My grand plans for cooking over the weekend (in general, and for today’s post) were thwarted by some vicious super-virus that has had me knocked flat on my back all weekend. My husband was a trooper and has been nursing me back to health, while keeping the house clean, the kiddos out of my bed, and even cooking a fabulous Easter dinner for our company while I stayed quarantined. I didn’t even realize the date until Kate mentioned April Fool’s, so I thought I’d re-share this popular post. Even with short notice, if you do what I do below and grab some unfrosted cupcakes from your local grocery store bakery, these are easy enough to pull off last minute. Happy April, everyone!
While I often find myself watching re-runs of Punk’d during my afternoon workouts (seriously, I have a million channels- why is there nothing on at 2pm??) and giggling while some celebrity has an epic meltdown watching their priceless custom made Bentley being destroyed, I’m actually not a huge fan of pranks in my own life. So you won’t find me planning any elaborate jokes on April 1st. Since my kids are young (6, 3, and 1 1/2) we find it more fun to make April Fools a day of full-fledged silliness. A day to be goofy, a day to be random, and a day to do things out of the ordinary. These silly cupcakes are right up our ally. I saw all of the ideas in the fun book Hello Cupcake.
First, a little trick. Not as in April Fools trick, but as in sneaky-time-saving-I-don’t-want-to-bake-or-do-dishes-right-now trick. I’ve told you before, but I’ll remind you again! Sometimes I care about having perfectly wonderful homemade cupcakes. Other times it doesn’t matter so much. And while I want them to taste good, I’m really wanting something quick and easy. Easier than even making a box mix myself. That’s when I head to the grocery store bakery and ask for un-frosted, plain cupcakes. They always look perfect, they’re uniform size, and they actually taste pretty good too.
They won’t usually have them out for sale, but I’ve found at just about every bakery (sometimes you need to find the bakery manager) they’re more than happy to grab some for you and put a price-tag on them. I actually keep these in my freezer for when I need to do blog posts like this!
First up- Spaghetti and Meatballs! While you can obviously tell these are cupcakes,when you plate a whole bunch of them together on a platter they really do look like spaghetti!
You just need a small round tip on your piping bag (or simply a large zip-lock with the end cut off) and honestly just by squeezing and holding the bag in one spot, the noodles form by themselves that way. I just held the tip above the cupcake and moved the cupcake around with my hand until the top was covered. It only took a few seconds. I honestly though it was so cool I wanted to video it. Who knew you could make perfect noodles that way?
And those meatballs? One of my favorite treats- Ferrero Rocher (find them in the candy isle at the grocery store).
Mmmm just dunk them in a little berry jam. Warm up the jam and use a whisk to get is smooth and you can always add a little hot water if you need it for consistency. The “Parmesan” on top is just some white chocolate grated with a cheese grater. I actually used a piece of almond bark since I had some in my pantry.
Next up- Peas and Carrots. Honestly, I didn’t expect these next ones to look so real. They totally fooled my kids! The foil cupcake pan definitely helps. For the peas just use green Runts, and the carrots are orange Starburst, chopped in quarters. Green frosting underneath makes it so the cupcake doesn’t show through.
And the Mashed Potatoes! I think these were my favorite out of all of them. Use vanilla frosting and leave a little bit of a well at the top. Add a drizzle of caramel syrup and a flattened out Starburst (Laffy Taffy also works great) and you’re set. My kiddos thought these were hilarious.
I included these Popcorn Cupcakes just because I think they’re super cute 🙂 They’d be really fun for a movie night/party – even in mini cupcake size.
I used the pale yellow marshmallows from the fruit flavored bag, but white would work great too. You can see below how easy it is to make the kernels. Just snip a few marshmallows into 3 pieces and then “glue” a regular marshmallow on top.
Lastly- this has summer BBQ party written all over it! Frost 3 cupcakes with pale yellow frosting and use Jelly Bellies for the corn. You could use a few shades of yellow and white, but works best is the buttered popcorn flavor. I realize that 98% of the world detests that flavor, but it happens to be my favorite. Take that, haters! Top it with a Laffy Taffy or Starburst pat of butter (or um, real butter if your children eat all of the yellow starburst you tell them specifically to leave on the counter where you set them…) and black and clear sugar sprinkles for the salt and pepper.
Hope that gives you some silly ideas to play around with on April Fools! Do any of you have any fun traditions?? I think this year I’m going to do a goofy dinner game where we eat funny food with random utensils or something. Do share if you have fun ideas!
Questions & Reviews
These are so clever! *love*
You just gave me a great idea. I’m going out of town on April 1st and leaving the hubby alone with the kids for 5 days. I’ll have to make them these cupcakes as a surprise treat before I leave. So super cute!
These are the types of fun treats boys (as I have three) truly get a kick out of. Thank you for sharing, and for the helpful time saving tips. I like to read how you add your own voice and process of making it–much better then just reading a recipe in a book (IMO) 🙂
I’m not sure if I should be proud or if I should be embarassed to say I’ve made every one of those cupcakes you posted about ha ha. Most recently the popcorn. I just love that book! And most of them are very simple to make. They’re just so much fun. You did a great job with them!
I made a spaghetti and meatball cake for my daughter’s birthday this year. It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved it! And I LOVE the buttered popcorn jelly bellies!
