{Doctor Who Birthday Cake}

The Bean is about to turn 16. Incredible, unbelievable, totally annoying, but true.

My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Every year, as I mentioned in this post, since the family is already here (his birthday is April 9th), we have his birthday get together on Easter Sunday. He has a huge blowout each year in May, when it's warmer, with masses of teens, but the family party is on Easter.

He has declared Doctor Who is favorite show, so, it seemed only natural to make him a Doctor Who cake. I'd considered Harry Potter  & a general "geek" cake (with elements from lots of geek shows/movies), but I went with my first thought of the Doctor.

I've only been using fondant since Christmas when I made my Buche De Noel, so I'm still quite a noob at it.

You can see my tutorial for easy ducks & frogs  here. Do you want to see it after I just called myself a noob? I dunno, but they are SUPER easy, and totally cute!! SO, yes, I think you do.

I set to work determined to make this cake though, and this is the result.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

wibbly wobbly TARDIS. Or, as my friend Lynette so kindly put it, 'artistic and stylized', with a tiny fez.

Fezzes are cool. 

Know what else is cool? Yeah, bow ties.

The TARDIS is fondant wrapped around a Rice Krispie Treat base, the rest of the elements are full fondant. I made the shapes for the door (and yeah, I never got around to the windows, oops) with a piece of thin cardboard folded into a square).  For the dalek, I used tooth picks for his eye and arms with fondant accents and a food writer. The 16 is just rolled fondant, the stars are simply cut with a cookie cutter. The bow tie is rolled, cut, and folded fondant.  Everything is washed with a Luster Dust to give it a sheen.

The cake itself is two 8" layers topped with two 6" layers.

So, there you have it. The Bean's 16th birthday cake. No, the one in May will NOT be this complicated. Actually, it's just going to be cupcakes. Easy and peasy.

I'm not gonna lie, it was super sad to see this chopped up! However, his Facebook comment made it worth the effort.

Thank goodness.

Tina

Doctor Who Cake Supplies

2- 8" cake layers

2- 6" cake layers

Rice Krispie Treats

Gel Food Coloring

Buttercream Icing*

Small Star Cookie Cutter

Skewers**

Marshmallow Fondant

*I used almost 2 recipes

** insert into the cake for sturdiness (I used about 8 cut to fit)

and 2 for the stars.

{Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies}

It's time I came clean about something. I'm a Disney addict.

See, the fact is, I've always loved Disney movies, who doesn't? However, I was never "into" Disney. The collectables, the jewelry, the clothes.

Things change, man, things change.

As I mentioned in this post, the Magic Kingdom is the place I never knew I wanted to visit.

In September, at 39, I made my first trip there. Ever since then, I've become infected. My brain has been addled. My mind is not right. Disney. Disney. Disney.

Send help? No. Wait. I don't want no stinkin' help!

I LOVE DISNEY. I'm not the least bit ashamed.

Here we are at the Magic Kingdom. So excited, we could barely breathe!

What you see there, is my first pair of mouse ears. I now own 9 pair. I can't help it, it's the Year of the Ear. What's a girl to do!?? Now, 6 pair are mini ears. Not Minnie Ears. Mini, as in tiny.

Cause yes.

I have pics of me wearing my other ears, but I won't bore you here, you can see them on instagram. haha.

Anyway. I've been missing Disney so much, and we won't be back there for over a year. I just felt like I needed to bring a little Disney into Easter. And I decided to drag Darla along too. Really, it didn't take much convincing (read, no convincing), because she, too, is a Disnerd.

Trolling the internets looking for Disney goodness, I came upon Mickey Easter Egg cookies that they sell at the parks in the spring and decided to put my own spin on them. You can see the originals here, on A Cup of Disney (scroll down a little).

I used an egg shaped cutter & a shot glass sized glass to cut out the cookies. Then I just squished the ears to the egg a little (they'll bake into each other), and baked.

I covered these in fondant. Thought fondant is not my favorite thing to eat, it does make for a great presentation. The Marshmallow Fondant that I used is pretty good actually. I'm still more of a buttercream girl though!

