cookie monster cupcakes

Last year for my son Micah's birthday, I made him Elmo cupcakes because he absolutely loved Elmo at the time. This year for his third birthday, I decided to make him Cookie Monster cupcakes, because he just loves to eat!!!

I made the same chocolate cupcakes as I did last year, and piped Cookie Monsters details with cream cheese frosting. I started by using a large round tip to pipe white frosting into two eyes...

And then a #3 tip with black frosting to pipe his crazy eyeballs.

Next I used the same #3 tip to pipe the mouth (and filled it in with the same tip).

And finally, I used a #18 star tip with blue frosting to pipe Cookie Monster's fur!

Isn't he cute?!

And of course, Cookie Monster wouldn't be complete without a cookie hanging out of his mouth! (I used mini chips ahoy, instead of baking my own, just to save time!)

 Happy happy birthday, my little cookie monster!

balloon cookie pops on a stick

To go along with the Elmo cupcakes that I made for the class party to celebrate Micah's 2nd birthday, I also made balloon cookie pops as favors. I actually got this idea from my good friend Helen, who had originally asked me to make balloon cookies for her daughter's 2nd birthday party (but that later on turned into making Pink Panther cookies and rainbow cookies!).

Since I didn't have a balloon cookie cutter, I had my hubby make me a custom copper cutter! Then I made a couple batches of sugar cookie dough (recipe in my new book!), rolled it out to about 1/8" thick, and used my shiny new cookie cutter to cut out the shapes.

As mentioned with my heart cookies on a stick, once the cookies were cut out, I placed them on top of lollipop sticks that I laid out on my baking sheet, gently pressing the dough to surround the stick. Then I baked them at 350F for 10-12 minutes until just golden.

Then I whipped up a batch of royal icing (recipe also in my book!), divided it into three portions, and colored the portions red, green, and blue. Using stiff icing, I outlined each balloon cookie, and then filled it with runny icing.

After letting them dry overnight, they were ready! 

Since I was giving them out as favors, I wrapped each one individually in cellophane bags tied with raffia and a custom birthday favor tag, but you could also use them as cute centerpieces as well!

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" better than birthday balloons, right? :)

elmo cupcakes

My youngest baby is obsessed with Elmo. To the point where he has to sleep with two Elmo dolls every night. "Two ... Ehmo", he says, if you only hand him one doll. And every morning he has to watch Elmo before school. And if there is a scene that Elmo is not in, he will repeatedly say "Ehmo ... Ehmo ... Ehmo ..." until I fast forward to a scene that Elmo is in. That is how much he loves Elmo.

So, in addition to the rainbow fruits layer cake that I made for his 2nd birthday this year, I also *had* to make Elmo cupcakes for his class party at daycare! I've made Elmo goodies for my other two kids in the past - Elmo cookies, Elmo cake, and also these Elmo cupcakes where I piped Elmo cupcake toppers with royal icing ahead of time. Even an Elmo ice cream cake (wow, was that really 4 years ago?!). This time I wanted to pipe Elmo directly on the cupcake, and I couldn't wait for Micah to see!

I started by making chocolate cupcakes (recipe in my new book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!). Once baked and cooled, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese frosting, and piped Elmo's eyes with a large round tip.

Next I used orange frosting to pipe his nose, also using a large round tip.

Next I piped the eyeballs and mouth with black frosting, using a small round tip (Wilton tip #3).

And finally, I filled in his face with red frosting using a medium star tip (Wilton #16).

Two dozen cupcakes later, I was done!

I couldn't wait to see the look on Micah's face when he saw them!

Here are some of the photos I took on my phone to document his Elmo cupcake encounter :)

And finally, a video so you can see how happy he was to be eating his Elmo cupcake :)

Happy birthday my little Micah! Love you so much!!!

rainbow fruits layer cake with freshly whipped cream and heart cookie topper

Out of my three kids, my youngest baby is the best eater. Besides rice and pasta, he especially loves to eat all kinds of fruits. So for his second birthday this past February, I decided to make him a rainbow fruits layer cake, inspired by this rainbow fruits cookie cake I found on Pinterest!

I wanted to make a really light cake so that the fruits could stand out, so I chose to use the same cake recipe as the strawberry cream cake that I made a few years ago. It had been very light and airy, and really let the filling stand out. So I baked three 8-inch cakes, each of which I sliced in half horizontally to give me six layers (although I only ended up using five of the layers).

For the rainbow of fruits, I chose to use red strawberries, orange/yellow nectarines, green kiwis, and blue/violet blueberries. Each cake layer got a healthy dose of whipped cream, then fruit, then more whipped cream on top, before adding the next cake layer on top of that.

I ended up making A LOT of freshly whipped cream for this cake - one big batch to fill all of the layers, and one big batch to cover the entire cake. I flavored my whipped cream with vanilla extract, but I think a bit of almond extract would go nicely with the cake and fruits as well.

After I added the first three layers of fruit and whipped cream, it had gotten pretty late in the night, so I covered the whole thing with a big cake dome and placed it in the fridge overnight. Then the next morning, I got back to work caking.

That meant my last layer of whipped cream and fruits, and my final cake layer on top.

I think I could have almost left it like this, for the naked cake effect! But I decided to go ahead with my initial plan to frost the whole thing with freshly whipped cream.

So I covered the entire top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, in what I call a "messy coat".

And then smoothed the whole thing out with an offset spatula and rotating cake stand.

Since the cake turned out so tall, I wanted a really simple frosting design, so I did a quick swirl effect with an offset spatula.

Since Micah is a Valentine's baby (born the day after Valentine's Day), I added heart cookie pop as the cake topper. And to make it more festive, I sprinkled a bit of edible gold glitter stars around the perimeter of the cake.

And then it was done!

While I loved the look of the edible glitter stars, after sitting on the cake for a few hours they melted into little puddles of gold! (Not pictured). So right before the birthday dinner I sprinkled a few more stars on, just to hide the melted ones.

Here's a shot of the inside of the cake. All that fresh fruit!!!

I just wish I could have cut a cleaner slice! But with the softness of the cake, plus the height and all the soft whipped cream and chunks of fresh fruit, that combination just didn't allow me to cut a clean slice!

I really wanted the colors of the fruit to stand out more than this, but this will have to do. Maybe next time I would cut thicker slices of fruit.

Happy second birthday, my little Micah! Even though you are a toddler now, you will always be my baby!

meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting

In all the excitement of posting the funfetti cake, ice cream, and cupcakes that I made for Micah's first birthday celebration this past February, I almost forgot to post what I made for dinner! We wanted to make a simple dinner to celebrate with family - I decided to make my favorite macaroni and cheese (from America's Test Kitchen) since the kids love it, along with meatloaf and tossed salad.

As I was preparing the components for the meatloaf, I suddenly remembered a show on Food Network I had seen a long time ago, where they featured a restaurant in Chicago that made meatloaf cupcakes topped with mashed potatoes as frosting. (I specifically remember it was in Chicago because I had immediately texted my cousin in Chicago to ask if she knew of the place!) And so I decided to turn my meatloaf into cupcakes as well!

After forming my meatloaf into giant meatballs, I patted them into a cupcake tin, and then brushed on a mixture of brown sugar, ketchup and ground mustard.

I baked them at 350F for about 25 minutes, until the meat was cooked through and the glaze had become dark and sticky.

My husband whipped up a quick batch of mashed potatoes, deliciously flavored with butter, heavy cream, and salt. Then I filled a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, and got to work piping my mashed potato "frosting"!

The final touch was a sprinking of chopped green onions. Aren't they cute?!