Easter Bunny Cupcakes

Marshmallow Bunny and Easter Egg Cupcakes

Chocolate Rabbit and Easter Egg Cupcakes

Easter Candy for Decorating the Cupcakes

L to R from top left:
 Easter Sixlets candy, marshmallow bunnies, speckled bird egg jelly beans, and small, foil wrapped, chocolate rabbits.

Step 1 - Bake 24 cupcakes according to the package directions and cool.

Step 2 - Put the cool cupcakes into clear plastic party cups

Cooled cupcakes in party cups ready to frost. 

Step 3 - Using a 1M decorating tip and frosting in leaf green and sky blue, make overlapping stars to resemble grass.

Step 4 - Insert toothpicks as shown in the pictures below and place the rabbits into the center of each frosted cupcake. I had to use a small jeweler's screwdriver to poke a hole through the plastic wrapper so I could insert the toothpick into the candy rabbit. 

Step 5 - Place 3 jelly beans and 3-4 Sixlet candies around each candy bunny.

Step 6 - Place each cupcake into an Easter treat bag and tie the top closed with curling ribbon. I used an iridescent baby blue ribbon that I found at the local dollar store.

Bagged Easter Bunny cupcakes ready to be given as gifts. 

Salty Sweet French Breakfast Puffs

Craving something salty-sweet, but not too sweet?
Try making a batch of  Salty Sweet French Breakfast Puffs. They're an amazing blend of buttery, salty-sweet, cinnamon-nutmeg, cake doughnut meets muffin! AND it only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish to make these addictively delicious puffs.
According to the hubby, these breakfast puffs should be called anytime puffs!

Time: about 30 minutes                 Yield: 12 Puffs

Puff Ingredients

• 1/3 cup shortening, at room temp
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup milk

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 6 Tbsp. salted butter, melted This is where the salty taste comes from.
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Grease the cups of a 12 cup cupcake pan, or muffin pan

• Combine the first three ingredients in a medium size bowl - shortening, sugar, and egg - until the mixture is light colored and fluffy.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a separate bowl.

• Add dry ingredients and milk alternately with the shortening mixture until it is mixed well.

• Scoop a rounded tablespoon of the batter, or dough, into each greased cupcake/muffin cup. 

• Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown. 

While The Puffs Are Baking

• First, thoroughly combine the white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. 
• In a separate bowl, melt the 6 Tbsp. of butter by microwaving for 30 to 45 seconds. 
• Cover a cooling rack with a sheet of waxed paper.

When the Puffs Are Done

1. Roll a hot puff in the melted butter
2. Next, cover it with the cinnamon/sugar mixture
3. Set the puff on the wax paper covered cooling rack (See title pic)
4. Repeat the above three steps with each puff.

Enjoy eating a piece of homemade happiness on a plate!

A Spring Bunny Cake

My daughter gave me a mini-rabbit cake pan and today was the day to bake a bunny cake with it.
I used a box of strawberry cake mix and followed the package directions. One box of cake mix made enough cake batter for one bunny cake and five standard cupcakes.

Baking Times

bunny cake: about 25-30 minutes

5 cupcakes: about 12 minutes

• After cooling the cake completely on a baking rack, apply a thin base coat of frosting. Make sure to fill in any gaps between the cake and cake plate. 
• Put the cake in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator until the base coat is completely firm.

Decorator Tips
white bunny fur - #177 drop flower tip
pink accents - #16 open star tip
eye center - upside down chocolate chips

Remove the cake from the freezer and frost in the following order:

1. outline and fill in the pink ear centers.
2. pipe the nose and mouth
3. make two pink circles for the eyes
4. pipe on the fur over the entire cake
5. apply upside down chocolate chips for pupil of eyes
6. pipe eyelashes and whiskers. 

Your spring bunny cake is now ready to present to your family.

Amazon.com sells similar cake pans for under $10. Now you can make a bunny cake too!

Lollipop Crispy Treat Pops

Lollipop meets rice crispy treat and the two merge to form a Lollipop Crispy Treat. The outside is rice crispy treat and hidden inside is a lollipop. This is how to make them:

• Make a batch of rice krispy treats. 
• Pour the warm krispy treats into a greased 10 inch by 15 inch  by 1 inch sheet pan or sided cookie sheet. 
• Press into an even layer. 
• Cut into two inch circles.

Unwrapped Dum-Dum lollipops

• Shape and form the cereal treat circle around a lollipop. 
• Use pieces of cereal treat as necessary to achieve a smooth, solid layer. 

• Continue until all of the krispy treats are gone.
• This will make about twenty to twenty-two  lollipop crispy treats. 
• If desired, dip the crispy treat cake pops into a glaze, melted candy melts, or melted almond bark and apply sprinkles. 
• Set on waxed paper until dry.

A finished lollipop crispy treat finished at midnight for an afternoon baby shower.

It's a Boy! Baby Bottom Cake

Here it is! The baby bottom cake topper and half sheet cake that I made for my daughter's baby shower.

Cake topper ingredients: rolled butter cream fondant, cereal treats, and royal icing

Mini-fondant cutters were used for the baby's name

Cake frosting and piping: butter cream frosting and a 1M tip

To form the baby bottom, legs, and feet, I used warm, marshmallow cereal mixture.  

Baby bottom - A small, two cup bowl is a great mold for shaping the baby bottom. 

Baby Legs and Feet - A 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter helped me to shape the legs and feet.

•  First, I made two circles by packing warm, marshmallow cereal treat mixture into the cookie cutter; one 3/4" thick and one 1/2" inch thick.
•  Next, I cut the 3/4" circle in half and formed two curved "legs." 
• I also cut the 1/2" circle in half and formed the feet from these two pieces.  

Rolled Butter Cream Fondant Recipe               Click Here
Silky Smooth Butter Cream Frosting Recipe      Click Here