sweet inspiration & fun baking ideas

Remember these little guys I showed you how to make last week? Pretty cute, huh? They were for a baby shower my friend Cupcake Julie threw and now I have some of the pictures pulled together to show you all the fun. Julie has been throwing baby showers and creating dessert tables for some time now, but the last few years, she has been building on a Humpty Dumpty theme and creating party props for it. It’s a perfectly cute and cheery theme that works for baby boys and girls. She gets these fantastic ideas in her head and just has to create them and bring them to life. This was the third year she’s made something new for the theme. It’s been a work in progress, but I think she’s definitely perfected the Humpty party props.

Okay, prepare yourself for some amazingness.

It’s kind of mind blowing.

Obviously a Humpty Dumpty Baby Shower has to start with the main attraction.

Humpty! Yay!

Humpty is huge. And handmade. With custom tailored clothing. Elaborate custom tailored clothing.

Humpty is really just a giant plastic egg. Yep, a giant version of the little ones you might have had an Easter egg hunts with yesterday. Julie found it at Hobby Lobby and just spray painted it white. But first she filled it with rice and hot glued it together so he would be weighted down and could sit in different positions easily. You know… without falling.

But let’s talk about his outfit. Intense. Elaborate. Detailed. Gorgeous.

So, she can definitely sew. Me, not sew much.

Look at these glittered up shoes with pink painted soles and sweet sequined adorned socks. They’re baby shoes from Target made sparkly. Adorbs.

His turquoise top hat is constructed with wool felt. Definitely dapper.

And even though he’s Humpty, he makes a fantastic Easter egg with such a fun, frilly spring outfit, don’t you think.

And he makes me want to scream, YAY!

These are easy pennants she made with fabric fused together and iron-on, hand-cut letters. Topped off with little pom poms, too.

This is much more my speed. She makes me want to learn how to sew, though. Kinda.

Okay, I am in love with these tassels. It’s cotton fabric she cut using a rotary cutter.

The colors are so pretty together.

You can see them hanging in the background here.

That’s if you can get past the cuteness from these horses.

All the King’s horses are pretty freaking adorable!

Last year she sewed these stuffed animals using happy colored fabrics and yarn. They’re attached to a wooden rod so you can ride.

Not that I tried. ; )

Giddy up!

But you can’t have all the King’s horses, without all the King’s men.

Right?

Right!

Julie’s had these sweet soldiers for a while. A Wal-Mart find from several years ago. They were originally red, green and royal blue.

Not so springy. So this year, she finally repainted them, added glitter and covered up the strong Christmas colors to go with the baby shower.

These aren’t quite as tall as her homemade house-sized nutcrackers, but they’re definitely as cute. And I’m sure they’ll get double duty and make an appearance as part of her holiday decorations this year, too.

And if they don’t, I’m bringing them to my house.

Okay, so we have Humpty…

And all the King’s horses…

And all the King’s men…

Now, I guess we need a King…

Bam. King. Check.

Sometimes I think she has a real easy button. But like I said, she gets these ideas and makes them happen.

The King is cool. His body is totally a tomato cage and the arms are just 2X4s with fence post finials for hands.

But the robe and clothes cover all that hard work up. Mr. Cupcake Julie actually constructed the body. He’s a good guy. Especially for getting all this stuff from storage and putting it back each time she throws a Humpty shower.

A Santa wig and beard were both used to create the King’s long beard and eyebrows. She cut bangs from the wig to make the mustache because of the great curls it had.

The crown is made from poster board and adorned with jewels and handmade tissue flowers that she hot glued on.

His face and hair? Can you guess?

It’s totally a Burger King Halloween Mask. Repainted.

Hear Ye … announcing Baby Taylor … yippee!

A custom welcome sign she sewed and hand painted with the help of an overhead projector.

Okay, so I may have had a little fun moving Humpty around.

But I want to show you these baby blocks. Underneath? Graduated cardboard boxes turned upside down.

They were hidden by pretty linen slip covers that she sewed and decorated with iron on numbers and animals cut out of fabric.

Cute nursery rhyme games she found on clearance from Target. They look extra special with individual mini clipboards and colorful pencils.

And look at these giant poms. These were made using cut fabric circles ruffled together and hot glued to an outdoor lantern.

I love how the guts of some of these decorations are reused from unexpected items.

Wait, what about the Humpty Dumpty cake pops.

Yeah, those guys.

Did I mention there was a dessert table, too?

With butterscotch puddings, mini doughnuts, cupcakes, and individual banana pudding trifles. Yum!!!!

Don’t worry, the desserts were guarded.

Oh … and check out these vintage lamps from the 70s she found on etsy. She removed the tops and turned them into cake stands. Creative!

