The Ultimate Cake Nachos

So one of my absolute FAVORITE holidays is literally right around the corner!

 I adore it because it's the day that many of the Gringos (like me)

love everything about Mexican Food, Mexican music & Mexican culture. 

Every store have an overstock of piñatas, super grande margarita glasses & hard taco shells.

It's the one day that it's perfectly normal to ride in your car wearing a colorful sombrero fist pumping to Mariachi music ( this is jersey after all)

and I love it!

El Ultimo ( The Ultimate) Cake Nachos are absolutamente perfecto for a Cinco de Mayo party or a super cute addition as a dessert for a summer party or BBQ.

                                                   Ingredients

1 box of Dark Chocolate cake mix ( I used Duncan Hines)
your favorite buttercream or frosting like this one ( I never use can frosting, but it can be substituted)
1 bag of yellow Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of white Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of Swedish Fish or any red gummy candy
1 package of green sour licorice string
orange food coloring
piping bags
colorful bowl

                                                Vamos a la cocina! ( Directions)

A day or two before you bake your cake, you may want to prepare your chocolate tortilla
 chips.

For the tortilla chips

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Take 1 Oreo cookies and crunch them until they are completely crushed in a plastic ziplock bag and set aside. Combine 1/2 bag of white chocolate with 1/2 bag of yellow chocolate in medium bowl.

2. Place bowl in microwave on 70% power heating for 35 second intervals, stiring well after each interval until completely melted.

3. Once chocolate is melted it's time to add in your crushed Oreos, you will only need about a couple of sprinkles of the cookie. ( the crushed cookies just serve as the black flecks seen in real tortilla chips)

4. Once you mix in your cookies, immediately place the chocolate in the piping bag and begin piping medium sized tortilla chips right onto your waxed paper.

5. Once all tortilla chips are piped, you can place them in the freezer and prepare cake, if your not baking cake that day the tortilla chips can easily be stored in the refrigerator or a cool place in your kitchen.

6. This is also a good time to chop your Swedish Fish and green licorice. I gave them a rough chop to resemble tomatoes and jalapeños and lettuce. Set them aside

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, follow directions on box or cake recipe, you can either pour the batter in an 8 inch round cake pan or a jelly roll pan. I used the jelly roll pan because it was a shorter cook time and I seemed to get more cake out of it. ( I wanted my nachos to look like that had a lot of meat)

2. Once the cake is cooled, take a colorful bowl and crumble all of your cake it crumbs to resemble taco meat.

3. Take your buttercream and add a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring. ( I used about 3 orange drops and 5 yellow drops to achieve more of nacho cheese color). 

4. Place buttercream in the microwave for approx. 20 seconds until pourable. Once buttercream is colored you can either mix it directly into the cake crumbs or pour it all around. ( It all depends if you want to have a moister cake or not, the buttercream definitely soaks into the crumbs) If you are making the nachos with cheese, you need to add your chocolate tortilla chips first and pour the cheese on top of them and add a few jalapeño sprinkles.

5.If  you are going more for " El Ultimo" nachos, than it's time to add on heaping scoop of  plain white vanilla buttercream (sour cream) and sprinkle on your Swedish Fish & green licorice. You also use black licorice for olives, I am not a fan of black licorice or the smell so I didn't use it. Add your chocolate tortilla chips around the sides and in the middle to resemble "real nachos".

6. That's it!......All done a dessert that's not even hard, super cute and all dressed up for a
Fiesta!

Justin Bieber Birthday Cupcakes

You may not be aware of it or not, but today is a pretty big deal!  Some even think it should be a National Holiday!..... Who you may be asking?


Who are these people aware of a day so monumental, so huge, so grandioso?  Why are they so special that they get to partake and enjoy in a fiesta that you may not even be privileged enough to already know about? 


Well they are called " Beliebers" and they are an elite group of girls and even boys who are fanatical devotees to everything and anything that surrounds, talks about or even looks like Justin Bieber. 

They will tweet him 3,500 times a day, buy all his records, wear his clothes. They will watch every show he has ever been on, whether is on television or on youtube. 

They will sleep out on the streets of New York City for days just to hear him sing.  These same " Beliebers" beg and plead  for their parents to buy them $300 tickets to one of his sold out concerts, from a slimey ticket dealer that buys them low and sells them high. 

So with fans so dedicated to everything Justin Bieber, one would expect for them to be on nothing less than full on party mode March 1st. Why? Because it's Justin Bieber's birthday of course!

One school in my district is so loyal to their students and all that they love, that they decided to hold an in school party to celebrate " the biebs'" big day.

They approached me about making cupcakes for this sacred event, and ummm I was more than happy to oblige.

