Good Manners Are Easy!

It's not always easy these days to help our children cultivate good manners. But these lovely, personalized thank you notes designed especially for kids definitely make it easier. Just order your child their very own stationery featuring their own name and watch how excited they are to sit down and write those all important thank you notes. And they will truly be appreciated by anyone who receives them. So don't wait, order yours today!

Perfect Daisy Cupcakes!

I recently received this lovely photo submission from a visitor to CakesAndKids.com. I think that cupcakes are such a clever idea for a kids' party and these are particularly beautiful. The flowers themselves look like daisies and are actually made from sliced marshmallows - genius idea.

And then I found these lovely daisy party supplies that would be a perfect match. So if you're looking for a cute and easy birthday party and cake theme for your little daisy then look no further!

My Cupcake Apron

CakesAndKids was recently featured on a wonderful blog called The Apron Goddesses that has completely brought back the lost art of aprons. I have never seen so many beautiful and feminine aprons in one place. In fact, I was so inspired (and dismayed by my boring green apron) that today I went to one of my favorite sites, Etsy.com, and purchased this absolutely lovely apron. It's pink and covered in cupcakes - there couldn't be a better fit for this caking baking Mom that just happens to love pink :)

Giveaway - Celebrate With Fondant

Cakes And Kids is excited to announce our first giveaway! One lucky reader will win Wilton's first book dedicated to working with rolled fondant: Celebrate With Fondant. The book covers many fondant techniques from beginner to advanced. Learn how to color fondant, roll fondant, and cover a cake smoothly. Then learn how to make ribbons, bows, figures and more.

Here's how to enter:

1. Visit CakesAndKids.com and then come back here and leave a comment sharing your favorite feature, photo or tip on the site (1 entry).
2. Become a "fan" on Facebook and post on the wall. Leave a comment here when you're done (1 entry).
3. Follow us on Twitter and send out the following tweet: @cakesandkids 'Celebrate With Fondant' book Giveaway - Enter now at http://tinyurl.com/lc67zp. Leave a comment here with your Twitter name when you're done (1 entry).
4. Subscribe to our newsletter in the right sidebar (1 entry).
5. Follow this blog (1 entry).
6. Blog about this giveaway and then leave a comment here with a link to your post (1 entry).

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday August 12, 2009 and the winner will be chosen at random. Please leave your email address to be notified if you win. Thanks for participating!

Star Wars - Clone Wars Cake

Well here's the finished Star Wars - Clone Wars cake featuring Anakin, Mace Windu and Yoda. The cake is covered in purple marshmallow fondant and decorated with fondant stars and circles. I brushed the decorations with a little silver luster dust to give them a shine. Now I just have to transport it successfully to the party venue later this afternoon. Oh and my son loves it which is always the best part for me :)

Step-By-Step Instructions For Marshmallow Fondant

As I prepared to make my marshmallow fondant this morning, I decided to capture the process on film so that I could then truly post some step-by-step instructions. So here they are:

Start with a 16oz bag of mini marshmallows and a 2lb bag of powdered sugar.

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl (this will help prevent lumps in your fondant later on).

Put the mini marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl and add 2 tablespoons of water.

Place the bowl in the microwave and heat in 30-45 second increments until the marshmallows are melted and you have a smooth mixture.

Add this point you can add in any coloring or flavoring that you desire. Mix it in well. The color below looks a little off because of the flash on my camera - the final resulting color was the purple shown at the bottom.

Then add in the powdered sugar. I usually add in about half of it and mix and then add more and continue mixing until it all starts to come together in a large sticky ball.

I then coat my counter and my hands in Crisco and lift the ball of fondant out onto the counter. I then begin kneading the fondant to further combine the sugar with the marshmallow.

When you're done kneading you should end up with a ball of fondant that looks like the one below. It will still be warm so you should coat it in a light layer of Crisco, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before use.

I hope that the images made the marshmallow fondant process more visual and easy to understand. If you try it out - let me know how you get on!

