Hello there to all the babies...and baby mommas getting ready for Mother's Day!
Each Mother's Day, there are 3 things that seem to be classic, and please just about any Mom.
Flowers, hearts, and girly colours. Rather than buying your mom another dvd or spa gift card... this year make her a gift that comes from the heart (and goes to the tummy, haha). I think all Moms really appreciate when their kids take the time to give them home made gifts, from hand made cards, to crafts, to baked treats. If you're up for the challenge this year, here are some ideas that are sure to please any mom that you can make if you're not so talented in the kitchen, or if you're looking to help your kids make their mommy's day.
I think this week I'll start with the smallest treats. Cake pops, or cake balls. As I've said before, cake pops are not really difficult to make, but they are definitely time consuming. If you plan to make these delicious little treats, this is a safe bet for kids ages 6 and up, who have a whole day to spend on mommy. For this project you can bake your own cake, or cheat and buy an unfrosted cake. You'll need frosting, candy melts and either M&Ms or candy corns to make flowers out of.
First you'll want to crumble up your cake. Then mix in frosting with an electric mixer or a spoon. You'll need 2 cups of frosting for a full sheet cake (9x13), 1 cup of frosting for a an 8" square or round, and 1/2 cup of frosting if you crumble up about 6 cupcakes. Once the cake crumble and frosting have been well blended scoop 1 tablespoon of the mixture up at a time and roll like a meatball. Place each ball on a baking sheet. Once all your cake mixture is rolled, place the sheet of un-dipped cake balls into the fridge for about 15 minutes. Melt a little bit of candy melts (about 8-10 wafers) and dip lollipop sticks into the melted candy about 1/2 and inch. Push the dipped end of the stick into the cold cake balls about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way in. Once all the balls have sticks, put them back in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Now is the part where you decide if you're going to make small round flowers, like I've made above...or if you'd like to make the daisy style flowers shown here, made by Bakerella.
Melt 1-2 cups of candy melts in the microwave, or candy melting pot. Dip each lollipop into the candy melts one at a time, ensure it is completely coated. Tap the stick gently to shake off the excess coating. Quickly, while the candy is still wet and melty, attach a candy center and either 6 M&Ms or 8 candy corn petals to each cake pop. Put the pops in a styrofoam block or drying stand to allow the candy coating to set. Once they have set you can arrange you flower pops in these pretty little flower pots.
These pots are made by Wilton, for holding cake pops. You can decorate your container with paint, scrapbook paper, ribbon and stickers to jazz it up and make it special for your mom. You can also use a canister and some oasis that you can find at any craft (and usually dollar store). This really adds to the flower effect when the pops are arranged in a small flower pot. And who knows, Mom may even reuse the pot later in her garden.
If your mom is more of a cupcake lady, like mine is (oh man does my mom LOVE cupcakes!) then here are a few sweet ideas for you.
If you're also a scrap-booker, or are handy with paper, a printer, (or even markers), and a glue stick, this batch of cupcakes is for you.
Bake up a batch of Mom's favorite cupcakes, or try one of my many recipes (my mom loves anything chocolate, she really loved the chocolate chip and chai recipe I posted a few weeks ago). Frost each cupcake with a 1M piping tip to get the swirl effect shown. Push a cupcake topper into each cupcake and voila! To make these toppers you can print on circular labels (which you can find at any Staples store) and stick the labels onto a piece of scrapbook paper cut out with a circle punch. Attach the circle to a toothpick and you're set. If you're not that crafty, try stopping by www.etsy.com and search for cupcake toppers. There are many talented people on etsy who can make these simple yet sweet toppers for you and ship them to you, easy peasy.
If you'd like to try something more fun for the kids, why not try this arrangement of cupcakes set up to look like a bouquet of flowers.
This project is quite simple, and uses exactly 24 cupcakes. The cupcakes can be mini or standard size, and frosted in any colours you like. To make these cupcakes you'll need to choose at least one colour and tint about 1/2 cup of frosting in a darker shade (like the hot pink shown) and 1/2 cup in a lighter shade (like the baby pink shown). Leave 1/4 cup white, and tint about 1/4 cup green, for the leaves. You can also buy pre-colored frosting tubes and use those in complementary colours to frost and decorate your cupcakes. You'll also need some white mini marshmallows and yellow shimmering sugar. Frost 18 cupcakes in the light shade of frosting, just a simple smooth flat frosting base. Frost 6 cupcakes white, again and smooth flat frosting base. Using a back and forth zigzag motion, pipe a leaf onto 3 of the white base cupcakes. Cut approximately 40 mini marshmallow on a diagonal. once they are cut, drop them into the yellow sugar and shake them around a bit, one side of the marshmallow should get covered in sugar. Arrange the marshmallows in a circular fashion on the remaining 3 white frosted cupcakes, using about 1/3 of the marshmallows on each cupcake to create the flower centers. Arrange 6 light pink frosted cupcakes around each yellow center cupcake. Once your cupcakes are all arranged in the shape shown above pipe around the outside of each cupcake in a balloon type shape with the dark shade to form the petals. Pipe a few stripes from the yellow center to the middle of each pink cupcake. Your flower arrangement cupcakes are complete, beautiful and ready to eat!
If you're looking for something really fun and fancy this year, to really wow your mom, give me a call. I haven't decided yet what to make for my mom, but last year, this was the cake she picked.
She picked this sweet heart shaped cake with a lace trim and hand made fondant flowers. She was so excited with how it turned out. This year I might go with something a little more colorful. Every time I see a cake like this...
I can't help but swoon a little. I love the basket weave, all the flowers, the pretty colours, and the heart cake. What better way to say I love you, than with a heart cake. Ok, I'm a dork. But, I'm a dork who loves her Momma!
Well I think that's all for today. If you're looking for some more ideas or recipes for your mom, ask me anytime. I'm happy to help, research, give you tips and tricks or make something for you, that maybe you can pass off as your own *wink wink*.
Until next time,
Happy baking, caking and tasting!
Love and sprinkles, xoxo
