Wow! The last year has sped by at super sonic speed around here. It seems like just yesterday I was trying to put together end of the year teacher gifts. How can it be that we are already here again??? Ok, enough time spent on thinking about how fast time is flying…time to get busy doing something about this year’s teacher giftsIn walks this super cute, portable cupcake. Just.Plain.Fun-in-a-jar What teacher wouldn’t love finding one of these sitting on her/his desk? This particular cupcake is made with my Princess flavored cupcake – a lightly citrus flavored cupcake, homemade lemon curd, and a fabulous Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. You could even gift teachers with jars of homemade lemon curd to use for topping lots of things at home.
Lemon Curd
4 large egg yolks
¾ c sugar
3 oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2½ large lemons)
4 Tbsp butter, softened
Pinch of salt
2 tsp lemon zest
In a heavy noncorrodible saucepan, beat the egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Stir in the lemon juice, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 6 minutes, until it coats a the back of a spoon but is still liquid enough to pour, 196°F. Do not allow the curd to boil or the eggs will curdle. (It will steam above 140°F. Whenever steaming occurs, remove the pan briefly from the heat, stirring constantly to prevent boiling.)
slightly adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/The-Ultimate-Lemon-Butter-Bar-105890
Do you have little boys in your life? If so, you must make these cutie pie Lego men for them. You will instantly become the coolest person ever. Guess how I know this? I made these a few weeks ago for a little fella’s birthday, but my boys were way into them before the birthday boy ever got a look. Once my boys realized I was using a food-safe marker to draw on the faces, they were hooked. They couldn’t get enough giving me ideas for what kind of faces to draw. It was super fun, for them and me.
The process is fairly simple. Make the cake pop mixture by mixing together cooked cake and icing. To make the Lego men, I took a fairly large amount of the mixture and rolled it out using my rolling pin to about 1″ thick. I used a small circle cookie cutter to cut out pieces. Then I used firm pressure to roll the circles in between my hands to make a cylinder (like a tiny soda can). Freeze those pieces for about 15 minutes. Dip a lollipop stick into melted chocolate and insert into the bottom of the cylinder. Squeeze a small dot of melted chocolate onto the top of the cylinder and top with a mini M&M. Freeze those for about 15 minutes. Dip the entire cylinder into yellow candy melts and gently tap off excess. Freeze for another 15 minutes. Use a food-safe marker to draw faces of your choice.
Have fun with the faces. I am not good at drawing, but I let go of that for a little while and used a little creativity – and my little ones – to make some cute faces. Enjoy!!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Are there recipes you’d like to see on here? New things I should try? I’d love to hear from you.
Maria,
I have found that cracking occurs when I pack the pops too tightly and when I freeze them. Hope this helps!
Maria -April 15, 2013 - 10:46 am
Thank you so much Jess! I’ll try less dipping and more chilling! Currently I don’t refrigerate mine because I’ve had trouble with cracking, but I’m willing to try it again!
jess -April 14, 2013 - 6:01 pm
Maria-I have tried double dipping cake pops before with little success; it just get very heavy. What I found with the yellow for lego men is that if I didn’t tap off the excess as much as usual, it covered them fairly well. Mine were chocolate cake, and you definitely tell that it was chocolate under without looking bad. The best thing that I’ve found with cake pops is to make sure they are well refrigerated on the stick (not in the freezer) before dipping. And it helps to do them in batches, so they don’t warm too much.
Maria -April 14, 2013 - 1:52 pm
These are great! I tried making some today with chocolate cake and yellow chocolate and the cake was showing through the chocolate (kind of like a shadow), so I dipped them again and it all went downhill from there. How did you get your yellow chocolate to completely cover the chocolate cake? Any help/tips are much appreciated! Thanks!
jess -August 28, 2012 - 9:55 pm
I use the AmeriColor black edible pens. They seem to work well for me, although I do have to be gentle while using them. Hope this helps!!
Melissa -August 28, 2012 - 3:42 pm
What kind of edible pen did you use for the faces? I tried wilton pen and they were absolutely HORRIBLE!!! please help!
Beth Battersby -April 23, 2012 - 10:42 am
These are absolutely adorable! Having all girls, I suggest you also make some that are pink and purple (or other girly colors) because they love legos too!!
A few weeks ago, over Spring Break, I made it a point to make a few special breakfasts for the kiddos. I make a lot of cupcakes, cakes, and desserts for other people, and my kids tend to not get many of those treats. As my youngest walked into the kitchen one morning and saw these cooling on the counter, he excitedly said, “Are those for us?” Precious… I was thrilled that I could finally tell him that these chocolate treats were not only for us, but that they were also for breakfast. I wish I had my camera to catch his smiling face. And because these were made with whole wheat flour, ground flax, and yogurt, I didn’t feel bad about letting them have chocolate muffins for breakfast.
