Free Firetruck Cupcake Wrappers

Boy parties are fun, so I am coming up with some cupcake wrappers for boy parties!  Most of the wrappers I have done so far are girly, so here are some for those cute little boyz in your life!

 

If you need to know how to print these, please go here.

 

 Enjoy!  Tami

 I just went to Amazon see if I could find some cute cupcake stands or something that would go with this wrapper.  I didn't find one that I liked for this theme, but I did find the cutest carousel one below.  OMG.  I love it.  I might need to come up with wrappers to match just for fun!

  Fire Engine Fun Dessert Plates 8ct
Fire Engine Toy (8) Party Supplies
Firetrucks Fun Edible Cupcake Toppers Decoration


This is it!  I might have to do carousel wrappers!
Carousel Cupcake Stand

2011 Annual Cookie Decorating Party & Marshmallow Fondant Tutorial

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you have probably seen photos from our cookie party we have each year.  This year was even better as we had sweet new faces as well as the girls who come each year!  I enjoy this party so much because it is just for me and my friends.  No kids allowed!  :-)  I love kids as much as the next person, but it is nice to be able to get together with MY friends and do something that I love to do!

Anyway, we had a great turn out and the cookies were adorable when we were all done. I have been collecting cookie decorations for years now and I have sooo many to share.  Sanding sugars, non-parielles, jimmies, cute little shapes as well as candy coated sunflower seeds, Sixlets, and icing eyeballs.  You really can't have too many!  I found these little tart cups at our local dollar store.  They were awesome for this purpose.  I love the scalloped edges!

 This year I added a few designs to my cookies.  I have seen some of the ideas online and some I made up myself as I go.  Hope you enjoy the ideas and if you want to copy them, feel free! 

One of the things I played with this year was marshmallow fondant as a background. It was so fun.... like playing with PlayDoh!  I cut the fondant with the cookie cutter I used so that it fit perfectly on the cookies.  I will include the fondant recipe below.  I made my fondant anise flavored because we all love it.  The cookie icing, however, is vanilla or lemon.  I think that will go over better with others who might not love anise like we do!  The bottom reindeer cookie with the 2011 on it is made with fondant as are the backgrounds of the blue Happy Holidays and the O'Holy Night cookies.

The blue tree with snow below was made with fondant as was the white quilted cookie with blue pearls and the ornament cookie. 

The square cookie with the white tree on the white background was also done in fondant.

Marshmallow Fondant and How to Use It on Cookies

This is the original recipe, but I've changed it up a bit and I've got a few notes to add.
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Rolled-Marshmallow-Fondant

Ingredients:

• 1 package (16 ounces) Fireside white mini marshmallows
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 pounds (about 8 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar  
• plus extra confectioners' sugar for rolling fondant
• Pinch of salt

Makes:

About 2 pounds marshmallow fondant.

Instructions:

Step 1

To make marshmallow fondant, place marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving 30 seconds more; stir again. Continue until melted (about 2 1/2 minutes).

Step 2

Using a mixer, mix sugar & salt into marshmallow mixture. Flavoring should be added at this point.  . Generously sprinkle extra powdered sugar onto counter. Turn marshmallow mixture onto counter.  Separate into pieces per the color you need. Add your coloring here. This allows the coloring to flow easily through the fondant.  Dampen your hands with water.  Start kneading like you would dough. Continue kneading, adding additional confectioners' sugar to the counter so the fondant doesn't stick. If the marshmallow fondant is tearing easily, it is too dry; add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time) kneading until fondant forms a firm, smooth elastic ball that will stretch without tearing, about 8 minutes.

Step 3

It's best to allow Marshmallow Fondant to sit, double-wrapped, overnight. Prepare the fondant for storage by coating in confections' sugar and wrap in plastic wrap and then place in resealable bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marshmallow Fondant will keep well in refrigerator for several weeks.

Step 4

When not working with fondant, make sure to keep it covered with plastic wrap or in a bag to prevent it from drying out. When ready to use, knead fondant until smooth. Roll out fondant 1/8 in. thick.

Step 5

To color fondant: If you need to tint the entire batch of fondant, add a little icing color to the melted marshmallow mixture before adding confectioners' sugar. For smaller amounts of tinted fondant, add icing color to portions of fondant as needed.

My notes:
In case you are wondering.... this fondant does get hard (like a royal icing would) on the cookies, but it still tastes great and keeps the cookies somewhat soft.  If you flavor it with vanilla, it tastes a lot like candy corn, which to me is too sweet.  I put anise flavoring in it this time and will try lemon next time.  I also added a dash of salt to the recipe.  This cut some of the sweetness.

I have made this using the medium-sized marshmallows too.

I usually separate the larger mass into smaller balls before I start kneading in the color and the extra powdered sugar. If you make it the day before you need it, it really makes the color nicer. Always put LOTS of powdered sugar down when you are rolling the fondant out. It will keep it from sticking. Put powdered sugar on the top of the fondant before you roll it with your rolling pin too. Be generous with the powdered sugar, you can't use too much. Pretend you are playing with Play-doh and have fun with it! 

