{Spilled Confetti Cake}

Ever noticed how sprinkles look like confetti?

No? Well, they totally do.

When trying to come up with an idea for a quick and simple New Year's Eve cake, I thought of this little fact. At first I was going to just add the 'confetti' to the top of the cake, to which I was adding a New Year's Eve Ball. In fact, I even made said ball. However, when looking through my cabinets for the perfect sprinkles, I found little champagne glasses that I'd used for another party. I had a different idea in mind with that at first too. I was just sprinkling the cake with confetti and adding more to the glass. Then I thought of what my floor looks like at 12:01 New Year's Day. Confetti EVERYWHERE. Spilled, flung, popped... So, I decided to tip the glass and let the confetti pour out. And that, my friends, is where we are.

This cake is super simple. Just bake up whatever you like, slather in buttercream, and add your confetti. I added mine to the glass, then slowly tipped as I put in on the cake. This resulted in a lot of confetti at the top and at the base of the cake. For the side, I pretty much just took handfuls and threw. It was fun ;)

I also added a bit of confetti between the layers, because fun.

For scale reference, my cake is 3- 6 inch layers. Your glass would fit with room to spare on an 8 or 9 inch cake. You could totally do this on a sheet cake too, and allow the confetti to sprinkle across the top. It's all fun!

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a beautiful, memorable, fantastic 2014.

Let's do this thing!

Tina

{Easy New Year's Eve Party}

As I mentioned Christmas was hard for me. I had SO much to do and so little time to do it in. I'm sorry to have left you all without any new recipes, but the fact that I made it through this season without a felony record is, in itself, a miracle.

However, I MADE it. And it was good! Christmas went off without a hitch (well, almost, dang USPS delivered one present a day late and I'm still waiting on the other). Christmas Eve was quiet and lovely. I saw an idea somewhere last year to do Christmas Eve in a box, so for the last two year's I've done that. Bean got the traditional new jammies, plus a Christmas movie, and movie snacks. After Christmas Eve service, we change into our jammies and watch the movie. This year's movie was Fred Claus. We've got a lot of Christmas movies already, so finding a new one does prove challenging. Christmas morning we awoke early and celebrated just the three of us. Then the grandparents came over for breakfast. We had sausage gravy and biscuits, breakfast fajitas (recipe soon), and liege waffles. Hours and hours of downtime followed which I LOVED. Again, just the three of us. We watched TV, and I prepped for our big Christmas dinner, which really didn't take long at all. The ham cooked while we hung out. I had made dessert the night before, so one less thing. The Bean insists on Texas Sheet Cake every Christmas. It's quick and easy enough for me. My family arrived and we all celebrated together after our meal. Lots of fun moments happened throughout the day. Then, after everyone was gone, Bean and I sat down to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special and bid Matt Smith, our beloved Eleven, goodbye.

It was a good day. I was finally relaxed and happy.

Now, New Year's Eve upon us and that will be an easy affair. I'm not going complicated this year for sure! Games, food, fun. The end.


Easy New Year's Eve Party

It all starts with our Christmas Tree. For a few years now, I've been doing a New Year's Tree.

It's fun and useful!

New Year's Eve Tree

Then some easy snackies:

Delicious Ham Sams. These are easily made ahead and wrapped in foil. Then just pop in the oven for a bit and you are good to go.

Ham Sams

Now for a little dip, this is the Bean's favorite:

The Big Cheesy

Some sweeties?

My niece requested this.

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
 

And finally,

Mock Champagne

This was a huge hit at last year's party and so, so, so easy!


As for games, we will be doing board games, and, of course, our favorite Visual Telephone which I explained in this post.

One more thing to add a little fun, how about some Photo Booth Props? They are easy to make!

Photo Booth Props

Guaranteed fun!

Have fun party planning, if you need more food ideas, check out my Party Food section.

Tina

{Christmas Look Back, Post 2}

I'm back with another look into past Christmases (or posts I think would be good for Christmas).

