Featured — Cupcake Kid Cafe

A Valentine’s Day Sweet Treat – Vintage V-Day Cookie Pops

image courtesy of Bakerella

I found these and fell in love with them. I do not think I could do these on my own – so all the Mommy’s out there will have to help, but I know my friends in my class would love these Valentine’s Day cookies.

It looks like you would need what is called frosting sheets and edible ink cartridges that work on some home printers. My mom and I have not tried this, but my mom found this website called TastyFotoArt.com that seems to have lots of products to do this type of baking. You would have to do a little research to see if you printer is one that can do this sort of printing though! There is also KopyKake.com which will give you more information on this process!

image courtesy of Bakeralla

I saw this on Bakerella – and here is what she did.

She made puffy sugar cookies (you can see the whole recipe on her site), but you could probably use the ones that come in rolls in the store if you are looking for a shortcut. Then a stick was inserted into the dough to make the cookie a lollipop. Separate the images from the backing and apply to your cookie. Depending on the shape of the cookie you may need to cut your image to fit properly. It is that easy! As a great added touch, she added a few dabs of icing around the edges which I think looks really pretty.

The options for decorating with printing are so fun! Let your kids choose the pictures though Mom!

Filed Under: Featured, Rachels Cafe, Valentine's Day

Can A Gourmet Marshmallow Replace A Cupcake?

Image courtesy of 240sweet.com

Apparently chef Maria D’Urso believes so! She recently told the New York Times that “marshmallows are the new cupcakes”. Chef D’Urso, who owns a bakery in Chelsea, creates marshmallow varieties such as cinnamon, strawberry basil and chocolate rosemary – clearly kicking this childhood favorite up to adult hood pleasures.

Gourmet Marshmallows are expected to take the world by storm in 2012!

Imagine batches of handmade marshmallows in flavors like cherry limeaid, pineapple and mango, red bean and sesame or even chicken and beef? Yes, these are really all available! At 240Sweet in Columbus, Indiana you can find these unique treats and many more.

So what do you think? Will marshmallows replace cupcakes?

Filed Under: Featured, Mom's Cafe

Easy Bake Oven Bake Off – Is the New Model A Must Have?

Well, it looks like the Easy Bake oven is trying to make a come back , and after 48 years it has received its most dramatic redesign yet – although many were unsure skeptical that it would be any better. This was its 11th redesign and the new look featured a curvy Jetson like look with a heating element much like a real oven.

Here are some good and not so good points to the new oven.

PROS:

It looks great
Better build. The newer model weighs approximately 3 pounds 5 ounces – its predecessor weighed only 2 pounds 9 ounces.
Exterior stays much cooler than the older models
Cooks much more evenly
Wider array of mixes and recipes are now available
Cooling rack is internally contained helping little ones to keep from burning their hands on hot pans
Heating chamber is about 50% larger

CONS:

More expensive than past models
Takes a few minutes longer to preheat
Although new cooling rack may be safer – it is a little hard to reach and pull items out of the oven.

To prove that it has what it takes to make kids happy, a test was done with four “toyologists” ages 3-7 to give a test bake. The kids were given an older version of the Easy Bake Oven to be compared against the newer one. The results were in favor of the new modern version with the kids saying their cooked foods just tasted better.

So if you have a kid who loves to cook – this new model may be just the thing to kick of their budding career!

Filed Under: Featured, Gift Ideas, Mom's Cafe

Edible Fruit Turkey

I LOVE this idea! The Fruit Gobbler is a great centerpiece or appetizer for the Thanksgiving Day festivities – it is although healthy! Your kids will want to enjoy this treat – cheese, fruit and all!

The turkey is easy to make and will keep the kids busy while you get ready for the big turkey day celebration.

Get all the ingredients ready, give the kids a picture and let them dig in and have fun creating! (Image Courtesy Family Fun Magazine)

Thanksgiving Appetizer Kids Can Make

Ingredients:

Bosc Pear (head)
Melon (body)
Cheese (beak & tail feathers)
Red pepper (snood,feet,side feathers)
Raisins (eyes)
Grapes (tail feathers)
Bamboo skewers
Toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Cut off a shallow slice of the rind of the melon to create a flat base for more stability. Using a bamboo skewer attach a Bosc pear to the front of the melon to create the turkey head. (Trim skewer if needed)

2) Cut cheese into a triangle for the beak and add a small piece of red pepper for the snood. Use toothpicks to attach these as well as the raisins for the eyes.

3) Cut red pepper as shown to create feet and place them as shown.

4) Cut cheese into cubes and use cheese and grapes alternately on skewers as shown and then place into the melon to create tail feathers.

5) Slice peppers to create side feathers and use toothpicks to attach to the sides of the melon.

Be creative! You can use other things on the tail feathers like pineapple, ham cubes, turkey cubes or whatever your family enjoys.

Have you made one of these with your kids? We would love to hear how they liked it!

Recipe courtesy of Family Fun.