The original recipe had you put shortening on the counter and your hands, but I found that this just made a big mess to clean up and really was unneccesary.  I just wet my hands often and added more powdered sugar. 

In order to use it on cookies, roll the fondant to about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut the shape you used for your cookie with the same cookie cutter. You can also use a smaller shape than the one you used so that you will have cookie edges.  I did this with the square Christmas tree cookie in the picture just above.  I cut the square cookie with a larger cutter. Then I used a smaller square cookie cutter for the background.  I then used a tree cookie cutter to cut the tree out for on top.  In order for the fondant to stick to your cookie and to itself, use a little of your icing.  You can then add icing on top to decorate, or you can use dabs of icing to hold your little decorations on.  Enjoy and have fun!

Kid's Hot Cocoa Birthday Party

My son's 9th birthday happens to fall right before Christmas, so this year we moved his party ahead and celebrated early.  Why didn't I do this before?  It gave me a lot of time to prepare and we had a blast getting ready instead of putting this on top of present wrapping and Christmas parties & dinners.

I decorate mostly in red, white and light blue for Christmas, so I decided to go with those colors for his party too.  I am sure the pictures speak for themselves.  Everyone had a good time and the cocoas (especially the Nutella cocoa) were yummy!

I found a lot of these ideas on the internet by searching for hot cocoa party!

These cups are made using those GIANT marshmallows!

The table is wrapped with wrapping paper.

Did I mention that my son has a large personality?

The cake is a Mario Power-UP mushroom.  I just baked a cake in a large metal mixing bowl, put it on top of a cake stand, covered it with chocolate icing, rolled fondant and painted eyes on the bottom of the cake stand with chocolate.

Happy birthday, to my little one!

Boy Party Ideas - For the Gamer Kids

Boy party ideas are getting harder and harder to come by.  My son is getting older and the boy themes are really too immature for him and his friends, so this year I created a BOY themed party.  Okay, so it wasn't a theme at all.  It was just a party in which I used all kinds of BOY favorites. 

My son wanted a 3DS for his birthday, so I made him 3D 3DS cookies.  As you can see, they are 3D!  They were by no means perfect, but the boys loved them and the disco dust on the screen added a bit of pop to these gamer cookies.  If you would like recipes for the sugar cookies or for the icing, check out this post!  For other cookie decorating ideas, look here.  If you don't feel like making cookies, I realized after they were made that I had cut them about the same size as a graham cracker, so you could actually use two graham crackers for this cookie project! 

I also made some monster pops out of marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and decorated with candy and marshmallows. Boys like monsters, right?  Even 11 year old boys. I found a ring of floral form at the dollar store and wrapped it in crepe paper so I could display the pops.

Next were the Ninjabread Men.  I love these cookie cutters and so do my boys.  I have mentioned before that my boys love ninjas.  They have to be included!

Another gamer favorite it Pokemon and so I made some Pokeball cookies to go in the treat bags.  Simple and fun!  I used red chocolate for the red part and white icing for the white.  They really did turn out well and have two different flavors, so they are a bit like a black-and-white cookie.  I also found these cute little test tubes filled with flavored sugar.  I'm sure the moms appreciated me.  Can you say hyper?!?  I did have each child put pizza toppings on his own grilled pizza and they ate lunch first.  I promise!

I also filled apothocary jars with my son's favorite candies just for some fun color on the "candy bar"...

I asked my son what kind of cake he wanted and he said he wanted "my" chocolate cake with chocolate icing and if I could add some raspberry to that, it would be great, so I made a white chocolate, raspberry ganache for the filling.  Fudgy cake and icing with raspberries.  He loved it.  For the recipe, look on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box!  A great recipe I have been making for years and years.  For the icing on this cake, I used the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa. 

You don't need to print it out, but here is the recipe.  It has been on the box forever and for good reason!

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/184/HERSHEY'S

and here is the delicious icing also from the Hershey's site...

"ESPECIALLY DARK" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter, Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

For the ganache, I used a recipe I found on http://www.cakecentral.com/ and modified it because I had already gotten some frozen raspberries in sugar liquid.

White Chocolate Strawberry ganache

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips
• 6 oz. heavy whipping cream, scalded
• 1 Tbs. of softened butter
• 2 oz. crushed, frozen rasperries in sugar liquid, thawed

Instructions

1. Pour white chips into medium-sized bowl and microwave for 1-3 minutes.  Check after each minute as each microwave varies. 

2.  Heat 8 oz. of heavy whipping cream to a simmer.

3.  Pour cream over melted chips.

4.  Add raspberries.  Stir until creamy.

5.  Place bowl into refrigerator until cooled and thickened (can be placed in freezer if you are in a hurry.)

6. Whip with mixer until thick and fluffy enough to spread between cake layers if necessary…..

You will love this cake if you haven't made it before.  It is a classic!