My son is crazy about the Wings of Fire book series AND Nutella. He loves dragons so I did my best to make him a dragon on a castle cake!
I made a chocolate cake mix and added a cup of Nutella, I also mixed Nutella into the frosting.
I just used chocolate bars and Nutella Oreo’s to make the castle with chocolate frosting. Then I made the dragon from my marshmallow fondant recipe.
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
He is such a sweet, empathetic, brilliant, loving boy!
She wanted a Cookies -n- Cream cake for her 8th birthday!
Cake Recipe:
2 boxes of some sort of chocolate cake mix
2 boxes of 3.75 oz. vanilla pudding
6 eggs
1 c. oil
1 c. milk
Mix all the ingredients and bake in 4 round cake pans according to the directions on the cake box.
Filling Recipe:
1 sticks butter
1/4 cup heaving whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 jar marshmallow cream
3 c. powdered sugar
1 c. crushed Oreo’s
Whip butter and cream together then add in the other ingredients. Put between the cake layers.
Buttercream Recipe:
1 c. butter
1 c. shortening
2 tsp vanilla
8 c. powder sugar
milk
Whip the butter and shortening together then add the vanilla and powder sugar. Add a little milk if the buttercream is too thick. Frost the sides and the top of the cake.
Chocolate Ganosh Recipe:
1 Tbs. butter
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
Warm the whipping cream in the microwave for 2 minutes and then dump in the butter and chocolate chips. Keep stirring until melted and runny. Place in the refrigerator for about half an hour so it thickens up. Drizzle it around the top of the cake so it drips part way down the sides.
Cake Toppings:
Hershey’s Cookies -n- Cream Bars
Oreo’s
Mini Oreo’s
Decorate the top and sides of the cake to look beautiful!
Fruit Dip:
1 package of cream cheese
1 jar of marshmallow cream
Mix the ingredients and whip together. Then add the fruit to dip!
She wanted a Shopkins cake so I decided to make Wishes. Then I made some of the cupcakes as well! She was turning 7 so I decided to put 7 candles on top rather than the five that comes on Wishes.
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
I used fondant to make her name to look like the Shopkins logo.
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
For the cupcakes I printed out the cupcake liners that I found from My Cupcake Addictions.
Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
I made a Monster birthday cake for my friends 1 year old. I also made some cupcakes to match. I bake two box cakes and then decorated with my homemade buttercream icing recipe. I decorated the monsters with M&M’s, Candy Eyes, Candy Corn, and other small candies.
Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
My friend LOVES Captain America, so we surprised her with a cake for her birthday! I bake a box cake and then decorated it with the star tip using my homemade buttercream icing recipe.
Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
My little Titus is now 5. He loves math, superheros, and Legos. We took the boys to see the new Avengers movie and now it’s a favorite around the house. We had fun planning this Avenger’s party and coming up with all the fun games. We found this awesome Avengers balloon at our local party store and it floated in our house for over 3 months.
I made his name by cutting up and Avengers comic book and using modge podge to stick it to wooden letters.
I made tissue paper pom-poms to look like comic book “POW” bursts and hung them around the house.
I made a photo booth with a black table cloth hanging in the back ground and put some more comic book “POW” bursts on it. I covered boxes with black paper and cut out yellow rectangles as windows for the buildings in the foreground of the photo booth. I had wire rack set up with the boys superheros dress-ups for the kids to use in their pictures.
I made the cake in the shape of a five this year. I covered it with my buttercream and then used fondant to create all the special pieces on top.
Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
I had fun making different special foods too.
I thought this was a fun idea for the soda because I was raised up north where we grew up calling it “pop”. Every time I visit my dad and he calls it “pop” it sounds funny to me because I never hear that any more.
Present Time!!!
I try to teach my boys to say “Thank You” and give a hug after each gift that they open.
Josiah gave Titus the Hulk Smash gloves and mask that he’s been asking for.
Gifts sent in the mail from Grandpa Davis…
Game Time!!!
