Alien Zombie Brain Eating Cake Pops

I was walking down the Candy/ Lolly aisle at the store and I noticed bags of brains.

Well they're not really supposed to be bags of brains, but I saw bags of 'berries' with squirty squidgy insides and I thought - wow they totally look like brains - AWESOME. Y'all did exactly the same thing when you saw them didn't you.


So, life changing,  now that you can pick up bags of brains the options are endless. Endless I tell you, 'cause seriously brains just add that special something to every treat.

Well my 4 year old (The Destroyer) thinks so. I'm not sure if you remember his birthday cake. Let me remind you. Monkey Brain cake that he begged me to make for months before his birthday.  I would say I don't know where this brain obsession comes from but I would be fibbing. I'm not saying it was a bad idea for his dad to let him watch Indiana Jones, but we've just agreed not to talk about it any more.

Anyhoo, I made this batch of Alien Zombie Brain Eating Cake Pops up and when he saw them he said 'Well done Mummy'. Well more like he exclaimed! That is high praise indeed, it's like top marks A+++. Seriously I felt so proud - how does he do that to me :)

The best part is these are some of the easiest 'cake pops' you will ever make mostly because they are not pops, so no messy cake falling off the sticks. The design is based on the 'Army of Ghost' cake truffles that I made up last year which is a dip and drip method, so easy that kids can definitely help out and the messy globby dripping actually adds character and is part of the design.

Anyway back to these new ones, if your household is not so much into brains, you can just have plain old alien cake truffles by omitting the berry 'brains'.

They are still super fun.

Alien Zombie Brain Eating Cake Pops

Ingredients 
Cake or Cookie pop mixture (Click here for Oreo Truffle recipe; Click here for Tim Tam Truffle recipe)
Green Candy Melts *
Copha or paramount crystals
Edible eyes (Buy at craft/ cake decorating store or for edible eyes DIY instructions CLICK HERE)
Berry lollies, the type with the liquid center if possible (or gummy brains or nordic berries)

* I prefer candy melts for this project as they usually set faster. You can use white chocolate coloured with specialty oil based food colour (not regular food colour it will ruin your chocolate), but it is probably cheaper to pick up a bag of candy melts from a craft or cake store if you do not already have the colour handy. You may need to modify the amount of copha or paramount crystals you need.

Line a baking tray with parchment/ baking paper.

Shape the cake pop mixture into little domes, mine were around 2.5cm (1") high, and press them onto the prepared parchment tray to make the bottoms flat, ensuring there is about 10cms (4") between each dome. Place in the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes.

Place around 200g of the candy melts and 20g of shaved copha (or paramount crystals) in a microwave safe bowl and melt at medium low heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir, return to the microwave and heat for another 1 minute at medium low, remove and stir. If the mixture is not yet fluid return to heat again for burst of 1 minute until no lumps remain.

Remove the tray of cake pop domes from the fridge and holding the pointy top dip the base of each pop into the melted candy melts and then return to the parchment lined tray. Quickly repeat for all domes.

Then grab a spoon and carefully pour mixture over the top of each dome so that every dome is completely covered.

Working quickly pop on some eyes. Y'know however many you think your aliens might need. Also you can add the brains at this stage.


I added the eyes and the brains separately at a later stage by remelting the left over chocolate and then sticking them on, but that was mostly due to the bodies already being set because of the time to take photo's. You can do which ever makes you happier/ is easier.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores: 

The above pictures, tutorial and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.

Bake Someone Happy - behind the scenes

I have some exciting news and a fun behind the scenes story to share.

So y'all know I love to bake, plus I'm all for making stuff simple and having fun in the kitchen.

A little while back I agreed to film a little spot on Channel 7's The Morning Show (which aired this morning) to help showcase the Betty Crocker range that's now out on shelves.  Betty Crocker's range now has new packaging, some reformulated mixes, extra ready to spread frosting in the packets and a new range of premium desserts called Irresistibles they want to share.

True story - even though I am a pretty good baker one of my favourite stand by desserts is packet mix brownie served with ice-cream. Because let's face it we all need a little help in the kitchen sometimes.

