfect, I ordered the 2 inch and the 3.5 inch.  I ended up using the 2 inch, the ONLY bad part was when I tried to cute out the mask part it was too small and didn't pop out right so I made them my own and molded them to the way I wanted and made eye holes.

My first act was to make the TMNT characters. Now usually I use my Rolled Buttercream Fondant for making characters.  But I saw a Blog Hop post for Candy Clay on Pint Sized Baker. I must admit that I had my doubt's while making this candy clay.  When I first mixed it up it was oily and not holding up and few hours later it was still not like I thought it would be.  Thankfully OVER-NIGHT and it was ready to go! Phew!!

Ingredients:

1 bag (12oz) Candy Melts (In Color you need - I use Wilton Brand)

1/4 Cup Light Corn Syrup

Dump bag of candy melts into microwave safe bowl.  Melt in microwave, my takes 1 min 30 seconds to melt. BECAREFUL not to burn, YES I've done it before and posted my disaster mess.  Once melts are melted stir in corn syrup.  I will start to form a ball (it will be greasy). Wrap in plastic wrap, press down to make it flat.  Let the candy clay sit for a few hours, mine took until overnight. In the morning it was hard and ready to go.  I found a little bit of powdered sugar on my work service made it not stick also made it easy to roll out.  I am now IN LOVE with technique and will be using from now on.

Karyn from Pint Sized Baker had a suggestion of Oil Candy Color if you need a more vibrant color.  I find Candy Melts come in almost every color you could need, but the white with a color could always be done.

Next on my list to make was the cupcakes, chocolate was requested.  I found this Super Easy Chocolate Cupcake Recipe on All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup shortening 1 2/3 cups white sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules 1 pinch cayenne pepper

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with 18 paper baking cups.
2.	In a medium bowl, beat the shortening and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla, instant coffee and cayenne pepper. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter, alternating with the water, just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. When cool, arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter and frost as desired.

Last thing to do was to make the cupcakes come together.  After the cupcakes had cooled, I frosted them with my go to Sturdy Buttercream frosting.  Then I topped with my TMNT Characters.

Need:

Cupcakes

Frosting

TMNT Cookie Cutter (2 inch fit the best of cupcakes)

Candy Clay - Green

Candy Clay - Orange

Candy Clay - Blue

Candy Clay - Purple

After Candy Clay has set up (mine took overnight), roll it out a little powdered sugar helps the sticking.  I found after you unwrap the clay you have to mold it into a ball then roll it out for best use.  Take the face cookie cutter to cut out the faces, I made 24 of them one for each headache.  NOW I tried to use the mask cutter but it was so small that the mask wouldn't pop out right. So I made my own mask by rolling out a small rectangle.  I form one end to look like a mask flapping int he wind.  I took a pick and made eye holes.  I took the mouth cutter to make the mouth's on each face.  The Candy Clay held up so great better than any fondant I've used.  They went on top of the cupcakes perfectly!  Did I say how much I love this technique.

All Boxed up and ready to go:

Thanks for stopping by

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Cake Walk Cake ... Monkey Cake

Before school ended this last year the school had a cake walk and asked for cakes to be donated.  I of course couldn't just pick up a cake, I wanted to make something.  It was a jungle theme so I found this super cute Monkey Cake on Parenting.  I of course made it my own and I think it turned out super cute!

Ingredients:

• 1 (9-inch) round cake
• 2 chocolate-covered doughnuts
• ½ can (1 cup) vanilla frosting
• Red food coloring (I used Pink for lips)
• 1 can (16 oz) chocolate frosting (I used fondant instead)
• ½ cup chocolate sprinkles (I skipped)
• 2 brown M&M's or black jelly beans (I used fondant)
• 2 miniature York peppermint patties
• 1 chocolate Twizzler

What you'll need:

• A bread knife
• A serving platter
• 2 resealable sandwich-size plastic bags (Ziploc)
• Kitchen shears or scissors

Trimming the cakes:

1. Place the cake on a clean work surface. Using the bread knife, trim a 1 ½-inch triangle-shaped notch from opposite sides of the cake (see template). Discard scraps. Place the trimmed cake onto a serving platter.
2. Cut ½ inch from one side of each doughnut.

