BY
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. Â 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. Â I didn’t even realize the date until Kate mentioned April Fool’s, so I thought I’d re-share this popular post. Â Â 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. Â 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 đŸ™‚Â 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!
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) đŸ™‚
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! đŸ˜‰
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. đŸ™‚
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. đŸ™‚
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.