Rubber Ducky, You're the One . . .

We went to a little baby shower today.  I brought the cupcakes since I'm always looking for an excuse to make some.  

I love polka dots, anytime, anywhere.  Except on my clothes . . . and maybe not in my house decor . . . but everywhere else.  Like in cupcake wrappers and wallets and little girl skirts and socks and hair bands and balloons and napkins . . .

I cut out a bunch of little m's the day before so they could dry but the next morning they were still pliable.  So I heated the oven for a couple of minutes (maybe 4-5 minutes) then turned it off and stuck the m's inside with the oven light on.  At first they looked like they were getting softer but after I took them out they hardened pretty quickly.  

M for Baby Miles.  

I added mini chocolate chips to the vanilla-bean cupcakes.  Yum.

These ducks were pretty easy to make.  I swiped the idea from the another website.  Click here to see the original.  I didn't follow her directions for making them; I just liked the ducky idea.  She uses frosting and food coloring for the eyes and beak.  I just used my Food Writer pens.  Seems much easier.  

I was very pleased with these.  So fun to make!  And so cute!

I love the pearls.  They add such a nice touch.  

The only cupcake left.  

Since I made 32 cupcakes we had quite a few left over after the party.  We were at a park so I went around handing out cupcakes to random kids.  The other ladies in our party thought that was hilarious and outrageous that these kids were accepting cupcakes from some strange cupcake lady.  Now, just to be clear, I always asked the parents if they wanted their child to have a cupcake.  Not a single parent said no.  I had a couple of kids who said "no thanks" but then their parents would encourage them to eat one.  "Come one, honey.  Are you sure?  Did you see what they looked like?"  

That just cracked me up.  I think I would have probably declined a stranger offering home-baked goods which makes it so much funnier to me.  I guess I look safe.  

Garden Variety

We had a couple of my son's classmates over for lunch yesterday.  I thought they'd have fun playing with fondant.  As you can see from above, they did some adorable stuff.  

The cake was Trader Joe's Vanilla bean.  And because I only had 4 T of butter in the house, I softened it and mixed it with a bunch of powdered sugar and a can of marshmallow creme.  Don't ask me why I had marshmallow creme; I'm not entirely sure.  But now I don't have it so it's just as well.  It was tasty frosting but since I over-heated the butter it was a little too soft.  Very sticky.  But very yummy.  

So next time you feel that marshmallow creme is unhealthy, try adding butter and sugar to it, then the original won't seem so bad.

We had 3 moms, 3 girls and 1 boy working on these.  The two younger boys preferred to play outside.  2 of the girls did a great job.  My 4-year-old, however, kneaded that fondant until it was as soft as peanut butter.  Then she decided she needed to eat it since it was too soft.  Oh boy!

This cupcake is a combined effort.  Andrea made the sweet pea, Kadence made the strawberry base, Liz made the strawberry top, and I dotted the berry with a food writer.

The original plan was to make ladybugs but then I tried to make a caterpillar that ended up looking like peas.  So then we made peas and strawberries and even a radish and some lettuce.  They're so cute!  

Of course, I wouldn't let them eat them until I had snapped up some pictures.  

Maci decorated her own, full of "peas" and one strawberry.

These were super fun to make.  I just know I'm going to have to make more this summer.  They're so easy too!  Maybe I can make a 4th of July variety with fondant blueberries.  Nah, I'd rather use real blueberries. But I love the radish idea and sweet pea, maybe even some carrots.  Oh my goodness, I want to make some more today!