Monday, February 25, 2013

Cupcakes for Wyatt

 My adorable sister helped me make these to celebrate Wyatt's birthday with his preschool class.  When I asked him what he wanted to have as a topper there was no hesitation.  Trains!!  So this was the most simple one I found online. He also requested his favorite strawberry flavor. I wondered for a moment why I didn't use a foil liner to cover up most of the pink until I saw Wyatt's face as he saw the final product.  He never once mentioned the color pink! I love 4 year olds.  I love how he teaches me what is really important in life... him!
 I bought a bag of the mixed toostie rolls you know the one with the DOTS included, a bag of Reeses mini cups, and M&M's.
I used the big tootsie roll for the main body.  They have 3 sections to them so I just cut one section off to place on top of the body. I used a DOT for the bell thing and M&M's (these were Easter) for wheels.
I cut the Reeses in half for the front part.
I used milk chocolate to attach everything.
 I piped on the track with black frosting which gave me the idea to use this black track to display them on.
Happy Birthday Wyatt!! Thank you sis for helping me and getting a feel for why I really love doing this. You're the best sister!!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Construction Ahead

 This was a fun birthday theme this year for Wyatt.  He loves construction trucks or any truck really, but there are so many ways to decorate with this theme.
 I love the orange, black and yellow color scheme.  I found this houndstooth wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby that I used for the tablecloth. I found this idea on another blog (thesmithteam.blogspot.com) I copied her construction sign birthday banner too! I think I got most of my ideas from her.
Easiest birthday cake ever!  Best part is that it only took 20 minutes.  I found this on Pinterest.  I found the dump truck at Target.  I used Butterfingers, Reeses, Snickers and cookie balls for the boulders/rocks.  I let Wyatt chose what kind of cake he wanted and maybe that wasn't a good idea.  It was strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.  That part actually wasn't too bad but when you add candy bars to that, not so yummy.  Good thing the 4 year olds didn't care. And this time Wyatt didn't just eat the frosting!
 GRAVEL-peanut butter popcorn.  I added 3 cups of melted PB and milk chocolate chips combined to 2 bags of popped microwave popcorn.
WRECKING BALLS-clementines
 BOULDERS- cookie balls. I crushed up oreos and mixed it with cream cheese.  These were super easy because they didn't need to be perfect, in fact the more deformed the more boulder like they looked.  I dipped them in chocolate and sprinkled oreo and graham cracker crumbs on top.
CONSTRUCTION SIGNS- nacho Doritos.
 If you ever do this theme for a birthday party the kids loved the "sand" box the most. I filled this container with rice and hid some small construction signs I found at Dollar Tree inside.  I gave them each a spoon to dig with and they loved digging for all the signs.  Yes my house was covered in rice but it vacuumed up so easy that it was worth it.  We also had a coloring sheet with stickers for them to do but they just wanted to go back to digging after 1 minute of coloring.

 Take home treat.
 Thanks a TON! It was LOADS of fun!
I found the construction trucks at Dollar Tree and then filled them with rocks/boulders.  I'm sure you've figured out now that I LOVE candy! It runs through my veins.  So you can imagine how fun it was for me to stand in the candy isle picking out all the candy that resembled a rock.  I used whoppers, mini Reeses, sugar babies, chocolate rocks, milk duds, and raisinets.
 I had fun decorating with the CAUTION tape. I have a ton of it left over if anyone wants to use some.
Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Wyatt!
I told you I had fun with the tape!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Fun heart attacks!


 So after doing the crazy heart cake pops, I am on a mission to find a treat that's fun and easy to do with my new cake pop maker...
 Introducing the heart whoopie pies.  They were super easy and super fun.  I baked the cakes using a chocolate and strawberry cake mix. I think red velvet would be fun to try too!

I added cream cheese frosting to the bottom of one of the cakes then topped it with the heart cake that I cut the center out of using a small cookie cutter.  I added sprinkles to the center and the outer edge.  Done and Done!

 They were so easy we went ahead and made some for my kids teachers!

 Because I was making these for the after church linger longer pot luck and we always run out of dessert, I couldn't throw away the cut out centers of the above hearts.  I decided to make some bite size snacks.
I added frosting using the same tip and topped it with a candy heart.  I found these hearts in the wedding favor section at Wal-Mart.  I loved all the colors!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Heart cake pops

 Jill and I made these for the ladies we visit teach at church.  They turned out harder than we expected.
 I wanted to try out my Christmas gift from the hubby, a heart/star shaped cake pop maker.  They carry them at Wal-Mart.
This was the easy part.  We mixed up the cake batter from a half size box (12 cupcakes.) Using a liquid measuring cup we poured the batter to fill the hearts all the way, then shut the lid and 2-3 minutes later they were done.  The chocolate ones cooked faster.
 We added the sticks using white chocolate.  Once they dried we dipped the heart in chocolate.  This was the hard part.  I am used to a cake ball being dense because of the added cream cheese but this was just fluffy light cake which didn't like the added weight of the chocolate.  Although I prefer the texture of these to the regular cake pops I probably won't make them again unless I discover a new trick.
This is how we packaged them.  I found the little bags at Dollar Tree.