Glenn, me and Lisa on the set

So because I actually use and buy Betty Crocker for real I was happy to be involved. It was all a bit fun, I flew down to Sydney for the day, had my hair and make up done (y'know big tv hair) met some of the food stylists and team from Betty Crocker, who by the way were super nice and then totally aced my first ever tv appearance.

DON'T BLINK. The makeup artist was very calming and friendly. 

Yeah, OK, that last bit isn't quite true, I kinda forgot everything I wanted to say but in the end I think I got across that I like to bake and that when I decorate with my kids I like to make it easy and fun.

This was my tip - when decorating with kids make the design messy on purpose. 

These Betty Crocker cupcakes use the ready to spread frosting that comes in every pack.

Luckily I was helped along by food stylist Lisa from Betty Crocker Australia and The Morning Show's Glenn Wheeler who were way more experienced with the fast paced, witty dialogue required on morning tv.

Anyhoo I ended my fun day of TV recording excitement getting a little lost on the way back to the airport and making check in with 2 minutes to spare. As I rushed through the security scanners I must have looked a little disheveled and put out so they pulled me aside for a random explosives check.

Phew, told you it was exciting.

Bake Someone Happy and Win with Betty Crocker Australia

Wan't to join in the excitement? Sunrise is giving away $10K every day this week for Betty Crocker's Bake Someone Happy week!

Plus they have a fun new #BakeSomeoneHappy competition on facebook and instagram where home bakers like you can upload pictures of your own cake made using Betty Crocker for the chance to be featured in their next promotional campaign.

You'll need to watch Sunrise for details on how to win the daily cash prize or pop over to Betty Crocker Australia's Facebook to share your photo's for the Bake Someone Happy campaign or find them on Instagram and use the hash tag #BakeSomeoneHappy and get your photos up for us all to enjoy!

Disclosure: the words and opinions in this post are my own however this post and the appearance detailed above were sponsored by General Mills.

I'm a flower girl Babushka nesting doll cookies

Who and what inspires you? I am often inspired by my children, their wonderment and joy of seeing the world and ability to find beauty in every little thing. But Sometimes I get my inspiration elsewhere.

Many years ago I had an inquiry asking if I could make some treats for a garden party photoshoot. I had seen Jordan from Polkadot Prints' work and blog which was fun and innovative and I agreed. I popped off an email saying yes, but pick up or post only and provided my address.

Back came an email, of course pick up was fine, in fact it was not a problem at all. It turned out we lived in the same suburb with 3 streets between us. The world wide web can be a small place indeed. It was the start of a lovely friendship and irregular coffee catch ups that lasted until Jordan moved over to Canada a year ago.

Our friendship and sometimes collaboration resulted in a few of my all time fav cookie designs, including this pretty cookie set, inspired by an invitation/ printable range.

I never actually got around to doing up a tutorial for these cookies when originally posted, I guess they are kind of fiddly and have a lot of fondant cutters. Rather than worrying about matching up cutters exactly the same, you can just use this tutorial as a guide.

I would say the only essential are a babushka cookie cutter set, a carnation set and a blossom set.....oh maybe a daisy set as well. I'm teasing y'all, once you get the nesting doll cutter, really I'm sure you can use what you have :) Or maybe not, luckily if you shop around these days you can pick all the fondant sets up pretty cheaply.

To match these cookies up to the original invitations CLICK HERE .

Invitation by Polkadot Prints, Photography this photo Naomi V Photography

Oh and just in case your thinking your options are limited with those cookie cutters check out these other cookies I have made with them in the past. Yup all using the nesting doll cutters. Links to tutorials listed under photo:

Penguin nesting doll Tutorial ; Santa Tutorial;  Snow man Tutorial;  Elf Nesting doll tutorial;  Monster nesting doll tutorial;  Mummy nesting doll tutorial;  Evil Ghost tutorial;  Screaming ghoul nesting doll tutorial

I'm a flower girl Babushka Doll
* If you prefer Royal Icing to fondant covered cookies you can replace the initial step with a light pink royal icing cover and then adhere the floral fondant decorations. Marshmallow fondant can also easily be used in place of shop bought fondant. CLICK HERE for an easy Marshmallow Fondant recipe