Since I am the proud owner of 3 of the millions of girls who have Bieber Fever and truly believe today should be a national holiday. 

And as a loca mom who actually did sleep on the streets of NYC just to allow my girls to get a glimpse of Bieber.

And as the kind of Mom one who isn't afraid to say that she absolutely LOVES his new album Believe. 

I have to admit I wouldn't mind actually having another holiday added to the calendar!

                                                    Recipe

There really is no need to attach a recipe for these cupcakes, you can use any cupcake and frosting recipe you wish. 

Obviously you don't have to do Justin Bieber, you can use this idea for any singer, actor or character you prefer.

The hardest part is collecting various images of your favorite singer or character laminating them and cutting them out.


For the white chocolate hearts and the J & B initials,  I melted white chocolate wafers in the microwave, heating them on 70% power stiring them every 30 secs until fully melted. 

Then  just used a standard piping bag ( or even a Ziploc with a small snip on one corner) and piped the intials and the hearts onto a piece of wax paper. I waited for them to fully dry than and gently placed them onto the cupcakes.

Finger Lickin Good - Creepy Halloween Chocolate Apples

Nothing like severed bloody body parts, wrapped in cellophane stuffed in cardboard coffins happily stacked on store shelves to let us know that the ghoulish days of Halloween are among us! 

Halloween is one of those holidays that just screams for a fiesta, the themes for a Halloween fiesta are sin fin ( without end): pumpkins, witches, scarecrows, ghosts, black cats, mummies and please let us not forget our beloved vampires! ...... Go Team Jacob!, Is there really a choice? Edward will just ruin your whole life forever.

(Uh...umm, okay back to the fiesta)........ I mean c'mon do you really want to spend all that money for your little diablos costumes just to use them one time?!  I actually look forward to the extra invites that my chicas receive from their amigos for a wickedly fun party filled with ghouls and goblins.

I also await the paper from school announcing the date and time of their Halloween party, their school holiday party treats are almost as important as the one's I bring in for their own cumpleanos ( birthday).

It's so much fun choosing between cupcakes with neon vampire teeth and red hot butter cream tongues sticking out the middles or  midnight black ooey gooey chocolate graveyard cakes with nutter butter peanut butter cookie tombstones.

The fact that I have three chica's who still are young enough to party during school hours is a super plus, not to mention the fact that I get three chances to create separate goodies unique to each one of them! 

When I spotted these severed body parts , I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. Visions of dark brown chocolate dipped apples surrounded by bloody fingers and bloody feet and toes splattered with red chocolate "blood" danced in my head. Despite the scary massacre look of it all, I think they came out eerily cute! What do you think? ♥

Ingredients

4 Granny Smith Apples
1 bag of  melting chocolate ( Wilton, Merckens or you can use chocolate chips)
1 bag of  Red melting chocolate
1 bag of bloody severed fingers and feet
4 cookie pop sticks ( I prefer wooden you can use paper or popsicle sticks)


Recipe

Wash apples, remove stems, and insert wooden craft sticks into the area where you removed the stems. Press firmly to fit the craft stick into the apple.

Melt chocolate wafers or semi-sweet chocolate. Melt the chocolate using the double-boiler method, or via microwave making sure to cook at no more than 45 second intervals or chocolate will burn. I have a chocolate candy apple maker that melts both chocolate and caramel. Of course you can use this maker as well if you have one.  Stir the chocolate to make sure that it's fully melted.

Take an apple by the stick and dip it into the melted chocolate, rolling it in a circular motion until the entire apple is coated. Continue this process until you have coated all apples with chocolate.

 

Place the severed limbs all around the base of the apple and let set for about 5 minutes, next melt a cup of red chocolate wafers, once melted place in piping bag and pipe the red chocolate  with an up and down motion to resemble dripping blood.

Place the chocolate dipped apples onto a flat baking pan or cookie sheet lined with wax paper. I sprayed a little Crisco onto the wax paper for extra ease of removal.  Place the pan in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. Take out and enjoy!  To make the apples fiesta ready wrap them individually in cellophane bags, tie with a decorative ribbon.

 

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts- Halloween Cake

Now that the long awaited, often feared 2012 "first day of school" has seamlessly come and gone, it's inevitable that the holidays are not far behind. For many of the big name stores the holidays have already arrived. I couldn't help but think twice about picking up  a great big package of neon green and black swirled gummy worms. 

I am always impressed with the new candy ideas that are introduced every year. So far I've seen candy corn in cool Halloween colors like green, black, purple and white, jack o' lantern shaped Snickers and even Cadbury eggs filled with slimy, green goo.  I have to be honest though, I do love the colors, decorations and of course the candy that comes with Halloween, but with my enthusiasm comes a few drops of apprehension.