I cut the fondant to fit, added a little icing (make some buttercream or a little canned frosting will work) to 'glue' the fondant on. I added dots and tiny Mickeys to one (dab on a little water to the back of the accents and the fondant will stick to itself), a larger Mickey to one, and stripes with a Mickey to another. There are lots of ideas for decorating these guys though. Go wild!

I painted on a bit of luster dust to give a little shimmer.

The cookies are rolled to a 1/2" and baked about 8 minutes, so they are still soft and chewy,

and amazing.

I can't keep the Bean's hands off of them.

How cute would these be packaged up in Easter baskets? Sure to delight little ones, and big nerdy ones like me!

Even if you don't go the fondant route and top with a sweet, tasty buttercream instead, they would be totally adorable.

Clearly Easter. Clearly Mickey.

Now, you have to see what Darla made! She's starting with the exact same dough, so you could make both cookie types from the same batch!

Mickey Mouse Easter Basket Cookies

It's gonna be a Disney Easter up in here!

Tina, Disnerd Extraordinaire

*

Mickey Mouse Easter Egg Cookies

1 recipe Rolled Sugar Cookies

1 recipe Marshmallow Fondant

OR

1 Recipe Buttercream Icing

Food Coloring

Luster Dust for Fondant (optional)

Sprinkles for Buttercream (optional)

{Fondant Ducks & Frogs}

Today was my friend Stephanie's baby shower. Steph and I met because she taught at the Bean's elementary school. She was a 6th grade teacher, but we found out long before he made it to her class that we were destined to be friends. Once he made it to her class, she had to keep reminding the other students that he didn't get any special treatment because we were friends. Haha.

Over the last several years, I've watched a lot of things happen in Steph's life. Dating. Bad dates, ok dates, and finally, finally The One. Her engagement. Her bridal shower. Her wedding (which I have claimed to be the only wedding I'll ever be the photographer at. My nieces probably have an opinion on that matter though!). In the last 2 years, since they've been married, I've seen her sadness as another month passed and no baby. Last June we decided to book a trip to Disney World & The Wizarding World of Harry Potter together. Plans were finalized in July, and can you guess what happened next? YES! Baby. As you can tell by this post & this post, we still made it to Florida. Steph just couldn't ride all of the rides. We still had an awesome time!

So, now we are in the final countdown. Baby Zeke will be here in a month and there are just so many people awaiting his arrival! 

Today, as I said, was the shower. I asked to make the cupcakes for the event. I knew right away I wanted to make Blue Velvet cupcakes! The recipe is by my friend Heather of Sprinkle Bakes. 

My personal favorite cupcake is the French Toast cuppies by my friend Darla of Bakingdom, so I decided I must make those as well.

I wanted to make something adorable for the tops though. I came up with the idea of duckies pretty quickly, but it wasn't until this very  morning that I decided to add frogs and lily pads. Hey, I'm a planner. (Ok, normally, I am, seriously).

This is only about my 4th time working with fondant. (I use the Marshmallow Fondant recipe, also by Darla. It's easy and while still very, VERY sweet, it's much tastier than regular fondant.)

So, I'm still a noob too. When I tell you these ducks, frogs, and lily pads are easy, I'm being serious.

For one duck you'll need:

1 large (size of a quarter) yellow ball of fondant

1 medium (size of a dime) yellow ball of fondant

1 tiny (size of pin head) orange ball*

paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY)

water

food writer

*what I have pictured is actually too big

 roll into an oval, flatten the bottom, and then pinch the back to make the tail.

dab on a bit of water and then attach the head

Now, you can kind of reshape his body as needed

Dab on a bit more water and attach his beak. This is the most tedious part.

As you attach it, pinch the ball so it becomes more beak shaped.

Now, I very highly recommend the Americolor Gourmet Writer. I've had other writers that aren't good at all. Food writers are just food coloring in pen form.

Dot on his little eyes, and... that's it! Allow them to sit out and dry a bit so they are sturdier.

For one frog you will need:

1 large green ball of fondant (the size of a bouncy ball)

2 small white balls of fondant (the size of peas)

paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY)

water

food writer

just dab water in two places on the top and attach. WAY easy.

draw in his pupils, nose, and mouth and you are done!