Filed Under: Featured, Mom's Cafe, Thanksgiving

Oreo Turkeys – A Fun Thanksgiving Treat

: Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

I found these and love them! They are adorable turkey desserts made from Oreo cookies. They are easy to make and the kids can do them on their own – or with some help from mom of course! The idea comes from Our Best Bites, and the images are from there too.

These are great to use as desserts for Thanksgiving dinner, for parties and even as place card holders for your dinner table!

Here is what you will need:

Double Stuff Oreo Cookies
Candy Corn
Whoppers
Peanut butter cups
Chocolate frosting
Yellow Frosting
Optional: Red frosting
Optional: black sprinkles for eyes

Steps to make your Turkey:

1) Grab a cookie and put a tiny bit of frosting inside, this will help hold the candy corn a bit better!

2) Insert your candy corn. It seems that 5 candy corns, smaller tips inserted into the cream center works best.

3) Put a dab of frosting on the opposite end of the cookie from where you just inserted the candy corn, and then secure the cookie to the “base” cookie. Placing the cookies against the wall while they dry may help them keep their shape better!

4) While your cookies are drying open a peanut butter cup (have a parent do this part kids!) – and cut a sliver off of one end.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

5) Once your cups are ready, flip your cookies over, but still keep them next to the wall in case the frosting is not completely dry yet. Place a dab of frosting on peanut butter cup and place it on the cookie as shown below.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

6) For the heads you will put a dab of frosting on a whopper and attach it to the top of the peanut butter cup.

7) Use a dab of frosting and flue on a white tip of a candy corn for a beak, put 2 yellow dots for eyes and if you would like a smaller black dot for the center of the eye. (You can use frosting, a sprinkle, a mini chocolate chip for the black part of the eye).

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

Once the beak stays put and everything seems to be sturdy, you can stand these cute little guys up and draw on some little feet if you would like. You can even add a little thingie under the neck!

To be extra creative and use them as place card holders, create your place card, adhere it to a toothpick and you can insert that into the center of the cookie!

And here is the final product! For more details, visit Our Best Bites!

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

Filed Under: Featured, Rachels Cafe, Thanksgiving

Licorice Cupcakes

We know that somewhere in your family is a licorice lover! I happen to be that one person in our family…but if you have a licorice lover these are the cupcakes for you! The recipe comes from a website called Kayotic so we want to give them a big shout out for such a unique recipe with such drool worthy images!

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes:

1 stick butter (115 gr)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 oz soft sweet liquorice
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp water
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 tsp salt

Peppermint Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese
2 cups confectioners sugar
25 soft peppermint pillows (or 1 tsp peppermint extract)

DIRECTIONS:

Cream the butter and sugar for 4 or 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs—one at a time— and beat until it’s creamy.

Put the liquorice in a pan and add 2 tbsp water.

Melt the liquorice over low heat while stirring occasionally. When it looks too dry, add 1 or 2 tbsp water. I used a total of 4 tbsp water.

Add the melted liquorice to the sugar butter. Along with the baking powder and salt and beat until it’s a smooth brown concoction. Add the flour and stir until just combined.

Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners and fill them 2/3 of the way with the batter. Bake them at 350F (175C) for 18 to 20 minutes.

For the icing combine the (soft) cream cheese with the peppermint powder (or 1 tsp extract) and 2 cups confectioners sugar. It will look grainy at first…but will then transform into a firm and creamy frosting!

Now ice your cupcakes and ENJOY!

For the full recipe and an adorable printable recipe card visit Kayotic Kitchen’ s Licorice Cupcake Recipe

All images courtesy of Kayotic Kitchen.

Filed Under: Baking, Featured, Mom's Cafe

Vegan Cupcakes – Clara’s Cakes, did we mention she is 13!

Clara’sCakes was started by 12 year old Clara when she decided to become a vegan and realized that finding a good vegan baked good was hard to do. She spent many months doing research and kitchen experiments and came up with her own vegan cupcake creation.

Her cupcakes use no animal ingredients of any kind, no eggs, no honey – NOTHING! Since we couldn’t taste the cupcakes, we were curious to know how good the cupcakes were – and we found this blog post:

http://www.quarrygirl.com/2010/11/14/vegan-cupcakes-from-claras-cakes/

Then we also found this great interview with Clara at:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/08/is-a-13-year-old-more-ethical-than-you/

Sounds to us like they are pretty awesome!

And she does more than cupcakes – there are Rice Crispy Treats, Brownies and Pies too!

You can contact them through the website at Clara’s Cakes to find out about ordering some of Clara’s Cakes. She is based out of California for those that are in the area!

I like that she uses products that don’t come from animals.

Filed Under: Featured, Rachels Cafe

Customized Scented Cupcake Charms!

They look REAL don’t they?! These adorable cupcake charms look and smell just like real cupcakes! Every cupcake is handcrafted and the scent is matched to the icing – chocolate icing smells like chocolate, pink smells like what else? Strawberry!