The sprinkling of coarse sugar on top really does make a difference for these muffins. It adds a great crunch, so don’t skimp on the sprinkling
These muffins come together very quickly. I’ve since made a few extra batches, cooled on a cooling rack, and put into freezer bags in the freezer. Warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave, you’ve got a quick treat for breakfast or snack. I may have been using these to fulfill chocolate cravings… Enjoy.
½ c butter, room temperature
1 c sugar
⅔ c cocoa powder, I used Hershey’s Special Dark and Dutch-processed
4 Tbls ground flax
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¾ c milk
⅓ c sour cream or yogurt
2 c white whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1½ c chocolate chips
coarse sugar, for topping
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in cocoa powder, flax, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Mix in milk and sour cream. Slowly add in flour. Stir in chocolate chips.
Using a large scoop to evenly distribute batter, pour batter into liners, making sure each is full. Sprinkle with coarse sugar to add crunch.
Bake 25-30 minutes
Salted caramel… Chocolate… Shortbread… Need I say more??? These tasty morsels pretty much speak for themselves.
Soft, buttery shortbread, topped with a thick layer of caramel made from condensed milk (I could just eat it out of a can, not that I would :0), finished with a layer of decadent dark chocolate, and sprinkled with smoked sea salt. Oh my. My mouth is watering, wishing I had some in the kitchen now. But these are super dangerous in my kitchen. I have no will power when these are around.
The one caution I have for you is to make sure you aren’t doing anything else while making the caramel layer. You must stir constantly so the bottom doesn’t brown faster than the rest of the pot of caramel. Trust me.
Shortbread:
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 c butter, room temperature
½ c sugar
Heat the oven to 325. Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter and sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl if necessary. Add in dry ingredients on low speed, until just incorporated. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan. Using the bottom of a glass lightly dipped in flour, press in an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Caramel:
1 c butter, cut into pieces
1 c sugar
4 Tbls light corn syrup
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
Combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, stirring constantly. Continue simmering and stirring until the mixture turns an amber color and thickens slightly. Pour the mixture over the shortbread layer, smooth the top, and allow to cool completely and set.
Chocolate Glaze:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp light corn syrup
½ c butter, cut into pieces
Smoked Sea Salt, Fleur de sel or sea salt
Combine chocolate, corn syrup, and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute on 50% power, then stir. Continue microwaving in 30 sec intervals until melted. Stir until mixture is completely smooth. Pour over the caramel layer and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Chill, covered, until ready to slice and serve. Before slicing, sprinkle top with Smoked Sea Salt, Fleur de Sel, or sea salt.
*I have successfully halved this recipe using an 8″ x 8″ pan.
I made this cake for my daugther’s best friend. She turned 13 a few weeks ago. This little girl, yes I am in denial about her being a teenager, is as much like my child as my biological children are.
This is not what I had in mind for this cake to look like. But… I was having one of those days. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones where it seems like the kitchen gods are out to destroy you, where you make silly mistakes that almost ruin your frosting, where nothing you want to do works out how you envisioned. Please tell me I’m not the only one that has days like this.
In the end, I really liked how the cake turned out. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a learning experience. I even managed to talk myself into realizing that it was more than a learning experience; it was a life lesson. Yes, I get life lessons while baking cakes.
The technique I used to decorate the top layer of the cake really couldn’t have been easier. Actually, I found it quite fun and much less frustrating than trying to frost it smooth using a frosting that was more on the runny side than it should have been. I used an open star tip, like Wilton 17, and made s curves and c shapes to fill in any open spaces. I didn’t work hard at lining anything up, just making it all kind of random.
I frosted the bottom layer as smooth as I could, given my frosting was less than ideal for that application. Then, I added blue mini M&Ms for fun.
Are you wondering what life lesson I learned that day? No, well I’m gonna tell ya anyway. I have to say this is a lesson that I’ve learned before. I find that even adults have to be taught a lesson more than once before they fully ‘get it’ sometimes. I tend to live my life as a perfectionist. But it’s ok for me to let go of that perfectionism sometimes. And in doing so I free myself up to try new things. Even if things don’t turn out the way I planned, the end result might be even better than what I thought. So give it a try next time something isn’t going as planned; let go of the perfectionism, and try something new. You might like it!
Welcome to my Sassy Sweet world. My name is Jessica, and I live in CO. I am a mom to three amazing children. I enjoy sharing my love for baking and all things creative with others. This blog is my attempt at sharing with others the things I love. Come on in and bake up some sassy goodness.
In walks this super cute, portable cupcake. Just.Plain.Fun-in-a-jar
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