For the lily pads, I didn't even take process photos. They are just a green ball, smashed. Cut out a tiny pie shaped section with a knife, and then add flowers. You can shape little guys by hand, but I used a teeny tiny fondant cutter for mine.

To get rid of excess powered sugar, simply brush away with a dry paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY).

Want to see them on top of the cupcakes?

Okay!

As you can see by this photo, all of my ducks are different sizes. I think they are cute that way.
On the ducky cupcakes, I also added sugar pearls to look like a bubble bath :)

Yes, I totally bought her a Mickey Mouse bodysuit with personalized ears!

Happy baby, Steph & Bobby!! We can't wait to meet little Mr. Zeke!

Tina <3

{Hogwarts Letter Cookies}

(See all my Potter recipes here & my HUGE Potter Parties here: 2012 & 2013)

*

You know what today is?

It's my best bloggy friend's birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darla, of Bakingdom, LOVES birthdays, so I wanted to be sure and do something for her today. Something more than shipping a gift across the country (I totally got her the 10th Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver), something that took time and a lot of thought.

I wanted to have a party for her!

So, I gathered up another one of her friends, the amazingly talented Heather Baird of Sprinkle Bakes. Heather has a treat for Darla today on her blog too, be sure to check out this Firefly cake inspired by Kaylee's Dress. It's GORGEOUS, of course: Kaylee's Dress Cake.

By the way, be sure to check out Heather's book, Sprinkle Bakes (no, she didn't tell me to mention her book. I mention it because I have, and love, it. It's just beautiful). 

I went through a lot of geek ideas for Darla's birthday.  TARDIS cupcakes? Red Shirt Red Velvet cake? Hunger Games Oatmeal cookies?

Then, I stumbled upon this idea from Glorious Treats.

And a noise in my head, people, it was audible, I swears, went DING. 

What does Darla often talk about never receiving?

Her Hogwarts Letter!

The cookie I made here is BIG. It's a good 7"x4". You could make them smaller, but your letter would have to be either smaller (text is tiny as is) or you'd have to fold it more.

You'll make 3 cookies of the same size, like shown on Glorious Treats. For the middle cookie, you will remove the center of it before baking.

As you assemble it will look like this

(ignore the powered sugar on my counter, kay?)

Put the bottom and middle cookies together with a royal icing.

Then, put your letter inside. A little more royal icing and add the top cookie.
Be sure to fold your note to one side (I folded mine in 1/2 again after this photo), so it will not get torn when you break/cut into it).

Glorious Treats did a great job making her cookies perfect and even. If you can do this, you can probably pull off using the Flood and Fill method with Royal Icing.

I was not so successful as you can see in this photo.

Enter fondant. I used an easy Marshmallow Fondant. It's by Darla herself.

Cover with your fondant and allow it to sit out and dry for a bit. This will make it easier to write on with a food writer.

And there you have it. 

A cute, addressed cookie. You can add your real address, of course. I don't think that Darla would have been to excited if I'd published her home address on the internet though ;)

Other things you can add are things like "the Cupboard Under the Stairs", "The Smallest Bedroom", "The Bedroom at the End of the Hall", etc.

Now, you have a big darn fondant covered cookie. They will have no idea what lies inside though.

Oooh, what's that peeking??

(this photo was for demonstration only, you can see it was clearly folded again in the middle so it would not get torn in half when cutting into the cookie)

Congratulations, Hogwarts wants you!

You can make this in lots of different shapes, Glorious Treats has done a pumpkin, Christmas Drums, & the heart I linked above, but I thought that this Hogwarts letter was perfect for my geeky, Potter obsessed friend.

Happy Birthday, Darla, I hope your day is as wonderful as you are!

Stop over to Bakingdom or Bakingdom's Facebook to wish her a happy day! Tell her Heather & Tina sent ya! :)

Tina :)

If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

(See all my Potter recipes here & my HUGE Potter Parties here 2012 & 2013)

Things needed for this project:

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe OR

Royal Icing Recipe*

Food Writer

Hogwarts Letter (made by you)

*you will still a stiff icing to assemble the cookies even if using fondant to cover, but you will need a very small amount.

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