For Kids: Playing Cupcake Baker

From the Parents.com website.

This is simple playdough activity with a theme - playing cupcakery!

You will need:
For the dough:
1 cups of flour
2 cups of oats
1 cup of water
A bowl and wooden spoon

For play:
Playdough tools like blunt knives, cookie cutters, rolling pin
Paper patty pans
Cheap colored cake decorations like sprinkles, quins, candy cupcake decorations
Scraps of paper
Cardboard boxes of various sizes

Also uselful: paper plates, paper doilies, cake plates, tea sets

This is a safe recipe. It's simple and safe enough for even a preschooler to make, as it doesn’t need heating or contain any salt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t keep very long, and becomes wet and soggy after an afternoon, but it’s cheaper and more fun than store bought playdough.

In a large bowl your child can add all the ingredients and mix them all together, just like a real baker. You may need to give it a good final mix and add either a little more water or flour at the end depending on the consistency. Turn it out on a table top or bench and you or your child can give it a good knead to bring it all together.

Once you have a nice lump of playdough (it won’t be smooth but shaggy and lumpy due to the oats) encourage the kids to make pretend cupcakes, bread, pastries or whatever takes their fancy. Cake decorations seem to be a big hit in all of this although quite a lot seem to get eaten. Use a largish cardboard box as a pretend oven for cooking batches of goods, and then display them on tea set plates, cake plates and doilies on shelves made of other boxes. The scraps of paper can be turned into price tags and money for great retail role-playing.

DIY Carrot Cupcakes for Kids

By Cindy Littlefield

• Orange Starburst candies (one for each carrot)
• Kitchen skewer or toothpick
• Kitchen scissors
• Green Twizzlers
• Batch of cupcakes
• White frosting
• Cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

1. With clean hands, knead each Starburst candy and roll it into a mini carrot shape. If the candy is too stiff, you can microwave it for 4 or 5 seconds. But don't overdo it -- the candy will melt if it's overheated.

2. Use the skewer or toothpick to make a hole about 1/4-inch deep in the top of each carrot.
3. Cut 1 1/2-inch lengths from a Twizzler and then snip them in half vertically. Turn each half into a leafy top by cutting fringe in one end.
4. Insert the carrot tops into the holes in the carrots. If they don't fit, try trimming the bases a bit to taper them. Or use the skewer tip to gently push them in place.

5. When all the carrots are made (you'll want 2 or 3 per cupcake), frost the cupcakes and sprinkle the centers with cinnamon sugar to resemble a patch of sandy soil.

6. "Plant" the carrots in the cupcakes, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the orange candy showing.

Sprinkles Cupcakes for Easter

Photo by Sprinkles Cupcakes

Beginning April 3-12 Sprinkles Cupcakes will start selling it's Spring collection of cupcakes in time for Easter. The HOP box includes carrot, dark chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. The brown sugar praline cupcake features caramel cake with brown sugar frosting and a crunchy nut praline topping. The Spring collection comes adorned with pink and blue candy bunnies.

Candyland Cupcake Cottage by Wilton

This cupcake cake creation looks like something straight out of candyland! Wouldn't it nice to live in a pink world of buttercream and sweetness. Well, back from the land of denial and on to the recipe.

Home Sweet Home cake stands over 12 inches high! This dreamy two-story confectioners’ cottage is made using Wilton's Dimensions® Large and Mini Cupcake pans.
Source: Wilton Website Exclusive

Tools:
• Dimensions® Giant Cupcake Pan
• Dimensions® Multi-Cavity Mini Cupcakes Pan
• Tip: 3
• Tip: 5
• Tip: 10
• Tip: 12
• Cooling Grid
• Fanci-Foil Wrap
• Cake Dividing Set
• Cake Circles
Ingredients:
• Rose Icing Color
• Lemon Yellow Icing Color
• Ready-To-Use Rolled Fondant Primary Colors Multi Pack
• Pink colored sugar
• Jumbo Confetti Sprinkles
• Flowerful Medley Sprinkles Decorations
• Buttercream icing
• Black string licorice (2 in. in length)
• cornstarch
Makes: Cake serves 14.

Instructions
Bake and cool 1 large and 1 small cupcake cakes. Trim 1 in. off top of large cupcake top.
Using tip 10, pipe vertical lines on base of small cupcake. Using tip 12 and heavy pressure, pipe vertical lines on base of large cupcake.

Using tip 5, outline and fill in doors and windows. Smooth with finger dipped in cornstarch.
Overpipe windows and door frame with tip 5 and attach small confetti sprinkles. Outline and fill in door window using tip 3, pipe dots. Attach confetti doorknob.

Assemble and stack cakes. With spatula ice tops of cupcakes and sprinkle with sugar.
Using Cake Divider Set, divide large cupcake into 8ths and small cupcake into 6ths. Using tip 5, pipe string garland between marks.

Attach Jumbo Confetti at points. Shape 1 in. ball of red fondant into cherry shape, indent for stem and insert licorice piece for stem. Position on cake top.

Buttercream Icing
Wilton's buttercream icing recipe is perfect for spreading or decorating. Follow their instructions to make it the ideal consistency you need.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Instructions for medium consistency
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.