Easy ways to dress up your Holiday Cakes!

For the Winter Issue of Bird's Party Magazine, I shared some simple ways to dress up your holiday cakes!

No matter the size or theme of your gathering, nothing dresses up a holiday table like a gorgeous cake! The holidays are the perfect time to add some glitzy sparkly drama to your dessert with a few products that you can find at your local craft and party supply store.

Use a homemade or a plain cake from your favorite bakery and add these decorating supplies:
-Wilton Color Mist Spray in silver, gold and pearl
-Wilton White Sparkling Sugar
-Sixlets candy in white and black
-Lindt White Chocolate Truffles
-number candles
-optional: pinecone floral pick

If you are planning a winter themed party, this snowy cake is sure to add some sparkle to your festivities! Start with a cake frosted white and stack white chocolate truffles on top (to resemble a pile of snowballs). You can use a bit of frosting to adhere them together if needed. Next, cover the entire cake, including the truffles, with the Wilton Pearl spray. Finally, sprinkle white sparkling sugar over the entire cake for some extra sparkle.

If you want to add some GLAM to your dessert table, use the Wilton Gold spray. Frost your cake simply in a rustic style and then completely cover with the spray. Top your cake with a festive pinecone floral pick or use some seasonal fruit if you prefer. If using a glittery floral pick as shown, be sure to completely seal it with a clear food safe sealer to keep glitter from getting on your cake.

To ring in the New Year in sweet style, serve this fun and festive cake! Use the Wilton silver spray to completely cover your cake and then use black and white candy Sixlets to create a fun border. For the 2013 topper, use birthday candles and trim off the wicks. If you can’t find the candles in colors you like, use additional edible spray to color them to your liking.

 For more holiday entertaining ideas, be sure to check out the Winter Issue of Bird's Party Magazine. 

Photography by Wendy Updegraff Photography

Tutorial: Minnie Oreo Pops

This is my final post on my daughter's Minnie Mouse party! (You can read my other posts about the party here & the hat tutorial here).

In addition to making her special Minnie Mouse cake, I also made Minnie Mouse Oreo pops! These were delicious (who doesn't love a chocolate covered Oreo?), fun, adorable and simple to make!

Here is the tutorial to show you how to make the pops yourself!

The ingredients:
-Oreos (these must be Double Stuffed or you won't have enough space for the stick)
-Chocolate chips (I used semi sweet, but dark would work just as well)
-chocolate candy melts (you will only use a handful of these)
-mini marshmallows
-lollipop sticks
-pink fondant (you can make your own or buy it premade)


Supplies needed:
-wax paper
-2 glass bowls (for melting)
-clear candy bags & coordinating ribbon if you choose to use these for party favors 

Things to keep in mind...
There are 33 cookies in a pkg of Double Stuff Oreos (at least in mine). When planning the amount to make, keep in mind that you will probably lose a handful to breakage. That's ok...that's just an excuse to eat a few cookies :)

One 12oz pkg of chocolate chips will cover more than an entire package of Oreos, but will not completely cover two. So to be safe, buy one package of chips per package of cookies. You will end up with leftover chocolate chips, but since when are leftover chocolate chips a bad thing?


Here are all my ingredients ready to go!

 

Step 1:

Carefully separate your cookies so that you have one side with the filling.

Step 2:

Melt your chocolate chips according to the package directions. Be sure to add the shortening per the directions in order to keep your chocolate easy to dip in.

Step 3:

Grab a cookie w/ the cream side. Take your lollipop stick and dip the tip into the melted chocolate. You want enough to cover about 1" of the stick. Don't be too skimpy as the chocolate will help hold the cookie together. 

Now gently push the stick into the cream of the cookie. You can dig it in a little to get it to lay flat. You may lose a couple cookies in this step until you figure out the right pressure to use (I certainly did). But I had happy little taste-testers who were waiting for me to break one!

In the picture above, I used a flat coffee stirrer stick. I wanted to see if it would work better than the more rounded white lollipop stick. Both worked equally well, so it's your choice.


Step 4:
While the chocolate is still soft, take the other half of the cookie and gently push the cookie back together. This is the other point where you might lose the a couple until you get a feel for the right pressure. Or you might get lucky and get it right on the 1st try (I wasn't quite that lucky). My family was very pleased with all my mistakes on this project!


Step 5:
Melt a small amount of chocolate candy melts following package directions. You could use the chocolate chips for this purpose, but I have found that the candy melts dry faster and are stronger than plain chips. I often use them for "glue" on my cakes.

Step 6:
Dip a mini marshmallow into the candy melts and attach to the cookie pop...one for each ear. You will have to hold each one for a minute until it dries enough to set it down. Don't skimp on the candy melts here. You need these ears to be on there firmly in order for them to survive the final dip!

Here are all my "naked" pops waiting for their chocolate bath!

Step 7:
Dipping Time!
Gently dip your cookies into the chocolate. Use a spoon to cover the exposed cookie parts. This works better than trying to swirl the cookies as the marshmallows tend to fall off that way. Gently tap your lollipop stick on the edge of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate.

Then lay them flat on wax paper to dry. I sprinkled them with white sprinkles just for some extra sparkle, but you can certainly leave them plain chocolate. I also popped them in the fridge for a few minutes just to harden the chocolate faster. But they will harden on their own without the refrigeration. 

Step 8:
The bow! Minnie wouldn't be Minnie without her pink (or red) bow. I already had a batch of hot pink fondant made from the cake, so I just used that. But you can use pre-made fondant (sold in the craft stores or from your local cake supply shop) or make your own. If you buy or make white, use pink gel coloring (not the liquid food colors) to color it to your preferred shade.

The bow is a very simple shape. I rolled my fondant into a long skinny snake or spaghetti shape. I then cut the long piece into approximately 1 1/2" small pieces which I looped into a bow. You could even use a small butterfly cutter to make a bow which would be super cute also! I put each bow on the cookies while the chocolate on the cookies wasn't completely hardened, which helped them to stick. If you end up doing the bows after the cookies are set, just melt some candy melts and dab a little on each bow (use a toothpick) to "glue" them on.


These cuties can be displayed on your dessert table or individually wrapped in clear bags tied with a bow for a very yummy party favor!


Enjoy!

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