For the white, red and pink frosting:

1. Spoon ¼ cup of the untinted vanilla frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
2. Add enough red food coloring to 2 Tbsp of the vanilla frosting to tint it red and spoon it into a separate resealable plastic bag.
3. Add a few drops of the red food coloring to the remaining vanilla frosting to tint it a pale pink.

Frosting the cake:

1. Spread the chocolate frosting onto the top and sides of the cake, avoiding the lower half of the monkey's face.
2. Spread the pale-pink frosting into a kidney bean-shaped area over the monkey's mouth, chin and cheeks, as pictured.
3. Press the chocolate sprinkles into the forehead, the top of the head and the underside of the monkey's chin.

Assembling the cake:

1. Press the trimmed edges of the doughnuts onto the cake for the monkey's ears. Press the M&M's or the jelly beans into the center of the cake to make the monkey's nostrils.
2. Snip a very small corner from each bag of frosting. Pipe a red frosting line onto the pink part of the cake for the monkey's smile.
3. Pipe 2 white circles onto the top of the cake for the monkey's eyes and press the peppermint candies into them. Add a dab of white frosting for the sparkle in each eye, as pictured.
4. Snip the chocolate Twizzler into thin 2-inch strands with kitchen shears or clean scissors and insert them into the top of the cake for the monkey's hair.

Alexis Notes: I used My Rolled Buttercream Frosting an tinted it 2 shades of brown and a little bit pink for the lips.  I rolled out a little of the white and made the whites of the eyes and added a little crescent moons on each york patty to the whites of the eyes.  I used Wilton Gel Colors to die the fondant (this was before I found my now favorite AmeriColor at Hobby Lobby).  I used a little black fondant for the nostrils. 

I say this Monkey is prefect for any night!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Cakes for Charity ... Barbie Cupcakes

Next on my list for Birthday Dreams was to do was a Barbie theme for sister of the boy I did the Mickey Mouse Cake for.  Now I was going to make a a barbie cake, you know the one that has a barbie in the cake.  BUT I'm sorry to say they kind of creep me out so I didn't make one.  So I went on the search to find out what I could make.  I came across an idea for Barbie Silhouette Cupcakes on Blow Out Party. I took this idea and ran with it.

What you Need:

Cupcakes (I made Chocolate see recipe below)

Frosting (I used my Sturdy Buttercream Frosting - click link)

Zebra Print Cupcake Wrappers (bought at Hobby Lobby)

Fondant (I used my Rolled Buttercream Fondant)

Barbie Cookie Cutter (found on Ebay)

Americolor Electric Pink Gel food color

AmeriColor Super Black 

Wilton Circle Cutter (Medium Size)

I made the chocolate cupcakes (see recipe below) and let them cool.  While they cooled I made a batch of my sturdy buttercream frosting and dyed it Hot Pink.  I then frosted the cooled cupcakes.  I broke my batch of fondant into 3 balls.  One large ball of Fondant was kept white, one I made black and one hot pink.

I rolled out my white fondant and took my circle cutter to make the base the silhouettes on. I let the circles dry out a little bit, to let them harden.  I then rolled out my pink and cut out 12 silhouettes with the barbie cookie cutter.  I then rolled out my black and cut out 12 silhouettes.  I attached the silhouettes with a little water to the circles.  

I let them sit out a little bit to harden also.  NOW this works perfectly when you're not reaching temps in the high 90's (which we were) so into the fridge they went until they were delivered.

Once your toppers are hard attach them to the frosted cupcakes

Chocolate Cake was requested so I made the Moist Chocolate Cake found on Foodess again.

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated white sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute by putting 1 tbsp white vinegar in a cup then filling the rest up with milk; let stand 5 minutes until thickened)
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans (or line with parchment paper circles) and set aside.
2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth (about 3 minutes). Remove bowl from mixer and stir in hot coffee with a rubber spatula. Batter will be very runny.
3. Pour batter evenly between 2 cupcake pans  and bake on middle rack of oven for about 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached.

Here they are packaged up and ready to go:

You don't have to bake to help Birthday Dreams, please check them out.