And I think these were the inspiration for this whole Humpty Dumpty theme. I can’t remember though … she’s been doing these so long.

The dining room table was set beautifully for brunch. Yeah, there was food, too.

There were even hand-stitched napkins at each place setting. Julie drew the designs on the napkins with a disappearing ink marker, then stitched on top. When you wash the napkins, the ink disappears. Magic.

She even made party favors for all the guests. Pin cushion topped mason jars filled with colorful candy buttons.

She used this button mold and this one too and filled them with melted candy coating.

The jars were topped with paper maché eggs that she painted to match the invitations.

Okay, we’re coming to the end. It’s like a crafting marathon.

The invites. The Humpty is an old Meri Meri Accents scrapbook design that she had but isn’t available anymore. So she used it as a guide for the invitations and embellished them with glitter and ribbon for each guest.  A happy, fun beginning to the baby shower.

 

And, that’s all folks.

So, I guess it doesn’t take all the King’s horses and all the King’s men to put a Humpty Dumpty Shower together. It just takes one Cupcake Julie. It does make me feel better that she did all of these elements over a few years and more than one shower, but still… it’s all crazy incredible!!!

I tell her over and over to start a blog and share tutorials for some of this stuff. But right now… she just does it free for friends that she throws parties for and for herself because she loves it. And I love that about her.

I just had to share it with you guys, too.

And now … I think she wants to start working on a new party theme. And I can’t wait to see what’s up her sleeve.

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I made some egg cake pops!

They’re really cute … But they’re not for Easter.

Instead I made happy little Humpty Dumpty Cake Pops for a baby shower that my friend Cupcake Julie threw this weekend. It was an all out Humpty-themed Eggstravaganza. And when I get the pics all together, I’ll show you some of the fun elements she created for it. If you remember this Candyland Christmas post of her party decorations, you can probably guess that she doesn’t hold back on the details.

But first up… here’s a Humpty How-to.

Follow the instructions for making Basic Cake Pops and roll them into egg shapes instead of balls.

Try using a piece of wax paper to help shape the balls into eggs.

Roll the egg-shapes against the wax paper and it will help smooth out the sides.

When they’re all shaped, chill them until firm.

Then it’s dipping time. Dip. Dip. Dip.

Make sure you have enough melted candy coating in the bowl to completely dip and remove the cake pop without having to stir it in the coating to cover.

Eggcellent! … and a blank canvas to decorate Humpty.

Or if you want to make pops for Easter, you can totally do that, too. Take a look at this post for some easy Easter Egg Cake Pops.

Humpty is actually dipped twice. Once the white coating is dry, gently untwist the lollipop stick from the cake pop and dip the bottom of the egg shape in a second color of melted candy coating.

Just hold the egg shape and submerge the bottom half in coating. Remove, shake off any excess and place the lollipop stick back in the bottom of the egg.

To help Humpty get dressed, fix his collar. Use a toothpick dipped in melted white candy coating and draw a collar shape around the blue coating. Do one side at a time and sprinkle white sanding sugar on top. Then use the side of a clean toothpick to help straighten the edges while the coating is still wet.

Dot on white candy coating for noses using the end of a toothpick and draw on sweet happy faces with a black edible ink pen.

Finish decorating his outfit with a few more sprinkles to dress him up. Humpty needs party clothes you know.

• Americolor Gourmet Writing Pen for faces
• Luster Dust for rosy cheeks
• Sanding Sugar for collars and hat
• Pastel Confetti Sprinkles for buttons
• Yellow Miniature Heart Sprinkles for bow ties
• Ice Cream Cone Candies for hats

I used the same ice cream cone candies I used for the bunny cake pops last week. This time I used some kitchen scissors to cut off part of the round end. That makes it easier for the cone shape to sit on top of the cake pop. Attach it to the pop with melted candy coating and then draw on more coating around the base and sprinkle with sanding sugar to cover up any gaps where the two meet.

The ice cream cone candies aren’t super common. You can find them here, go without hats or find another cone or hat-shaped candy to substitute. Just get creative and have fun.

Enjoy!

Hope their happy faces make you smile.

And I can’t wait till you see the Humpty Dumpty decorations from the the baby shower Julie threw. They are pretty freaking amazing! … Coming soon.

P.S. Anyone have the Humpty Hump Dance song in their head right now. I do and I think it’s stuck there.

 

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I’m a little behind on posting this week. I started making the sweetest cake pops on Sunday and had to detour from photographing them so I could work on my taxes. Boring! But I had to get ready for an appointment the next day which meant diving into a big stack of paperwork that I’ve been building on… all year. And avoiding. Yuck-o-rama! And definitely not as much fun as cake pops.

