If you don’t already know, I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend an event with Wilton.  It was three days of pure fun, not to mention a wonderful learning experience and I can’t thank them enough for inviting me.  I know you’ve seen those cakes, those creative masterpieces and what I learned while at Wilton is that turning a cake from plain to awesome is not as hard as you might think once you learn the techniques.  We had two great teachers (the best of the best of Wilton’s instructors) that made learning easy for us.

Because I have so many photos and things to share, I’ll probably break it all up into more than two posts.  For today, I’ll share making the Cupcake Cake below and a few of the steps.  If you’re wondering about the first steps, it’s to create an outline for you to fill in with other icing, you know, like coloring.

First off, if you look closely, you’ll see that she’s smoothing the icing with a piece of parchment paper.  Very neat trick for all you who have asked how to get it so smooth. Unless you are using fondant, then this is a great way to do it!

Now you take another piece of parchment paper an any template you have.  Outline the template with some piping gel.

Flip that over onto the cake and smooth down lightly with a paintbrush; then lift carefully.

Now you’re ready to fill in the gaps.  With a bigger tip, we created a both the top and bottom.  Super easy to do and very cute!

Top with some sprinkles and viola! You have a cupcake cake!

I added a fun yellow border with pretty much the easiest thing ever to do, the little stars.  You can do a whole cake like that in fact so don’t sweat if you can’t learn the harder stuff.  Just do stars (I say stars but not sure the correct terminology..hmmm) and you’ll still be the talk of the town;)

All the techniques taught for this are very basic and super easy to do. You can take these classes at your local participating stores. Check out the Wilton site to find out where and when. You won’t disappointed!  There’s so much more to share with you but this should get you started!  And if you a subscriber to my monthly newsletter, then you got to see another little cupcake that I won’t be showing here! 

Have any of you taken a Wilton class or do any cake decorating?  If you have or do, share your link or send the photo to wilton@mywoodenspoon.com and I’ll showcase some here!

When Wilton asked me to do a review, I had no idea all the wonderful goodies they would be sending would be so fabulous and make little man go CRAZY!!

As a long time user of Wilton, I honestly knew this review would be biased because well, I have always loved them.   My son’s 4th birthday was so special because of his cowboy cake, made in a Wilton pan. He talked about that cake forever and still remembers it. He’s 16 now.

Wilton, in my opinion, represents outstanding quality that is built to last for years and years; products that can be passed down for generations.

In the package they sent me, there were gels, sprinkles, cupcake wrappers and toppers, the fabulous new UltraGold round cake pans, muffin pan and more.  I was so excited because I was going to make such a pretty cake using it all!  Well, that didn’t quite happen.  As you will see, little man (my 3yr old) decided that he wanted to do it all!  I haven’t seen him that excited since he got his first saddle.

We used cakes mixes and icing that I had lying around the kitchen so I immediately was able to get started. I began with making the batter for the UltraGold Round Cake Pans first, then the batter for the cupcakes.

And then I baked and baked some more.  While waiting for everything to cool off, little man about drove me crazy asking,”are they done, I want to help you”. It was annoying but yet so adorable to see how excited he was.  Finally everything was out of the oven and cooled.

My cakes came out perfect, cooked evenly and I had no problems at all getting them out of the pans.  Same for the cupcakes.  I decided to ice the cake and cupcakes because  I know little man wanted to do ALL the decorating. I’d be darn lucky to get in anything of my own.  Wilton sent us several different kinds of cupcake sprinkles, sparkle gels, wrappers, and toppers!

Little man had a hard time deciding which ones he wanted to use so of course, he used everything.  He just piled it on here and there, licking his fingers inbetween applications.  It was a sight to see now and one that I’ll never forget.

Overall, the Wilton line is excellent. From the sprinkles to the UltraGold cake pans, it was all perfect, as I expected it would be.  Wilton should be a part of everyone’s lives, directly or indirectly.  Tyler loved that cake at the young age of 4, not because it was Wilton, but because it was his favorite thing, a cowboy and Wilton made that possible.

I know this post has a lot of photos but I took even more and have compiled them in a whrrl slideshow.  Enjoy and I’d love to hear your Wilton story if you have one and if you don’t, get one!

These Kupcake Konz have to be one of the most nifty ideas ever! I can’t even count how many times I could have used this over the years especially when my little ones were in school!

Basically you get these pans that have holes in them. They come in a couple of sizes, regular and mini. Now when my husband first saw the mine one, the first thing he thought of was jalapeno poppers! I had to explain that while that would work great, it was for something even cooler. You know the ice cream cones you buy right? You simply place a cone the hole where it sits securely. You make your batter and pour into the handy squeeze bottle that comes with the set and fill your cones with cake batter! You can also use brownie batter which sounds heavenly!

What a great idea for toddlers and young kiddos! It can be so hard for a small child to eat a regular cupcake, trying to peel off the paper and then it breaking apart and falling everywhere. These Kupcake Konz are just the perfect size and the mini ones are awesome for small hands!!

Great for parties, great for school functions, great for fundraisers and great to eat!