Anakin And Mace Windu For Star Wars Cake

My Anakin and Mace Windu fondant figures are done! I think it's a good thing that they're supposed to represent cartoon characters and not the real actors because I'm not sure their faces are terribly realistic...lol. But my son loves them and will be happy to have them on his cake next Saturday. I'm planning to make some Clone Trooper faces to decorate the sides of the cake and then Anakin, Mace Windu and Yoda will act as cake toppers.

I'll post the final Star Wars - Clone Wars cake results next weekend!

Yoda In Fondant

Well, I've completed just the first part of the Star Wars - Clone Wars birthday cake for my oldest son who turns 7 next weekend. And here he is! Yoda is made completely out of fondant simply molded with my hands much like you do with playdough. I'm not sure he's an exact replica of the real Yoda but he's good enough that my kids all recognized him and think he's cool - and I guess that's what counts, right?

Next up will be Anakin and Mace Windu which I think will present a bigger challenge since they have four limbs and necks :) But I'm excited to try! Stay tuned for the results of the remaining figures and the final cake.

Abby Cadabby Wand Cake

It's no secret in my household that I love pink and purple. So then it's no surprise that I love Abby Cadabby - the little fairy-in-training from Sesame Street. There are so many fun Abby Cadabby party supplies available and lots of different ways to make a fun Abby Cadabby birthday cake.

Wilton does actually sell a character pan for Abby Cadabby but it is probably one of the more difficult pans to work with from a decorating perspective, so I was trying to think of some other fun and easy homemade cake ideas. You could of course make a plain round or rectangular cake frosted in pink and topped with an Abby Cadabby cake topper. You could use some fondant cutouts in purple shapes like butterflies, hearts, stars, etc as added decoration. Or perhaps even make some molded chocolates using lavender candy melts that you could attach to the cake.

An even simpler idea would be to make an Abby Cadabby wand cake. Start by baking a cake using a star shaped cake pan. Frost it in purple and then make the wand handle using a small rectangular cake cut in half and put together end to end (a loaf style pan would work well for this). Frost the handle in pink. Perhaps sprinkle the cake with some pink and purple edible glitter for a fairy dust effect.

Whatever you do - have a 'fairy' happy birthday!

Invite Your Friends With Dora, SpongeBob And More!

Check out these really cute and customizable birthday invitations featuring all of your kids' favorite Nickelodeon characters. I love that you can add photos and all the party details. These invitations just don't look store bought and I'm a big fan of things that are unique and personalized. What a great way to kick off a fun party!

Fruit Flavored Fondant

I just recently ran across a new fondant, called Fondarific, that comes in a variety of fun colors and flavors including strawberry, cherry, lemon, grape, melon and more. They also produce the more traditional flavors like vanilla, chocolate and buttercream. I've yet to actually try it myself but I've seen reviews from others saying that the flavors are wonderful. If you generally dislike the taste of pre-bought fondant and don't want to make your own at home then you might give Fondarific a try. Some people have described the fondant as a little more soft or sticky than brands like Satin Ice which may make it a little harder to use for cutouts or fondant figures. But the majority of users have found that it covers cakes really well. It comes in 2lb, 5lb and 10lb tubs or you can buy a small sample pack with different flavors to try. If you've used Fondarific, leave a comment letting me know if you liked it or not.

July 4th Cupcakes

My family is heading to a fun BBQ this July 4th (which also happens to be my birthday) and so I figured I'd make some quick cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. I found this idea on the Wilton website and thought it was very cute and easy for anyone to do.

Make some cupcakes in your favorite flavor - I actually thought that strawberry would be fun because then the cupcakes would be pink but you could also choose a white cake and add a little blue food coloring to the batter to make blue cupcakes. Frost one half of the cupcakes in red and white wavy stripes and then the other half in blue. The best decorating tip to use for this is the open star tip #21. Then cut out 2 white fondant stars using a small star shaped fondant cutter and place them on the blue portion of the cupcakes.

And check out this fantastic cupcake carrying case. I own one myself and it works so well for transporting cupcakes without messing up the frosting. Happy July 4th to everyone!