My Edible Ornaments

I think I mentioned already I got the "Hello, Cupcake!" book this month. I'm having lots of fun with it!

Today was Josh's class party and he wanted me to make the "ornament" cup cakes pictured here:

This is a picture I took of the picture in the book.


I learned something from making the snowmen for Sam's school. That is, you can't really do much ahead of time. I did make the cupcakes on Tuesday and then froze them. And I tried to make the little "tops" of the ornaments early -- I put the black liquorish laces into the gum drops. That was a bit FAIL -- the gumdrops split and broke. Luckily I was able to save them -- for the most part.

Anyway, I knew I would be pressed for time. Sam had a dentist appointment this morning at 8:30. And since I could be out by 9:00 or 10:00 because the dentist is a total zoo, I was a bit worried. Luckily we were in and out quickly (no cavities) and home by 9:30.

I spent the rest of the morning decorating the cupcakes and here is the result:

It was a bit more "fiddly" than I thought, but it was lots of fun. I think I cut too big a hole in the plastic bag that I was using to pipe the frosting on the cupcake (for decorating), but it still worked out.

And the kids loved them! One boy in Josh's class told me they were "Smack your mama good" -- whatever that means!

Cupcakes!

I bought the most amazing book the other day.

The book is Hello, Cupcake! And it is just way too cool!

Both the boys love it too! I picked it up at Costco the other day and the boys have not been able to put it down.

So, we had to make some cupcakes this weekend. I have several school functions for both the boys that I need to "provide" something for and this is just perfect.

After looking through the book, several times... we found some that we thought would be okay. I loved the snowmen family but thought it may be a bit ambitious for a first timer.

Then I notice the current issue of Taste of Home Magazine has these cupcakes featured on them. And there was the perfect cupcake to start our cupcake decorating experiences with on the front cover.

I can't find a picture on line, so here's a picture of the front cover:


See those cute little snowmen at the bottom?

We made those. And they turned out great! Here are the boys showing off their snowmen:



Today was just the "test run" to see how easy or difficult they were. I have to bring something to Sam's school later this week for his Christmas Pageant. I think these are a go!

It was so easy, even a four year old could make them! I did frost each of the cupcakes and I cut the cookies for the hat, but the boys did the rest. I showed them what to do and they did it.



From left to right: mine, Josh's, Sam's.

In fact, it these would be a great class project for elementary kids. If you frost the cupcakes, and come with the supplies already the kids can decorate them and eat them!

The boys had a great time and we decorated a couple other cupcakes in a more "creative" way:

Here's Josh's creative design:

And Sam's:

These were so much fun to do together with the boys. It was perfect for today -- a bit cold outside, Josh wasn't feeling well this morning so it gave him something fun to focus on...

Oh, and in other news...

I'm going to be interviewed tomorrow on a local TV station. The subject: Tantrum Free Travel with Toddlers this holiday season.

It's going to air on Sunday 12/21. Once I know how things go, I'll post more!