"Enjoy the LITTLE THINGS in life for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."


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Come on in and sit awhile while I talk about the "Little Things" in life. I will share my journey of everyday life.... homeschooling, raising my children, homesteading, gardening, health and wellness, and real life.

Friday, February 27, 2009

"Killer" Panda Cupcakes

Okay, so I had a comment asking how to make the cupcakes in the picture. I decided to just make a post for that. Nice to know that, at least, one person is out there reading this stuff! LOL! If you dare make them, they are in the cookbook "Hello, Cupcake" that a friend brought over. We were going for an easy butterfly cupcake, but that was all over when my daughter saw these... the Pandas!

You are supposed to use white cake mix with white cupcake liners, but we wanted chocolate. So, you bake some in mini-muffin size for the head and some in regular muffin size for the body. Frost with white icing when cool.

The tricky part is the Oreos.... you cut them in half for arms and legs... notice ours have no legs!!! I gently tried sloooowwwly sawing them with a serrated knife and they would shatter in the end EVERYTIME. So, after attempting several I had only a couple to show for it. I have very little patience for that sort of thing., so I began whining and complaining and getting frustrated. My husband was looking at me like I was ridiculous and then, he got involved. He soon became frustrated, as well. Finally he just started chopping them with the knife and that resulted in a few more "survivors"... who knew! Sometimes it pays to get violent (cookies only... ha!)

All those "murdered" Oreos do go to good use, though. You chop those in a food processor until they resemble black dirt. Place those in a small bowl just larger than the cupcake diameter. You take the regular size frosted cupcake and turn it upside down in the "murdered" Oreos until coated.

Next, the panda has to have a face and ears. The book uses chocolate "O" cereal, but I could not find that. I used Oreo minis and pull them apart to make them lighter (weight). I used the edge of a knife to scrap off any remaining white stuffing and then, applied a little icing for glue to the edge and stuck them to the mini cupcake for ears. After that, I piped on the eyes and mouth. I pressed on a chocolate chip for a nose and one face down into the each eye. To finish the face I put a tiny dot on each eye.

The rest is just a matter of assembly and, if you have it all ready to go it goes pretty smooth after that. We glued it altogether with icing like so: large glob on side of small muffin head to glue to top of large muffin; and, medium glob on Oreo halves to glue beside head for arms. Piped on the claws and these "killer" cupcakes were done! Thank God!

On the off chance that you want to know how to make the others I will also quickly share that. They are quick and simple. Bake regular cupcakes. Using green icing make grass with whatever tip you want. There is a tip for a grass effect, but I do not have it. I used a star tip and pulled back quickly to make it spikey. Stick a flower lollipop in the top and you have little "growing flower cupcakes". For the record I also had growing butterflies. The suckers I used are called Twinkle Pops and are available at Party City and our local Brookshire Bros. grocery store. I think I paid 33 cents each at Party City. They have a long stem for making balloon bouquets, so I just cut them short. You can make these cupcakes with a variety of things for the flower.... molded chocolate lollipops, suckers, suckers with glued on paper effects, even a silk flower. Have fun and share a photo, if you make some. Also, note that we don't try to be perfect. My kids think I am the best cake maker and they see past the sloppiness and mistakes.

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