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Roar! Safari Baby Shower ... Monkey & Banana Cupcake Toppers

This past weekend one of my dear friends had a baby shower to welcome in her 2nd baby boy that is coming very soon.  She picked a safari theme and I was asked to help with treats.  As usual I went a little nutty going over the board buying things and wanting to make everything I found.  With some urging from Rick I stepped back out of the host roll I was not and back to the helper role I was asked to be (yup I'm working on my over doing it .. lol).  Returned $100 worth of items and stuck to a few basics for the party.  First on my list was the cupcakes, I made 2 dozen with two different toppers.  The toppers I could make before hand so the day of the party I could just go and not worry about making them the day of.

I first started with the monkey's since they would take a little bit of time to make.  I found a few versions of pictures that I like and kind of made my own from it.  I used inspiration from Rose Bakes and Stagetectures.

I started with making my favorite Rolled Buttercream Fondant (I've posted my recipe so many times I'm just going to give you the link to not make this post crazy long).  I hit up Micheal's for Wilton icing food coloring in Brown and Ivory.  I used a circle cutter and two oval cutters.

What you Need:

Rolled Buttercream Fondant

Wilton Icing Color Brown

Wilton Icing Color Ivory

Circle Cutter

Ivory Cutters

Paint Brush with water

Powder Sugar (for rolling)

Make the fondant, break into 2 balls one larger ball (brown) and one smaller one (ivory).  Roll out the fondant using powder sugar so it won't stick.  I only made 12 monkey's so my monkey's were really thick, you can roll your's thinner if you would like.  The brown I rolled out and cut out 12 circles.  With my left over brown I rolled it out and used my smallest oval cutter to make the ears (24 total).  I then rolled out the ivory cut out 12 ovals (for the mouths).  Once the mouths were cut out I used my fondant cutter VERY lightly to make a straight line for the lips.  I was going to use food writers to color on the eyes but instead I used the pointy end of my paint brush to make two eyes.  To attach my mouth and ears I used my paint brush and a little warm water.  I let the Monkey's sit out to harden up a little bit before attaching to my frosted cupcakes.  See the picture below for a step by step.

After the Monkey's I made my go to best Buttercream Frosting (again to keep this post from being so long I'm including my recipe via the link).  I also made my go to Moist White Cake Recipe.

After the Monkey's were done I made the banana's for the other 12 cupcakes, this was the easiest part.  I bought a banana silicone mold off Amazon.

What you Need:

Banana Silicone Mold

Yellow Wilton Candy Melts

I loaded up each banana cavity with 6 melts and placed it into the microwave for 1 min 30 sec. You may need to do a extra 30 seconds if needed.  When you take them out bang the tray a few times to get the air bubbles out.  I placed mine in the freezer, about 10 minutes later I carefully popped them out.  I placed them on top of the cupcake and then into the fridge to make sure they didn't melt.

The cupcakes were a little time consuming but so cute and worth it!

Stay Tune for a few more Safari themed items

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Dolphin Cake (Easy Step by Step from 2 round cakes)

My friends daughter was having a dolphin themed party this weekend and instead of buying a gift, I thought it would fun to make her a cake.  I asked my friend if she had already ordered a cake if not can I make it?  They had not to off I went on the search to find the best and easiest dolphin cake I could find. I found many different versions and a lot of them saying you could do it with 2 round cakes but no real step by step.  That was until I came across Something Edible and the great tutorial on how to make a dolphin cake (He included a pdf that you can print cut out and then put together like a puzzle.

What you need:

• Double batch of Homemade yellow cake mix (or your favorite)
• 2 - 9" Round Cake pans (Mine was 10" so I had lot's of left overs)
• Buttercream Frosting (dirty Icing and glue to hold pieces together)
• Rolled Buttercream Fondant (or your favorite - White & Blue)
• Delphinium Blue Icing Color
• Black Wilton Icing
• Licorice Strings
• Cake Board

Instructions:

Bake the 2 round cakes as directed, let cool.  I just had mine cooled but I have heard that they are easier to cut if frozen.  Print the pdf pages from Something Edible.  I then cut out the pieces of paper and laid them on each round cake and got to cutting.  I then like a puzzle piece put them together, each paper was labeled (a,b,c etc).  I then took buttercream frosting and glued the pieces together and dirty iced the top of the cake to be able to put the fondant on.  I rolled out white strips to put on the front of the cake (the stomach & bottom fin of the dolphin , I also made a circle that went up the side for the dolphin.  I rolled out the blue icing and covered the dolphin.  Cutting off the edges and the part that was white.  I took a little black and to a small ball of fondant to make an eye.  I then cut some licorice string to be the eyelashes.  I took some fondant and made letter's to write out Happy Birthday.