I set up the games so there were 3 Avengers on each table.
Hulk Smash-
We used the Hulk gloves to smash the buildings that I made out of boxes.
Iron Man Repulsor Blasts –
I used a funnel to fill balloons with flour and then cut circles in another balloon to put around the flour balloon ball.
Thor’s Hammer Throw –
I made a hammer with a foam rectangle covered in duct tape and stuck a wooden dowel rod in it. I glue it all together and put a brown ribbon and shoelace on the handle.
Captain America’s Shield –
I found red plastic plates for the kids to decorate and make a frisbee shield.
Hawkeye Shoot –
I used the boys bows and hung some balloons for them to shoot the bows at.
Black Widow Shoot –
I spray painted some dollar store squirt guns black and let them shoot them at the hanging balloons. It was a hot day so these ended up being a favorite… the kids squirted eachother all day.
T is already 3 and totally into firemen and firetrucks. He will constantly begin his stories with, “When I was on my firetruck…” So he got a fireman birthday party this year. I called the local fire department and got a tour of the fire house and firetrucks. We met at the fire house for the start of the party and then headed over to our house for dinner, games, and dessert.
One of his favorite things about firemen is that they work with hoses so he was excited to hold the fire hose.
Another one of his favorite things about firemen is that they get to climb up ladders so he was excited to climb on the ladder to the firetruck too.
I gave the kids water balloons to throw through a flaming ring (hola hoop covered with shredded plastic table cloth).
The also got to extinguish foam flames with a squirt gun fire extinguisher.
And he had fun climbing the ladder to rescue the cat.
I found a fire hydrant sprinkler for the kids to play in too.
I set out firetruck to play with.
We roasted hot dogs and hand watermelon and corn on the cob too. (I liked that the watermelon and corn matched the color theme I had going on.)
T got a new firetruck for a gift.
I made flaming cupcakes. I made yellow cake batter with red swirls in it, then I frosted it with orange flames. We also had a smores bar with 3 different kinds of chocolate, grahams, and marshmallows.
And of course I had fire hoses (licorice) for T.
And fireman ladders to eat. I melted chocolate and dipped pretzel rods in it and then pretzel sticks for the rungs of the ladder.
My sister-in-law, Cloninger Photography, did an awesome job with his photos again this year.
T is very excited about trains now days, so he got a Thomas the Tank Engine party. I had a lot of fun preparing for this party. It ended up being a lot of work, but turned out super cute! I found blue, green, yellow and red balloons that said “Happy 2nd Birthday”. I set up the party outside which wasn’t super smart since we are having a record high summer (over 100 degrees many days already.)
I made little engines for the kids to wear and drive around a track. The track is just card board strips taped together with black electrical tape. The signs are made on card board taped to a yard stick and stuck in a milk jug with rocks in the bottom for the weight. There is a balloon archway to the left of this photo that they could drive their trains under. I made Thomas, Percy, and James from card board boxes. I used a juice jug for the front round part of the engines, the top part of an egg carton for the front bumper area, and a paper towel tube for the smoke stack. I used spray paint to color them and colored electrical tape for the stripes, numbers and other decor. I printed off faces for the front of the engines and used small black paper plates for the tires. I placed white balloons coming out of the smoke stack too. They kids had fun with them.
For his cake I made the face the day before from gray colored marshmallow fondant. I got out one of his tiny trains and tried my best to pinch and poke the fondant until it looked just right. Then I baked two 9×11 cakes and cut them into the pieces that I needed to build a train. I held them together with butter cream frosting. Then I covered the cake with more butter cream frosting before I rolled out my blue fondant and covered the cake. I just looked at the toy train and added the right colors where they needed to be. I used pull-n-peel licorice for the red striping and Oreo’s for the smoke stack and wheels. I used butter cream for the wheels too. I know Thomas is the #1 train but T is turning two so I made Thomas the #2 train this time. He loved his cake! I did too!
