Burger Cupcakes [Suitable for Vegetarians]

I saw this concept on an old blog entry from Heather Taylor from "I do ... Inspiration" and fittingly I was Inspired. The photo that I had innocently found while researching superhero cupcakes on google images was that of Burger Shaped cupcakes! Some might say this idea is a bit kitch, naff or cheesy (burger pun) but I thought it was worth trying at least the once.

 

It's simply made by cutting a plain sponge cupcake in half across the horizontal, and then 'sandwiching' a disc of chocolate cake or brownie in between stuck together with Jam (for the tomato ketchup) and green buttercream (lettuce). I made my 'burgers' with some leftover chocolate cake but would have liked to have made the 'burger' with brownie for a difference in texture. If you have any, sesame seeds would also look the part (scattered over the top during baking).

 

I only made a small batch of these to try out the idea, my willing Guinea Pigs tomorrow are: Jac, Nicola and all the little ones :) Although I have to admit I've also made some traditional butterfly cakes and the kids decorated a few vanilla sponges cupcakes with pink buttercream - so something for every there hopefully.

 

 

*- please note the title of this blog  entry is meant in jest, obviously the suitability for vegetarians depends on the recipe used - but the vast majority of cake recipes will not involve the use of meat, although any recipe using eggs, milk or butter will not be suitable for vegans.

Bento Box Lunch: Toy Story Aliens

Inspired by something I found on Pinterest (as so many of my projects are these days) I have discovered the Japanese art of decorative 'bento boxes' or more specifically 'Kyaraben' (character bento). If you haven't heard of them before Bento are individual portions of a meal presented in stacking boxes or compartments. Presentation of food is very important in Japanese cuisine, and 'packed lunches' are no exception - sometimes the layout and design of the food is very elaborate. In modern culture many of the bento designs are being crafted to look like movie or video game characters - often sculpting with sushi rice. What I found quite interesting was the way that some western mother's are now discovering bento techniques as a form of food art and a way to encourage fussy eaters to try new foods. Lunchboxawesome is a fantastic source of inspiration and is well worth a visit.

So I decided to give it a go myself. My son is rather a fussy eater, and currently asking for a Toy Story party next birthday so what else could I start with? I found this simple cucumber alien idea at Disney family and it set the creative wheels in motion. The 'spaceship' is red pepper, cheese and apple. with a grape and raisin space background, cheese stars with a cheesey puff planet and the aliens are made with cucumber, eyes cut from apple slices and halved peas. I admit I've cheated a bit by presented mine on a plate with sides as neither child needs packed lunches yet.

And as you can see he was really pleased with it, and ate every last bit even the red pepper! My daughter demolished all of hers and shouting 'a-len' through all of lunch :D

Mr Potato Head Goes POP ... [cake]

I've been busy exploring theme ideas for my daughters Birthday and my Son pipes up telling me he wants a 'Buzz n Duddy Party'. OK, his Birthday isn't till November and by then he'll most probably be into something totally different but it got me researching Toy Story related crafts and I came across Bakerella's Mr Potato Head Cake Pop Tutorial and I just had to try them.

I admit most of the ingredients listed on the tutorial looked like they weren't going to be readily available in the UK - and if they were, would probably cost more than I was prepared to pay (especially for a 'trial run'). But figured I could probably make do with the contents of the kids sweetie box for most of it. The big problem was the 'peanut butter candy melts', I discovered I could source some via eBay, but then yesterday at my local supermarket I spotted a little (100g) bag of "Silver Spoon Create: Orange Flavour Buttons" and rushed home to experiment.

I wasn't originally intending on attempting a Mr Potato Head straight off the bat. My original plan was to test out the process of melting the 'flavour buttons' and application tecniques ... but, I've always raced ahead of myself and before the buttons had melted I was raiding the sweetie box for potential 'body parts' :D
I had a little left over black sugar paste, so used this for his hat and moustache, blue smarties for feet, white chocolate chips with a chocolate sprinkle for eyes, pink chocolate beans for ears and a chopped up tooty frooities for the nose and mouth and cut up lolly sticks for arms.
Not a patch on Bakerella's but not bad for a first attempt, I shall keep practising!