Spring has sprung!

Hello my bright budding bakers!

Welcome to the first days of spring! That means the first days of flowers blooming, birds chirping, baby animals being born and beautiful colours all around! I love the sweet pastels of spring and Easter...pretty soft pinks, purples, blues, greens and OF COURSE yellow! Even if you don't really like yellow, I think it is still one of those colours that just makes you feel happy inside, right?

This month is great for finding some beautiful treat boxes covered in flowers, bright coloured candy and muffin cups, and Easter candies. Since I am so entranced by these fabulous colours, I went a little overboard...and I'll be trying to find things to do with everything I got, rather than just buying what I'll need...but I just can't help it, all the pretty colours just put a spring in my step (and obviously a dent in my wallet as well)!

About a month or so before Easter each year, a lot of the big candy companies come out with themed treats such as pastel foil wrapped kisses, gumballs, jelly beans and more! I picked up some pastel candy corns.

I had honesty never seen these before, but I thought they could make pretty flower petals, or bunny ears, who knows what. Just too pretty to pass up! Then I spotted Easter M&Ms...

I feel like the pink, purple and yellow would be so great for a little girls party. You can use these to swap out chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies to give them a pretty pop of colour. You can sprinkle some on top of a cupcake, serve them on their own in a bowl, or use them to decorate cake pops (like I did).

They are the perfect size to make these sweet little flowers on a standard 1 1/4" cake pop. AND it adds a hint of chocolate to whatever flavor your cake pops happen to be. (These are already triple chocolate...with the M&Ms on top, it may just be a chocolate overload, lol). These flower cake pops would be so cute wrapped up with a leaf shaped tag. You can use the tags to write people's names, thank you, or even a special message.

Then of course Wilton always comes out with some great products this time of year. One thing I loved the second I saw was this bottle of white, green, pink, purple and blue and yellow non-pareils sprinkles. These would look great as a rim on a cupcake, or simply sprinkled on top, or on some pretty Easter or flower cookies. I'm sure I'll find a few things to use these sweet sprinkles on!

And as always Wilton has some fun new baking cups. I found some with rainbow swirls, and yellow chicks that I had to get. 

I also love these new petal baking cups. They're a really simple way to dress up a cupcake for spring, Easter or even Mother's Day. These baking cups come in yellow, purple, pink and red. They also have some really pretty treat bags and boxes with flowers and chicks and butterflies designs. They range from single cupcake holders, to 6 cupcake holders, upright fold-over top bags with a peak window and printed cellophane bags. They've come out with some great candy making kits, that make it really easy to make your own chocolate lollipops in spring and Easter shapes, as well as comfort grip cookie cutters and a flower brownie pan. These super cute flower brownies can be decorated with icing sugar, shimmering sugars, or made into flower pops!

Then I found these super pretty candy boxes. They are meant for chocolates or truffles, but I thought, why not put some cake balls inside?! I'm not sure who the maker is, but they were relatively inexpensive, and I figured they would be great for spring, Easter, Mother's Day, summer, and really, for anything girly.

I made some gluten free cake balls for a friend who is very gluten intolerant, so she rarely gets to indulge in baked goods. Following with the spring theme I coated them in yellow candy and decorated them with some white flowers with yellow pearl centers.

I lined the bottom of the box with some purple plastic grass, just to give the cake balls something pretty to sit on, and I love yellow and purple together for spring time. I wrapped up the box and tied it up with a bunch of purple ribbons. I can't wait to see her reaction to these tasty treats!

These are just a few ideas for spring. As always, take a trip to your local Bulk Barn and Michaels store to see what spring candies, wrappers and boxes are in season. For ingredients in your baking, try some of the many delicious fruits and vegetable that are in season for spring. 

Here are some tips on the best fruits and vegetables to buy and eat in spring, and what to look for when shopping:

Apricots

• Apricots should be slightly soft, but unbruised.
• Ripe apricots are fragrant and golden orange.

Artichoke

• Look for artichoke with compact head and ripe green color.

Asparagus

• Buy bright green stalks.
• Tips should be closed and compact.

Avocado

• Gently squeeze an avocado in the palm of your hand to see if there's a little give.
• Solid avocados take 2-3 days to ripen at home.

Carrots

• Healthy-looking tops are an indication of freshness.
• Carrots should be crisp, and not look tired or limp.

Collard Greens

• Fresh collards have a dark green color and feel vibrant and firm
• Avoid wilted or yellowed leaves.

Fava Beans

• Find firm pods without many markings.

Mango

• Ripe mangoes' skins are more orange/red than green.
• Squeeze gently in the palm of the hand to determine ripeness.

Morels

• Avoid dried out morels, as they spoil quickly.
• Morels will last at most two days, refrigerated.

Mustard Greens

• Buy fresh-looking and crispy greens.
• Check for yellowing spots or wilting.

New Potatoes

• New potatoes only last a few days, and are not as hardy as the regular sort.

Pineapple

• Sniff the bottom for sweet aroma, and check for firmness.
• Pineapples cannot be ripened at home.

Rhubarb

• Select bright, crisp stalks.

Spinach

• Avoid dried-out or yellowing-stemmed spinach.

Strawberries

• Pick fragrant, slightly soft strawberries.
• combines well with rhubarb

Sugar Snap/Snow Peas

• Should be bright green when ripe.
• Make sure they're not limp, and feel like they'd have a snap.

Have some fun making your own creations using all the spring colours, or give me a call, I'm always in the mood to 'bake someone happy' (haha, I know, I'm a big dork, but I couldn't resist that one)! Stop by next Sunday to see all the fun and fabulous creations I've been working on this month!

Until next time,

Happy baking, caking, and tasting!

Love and sprinkles, xoxo

>>>Have any questions about any of the products I mentioned or used? Want to recreate something yourself but not sure how? Would you like to place an order for some sunny springtime treats? Please leave your comments below<<<