But I finally finished taking pictures last night and yay, here they are.

The cake pops I made were inspired by these pretty jordan almonds.

Well, mainly just the white ones.

They make the best bunny ears. Like perfect.

I’ve made bunny cake pops before with pastel candy corn and also with pipe cleaners (really, really cute), but oh my – these jordan almonds bunnies are too much. I think these might be my favorite ears, but let me know yours if you look at the other bunny links.

So, I used only the white almonds for these, but you can certainly make them with the other colors as well.

Bunnies are like snowmen to me. I want to make them again and again and again. There’s so many ways to make them look different and still super cute.

I totally glammed them up too – with blue eyes, big eyelashes, blush, barrettes and bows!

They’re dressed up for Easter you know.

But you can always dress them down, too. The ears alone create a fun canvas to decorate on.

I made the bunny heads with more of an oval shape. And before I chilled the balls, I used an almond to make impressions on the top. That way when you dip, the ears will look like part of the head instead of sitting on top of it.

Here are some basic instructions for generic cake pops.

• Follow the directions on the link and then shape the balls into ovals.
• Make impressions in the cake balls for the ears using the pointed end of a jordan almond.
• Dip the pops and before the coating dries, place the almonds in position for ears.
• Hold in position for a couple of seconds so they don’t fall over.
• Let dry and then you can add all of the decorations on.
• Or just a few … dress your bunnies in any number of ways.
• To decorate, dot on a small amount of candy coating and attach sprinkles in position.

Speaking of candy coating. I love the Merckens Super White. Try it some time.

Glam bunnies.

I used a few sprinkles for the faces, but keep in mind you can also just pipe them on with candy coating for a simpler approach.

I just couldn’t stop.

Here’s what I used…

• Jordan almonds and a pink Americolor Gourmet Writing Pen for the ears.
• Jumbo flower sprinkles for barrettes – dotted with melted candy coating and sprinkled with sanding sugar for the centers.
• Blue icing eyes for … well, the eyes.
• Pink rainbow chip sprinkles for noses.
• Pink luster dust applied with a dry brush for blush.
• A black edible ink pen for eyelashes and eyebrows
• And more white candy coating, dotted on for freckles and drawn on for hair.
• Oh, and toothpicks. I can never have too many.

Hey there hunnybunny!

Oh yeah, I made cake pop tags for you too if you’d like to download them for your pops or even for cupcake toppers.

Somebunny Loves You Cake Pop Tags

But that’s not all.

I have another bunny to show you. A little bit simpler. Not as fancy but just as fun.

This bunny was inspired by these ice cream cone sweet tarts. These are the kind of unique candy/sprinkles I like to snatch up as soon as I see them. I usually have no idea at the time what I’ll use them for but I know at some point they’ll come in handy for something.

And the orange ones above totally did … literally. Know where I’m going?

I used the almonds again for ears, the pink rainbow chip sprinkles for noses, mini marshmallows for feet and arms, green daisy sprinkles and orange ice cream candy… you guessed it … for carrots.

Same ears, but a totally different lovable, huggable little bunny?

Hugs and hope you like these little guys.

 

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I made some munchies for you. Have you tried Christmas Crunch before? It’s sometimes called Christmas Crack or White Trash. I know, not the nicest names, huh. But, It’s a mighty munchable and very addictive sweet and salty treat coated in white chocolate.

The regular version I’ll usually make uses Corn Chex Cereal in the mix. So, I thought I’d switch it up a little and make it work for St. Patrick’s Day with some Lucky Charms cereal instead.

They’re magically delicious, so I’m told.

Salted, dry-roasted peanuts get mixed in.

Along with pretzels, too. Twists or sticks.

M&M’s. These little bursts of chocolate really make the mix even more munchable.

I bought a party size bag of regular M&M’s and just sorted out the greens and yellows to make them pretty for St. Patrick’s Day!

You can mix in as much or as little of each as you like. I used almost equal amounts of each. Two cups or so. And you can switch it up with other favorite add ins, too. Totally customizable. Especially if you aren’t trying to tie in with a theme.

Mix it all up. It’s like cereal soup.

Then melt some white candy coating. This kind is the generic brand from Kroger grocery store. It’s one of the main go to candy coatings that I like to use.

Melt it and stir it all together until lightly coated all over.

As soon as the coating dries, it’s ready.

Munch. Munch. Munch.

I love quick treats.

And if you want to add a bit more magic to the mix, try adding in some pop rocks.

Before the melted coating sets…

… sprinkle on top.

