Tag: cupcakes

Simple “Big Hero 6” Cupcakes

Big Hero 6 cupcakeThis past weekend my son, Gavin, and I saw Disney’s newest film, “Big Hero 6.” We loved it! Baymax was Gavin’s favorite hero. A funny robot with a kindness that’s pure with selflessness, Baymax has won my heart too.

When I mentioned to Gavin I’d like to make Baymax cupcakes, he jumped right into helping me. He and I created these simple Baymax-inspired cupcakes.  I’m proud to say that the design of the cupcakes came from Gavin’s suggestion and I think they came out adorable!

I started with a basic white cupcake in a Wilton white baking cup.

Baymax cupcakes  Next I applied white icing to each cupcake.

Baymax cupcakes

Using a spatula Gavin helped me smooth out the icing.

Baymax cupcakes

Using two brown M & M pieces and black licorice, we added Baymax’s eyes.

Baymax Cupcake

It’s that simple!  It took more time to divide the brown chocolate candies than to decorate the cupcakes!

 

 Did you see Disney’s “Big Hero 6” yet?  Which hero was your favorite?

Mickey Mouse Inspired Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mickey Mouse Pumpkin CupcakesHappy Halloween Week Everyone!

One of my favorite things about visiting a Disney Park during the holiday seasons is the festive cupcakes and treats that Disney sells.  While visiting Disneyland Resort I enjoyed seeing the Halloween creations made by Disney’s talented Cast Members and as usual, they did not disappoint.  Here’s a look at some of my favorites!

Halloween Treats at Disneyland ResortAnytime of the year you can find amazing character apples, but I think during the Halloween season the selection is Spooktacular!

Halloween Treats at Disneyland Resort

As soon as I saw Mickey Mummy treats I wanted to run home and make them!

Disneyland Halloween treats

However, first I decided to make my version of these adorable Mickey Mouse pumpkin cupcakes! They were so easy to make. It took less than a half hour for 20 cupcakes. Would you like to make some during this week of Halloween?

My simple version of Disneyland’s cupcakes have a marshmallow based icing. I used the “Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing” recipe by King Arthur Flour. You can check out the photo tutorial on how I made the cupcakes, including the icing below.

Gather your supplies. The icing recipe is for 24 cupcakes so that’s how many cupcakes I made.  However, I was only able to transform 20 cupcakes before running out of icing.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

You’ll need the recipe for the “Super-Easy Marshmallow Icing” and you can find it here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/super-easy-marshmallow-icing-recipe .

  • Tootsie Rolls (Not Shown Below) are used for the pumpkin stem.
  • Chocolate wafer melts (Not Shown Below) are used for Mickey’s Ears.
  • Green icing- optional (Not Shown Below) is used to make the leaf.
  • The photo below shows you the ingredients I used to make the icing: Salt, Vanilla Extract, Heavy Cream, Powdered Sugar and Marshmallows.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/super-easy-marshmallow-icing-recipe ingredients

As the recipe states, make sure you continuously stir the ingredients while they are heating or the marshmallows will stick. It took a bit longer than I expected for the marshmallows to start to melt and then all of a sudden it started sticking at warp speed.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

Once the marshmallows, heavy cream, sugar, and salt have blended together this is what the icing looked like.Mouse Ears Mom.com

After I poured the mixture into a large mixer bowl, I added the vanilla AND equal amounts of red and yellow food coloring to create orange icing.

Mouse Ears Mom.com

As the recipe suggested, I covered the orange icing and refrigerated it overnight.

marshmallow icing

The next day I used my mixer to whip the icing into shape and I was ready to go!

www.mouseearsmom.com

I played around with different icing tips creating different kinds of pumpkin cupcakes.  I found that I liked the Wilton #12 tip’s results the best.  I piled icing in the center of each cupcake and covered the center by starting at the cake and meeting the icing at the top.

Pumpkin cupcake. Mouse Ears Mom.com

After covering the cupcake with icing I pushed an unwrapped Tootsie Roll through the center of the icing.

Mickey pumpkin cupcake

Add a two chocolate wafers for ears and you’re done!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Flying High with a Pizza Pie Planes Party! {Free Printable Menu Cards & More}

Planes Pizza Party

Are you going to see Disney Planes Fire & Rescue this weekend?  We’ll be there!

To say my son, Gavin loves airplanes, would be an understatement.  There isn’t a day that goes by when discussing planes or something that flies isn’t part of our conversation and aviation is a staple in almost every play activity.  This seven-year-old boy goes through flying toys as if he’s changing clothing.  It’s not because he doesn’t take care of his toys, he wears them out or the plane gets stuck in a tree.  With the movie release of Disney Planes last year (see my review here), Gavin’s love of airplanes unbelievably grew and he immediately started asking when Planes Fire & Rescue would be in the theater.  Well, the movie release week has finally arrived!

To celebrate this exciting event I put together a couple “Free Printable” Planes-inspired items that I created and party planning tips to help you host a Pre-Show “Flying High with a Pizza Pie” Planes Party for your little aviators and their friends!

 Planes Themed Pizza!

planes pizza menu

There are so many different types of pizza that you can have at a pizza party!  Try offering the kids specialty pizza and place these silly menu cards close by.  It’ll give young readers a chuckle or two before choosing their pizza.

  • Chicken Wing-man Pizza
  • Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo Flying Pizza
  • Ham & Cheesy Flight Attendants Pizza
  • Pepperoni Pie In The Sky Pizza
  • Flying High Cheese Pizza Pie

I’ve created this set of FREE printable pizza party menu cards for you to use. (For Personal Use Only)  Simply print the Planes Pizza Party file (found below) on white card stock, cut the orange and blue colored cards out and fold along the white line.

Click on the Planes “Pizza Party Menu Cards” link for the five piece printable menu cards.