Marshmallow Fondant Recepie
Ingredients:
16 oz. Mini Marshmallows
3 TBSP water
2 lbs Powdered Sugar (4 cups)
Crisco
Directions:
Grease a large glass bowl with Crisco.
Pour in the marshmallows and water; then microwave at 30- second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Reserve about 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar. Place the red of the powdered sugar in a large bowl of a standing mixer.
Grease the paddle attachment with Crisco and pour in the melted marshmallows on top of the powdered sugar.
Beat until a dough form; there will be a lot of loose bits and sugar in the bottom of the bowl.
Grease a clean work surface with Crisco and dump out the fondant and all the loose bits. Grease your hands liberally with Crisco and knead the mixture together, just like kneading bread, for about 5 minutes until smooth.
Grease hands again as needed. As the fondant becomes smoother, use the reserved powdered sugar to coat the surface to keep it from sticking.
Once smooth, you can divide and color the fondant. While working with one piece, cover the remaining fondant with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
When you have your colors finished coat the fondant in a light layer or Crisco; wrap in plastic wrap and place in a large baggie for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Store at room temperature for several months. To us it, dust the surface and rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out to 1/8 of an inch.
I used my Cricut and made a train banner that ran along the front of the food table. Each train car had a letter that said “Happy Birthday T”.
I set out the dinner and dessert food to look like they were being carried by a train. I made train tracks with electrical tape on a green table cloth for the rail road. I set the cake engine as the front of the dessert foods, and I put the dessert foods in bread loaf pans. I had animal crackers, berries, shortcake, and cool whip. I made a watermelon engine for the front of the dinner foods. I had baked beans, chips, mac-n-cheese, and fruit salad the food in bread loaf pans again. We grilled burgers and hot dogs.
His Aunt, Cloninger Photography, took his birthday pictures and they turned out super cute!
J is now 6 years old and getting into superheros and technology. He chose to have a Transformers cake this year. I made a 9×11 sheet cake and frosted it with gray street colored frosting. I added smaller squares of cake for the buildings and made windows by cutting mini marshmallows in half. I added green shrubs around the buildings with frosting too. I made a stop sign with lollipops and wrote “six” on them instead of “stop”. I placed a few of his mini Transformer toys on the graham cracker road and on the buildings. Here the “6” candle is backwards… I didn’t notice until I got the pictures back, but otherwise he loved it.
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (if thick)
Directions:
Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.
He got the Dino Transformers and a set of Schleich dinos for his gifts and was so happy!
We had a bug themed party for T’s first birthday! I made bug balloons by filling latex balloons with helium and using rubber cement to hold them together. For the Bee Balloon I used 2 yellow balloons and wrapped some black electrical tape around for the bee’s stripes. Then I used tissue paper for the wings, black pipe cleaner for the antenna, and googly eyes for eyes. I added a mouth with black sharpie. For the Ladybug Balloon I found some red balloons with black spots. I glued a small black balloon for the head, used googly eyes for the eyes, and black pipe cleaner for the antenna again. For the Caterpillar Balloon glued together 4 green balloons and used green pipe cleaner for the legs and antenna. I used a sharpie for the mouth and added googly eyes to the caterpillar as well. I set them up outside and it was a bit too windy for the balloons, most of them ended up popping before the end of the party!
We grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch. We also had ants on a lot and ladybug watermelon balls (I just put mini chocolate chips in the watermelon balls.) I taped black construction paper ants to my red and white checkered table cloth.
I filled red, green, and yellow water balloons for the kids to play with.
I got kind of carried away with the desserts and ended up making 3 sweets. We had gummy worms in chocolate pudding with crushed Oreo’s on top. We had a beehive cake with cream cheese frosting and bees made out of chocolate covered almonds and mini marshmallow wings. And we had caterpillar cupcakes with candy faces.
I had my sister-in-law, Cloninger Photography, take T’s 1 year old photos and they turned out great!