You’ll need a good amount to make an impression (I only used two little packs) and the pop rocks will start to fizzle out after being opened for a while and mixed in the munch, but if you eat them the same day, you’ll totally get that fun popping sensation in your mouth.

Makes the magically delicious come to life.

I made a little label you can use if you want to make and give them away.

They are 2.75 inches wide and will fit these 2.5 X 6 X 1 inch treat bags.

Download the pdf, and you can print them out at a larger scale if you want to match other size bags you may have on hand.

Downloadable Lucky Charms Magic Munch Labels

Enjoy!

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March is here and this weekend I thought I would work on something cute and sweet for St. Patrick’s Day. Shamrocks, leprechauns, pots of gold, maybe? But then I was bored … none of those things really inspired me for some reason. I just wasn’t feeling green treats so much I guess. Instead I was feeling full of color. So I decided on rainbows … and cupcakes … minus the pots of gold at the end.

I was also feeling like rainbow colored sprinkles … in my cupcakes.

I love these delicate jimmies by Mr. Sprinkles. (I love these even better, but the pastel colors aren’t available anymore. I’m still very upset about it. I could use them forever. For everything.)

Oh well, the rainbow sprinkles will work great for this bright little cupcake.

You’ll just need a couple. ; )

Stir them in the batter and bake away.

Taste the rainbow.

Cupcakes … Yum!

And so bright and cheery.

But for this project we need sugar cookies, too… so we can easily cut out rainbows to the right round size and shape.

Use two different size circle cutters for the cookies. I used a 2 1/4-inch round cutter and the bottom end of a 1M Wilton decorating tip to cut out the center.

But any round sharp-edged shapes you have on hand can work. Try using the cap to your sprinkles containers for instance. More on that below…

So to make the rainbows, I cut 2 1/4-inch circles, cut out the centers and then just cut off the bottoms so they could stand easily in frosting.

In the pic above, I tried two different center sizes. I liked the larger opening better.

After the cookies are baked and cooled, they can be covered with fondant.

Roll out white fondant and then cut out circles using the same size round cutters used for the cookies. Apply a thin layer of frosting to the top of the cookie and then place the fondant shapes right on top to secure.

Cut off any excess so your fondant shape matches your rainbow cookie shape.

And then it’s time to color. The fun part. For me anyway. I’m much better with a pen than directing icing from a tip in a smooth line, so this is right up my alley. Plus it’s pretty quick and less messy.

I used these Americolor Gourmet Writing Pens that I often use on pops. They work really great on fondant, so I think you’ll have fun with them.

First, make marks for each color so you can get a sense of how thick the lines need to be so each color is equal.

Start with red on the outside and draw even lines with each color until you reach the center.

Pretty cute.

But even cuter in the clouds.

To make the frosting look puffy, use a decorating bag fitted with an Ateco 807 tip and pipe large random dots of frosting around the edge of the cupcake. Use a knife to smooth out the sides and push the frosting up slightly so it looks like the clouds are bursting out of the cupcake liner.

Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top so the frosting looks fluffier … plus it will create a barrier so you can gently shape the clouds. Pat down any peaks with your fingertip and use a toothpick to help define the clouds.

Fluffy and puffy.

So these are some smaller circles I also made sugar cookies with. I used the bottom of a sprinkles cap because I didn’t have the right size cutter and for the center, I used the top of the Ateco 807 decorating tip.

I originally thought these would be the cupcake rainbow toppers, but they were just too small, so I did something else with them.

See… too little. They’d be great on mini cupcakes though.

After seeing how cute the puffy clouds on the cupcakes looked, I wanted to use them on the cookies, too.

So, I colored in about 2/3 of the rainbow.

And added frosting to the rest using the same technique for the cupcakes.

Too cute.

To decorate, you’ll also need:

• 24 sugar cookies – You can use the recipe from this post. 1/2 of the dough will make about two dozen cookies and you can freeze the rest for another time. Note: You can also make and decorate the cookies ahead of time.
• 2 1/4 inch cutter and Wilton 1M icing tip or similar size round cutters
• Fondant
• Americolor Gourmet Writing Pens
• Ateco 807 or Wilton 1M Tip with decorator bag and coupler to pipe the frosting
• Toothpicks

And just so you can get a little more of a St. Patrick’s Day feel with these… look how just changing the background makes a difference. Sprinkle a few Rolos candies or gold wrapped chocolate coins on the tabletop and you’ll be set for the seventeenth.

Enjoy! I hope you brighten someone’s day with these.

P.S. What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day sweet? Mine is probably these simple and addictive little truffles. As a matter of fact, I may need to go make some right now.

Update: I found these awesome gold wrapped chocolate coins at the Fresh Market this weekend. They’d look great with these cupcakes.

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