Ingredients and Equipment
Babushka Cookies (cookie recipe and instructions below)
Small Babushka Cookie Cutter 8.5cm (3") (mine from Bisc-Art)
Small Rolling Pin
Regular size piping tip (you are using the open round end so any regular size)
Various flower cutters
- Carnation cutter 3.5cm (1  1/2")
- Daisy cutter 14mm (9/16 ")
- Daisy cutter 2cm (13/16")
- Blossom Cutter 6mm (1/4")
- Blossom Cutter 9mm (3/8")
- Blossom Cutter 14mm (9/16 ")

Rolled fondant (coloured yellow, light yellow, Pink, dark pink, skintone and brown) pink used is Sugarflair dusky pink which will make both the light and dark colours^
Sharp knife
Cornflour (cornstarch)
Black edible pen

^fondant dries out quickly, when not in use store in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To use fondant knead until pliable and smooth and roll out on a workbench dusted with cornflour (cornstarch)

Knead light pink fondant until smooth and pliable. Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out fondant until quite thin then using the babushka cutter cut out a fondant shape. Using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape so that a face can be inserted.

Roll out the skintone fondant until quite thin then using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape for the face.

Brush the cookie with a little water and adhere the pink fondant to the cookie and then insert the skintone face into the round hole. Use the rolling pin to press fondant on gently and push out to the edges where required.

Roll out the brown fondant then using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape. Using the edge of the babushka cookie cutter where the head meets the shoulder, cut into the round to make hair.

Knead and roll out separately the white, light yellow, dark yellow, light pink and dark dusky pink fondants and cut the following shapes from the fondant for each cookie. (If you are making a number of cookies it can be more time effective to work on a number of cookies at the same time instead of doing each separately.)

For each cookie you will need to cut out:

Daisy cutter 14mm (9/16 ") - 2 X dark dusky pink
Daisy cutter 2cm (13/16")- 1 X light dusky pink
Blossom Cutter 5mm (1/4") - 1 X light yellow
Blossom Cutter 9mm (3/8") - 1 X light yellow + 1 X light dusky pink
Blossom Cutter 14mm (9/16 ") - 1 X dark yellow
Carnation cutter 3.5cm (1  1/2") - 1 X white + 1 X light yellow
A little extra white and dark dusky pink for making flower centers.


Use a tiny amount of water to adhere the flowers to the cookie as detailed in the picture. Yes some of those flowers are hanging over the edge - you'll fix that in the next step. Finish off each flower with a little dot of fondant rolled into a ball and pressed on with a small amount of water.

Use the sharp knife to trim off any excess overhang.

Then draw on a face, 2 eyes and a mouth with the edible black pen.

Sugar Cookie Recipe (makes 24 regular sized cookies)

460 grams plain flour (16 1/4 oz all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams unsalted butter (8 1/8oz)room temperature
220 grams caster sugar (7 3/4 oz superfine sugar)#
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
#use regular white sugar if you do not have caster/ superfine sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the sifted flour mixture until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Line a few baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.

Dust workbench with plain flour and using a large rolling pin roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm (1/4") in thickness. If the dough is to hard you may need to work/knead it a bit until you can roll it out.

Cut out cookies shapes and place the cookies on the prepared trays. (Knead and reroll dough as necessary, if it becomes to soft you can pop it back in the fridge.)

Pop the cut cookie dough trays into the fridge to chill again for around 30 minutes until firm (or in the freezer for 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F) and cook the cookies until they just start to turn golden, around 15 minutes (less or more depending on cookie size).

Cool on trays for 5 minutes and then carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely prior to decorating.

- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.

Unless stated otherwise, the above pictures and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores: 

This post is not sponsored.

Google Reader is closing down - Eeek quick don't miss a single thing

.

1.How to eat a Tiara Ruffled Princess Cake (photo by Alyce and Colette);  2.Monkey Brain Cake with Jello Brain;  3. Pastel Rainbow Ruffle cake ;  4. Sweet Birdie Ruffle Birdhouse

Ok, I know I have left it until the last seconds, and I'm sure you have already heard but Google Reader is closing down. Like today.

I would love it if all the people that follow me through Google Reader could follow me a different way so they don't miss a single sweet thing.

I have all the kids birthday parties and cakes coming up in the next couple of months so you totally need to see all the cute and exciting stuff I have planned.