I think it goes back to my younger days, when children were warned of being kidnapped by creepy men in unmarked white vans, lurking in the shadows waiting to snatch up unsuspecting little boys and girls on freezing cold and dark Halloween nights.


If you were lucky enough to make it home without being abducted, your mother would be peeking through the blinds awaiting your footsteps through the front door.  Before you could even utter a "hello" she would be snatching your trick or treat bag from your cold hands, telling you that "she had to go through every single piece" presumably with a fine tooth comb.



Because according to recent news reports, there were evil  child hating people who were putting razor blades into sweet chocolaty candy bars meant to harm sweet faced little boys and girls like me and my friends. Ahh the children of the 80's what stories we have to tell!





Okay so fast forward to modern day 2012, I've obviously made it through at least 20 Halloween's or maybe....just a few more (ahem) without being kidnapped or having had my throat cut to shreds by a Milky Way. But now I am the mom, and although I don't riddle my chicas with scary stories that make them feel like they are part of a blood curdling episode of  RL. Stines" The Haunting Hour" ( which is a great series by the way),

I do feel that walking in the chilly fall air, in lightweight costumes dodging speeding cars and receiving the occasional sandwich bag filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies from the  creepy single guy in the barely lit house on the corner ( seriously, obviously it's often times meant to be a sweet gesture,  but who would ever eat something unwrapped and unmarked made by a complete stranger?! It's so much easier to pick up a bag of smarties or whatever!) doesn't really seem like my brand of fun.




Honestly, most of the time about 30 minutes into walking the neighborhood my chicas are ready to call it quits, and 3 weeks later I am pulling their candy bags from underneath their beds still 3/4 of the way full!  Obviously they don't take after me, because when I was little by week 3 I would be down to the Mary Janes and I usually was still feening candy and I was desperate enough that even they would get a few nibbles! My candy obsession really borders along the lines of addiction ( at least for chocolate).

So instead of traveling the cold mean streets on Halloween nights, I've decided to keep the day of "candy love" a little more centralized and cozy with a fiesta for them and their friends at home.  This ghost cake is the perfect mix between spooky and sweet, exactly what kids want on Halloween night!

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake & Cupcakes
1 box of Wilton fondant
Butter Cream
1 package of gummy worms
1 bag of candy corn
Oreo cookies or chocolate cake crumbs
assorted chocolates and Halloween candies

Recipe


♥To make this cake you will need a Wilton doll pan, which may be available at  your local Micheal's or I also found one here.   You will also need a sturdy base for the cake, I like to use the Wilton silver circle cake board which is pretty sturdy and also leaves space for the cupcakes to go around the edges. 


♥For the cake you can use your favorite yellow or chocolate cake recipe, Here is one. that sounds pretty yummy!  For a quicker option you can use a box mix, either one I suggest you make 2 batches. Because you will need enough batter for the cake and the cupcakes. ( You may want to bake an extra 8' round cake to go below the top portion, depending on how many guests you will have)

♥Once you've chosen and prepared your batter, fill the doll mold only 3/4 full with batter, the batter will rise during baking if you fill it too high you will have overflow. After the cake is baked, move on to making thecupcakes ( however many you need, at least enough to go around the ghost).

♥Before icing the cake make sure it's completely cooled, I like to stick my cake in the freezer for about an hour so that it is nice and stiff before I ice it and put on fondant.

♥When  the cake is cooled, ice the cake in your favorite butter cream or frosting recipe.  I like a whipped butter cream, like this one because I don't like a sickening sweet, heavy butter cream. Make sure the cake is completely covered in butter cream, so that the fondant attaches completely.

♥Break 4 kabob sticks in half and you can either place large campfire marshmallows or balls of fondant on the ends. I like to put 2 kabob sticks together on either side of the ghost, to give more security and stability to the ghosts arms.

♥After the cake is iced it's time to roll out enough fondant to cover the entire cake and hang down the sides like a ghosts sheet. The fondant doesn't have to be perfectly smooth at the bottom, it can be gathered or gently folded along the bottom to resemble a ghosts sheet.

♥Next, dye a ball of fondant black enough so that you can make the ghosts' eyes, mouth and eyebrows, pull off pieces of fondant and hand mold them into the eyes, mouth and eyebrows. Put just a dab of water on the back and apply to the ghosts face wherever you like.

♥You can either swirl or simply ice the frosting onto the surrounding cupcakes, then sprinkle them with either crushed Oreo's or chocolate cake crumbs. Place gummy worms on each cupcake, place them around your ghost than sprinkle the base with candy corn, Snicker bars, Skittles, Three Musketeers etc, etc

Finally, make or print up mini signs and glue them onto toothpicks with whatever ghoulish message that your heart desires ♥