Mom’s Cafe — Cupcake Kid Cafe

Little Chefs World – Sacramento, CA

Little Chefs World offers a 4 week culinary experience for all aspiring chefs! Participants learn basic kitchen skills, cooking techniques and safety and sanitation throughout the program. Each chef will wear an apron provided by us and participants will focus on promoting healthy eating habits while preparing recipes and enjoying them. New holiday menu in place.

Each 4 week session will feature a new menu. Also, offering one day, 2 hour holiday decorating (cookies or cupcakes) classes during November and December.

Contact to join a class or get 6 or more kids and we can come to your location. All paper products, food and instruction is included.

Get more information at Little Chefs World

Filed Under: Cooking Classes, Mom's Cafe

Glow In The Dark Cupcakes

This just might be the coolest thing ever! Glow In The Dark Cupcakes may just be the perfect treat for your Halloween party – I can only imagine the look on the kids faces when they see these. Basically it is a regular cupcake with one magic ingredient!

Are you ready? No, really are you?

TONIC WATER! Yep, tonic water added to the frosting will make these wonderfully unique cupcakes glow under black lights. The quinine in the tonic water is what makes all the magic happen! Thanks to the great people at Recipesnobs.com for finding this out!

It turned out there is a whole trick to making this work properly, and clearly as seen in the image below, someone really did it right! Visit Recipesnobs.com for the full details and instructions on how to make the magic happen. This is a must for this Halloween and we would love to see images!!!!

image credit foodsnots.com / recipesnobs.com

Filed Under: Halloween, Mom's Cafe

Edible Doll Furniture!

I love this! The cuteness factor is off the charts and any girly girly will love creating and decorating their own little dollhouse furniture – made from cake!

If you love doll furniture, or hey, if you just love cake – then we will know you will flip over edible doll furniture! This unique project called Sapore Dei Mobili (furniture Tasting).

A super cute idea with a really great story behind it! View the whole story at Sapore Dei Mobili

If only we could get our hands on one of these! What a great tea party idea!

{story via dornob}

Filed Under: Mom's Cafe

Valentine’s Day at the Cook’s Warehouse

Atalanta Georgia Cooking School Class Schedule The Cook’s Warehouse is located in Atlanta and offers up some great cooking classes for kids as well as adults. For the Valentine Day holiday they have a lot of great special events going on that we think our Georgia based readers would love!

Cooking Class Calendar

2/4/12, Valentine Treats for Kids Hands On (Ages 3 to 5), http://bit.ly/tT6GGp

2/5/12, Valentine’s Day Cake Pops Hands On, http://bit.ly/wpqzsA
2/5/12, Back Home Baking for Valentine’s Day Hands On, http://bit.ly/zoNCAj

2/6/12, Virginia Willis with Atlanta’s Table Presents: French Kiss, http://bit.ly/yjcKhI

2/7/12, 50 Ways to Feed Your Lover Hands On, http://bit.ly/xIjO1N
2/7/12, Red Hot Chilis, http://bit.ly/yPpyuX

2/8/12, Superfoods for Life: My Little Valentine, http://bit.ly/zlf4zi

2/9/12, Couples Cooking for Valentine’s Day Hands On, http://bit.ly/zML8I0

2/10/12, Wine Makes the Meal: A Valentine’s Celebration, http://bit.ly/wzxeX4

2/11/12, The Taste Club: Red for Valentines, http://bit.ly/wByTeB
2/11/12, Love Potion 214 Hands On, http://bit.ly/zdnVsZ
2/11/12, Dazzling Date Night Hands on, http://bit.ly/wfEzWF
2/11/12, Valentine’s Dinner Date Hands On, http://bit.ly/ylnqsO
2/11/12, Les Petits Macarons: French Confections Hands On, http://bit.ly/ABI6tO

2/12/12, A Valentine’s Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/AjGL0n
2/12/12, A Sweetheart’s Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/xRHMkd
2/12/12, Romantic Brunch For Two Hands On, http://bit.ly/xr8Rlm
2/12/12, Romantic Tuscan Valentine Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/zTchbv

2/14/12, Valentine’s Date Night Hands On, http://bit.ly/xuVPeL
2/14/12, A Romantic Valentine’s Meal for Two Hands On, http://bit.ly/yGZHrC
2/14/12, A Dinner Affair to Remember Hands On, http://bit.ly/zCUJl8
2/14/12, Dinner for Sweethearts Hands On, http://bit.ly/z8XbuR

Filed Under: Cooking Classes, Mom's Cafe

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: Mom's Cafe

Almost Healthy Snowman Cupckaes!