Hope you make this for someone special!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Let Them Eat Cake ... Fondant Graduation Cap Cupcakes

Yesterday I showed you the graduation cap cakes I made, today I wanted to show the cupcakes I made.  I wanted to make the cupcakes have the same theme as the cakes.  I was so excited when I came across Glorious Treats and a tutorial on how to make fondant graduation caps.  Here step by step photos are excellent and I must say the cupcakes came out amazing, the looked like a million bucks if I must say so myself!!

I also made a few with the year on them.

What you need:

Fondant (I used my Rolled Buttercream Fondant)

Ruler or Cutter

Wilton Color Icing (if you need to color fondant)

Fondant Cut & Roll Mat

Wilton Letter / Numbers (if you want to add)

Baked Cupcakes

Frosting (I used my Sturdy Buttercream frosting)

Here are the wonderful steps that Glorious Treats did up:

1.  Color your fondant as desired

2.  Roll out the color of fondant you plan to use for the hat.

3. Cut fondant into strips about 3/4 inches wide and 3 3/4 inches long.

4.  Roll up a strip of fondant to create a ring (overlapping slightly).  Use a teeny, tiny bit of water or corn syrup to help the ends stay together.  Set aside to dry.

6.  Cut a square (for the top of the hat) about 1 3/4 inches x 1 3/4 inches.

7.  Allow hat bases (the rings) and tops (squares) to dry for several hours or overnight.  They should be totally firm before moving to the next step.

8.  When the pieces have dried, use a tiny bit of “edible glue”- made with a few tablespoons of powdered sugar and a tiny bit of water (it should be the thickness of toothpaste) and apply with a (clean) paintbrush along the top edge of one ring.  Set the top of the hat (a fondant square) on top, and set aside to dry.

9.  Once the top of the hat has been secured to the base of the hat, make a tassel.  For the tassels, simply roll a tiny piece of fondant into a little “snake”.  I used my finger to press down one end just a bit, then used a knife to create just a bit of texture to represent the individual strings at the end of a tassel.

10.  Add just a drop of your ”edible glue” to the center of the hat, and attach the tassel.  Bend tassel over the side of the cap just a bit.  Set aside to dry (at least 1 hour).  Add toppers to cupcakes right before serving (up to a few hours before).   Fondant decorations added more than a few hours before serving will begin to get soft and lose their shape.

ALEXIS NOTES:  I used water as my glue. I also used my wilton roll and cut mat to make the lines even and my squares (I would suggest getting one).  I added them to the cupcakes right before I left for delivery so they would hold up.  I also found mine must have been on the thick side so they took a little longer to dry.   I made the fondant a few days early and kept in a air tight container in the fridge.  I did not make enough of the white so I had to make a few of them the night before and they didn't have enough time to harden up and were a little on the soft side, so I say you MUST let them sit for a day before assembling.

For those like me that need step by step:

What you need:

My Helper had to have his picture taken too!

These were a little bit of time to make but if you do it in stages it will help it go faster.  I made two version's for each girl who graduated college.  I made the little caps look exactly like the big caps.

Hope you give these a try they would be perfect to make for a classroom or a graduation party.  I had full intention of making a batch for Cole's class but just ran out of time last week.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Rolled Buttercream Fondant (The BEST fondant EVER)

This fondant has become like part of my go to.  Who knew a fondant would be so easy and taste great?  NOT this girl!  I really thought it was not possible to find one and my friend showed me this one and it's the best thing ever.  It really takes minutes to make and rolls great even for this fondant challenged girl!  My friend found this recipe for Rolled Buttercream Fondant found on food.com.  

Ingredients

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, clear
2 lbs confectioners' sugar
Wilton's Gel Food coloring

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the shortening and corn syrup. Mix in the salt, food coloring and vanilla flavoring, then gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment. Otherwise, knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in more confectioners' sugar until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
2. To use, roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners' sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick or thinner if you can. Drape over frosted and chilled cakes and smooth the sides down, or cut into strips to make bows and other decorations.

I promise this will be your go to fondant!