Over on the top right there are a few different buttons - you can follow me through bloglovin' which means you will get an update on a daily basis of all the blogs you follow. I do this and it's great! Plus there is an easy way to copy over all the blogs you currently follow on Google reader straight to Bloglovin' CLICK HERE FOR EASY INSTRUCTIONS.

If you follow on Pintrest as well you will also get updated on the stuff I pin as inspiration.

Oh and on Instagram you get to see some of the stuff I am making ages before it gets blogged. There is a super cute Unicorn cookie that I just loaded up, I'm doing test runs for the kids birthday parties.

Otherwise I would love it if you could pop back to check in and see what is going on here :)

Thanks so much to everyone who has been following me :)

How to make simple sugar blossoms flowers from fondant

I'm feeling super generous so today I am going to share one of my secret decorating weapons with you, something I turn to when I need a quick fix but don't have a lot of time or money to spare.

Sweet sugar blossoms.

I've done up a quick and easy tutorial showing how simple it is to make up these sugar blossoms from fondant. Once you make them you can use to dress up anything from cupcakes, to cookies, or marshmallows and cakepops.

Yup pretty much anything you like.

There's no big trick to these flowers, just a few tools, a couple of practice runs and you will be on your way to creating a sweet posy of blossoms yourself.

They are so quick and easy to make I usually make more than I need and store them ready to use when I need a little extra something to brighten a treat up.

The step by step photo instructions are below plus I've even made a super fast YouTube tutorial up so you can watch me. Well watch my waist and arms :)


Oh and it would be super neat if you could take the time to follow me on Pintrest, Instagram or Bloglovin.

DIY Simple Sugar Blossoms

Equipment and Ingredients
White Fondant
Pink Fondant
Pink edible petal dust
cornflour (cornstarch)
Small plastic rolling pin
5 petal blossom cutter
Ball tool
dry clean brush
Separate clean bush and wateror edible glue
Non stick pad
flower formers (I use a small artists palette)
 

Dust a workbench with a little cornflour (cornstarch) and knead the fondant until pliable.

Redust the workbench if necessary and roll out the fondant until around 1mm (16") or so in thickness. You may like to lift the fondant and turn a little to ensure it is not sticking.

Using the blossom cutter, press into the thinly rolled fondant to cut out the blossom shapes. Place the cut out shapes on the non stick foam.

Use the ball tool to softly roll around each petal to thin it out and make it a cup shape.

Dust the flower formers with a tiny amount of cornflour (cornstarch) and place the shaped fondant blossoms into them to set/dry.

Once they are dry brush lightly with the petal dust using the clean dry brush. I start in the centre and dust outwards lightly on each petal. Remove any excess dust carefully with a soft bristle brush.

Roll 3 small balls from the pink fondant for each flower and adhere 3 small balls of fondant in the center of each flower with a very small amount of water.

Once dry the flowers can be used immediately or stored for a number of weeks until required. I store mine in airtight containers. Some people like to pop little packets of food safe silica gel in the containers.

The above pictures and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Picnic in the park Strawberry and cream cheese frosting cake

This cake is as simple as a picnic in the park.

Strawberries are finally coming down in price here which means the start of a few glorious months of plentiful and flavorsome berries so cheap you can easily top as many cakes as you like with a mound of berries and have enough left to puree up a sauce to drip invitingly over the edge.

This cake was made last year when strawberries were at their peak.

I used recipes from my own cookbook baking up a few batches of strawberry cake and cream cheese frosting (tinted blue). But you could easily use your own favorite recipe or a packet mix.

As you can see the strawberries are the stars of this cake. If you have kids let them help arrange the strawberries on top of the cake, if there happen to be too many and they slide off, don't worry it will just add to the charm of the cake.

The frosting was added with a normal kitchen knife. I  spread frosting onto the cake as evenly as possible and then I held the knife at the bottom of the cake and dragged it upwards to create a vertical line in the frosting, repeating all around the cake.

Thank you to Caketopia for lending me the pretty pink cake stand.

If you love strawberries click over HERE to get the recipe for my simple Strawberries and Cream cheesecakes in a jar. They're easy and berry delicious ;)

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!