an a-DORA-ble idea!

Have I mentioned how much I love a themed party? well if I haven't... let me just say this--- I love a themed party!

My friend's daughter is turning two, and two of the daughter's most favorite things (in her short 2 years of existing, that is) are Dora the Explorer and cake pops. Imagine my delight when the mom asked me to come up with something for her Dora-themed birthday party this weekend.

My kids were never HUGE Dora fans, but I can definitely admit to having seen my fair share of episodes, as well as knowing the proper thing to say to a particularly klepto-prone fox named Swiper. So--- what Dora-based creation could I do in the form of a cake pop so as to seal my fate as the birthday girl's favorite baker? Visions of Dora heads and miniature purple monkeys began to dance in my mind. HOWEVER... this was supposed to be 'family fun week' in my house. A week full of family activities and togetherness to celebrate my husband actually having some time off of work! I decided to scrap the more labor-intensive ideas and go with something a little easier to recreate.... I decided on a centerpiece full of explorer stars.


RIGHT??? I know!! super cute! and fun!!! and while a *little* tricky with their shape... not so bad when using a star-shaped cookie cutter. And lets face it... having two buckets full of Explorer Stars is a TEENY bit more plausible (and personally decided a little less creepy) than having two centerpieces full of dora-heads on sticks. Seriously-- think about it. definitely better with the stars..... see?

So that, ladies and gents.... is that. 50 star-shaped cake pops artfully placed in two centerpieces later, and we have a nice theme-related addition to a Dora party. Oh, and a happy birthday girl. That's really the most important part!

So here's to Sienna! Happy 2nd birthday to an aDORAble girl! (get it? aDORAble? hahahahah)

Blooming Cupcakes

When it comes to birthdays, I love a good cupcake. However, if I'm being honest.. I get a little bored of just arranging them on a platter when presenting them to the birthday boy or girl. Sure for a party, they look nice when arranged on a cupcake tower.... but this spring I wanted to do something a little different.

Recently, I was able to put my creative juices to work when I was asked to make some cupcakes for a teacher in my daughter's school. I was told she likes blues, greens, butterflies and chocolate. After trolling the internet for inspiration, I decided to do a blooming flowerpot of cupcakes, and finished with some fake leaves and butterflies.

For the first 15 minutes after assembly, I think the bouquet looked amazing. But then... the weight of the buttercream started to prove too great for the angle in which some of the cupcakes were attached, and started to slide off the cupcake bases. Overall, I'd rate this project GOOD.... but not awesome.

When I delivered the bouquet to the school, another teacher saw the cupcakes and contacted me to see if I could do something for her daughter's birthday that weekend. She was having a shabby chic theme, and thought it would be great to have a cupcake centerpiece. not being able to resist the chance to improve upon the last concept, I eagerly agreed and set about thinking of a way to make it better... and less heavy.

What I came up with was essentially a topiary structure (all pale pinks, greens and ivory... totally shabby chic!) which hosted MINI cupcakes instead of the full sized buttercream beasts I used last time.

I absolutely loved the way this came out, and at the center of a long table, it looked completely darling next top the lace napkins and china place settings. As seen from the picture below, the mini cakes were able to defy gravity much better than their heavier counterparts.

My only regret is that the icing roses got a bit hard... especially the thinner edges of the rose 'petals'. At least the cupcakes were soft! Next time I do a centerpiece like this, I will be sure to find a hybrid solution. perhaps just a single dome structure, but use the minis instead of the regular sized cupcakes. I think the lighter weight and removing the need to defy gravity will allow me to use a softer buttercream that won't dry out so fast... OR slide off.

Birthday and Beyond!

My kids never really got into the whole Toy Story hype, but with the newest installment out, they've definitely become a bit more interested in the characters. I mean... they're pretty much everywhere right now!

A friend of the family has a little boy turning 4 this year, and he is into the Buzz character. The mom asked me to come up with a cookie for him to bring to his preschool to share with friends... so how could I resist?

I got to work baking piping and flooding, and came up with an army of miniature Jay Lenos and Ben Franklins. I mean Buzz Lightyears.


Clearly my cookies are done by hand.. cause each Buzz was just a wee bit different from his other dozen brothers. Nonetheless... once they were put in their favor bags and wrapped with a ribbon and tag, I think they turned out kind of cute.

for his actual family party, the mom asked me to supplement the cake she ordered (NOT from me... waaaaah!) with some cake pops that the kids can take home as favors. Keeping in the whole Toy Story theme, I decided to do a mix of outer-space purple and little aliens. About 50 cake pops later, I came up with two centerpieces like the one below.

It was a fun project, and I was happy to get the chance to mix it up by doing both cookies AND cake pops. The tough part was figuring out which little alien to eat first. (can't you picture the little dude below saying "choose me! choose me!" no??? oh. nevermind, then.)

At any rate-- here's to AJ! happy fourth birthday!!! hope your day is filled with happiness that takes you to infinity and beyond!