Random Little Trick

Of course, I cannot just start any post off like a normal person. I have to add random little tidbits first. There are two things I am not...although I try. First, I am not a photographer. You can see my fingers in the shadow of the picture. I tried to turn off the flash and on the flash with no luck in improving the picture. Do you see my pink corian countertops in the background. I love the quality of my countertops in my kitchen. They are tough. I can cut on them, put hot stuff on them, and probably jump (I've stood on them but I have not jumped on them yet) on them without causing any harm. However, they are pink. My husband and mom try to say big random other neutral colors to sway my opinion, but they are ultimately pink. However, (hubby if you read this, which you probably won't) I think a brand new wonderful fancy smancy camer would probably even make my countertops look better...not to mention make up for my bad photography skills! (It would be a lot cheaper than new countertops. I'm waiting for those when you sell a kidney or win the lottery!) Okay... now on to the next detour...I am not a baker either. I like to pretend sometimes. I tend to find complicated pictures on the internet and get determined to imulate the same creation. Now, most of these people are professional bakers and have been trained, yet I am stubborn and go out asking random questions to random people and buying random things to try to copy their wonderful baking creations...especially for my kids' birthday parties. If people only knew that it usually takes much frustration, burnt cakes, and yelling in defeat before I finally finish the product. Just so you know, this is why I laugh if you have ever complimented me on my kids' birthday cakes! I'm thinking if you only knew! Here is one of my mama tricks that has completely saved me late at night when I had ran out of icing bags to ice a cake.

I think most people may know this little trick, but a friend of mine was totally in awe when I shared it with her so I though, "Hmm...maybe others do not know it either!" My mom taught me this a long time ago when I was in a frantic before a party about not having any icing bags. It's a quick fix and quite cheap!

This is my used icing bag after I iced the cupcakes. You just grab a ziploc (or small plastic storage bag of any kind). Place your icing tip (see, I am not a baker) at the corner and make a small hole until it just comes out of the edge of the bag. You can buy a set of four icing tips pretty cheap at most places. Then, spoon your icing in from the opening of the bag. Squeeze the bag evenly until it comes out the icing tip. Voila!

Yeah, you can just call me the Cake Boss... hee hee

Rainbow Cupcakes Revealed!

I had to make you wait just one more day...just to build my poor cupcakes up a little bit! The little icing "puffs" are suppose to be a cloud at the end of the rainbow! The recipe suggests icing or whip cream, but I was concerned about allergies at preschool so I went with icing.

TaDa! Rainbow Cupcakes with the goodies that the St.Patty's Day leprechaun left this morning for my girlies at breakfast!

They look pretty, but I have to be honest...they don't taste any different than regular cupcakes and a lot more work was involved. My kids were super excited when they bit in the cupcake and saw the rainbow. That made it totally worth it!

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!

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St. Patty's Day Fun

Don't forget March Giveaway is going on now. Click here to enter. It's easy & quick! Plus, I get giddy when I have comments...even if it is bribery!:)

LaLa's teacher requested these "Taste of The Rainbow" cupcakes on Family Fun's site. Now, I am not a baker by any means! My first thought when she said "rainbow cupcakes" was I would just march my happy self to Publix and get a nice baker lady to make some cupcakes with rainbows on it. She might even throw in some rainbow sprinkles. So, I went home and looked up the cupcakes to find a surprise. The batter of the cupcake was the rainbow. Hmm...how would I do that?

I read on to find out that multiple bowls would be involved and mixing of colors and careful layering of batter in little bitty cupcake liners would be involved. On top of this today we had ballet, I flooded my kitchen (forgot to turn off the water...can you say this mama needs a nap?), my Little Bit opened the fridge (so not normal for a 19 month old & is going to start a whole new mess of chaos) and dropped a bottle of syrup which cracked and exploded everywhere. The syrup explosion happened while I was leaving a message for one of LaLa's preschool parents. Yeah, they might think we are off our rocker over here in this house after that message. I have mopped and mopped and mopped and mopped. It's still sticky?!

This chaos seems to be our normal though so we just try to roll with the punches! Determined me (maybe stubborn would be a better word) still went against all odds of this crazy day to make rainbow cupcakes. Uh-oh...only two eggs! I needed one more. Off to Kroger we all go! Okay, so now we're home and I begin again. All my bowls...all my mixing of colors (This would be a great activity to do with a kid to teach color combinations! Not this mama though. I definitely did not have enough patience for the project much less to encourage a little helper on this day!) and I began! I think my oven preheated for over an hour while I meticulously dropped precise numbers of food coloring to make the six colors. For a normal person...in a normal house...with no interruptions, this would not be too difficult. It's a lot of extra work, but they end up looking super cute and unique. I am cautious about giving LaLa a lot of dye though...and these cupcakes definitely have dye in them! On a side note, you also have to use different spoons for each bowl. Yeah, they mess up your colors. It looks pretty with all the bowls...except when they were in the sink to be cleaned!

Then, you take each color (which by the way is the actual order of the rainbow) and layer the cupcake liners. Make sure to spread the batter of each color to the edge. Now, I have been known to be a perfectionist. This drove me crazy a bit. I think a few cupcakes might be missing a few colors because I would run out of batter of a one color by the time I got to the end.

Next, you cook just like the box says for cupcakes. You let them cool, remove the liners to see your amazing rainbows, and ice the top to look like a small cloud (according to the directions found here.) I have to say that their icing cloud was better than mine. However, despite the excess of dishes...despite the distractions...despite the frustration...despite reading the directions over and over...

I am quite proud of the results! I patted myself on the back and went to blog about them!

 I hope LaLa' preschool class enjoys them...

and my family since I stashed the extra to save for tomorrow's dessert and ate two while cleaning up...

and ultimately, I think they will make some proof of how wonderful mommy is fun memories of St. Patty's Day!

Check back tomorrow for the final result of my baking ordeal masterpiece!