My friend Bridget sent me this photo of the lunch she made for her daughter’s first day of kindergarten. So, super, cute. And, what I love is that it’s made by a real mom. Someone I know actually made this!

Adorable!

Here’s the story behind the lunch: “the theme was pink, red’s, purple’s and all about LOVE for the first day of school! The pb&j was heart-shaped and on top were flowers with jeweled picks. Rice cakes, grapes, blueberries, carrots and a chocolate kiss from mommy! Of course that received RAVED reviews when I picked her up today!”

About the supplies: 

• The little Hello Kitty is a bento sauce cup.
• The pink container is a Sassy box, found at Target in the baby section. They come in pink or blue and have 3 smaller containers with lids inside.
• Silicone baking cups can be used as food separators.
• The ”jeweled picks” you can find online (search bento picks or bento toothpicks) through a variety of Web sites, including online auctions. Bridget got hers at a local Asian grocery store. Just asked for bento picks/toothpicks.
• Sauce cups are from ebay.

She sent me a link to one of the places where she gets her inspiration, Anotherlunch.com. I went there today for a minute, scrolled through a few photos and could hardly stand it. Really. I had to click away or I’d have been there all day. Total cuteness over there.

Photo courtesy Bridget Knowlton. 

This is my baby’s first birthday cake. Made by moi! I am absolutely in love with this cake. I have to say it. I’ve been making cakes (only about one a year) for four years and this is my favorite to date. It is actually one of the easiest ones I’ve made too. Sometimes simpler is better.

Here’s how I made it:

I started easy, with a box cake mix. I would have preferred to make the cake from scratch, but needed to cut some time from this project — boxed cake mixes can be a life saver for a cake like this. I did, however, want even cake layers so I tried the Wilton bake even strips. These things are amazing and deserve a blog post of their own. Just know they are worth the effort. I made two 6 inch cakes, wrapped these silver babies around the pans and they baked  evenly. They were perfectly flat, even cakes when I took them out of the pan. Step one accomplished.

The next step was to ice the cake. I put on a homemade butter cream frosting (no shortcuts here) and let that set. I used Martha Stewart’s Italian meringue butter cream recipe, which is simply amazing! Meanwhile, I made 100 butterflies. I think the final number I used was about 77, but it felt like 100.

But first, I had to get the right color. I made a blue tutu for my daughter to wear at the butterfly party and I wanted the butterflies to match the shiny teal ribbon that was the centerpiece of the tutu (blog post later on that) so I bought a teal gel food coloring and tinted store bought fondant until I felt the color was right. Tinting fondant is easy. Just insert a toothpick into the coloring, dab it on the fondant and stretch it like taffy until the color is evenly mixed. Repeat until you have the right color.

Next I rolled out the fondant (about 1/8 inch thick I’d guess) and used a butterfly cookie cutter that I got at a cake supply store in town. It’s a simple shape, but is one of the small cookie cutters. It’s only about an inch or so wide. So, I cut out tons and tons of butterflies. It’s true that I actually did cut out at least 77 of these babies. One — at — a — time. This took a while.

To get the sense of flight that I wanted, I needed to bend the butterflies and let them dry to harden. I used two methods to do this: one was the edge of a cardboard box that I lined with aluminum foil, the second method was to put line the interior of a plastic box. Anything would work, as long as it is sturdy enough to hold them in place while they dry.

These are plastic shoe boxes that I lined with aluminum foil and placed the butterflies around the edges. I pressed them each into the corner to bend them and left them overnight to dry.

Now the fun part. This part might intimidate some, but I loved it. I didn’t have a plan on where these butterflies would go. I just knew that I wanted to have a swarming effect on the cake so I started at the bottom and worked my way around in curves until I got to the top.

To get the butterflies to stick to the cake, I used the butter cream icing like glue. I used a kitchen knife to spread some on the bottom of the butterfly, then I would place it on the cake and shoved it in a little.

I did one layer of butterflies in the first curve.  I left room on top for the cake topper.

Then I started to add a second layer.

The topper was a jumbo cupcake with one large butterfly and some teal sugar crystals around the edge of the butter cream. I made this butterfly the same way I did the small ones; I just used a larger cookie cutter. This is the piece of cake that I gave to my daughter to eat. She got the whole cup cake and loved it!

