Hello CUPCAKES!

Rebecca wanted me to make cupcakes for her class. She wanted something fun, special and something I had not done before. As I searched for ideas -- none really appealing to me, I decided to head out to buy a book on cupcakes. As I searched the rows upon rows of such books one called Hello Cupcake jumped out at me. Rebecca and I poured over the pages again and again. She chose the sleeping children. We decided to have each slumbering child represent each child in her classroom. We (I!)added individual features and monogrammed their blankets. I am thrilled with the end result! If you have any interest in baking and like to create fun, whimsical things this book is an absolutely must have.

Now They didn’t come out quite as perfectly as they are in the book, but I am happy with the results none the less. Because I was making these for the entire 4th Grade Class for Rebecca’s 10th Birthday (which is today!) I used Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting.

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe)
2 cans of white (vanilla) frosting
1 can of chocolate frosting
1 bag of small Jelly beans
1 bag of Starburst fruit chews
1 small bag of mini Oreos — chocolate, if necessary
1 small bag of mini golden Oreos or mini Nilla wafers
1 small bag of Teddy Grahams

First we baked the cupcakes per the directions on the box and frosted them with vanilla frosting (which we also used as glue to secure the bears and slippers)

I had extra vanilla frosting that I colored using food coloring for additional decoration. I used small Ziploc bags and snipped a hole in the bottom where I attached the pastry tips, using only those with the smallest openings.

The little children’s heads are miniature Oreos — we were racially correct as you can see.
The blankets are made out of Starburst fruit chews that we microwaved for a few (10) seconds and rolled out with rolling pins.
The body lumps under the blankets were constructed by using a large marshmallow and cutting it in half.
The slippers (or socks) poking out from under the blankets were created by inserting small Jelly beans beneath the blanket. (I used Starbust Jelly beans)
The little bears are mini chocolate Teddy Grahams
I used chocolate frosting for the brown chair and brown eyes
I used yellow frosting for the blond hair and blanket decorations
I used blue frosting for the eyes and blanket decorations
I used pink frosting for the lips and blanket decorations

I took the cupcakes a step further by having every child’s monogram on their own cupcake. Apparently this was a huge hit.




Below:

Cupcake with half marshmallow under a Starburst rolled out to look like a blanket, and a finished cupcake