Pandas!

Panda Mini Cupcakes!

I saw Bakerella's neat blog posting about these little babies (Bakerella's Easy Little Pandas) and had to try them!  They were generally pretty easy, although for some of them it was tough to get the little ears to stay in place and the mouth sprinkles sometimes took on a mind of their own.  But still super fun to make and super cute!

First, I made my mini chocolate cupcakes.  My 3 year old was helping with these so we expedited things and just did a boxed Devil's Food cake mix.  I used our awesome pancake pen to squirt a little batter into each cup, which works great!

Into the oven...

...and out of the oven!

Next, I used a little vanilla buttercream frosting (luckily I had some standing by in the fridge leftover from the Yoda cake) with a #12 tip to put a small dollop on the top of each cupcake.

Then I lightly pressed the top of the cupcake into a bowl of white sanding sugar.

Then on go 2 upside down chocolate chips for the ears, two for the eyes and one sideways one for the snout. Use the chocolate jimmies to make whatever kind of mouth you like.

Now for the eyes.  Using an edible ink pen, draw black dots onto white confetti sprinkles for the eyeballs.  (You can get both the pen and the confetti at places like Michael's.)  Then use a little frosting to stick them onto the chocolate chip eyes.

  And voila!

And, of course, one cake mix makes 3-4 dozen mini cupcakes - so when you get tired of making pandas, just top the rest with a little frosting and either jimmies or sugar.

Enjoy!  :)

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Happy 6th Birthday, Young Jedi Jackson!

It's all about Yoda, baby

My sweet Jackson is madly in love with all things Star Wars!  We had a bowling party for his friends this weekend and it was a great time!

Cake pop party favors with rings!

Happy birthday, Jackson! :)

Happy Easter!

A few fun Easter cookies...  Have a great weekend!

Hippity hoppity

Our adorable little Baby O (Baby Shower Cake Pops) has arrived! My amazing new nephew, Henry Nathan, was born on Wednesday and could not be any more precious!!!  These cookies are for my brother, sister-in-law and baby Henry!

Welcome Henry!!

Treats for my boys and sweet nephew, William, for this weekend

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday, Austin and Cole!

Baseball and football cookies for the birthday boys!

Happy Birthday, Austin and Cole!

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

"G" is for Gavin!

A personalized cake just for the birthday boy

Happy 6th Birthday, Gavin!  We had such a great time at your party!  :)

Pokemon!

Yum!

Shower Me with Cake Pops!

Baby shower and bridal shower treats...

These cake pops were in honor of my sweet little niece or nephew (aka Baby O) who will arrive in a couple of weeks!  I was so excited for a weekend getaway to New York to see my brother and sister-in-law, my mom, my sister and lots of family and friends. 

DO NOT EVEN get me started on my travel troubles - an entire day spent at, not one, but two Houston airports, weather delays, flight crew delays, airline incompetence and missed connections.  To make a long story short, I never made it out of Houston!  I was so, so sad that I didn't get to celebrate at the baby shower - especially since I was toting the party favors!  Sigh.

At least it sounds like it was a great party - congrats Jonathan and Chrissy - can't wait to see you both when the baby arrives!

These had to travel to New York by mail instead of in my suitcase :(

-------


These next fun cake pops were for a bridal shower that my dear childhood friend, Becky, threw for her brother's fiancee (congrats Matt and Meredith!).  Seems like only yesterday we were all playing cops and robbers on our bikes in Barrington, Illinois! 

Devil's Food cake with chocolate coating and sugar crystals

Becky did an awesome hot pink and orange themed shower and all reports are that it was fantastic!  Plus, the pops that I shipped to her arrived in one piece!  Wish I could have been there to celebrate - best of luck, Matt and Meredith!