Photo by SkinnyTaste.com

These adorable cupcakes, from SkinnyTaste.com are low fat, easy to make and as you can imagine – the kids love them! A fun afternoon activity to get ready for the holidays.

The face is made up of jellybeans, mini chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows and a few colored sprinkles. Standard Duncan Hines cake mix was used for the cupcake – but contain a healthy twist.

The mix was mixed with 6oz.fat free Chobani yogurt, egg whites and water for the low fat option. Take away the oil and butter and you have a healthier option.

The icing was made from powdered sugar with a little melted butter and water.

Ingredients:

18.25oz. cake mix
6 ounce fat free Chobani yogurt
1 1/3 cup water
2 large egg whites
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp. boiling waiter
M&M’s
Jellybeans
Sprinkles
Mini marshmallows

For the full recipe and instructions visit SkinnyTaste.com

Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, Holidays, 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: Gift Ideas, Mom's Cafe

Kindergartners Talking Turkey

photo credit: Andrew

What a fabulous idea! Kindergarten teacher, Jill Cerny has an annual ritual of asking her class to share their thoughts on how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. Each child creates an illustration and then dictates their ideas to the teacher who types it up and then adds their image.

Here are a few of the adorable things that kids have suggested!

Nathan: I will wait at the side of the road until I see a turkey in the trees. I will take my bow and arrow and shoot the turkey. My dad will skin the turkey and my mom and dad will drive to my grandma’s for Thanksgiving. My grandma will roast the turkey in the oven at 350 degrees. It will cook for five minutes. While the turkey is cooking, we will make a stew. We also make some drinks, like Kool-Aid. The turkey is put on a big table and some people sit at the small table, and we eat the big feast.
Ella: My dad gets the turkey from the farmer’s market. He starts to cook it in the kitchen. He puts it in a pot on the stove with a lid. It cooks for 45 minutes on warm, not hot. My dad takes it out of the pot and he puts it on plates for us to eat it, but my sister doesn’t like to eat it.
Tommy: My dad will go out to the woods and get a turkey. He will get a bow and arrow and he will shoot the turkey. He will take it home and cook it up. He will cut off the feathers and then put it in the oven. It will cook at 100 degrees for 20 minutes because it takes 20 minutes to cook chicken. My dad will take it out of the oven and place it on the table, and then we start eating it.

To view the full collection of stories and drawings submitted by Ms. Cerny’s class, visit the Darien Patch. It will be sure to give you a chuckle!

Filed Under: Cooking With Kids, Funny Stuff, Mom's Cafe, Thanksgiving

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

Mini Triple Treat Cupcakes

Image Courtesy of Noble Pig

I saw these adorable cupcakes on Noble Pig and thought they would be a perfect addition to any Halloween party!

Made with miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups and topped with candy corn – or a candy of your choosing these cupcakes will give a big surprise when that first bite is taken!

The recipe is from Everyday Food.

Mini Triple Treat Cupcakes Recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
48 miniature chocolate peanut butter cups, such as Reese’s
48 pieces of candy corn, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350^o F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line two 24-cup mini muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together peanut butter, butter and brown sugar on high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and egg yolk, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture, buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

With the large end of a melon baller or a spoon, place 2 teaspoons batter into each muffin cup, then press a peanut-butter candy into each center until batter aligns with top edge of candy. Bake until puffed and set, about 10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

Immediately place a piece of candy corn on top of each cupcake; let cool completely in pans on wire racks. (Store in single layers, in airtight containers, up to 3 days.)

To view the full article, visit Noble Pig.

Filed Under: Halloween, Mom's Cafe