Here’s the swarm. I really piled the butterflies on in certain areas, making the swarm bigger and then taper down in parts. This is what I love about this cake.

This is where the swarm started (on the right) and ended (on the left, leading up to the cup cake sitting on top of the cake.)

Here’s a close up of the little guys.

They just look like they are in flight to somewhere great.

Don’t you just want to be there on this flight?

I just can’t get enough of this cake.

At the last minute the cup cake paper liner was really bothering me. It had come loose and I didn’t know what to do. I looked around for ideas and in my kitchen junk drawer was a piece of beautiful, shimmering opaque ribbon. I tied a bow around the cupcake wrapper and viola! the cupcake was complete. I actually think this is one of the details of the cake that I love the most. It adds the perfect touch to this cake.

Here is a piece right before I got to taste it. I can still taste it now. Even though I used a store bought box mix, this cake was amazing. The icing made it. It was moist, beautiful and delicious.

Related:

• Simple use of fondant
• The original duck cake for my son’s first birthday. The first birthday cake I made.
• My Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake (with photos)
• My car cake (with photos)
• Rocket ship cake (with photos)
• All my cake links

Last week I bough a box of Raisin Bran cereal. We ate through half the box right away and then let the remainder of the cereal sit in the box on the shelf in the kitchen pantry. Then, the other day, I came across a recipe for a good looking bran muffin, that, get this, uses a half of a box of Raisin Bran cereal. Bingo. I made the decision right there to make this muffin.

So glad I did.

I have one of those jumbo cupcake pans (holds 6 cupcakes) that I bought for a special project and have only used once. It became the perfect tool for this bran muffin recipe. I made the recipe and baked the 6 jumbo muffins and had enough batter to make 12 regular-sized muffins too. This recipe makes a lot of muffins. You’ll be glad it does because after you taste one, you’ll know you’ll need more.

You can find the recipe at Joy the Baker. It’s quick and easy to make.

Somethings I learned from making this recipe:

• She says to mix the cereal with the dry ingredients, but I mashed the cereal up as I mixed it together with the flour mixture. I didn’t want to get big pieces of soggy bran flakes in my muffin. I love the texture of this muffin with the crushed cereal. It’s not too lumpy, but makes it hearty and fulfilling.
• It’s a moist, but not too wet muffin that doesn’t need any butter. And, it’s perfect for the mom-on-th- go who somehow seems to get her kids fed in the morning, but neglects to feed herself. Joy the Baker says you can keep the batter in the fridge for days and just make as many muffins that you need that morning. I made them all and haven’t had a problem eating them all before they spoil! In fact, I think they taste better the second and even third day after baking.
• Don’t skip the 45 minute waiting period before you cook the muffins. I was tempted. It was late, I was hungry, I wanted to go to bed. Probably more about me wanting to go to bed than being hungry; but having to wait 45 minutes between the time you mix the batter and when you can put the pans in the oven seemed extreme. The batter is very runny when you mix the dry and wet ingredients. After sitting for 45 minutes, it thickens to a typical muffin or cake batter consistency.
• Next time I think I’ll add a cup of raisins. Although there are “two scoops of raisins in every,” …. you know the jingle … I still wanted just a few more in each muffin.

This muffin is excellent in every way. It’s a keeper recipe for sure and I’ll be making it again. I will, however, also be looking for an alternative to using the sugary cereal. I think this muffin has the possibility to be made into a healthier version that uses less sugar.

Let me know if you make these and if they turn out as good as the ones I had.

Yumm!

I made Ina Garten’s famous chocolate ganache cupcakes tonight for a ladies night that I am attending tomorrow. It was a lot of work, but they taste amazing. I don’t recommend making these or any new recipe for an event, but here are some tips I learned tonight:

Lesson: Don’t attempt a new recipe that you actually need someone to eat. It was stressful to make these, knowing that I had to deliver them to people to actually eat. I know better than to try something new to bring to a party. Always go with a tried and true.

Lesson: Don’t double this recipe. Make one batch, then make another. I wanted to bring 12 to the party and leave 12 at home so I doubled the recipe thinking I’d save time. Instead, I had chocolate everywhere because it wouldn’t all fit in the mixing bowl.