I mentioned in my last post that I was panicked. Well, I still am, but I'm slightly better. I've managed to get 75% of the shopping done. This week, however, holds shopping, baking, grocery shopping, an orthodontist appointment, and TWO parties. Yay?

Tis the Season, right?

I'm trying to remember to "Relax, Re-evaluate, and Remember the reason".

It's going, well... it's going. I won't even say it's going OK, but I'm trying here, folks!

That said, let me show you some posts I think you'll like this Christmas!

1.2.3. Cheeseball

One of the easiest and best cheeseballs ever. You can throw this together in about 2 minutes.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

 

These are a Christmas version of one of my most popular recipes on the blog, Chocolate Mint Cupcakes. The glaze is made with Andes Chocolate Mint candy.


Buckeye Bites

Buckeye Bites are the most popular recipe on my blog. They have been for over a year now. They are quick and easy to whip up and great for gift giving as well!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookies and although I could eat them at any time of the year, their cinnamony sweetness always reminds me of Christmas. These Snickerdoodle cupcakes, some of my favorites cuppies I've ever made, therefore make me think they belong in this post.


Honey Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub

A very easy scrub to make up as gifts. All the ingredients are probably already in your kitchen. Sugar Scrubs are very expensive, but this one sure isn't. Mix up, put into a jar, and add a gift tag. Done.

Red Velvet Bûche de Noël  

I'd always wanted to make a Yule Log, and last year was the year. This post shows how it's much easier than appears AND how you can screw things up and still make a gorgeous dessert.


Christmas Tree Starburst Effect Tutorial

Want gorgeous photos of your tree? In this post I tell how to achieve the 'starburst' or 'twinkle' effect. Get photos of your tree you will always treasure.

Christmas Pop

A quick and easy treat that is perfect for parties... or Santa.


Homemade Marshmallows & Gift Ideas

Homemade marshmallows are MUCH easier than you'd think, and really, quite a lot of fun. Follow this link for gift ideas with or without making your own marshies!

That's all for now, friends! Hopefully I will be back soon with more!


Tina

{Caramel Crunch Party Mix}

I'm panicking here, my friends.

PANICKING. There's 16 days til Christmas and I've got so, so much to do. I've got to finish up my shopping, of course, but I also do all the Christmas shopping for my almost 94 year old grandmother. I've got events for youth group, a party here at my house, an orthodontist appointment, holiday baking/candy making, cleaning, wrapping.... Well, you all know the drill. Normally I am way further in my shopping than I am. I started in August, so, you'd think I'd be further along, but no.

So, quick and easy is definitely my friend. This is a very easy snack, great for parties. I'll be adding this one to my holiday giving trays.

This is a play on Caramel Corn and Chex Mix. And, well, it's delicious!

This mix is based off of my Caramel Corn.

You can throw in extras if you like too, of course. Nuts, sprinkles, etc. Yum.

Here's the down low:

Make up some caramel, pour it over the cereal, bake for 45 mins, stirring every 15. Let cool, break apart clumps, add in pretzels and M&Ms. Done.

Delicious.


I hope to be back before Christmas, but if I'm not, you'll know why!

The panic got me!

Tina


Reindeer Crunch Party Mix
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

5 cups Rice Chex

2 cups Cheerios
1/2 cup M&Ms

1 cup chocolate covered pretzles

Preheat oven to 200 F

Pour the cereal into a large, greased baking pan.

Combine butter, brown sugar, salt, & corn syrup in a pan, and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil stirring constantly, boil 3 mins, then remove from heat. Add in the baking soda. Whisk well.

Pour caramel over cereal slowly, toss into all of it. Try to break up large clumps.

Bake for 45 mins, stirring after every 15 mins  (each time trying to break up any clumps).

Pour onto foil and allow to cool. Once cool, if any clumps remain, break. Pour into large bowl, toss in M&Ms and pretzels. Enjoy!

Store in airtight container.