These are the mini cones and it holds 24.

This is the cake batter which does well over 50 mini cones! This squeeze bottle is an excellent idea and made it so easy to fill the cones.

Squeeeeeeeeze into the cones.

Kupcake Konz all filled with cake batter…..Mmmmmm Don’t overfill!!!

All baked and ready to ice!

TADA!

Oh my gosh, now tell me that ain’t cute!! You know that is the most adorable cupcake ever!!

Kupcake Konz did send me the kit to try out and I freakin’ LOVE it! If you want to win a kit, head on over to my giveaway page and enter!

Since this involves “cupcakes”, I felt it was appropriate to post it here!  Sending virtual cupcakes are part of Electrolux’s way to get you involved in helping to fight ovarian cancer! 

Kelly Ripa teamed up with  Electrolux, who will donate $1 for every virtual cupcake you send during this virtual bakeoff and all the money goes to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, a really worthy cause.  It only takes a minute to send one and so many will benefit from it so I encourage you to do your part.  Besides, it will make the person’s day that you send it to!

It’s real easy to make a cupcake too people!  The steps include:

• 1) Choose your flavor! I chose lemon.
• 2) Choose your baking cups.  I chose the green polka dots.
• 3) Choose frosting and color.  I chose buttercream and green.
• 4) Choose topping.  I chose sprinkles.  Lots of fun stuff here!
• 5) You can add a candle, or not. I chose not to.
• 6) Personalize.  
• 7) review and send!

And here’s what mine looks like!

It’s really fun and it’s all for a great cause so please go send a virtual cupcake!  I was asked to review and blog this on behalf of Mom Central but I would have done it no matter what! 

This is a republished post from Maternal Spark.  She is a super nice gal and these easy to make butterfly cupcakes are soooo so cute!  With the school season is session, this would be a fun treat to bring to your child’s class and how fun would it be to show them off in front of other parents!  HA!!  Thanks so much for letting me republish your original post!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• * Cupcakes
• * Semi-Sweet Chocolates
• * Wax Paper
• * Coffee Cup
• * Ziploc Baggie  or something similar like a pastry bag
• * Cookie Sheet
• *Icing in colors of your choice & anything extra for decoration 

Make a batch of cupcakes. Whatever kind you like will work, these just happen to be carrot cake. While they are cooling, break up a box of semi sweet bakers chocolate. Melt it in a double boiler. (put water in a big pot and heat on low, float a little pot full of chocolate in the water. This heats it but it isn’t on direct heat.) Don’t be afraid of this step and don’t attempt to melt the chocolate in the microwave – it burns easy in the microwave and if you burn it you’re out of luck and will have to start from new!

While the chocolate is melting, get some stuff prepared. Line a cookie sheet with plastic wrap – stretch it out as flat as you can but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Then, set a Ziploc Bag  into a coffee cup.  Example below:

Once your chocolate has melted, stir it really well and pour it into the ziploc bag. You now have a simple piping device. If you’re the kind who has a real Pastry Bag then of course, use it. I’m not that kind. Snip one corner off the bag so the chocolate can be squeezed through. You don’t want a big hole though, just a small one so you have some control over where you place the chocolate.

Position your piping bag over the prepared Cookie Sheet and draw a shape like this. This is what makes the butterfly wings. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect but it is important to connect at points 1 and 2 for structure and the solid bit under point 3 should be a bit thick for strength. You don’t want your wing to crack when you shove it into the icing.

Once you’ve piped out enough pairs of wings to do your whole batch of cupcakes, put them into the freezer to set. While they are setting, your cupcakes should be cool enough to ice. I used white icing and purple (the kind that comes in the tube) for the butterfly body. Use your creativity here. You can get all funky with sprinkles or use licorice for antenna etc. I went for a simple look here.

By the time you’ve iced all your cupcakes, the wings will have set. Pull them out of the freezer and stick them into the icing. Ta Da! Butterfly cupcakes! Do note that it was really hot in out house and the wings wilted a little. If it’s hot weather, serve them right away once the wings go on or put them into the fridge until it’s time to serve.

Here is the finished product!  Cute as a bug ain’t they:)

There must be a million cookbooks out there but in this gift guide, you’ll find some you recognize and some you won’t.  I encourage you browse them and find one that’s perfect for your recipient.

I am only including images for the cookbook section.  The reason is, if the cover can’t spark your interest, chances are the recipes won’t either;)

Back to the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide Table of Contents

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Texas Hometown Cookbook

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Sirens Feast Edible Odyssey

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Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry

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Georgia Hometown Cookbook

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Carmine’s Family Style Cookbook

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A South Florida Culinary Adventure

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Casserole Crazy

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The Little Black Apron

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The Tea Drinker’s Handbook

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500 Fast 5-ingredient Recipes

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Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make

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Alton Brown’s Gear for Your Kitchen

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The Best of Bloodroot Volume 1: Vegetarian Recipes

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Quick & Healthy Recipes and Ideas

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O, The Oprah Magazine Cookbook

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Cookbook Maker

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The Cast Iron Way To Cook

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Back to the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide Table of Contents