Planes Pizza Party Menu Cards

Dessert!

Planes cupcakesI made these Planes-inspired cupcakes for my son’s birthday party last year.  Check out the super simple cloud icing tutorial for these soaring cupcakes here!

Dusty cookie popsAnother Planes-inspired dessert option are these Dusty Cookie Pops.  You can see my simple tutorial here!

Decor! {Free Printable Template}

Now that you’ve got the food covered, time to decorate the food table! Add a simple planes garland to the front of your food table, to complete your pizza party table.

Airplane Garland template

You can download the airplane template here!

 Trace the template on orange and blue card stock for the airplanes to match the menu cards.  Then add blue and orange table wear and your party will be soaring!

Still looking for more Planes party ideas?

Check out my son’s planes-themed birthday party here!

Check In Desk (Presents!)

Now you’re ready to have the perfect Pre-show Planes-inspired Pizza Party!  Enjoy your party and then off to show!

Donald Duck Cupcakes

Donald Duck birthday blog hop

Happy Birthday Donald Duck!

Today, I’m so excited to be participating in a Birthday Blog Hop for my favorite hot-headed feathered friend.  Let’s get this party started with some Donald Duck inspired cupcakes!

Donald Duck cupcakes

 Are you ready to start celebrating?  Here’s a photo tutorial on how to make these super simple Donald Duck inspired cupcakes, including a printable hat template.

Since Donald has white feathers, I chose to make white cake cupcakes.  After baking and cooling, I iced them in a simple swirl formation by starting on the outside of the cupcake and making my way to the center.  After one swirl, I made a second swirl on top to give it height.

Donald Duck cupcake 020At this point (pun intended), my son walked into the room and said, “Cool Mommy, you made Donald Duck butts!”

I have to admit, I agreed with him.  They do look like Donald’s butt.  If you’d like to celebrate Donald’s birthday today and you’re pressed for time, then I’m certain you’ll get a chuckle or two from your kids when you present them with Donald Duck butts after school today.

However, if you’d like to make the cupcakes I featured at the beginning of this post, let’s continue to the next step.

Donald Duck cupcake 002

Print out this Donald Duck template below and trace it on a piece of blue card-stock.  You’ll need two hats for each cupcake.

Donald Duck Hat Template

Donald Duck cupcake 003

Hot glue a toothpick and a piece of black ribbon to each hat.

Donald Duck cupcake 005

Add a second Donald hat on top with another dab or two of hot glue.

Donald Duck cupcake 009

 

Donald’s hat is now complete and it’s time to move onto his bow-tie.

Using red candy melts in a squeeze bottle, pipe bow-ties on wax paper.  To keep my ties consistent, I drew a bow-tie on a piece of paper and used it as a template under the wax paper to trace with chocolate.  Allow the chocolate to fully dry before placing them on your iced cupcakes.

Donald Duck cupcake bowties

Isn’t he such a dapper duck?

Donald Duck cupcake

Happy Birthday Donald!

Don’t let the party stop here!  Visit the other blogs on this Donald Duck Birthday Blog Hop for more fun!

Belle Party Cupcakes

Belle Rose Cupcakes

 

Did you know that one cupcake with a rosette style swirl on top costs $3 at the grocery store?

Some hard-core party planning is going on in my house this week.  My daughter Victoria will be 3 years old on June 12th and she’s been requesting a Princess Belle (Beauty and the Beast) birthday party since January.  Yes, for six months she’s been telling the world that she’s going to have a Belle party.  I have to give her props.  The girl knows what she wants.  So here we are less than two weeks away from the big Belle party day and I’m ashamed to say I’m running around trying to put together a Belle party.

First on the list of things to do is to purchase or make the cake and cupcakes.   Traditionally, I use a small vanilla cake for her birthday photo and song and also chocolate cupcakes themed to compliment the cake.  It makes handing out cake much easier when you can have a helper pass out the cupcakes while you’re slicing the cake.  This year when searching for a Belle-inspired cake and cupcakes in our local grocery store, I came across a pretty cupcake with a single rose on top. It was absolutely beautiful.  However, each rose cupcake was $3.00!  I don’t know about you, but $72 for 24 cupcakes is a bit out of my price range for a birthday party.  I left the store on a mission to try my hand a making a rose cupcake for my little princess.

After a few Google searches, I stumbled upon the blog, Simply Sweets by honeybee http://www.simplysweetsbyhoneybee.com/. OH MY GOODNESS, I instantly fell in love with Melissa’s blog.  She’s so incredibly talented and her tutorials are fantastic.  Within one of her posts she shared three flower-making tutorials to use on cupcakes, a Rose Swirl, Rosettes, and a Frilly Flower.  She made it seem so easy to make her beautiful cupcakes that I thought I’d give it a try.

Here’s my attempt at the Rose Swirl.

 

Belle's Roses 026

I used store-bought icing, so the consistently is different. In addition, I didn’t have the same tips that Melissa used for these projects, but I tried the concepts anyway.  I’m going to work on them a bit more during the next week, look for the tips she used and try my hand at making icing…

These are the tips that I used.

I tried an open star Wilton 1M and a closed star Wilton 2D when I made the Rose Swirl and I used an Ateco 16 open star for the Rosettes pictured below.

Belle's Roses 031

 

 Here’s my attempt at the Rosettes style cupcake.

 

Belle's Roses 029

If you’ve ever wanted to make a beautiful rose cupcake for your little Belle, stop by Simply Sweets by honeybee!  She’ll teach you in matter of minutes!  I’m sure glad that I did.  Below it the link to take you directly to her post that includes the video tutorial.

Mother’s Day Cupcakes {Video Tutorial}

Now back to the Belle party planning I go!  Have a great day!