Lesson: I baked these for 25 minutes and thought they needed to cook longer. I put them in for 5 more minutes. Wrong! Some were overcooked. Some were fine, but I think they would be perfect with less time.

Lesson: Ina says to fill the cups pretty high because “these cupcakes don’t rise much.” Wrong. I filled them nearly to the brim and each cupcake rose enough to spill onto the top of the pan. Next time, I’ll fill 1/3 of the way.

Lesson: Chocolate ganache is hot! It’s better to spoon the ganache onto the tops of the cupcakes, rather than dipping the cupcakes into the ganache.

Lesson: Coffee makes a difference. In one of Ina’s episodes last year she did a series of tests, she used this cupcake recipe to see if adding instant coffee granules makes the cupcakes taste more chocolaty. Yes, yes, yes! The official recipe currently on Foodtv.com doesn’t say to add coffee to the cupcake mix, but do. Add it there and in the ganache. You will be able to taste a deeper chocolate flavor. This is where the yum factor really comes through.

Related:

• Ina Garten’s chocolate ganache cupcakes recipe

You too can make this cute Easter bunny cake. My mother has been making this cake for years. It’s so simple and even though it’s not the fanciest cake, it is always a winner with kids. I have fond memories from childhood holding up this cake at Easter to have our photo taken with it.

There’s no special equipment needed for this cake — just two round cake pans.

Materials and ingredients:

• Two round cake pans (I use 9 inch)
• White icing (you can make your own or use store bought)
• Coconut, one bag
• Food coloring (pink for the ears and paws and a color for the bow tie)
• Candy for eyes, nose and buttons
• Licorice for whiskers (we didn’t have any so I used spaghetti on this bunny)

How-to make and decorate the cake:

First, bake a cake using two, 9-inch round cake pans. If you are using a box mix, one box is enough — just split the batter between both pans.

After the cakes have cooled, you’ll need to cut them into the correct shapes and place them on a flat surface. No fancy materials required. Next time I make this, I’m going to attempt a better background than a regular sheet pan covered in foil, but that’s all I had at the time I was baking. The beauty of this cake is that it really doesn’t take much to put a smile on a kid’s face.

Here’s my crude drawing, but you’ll get the picture with it.

1. Take one of the round cakes and cut a circle out of the middle of the cake. That will be the head. That’s A.
2. With the remaining, outer circle, cut that into 5 pieces. Or, four if you don’t want a tail.
3. With the second cake, cut four rounded semicircles from the sides of the cake. These will be used for ears. You’ll be left with B, the body.
4. Put A on your board where you want the head.
5. Put B below A, for the body.
6. Take two pieces (6 and 7) and put them for one ear. Take the two other large pieces (8 and 9) for the other ear.
7. Then, you’re left with pieces 1-5. Put these on the sides of the body for the paws.

Once the pieces are on the pan in the right locations, all you do is frost like a regular cake. Put frosting between sections 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 of the ears so they stick together. Also put frosting between the body (section B) and each of the paws (sections 1,2,3,4). The frosting doesn’t have to be smooth since it will be covered with coconut.

Next, sprinkle coconut over the entire cake. I usually pat it down a tiny bit so that it stays on the cake and we don’t have any fly-away pieces, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Next, color the coconut. It’s easy: grab a zip top bag, toss in a handful of coconut, add a few drops of food coloring, zip the bag and shake, shake shake.

Decorate away!

I like to use pink for the ears and paws.

For the bow tie — I did this free hand. Just put down the blue coconut in the shape of a tie and gave it a  pat to stay in place.

I used large M&Ms for the face and some jelly beans for his mouth and for the yellow buttons.

Usually, I use skinny licorice for whiskers, but we were out so my mother suggested the spaghetti, which worked out great.

Don’t let this one get away from you. It’s super easy, doesn’t take long, and your kids will remember it when they are grown.

Related:

• I like this version of the Easter bunny cake that stacks the paws up for a dimensional look.
• Another popular version of this easy Easter bunny cake uses just the head of the bunny with a big bow tie. Very cute.
• All of my cakes (Mickey Mouse cake, duck cake, fondant cakes and a rocket ship cake to name a few.)