Happy Easter!

For my third recipe, I wanted to make an Easter themed dessert. I did a quick online search and found these cute cupcakes with peeps on the top and the frosting made to look like grass. Also while I was looking, I came across a way to make confetti cupcakes. I combined these two ideas into one. You can check out the websites by clicking on the links below:

http://thefrugalgirls.com/2011/04/peeps-cupcakes.html

http://bakeitinacake.com/recipes/confettipartycupcakes

Again this whole process took a lot longer than I thought (about 3 hours – not including clean up!!). However, the final product turned out really well, but I will most likely never be making confetti cake again--too much work. To try to simplify the process, I decided to use box cake mix instead of making it from scratch. To make the colored confetti pieces I mixed up some cake mix then separated it equally into five different bowls. I then used food coloring and dyed each one a different color.

           

Next I poured each bowl into a cake pan, trying to keep the colors grouped together.

I baked the cake normally then cut it up into a lot of strips according to color. Turns out I had a lot of extra colored cake. In the future (if there is a future) I would cut the recipe in half. Next, I made another batch of white cake mix and left it white! I scooped one spoonful of white mix into the bottom of the cupcake liners. Then placed a layer of cup up colored strips, and then another layer of white mix. An example of this can be seen at the 2^nd website listed above.

Colored cake that will be cut into strips for the confetti

I baked the cupcakes for the recommended time, but checked them often because I wasn't sure how pre-baked cake inside would affect the cooking time. For the frosting I used a buttercream recipe found in a cookbook. I used 1 stick of butter, ½ tablespoon clear vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, and 4 cups of powdered sugar. I then added food coloring to make a green grass color. I experimented with different tips on a pastry bag to try to find the right one to make grass. After frosting the cupcakes, I used a toothpick to secure "peeps" chicks to the top of some of the cupcakes.

Final Product

Next week I will be making homemade pizza!