{sigh} I have that book, too, but my stuff never comes out as great as yours does. I love the hints and tips you give to make things so much easier!! Thanks! 😉
For your silly dinner you could do a mystery dinner. My family had them quite frequently. You make a menu (Including food, random utensils such as whisks and spaghetti scoops, drinks, etc.) and give them crazy names (I.e. “log roller” for a toothpick stuck in a styro cup with water in it.) or depending on the meal, you could find all the names on google translate in a certain language. Give everyone a menu and have them order approx. 5 courses with three things each course. It gets a little crazy when you get spaghetti and a butcher knife to eat it with. One of my favourite silly things to do! Good luck!
P.S. LOVED the cupcakes! So cute. 🙂
That’s what I was thinking Desiree! We did that once at a family reunion when I was a kid and I remember it being so much fun. But I couldn’t remember all of the fun names for the food (and I definitely can’t give my toddlers knives to eat with! haha)
I think you could come up with silly names. And yes, avoid knives. 🙂
A butcher knife?!?!
Well, we were a little older then. Not toddlers with butcher knives. That would be unsafe. Plastic knives?
OMG, I LOVE It!! I will have to try this out. Spaghetti and meatballs for sure since it seems so easy (not a good cake decorator). I will have to buy the book (linked to, credit given) and see what else there is. Thanks for sharing such a cute idea! I’d do it for one of my kids’ birthdays. Or for a grown up birthday since we aren’t “supposed” to like cupcakes.
I LOVE the buttered popcorn Jelly Belly candies. My absolute favorites! When I’m handing out the jellybeans, I have to make sure none of the kids get my favorite flavor!!!
I have this book and their other one. Both are hysterical. I love the little monsters in the next book with stringy frosting and eyeballs made from dum dum suckers.
This year, I think we’re going to have “cupcakes” for supper, but I’m going to make individual meatloafs.
We’ve actually had an adult party where everybody had to bring cupcakes or muffins to make up the whole meal. We had meatloaf, little quiches, zucchini and parmesan muffins, mashed potatoes, and a bunch of desserts that fit in muffin pans.
I made the speghetti cupcakes but instead of the candy I made cakepops. They turned great.
Such cute ideas!! I am definitely going to have to try some of these, I love them all!
Popcorn Jelly Bellies are my favorite, too!
these are so awesome! SO CUTE! Your creativity just makes my day – thanks for sharing!
We put Jell-o in clear cups with a straw to make it look like juice, and meatloaf, decorated with mashed potato “frosting” so we can eat “cake” for dinner.
That is such a good idea! My kids will love this… can’t wait.
LOL so many great ideas!! I think the corn on the cobb is my favorite 🙂
What a cute idea! I will have to try that sometime! 🙂
The corn on the cob looks so real!! What fun ideas! I might have to try some of these this year:)
Yummy, they all look delicious!
Buttered popcorn are my favorite Jelly Belly flavor, no joke! Mmmm, might need to make a lunchtime run now. 🙂
So cute!! I cannot wait to prank my students this April 1 🙂
I love these!! You make everything soooo user friendly 😉 I love it!! Thanks for all your hard work.
These are some of the cupcakes from that book that I really want to make! I’ve done the corn ones; maybe for April fool’s I can make some of the ones listed here. Love them- they turned out really well!
AwESoMe!! FYI: I love popcorn jelly bellies.
I’ve done the mashed potatoes and peas/carrots before…lots of fun (with the exception of having to pick out all the green Runts from the bag and praying I have enough, LOL)! I’m doing cupcakes (meatloaf) and grilled cheese (angel food cake and cheese colored frosting)this year. 🙂
..and btw, I thought I was one of the only ones who really likes the Buttered Popcorn flavor Jelly Bellies! Happy to know I’m not alone. 🙂
Buttered Popcorn Jellybean lovers of the world unite! haha
SICKOS. Both of you.
🙂
:p
I LOVE the buttered popcorn flavor too! It’s always been my favorite! Rock on ladies, rock on.
For a short time, there were buttered popcorn flavored dum dum pops. I loved those sooo much and wanted to cry when I could no longer find them any longer. So delish! Buttered popcorn candy fans may also find solace in kettle corn. That mix of sweet and salty is just to die for! 🙂
I had no idea buttered popcorn was a much hated Jelly Belly flavor. It is my absolute favorite, even though I hate popcorn!
My favorite too! I kept a small bag of them in my locker in high school (way back in the day!) as a treat. Everyone thought they were nasty, which is fine….more for me 🙂
Those are also my favorite! My husband thinks I’m weird, but I love them!
Super cute cupcakes! Definitely gonna make a few of these!
AWWW I LOVE the spaghetti one!!! thanks for sharing 🙂
I love that cupcake cook book. I thought about making the spaghetti ones for my younger son’s class …. basically making a big platter of “spaghetti” for his class and then going in to read a book for them (they love it when I come in to read! hehe).
These are all really cute!
Perhaps the book “cloudy with a chance of meatballs”
What cute ideas! I will definitely use these. It’s become a tradition with my kids to expect a silly dinner from me on April fools day. We usually present the “fool food” first and then I’ve made the real thing (what we tried to replicate) too, so that we’re not just eating dessert for dinner. 🙂 Last year I made chicken strips out of Kit-Kat bars rolled in honey and then graham cracker crumbs, vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce for the mashed potatoes, and red fruit punch in clear glasses with straws made from jello! It was hilarious to watch the kids try to drink jello through a straw! I will definitely use your ideas this year! That will save me the time to search for ideas. 🙂 Thanks! Happy April Fools!
Oh my gosh! 🙂 These are GREAT! 🙂
TOO gosh darn cute! I need that book!
Oh wow! Those spag-n-meatballs ones, who would have known they were so easy peasy! LOVE them!
These are all so cute! I love the spaghetti and meatball cupcakes 🙂