Pinata Cake & Cupcakes

If you know me really well, you probably know that I get intimidated by making cakes.

I work day in and day out with little cupcakes most of the time. Super cute, mini little, transportable treats with dollops and swirls and fluffs of frosting on top that you can play with like play-dough. ♥  Cakes are intimidating to me because I feel like I have to add an architect/engineer hat to my artist brain.  I have to create a foundation so that the cake won't slide or fall apart. I am way better at creating textured, fancy flouncy frosting swirls on top of adorable little cupcakes than spreading on a perfect sheen of frosting to cake that is so polished it looks like fondant ♥

However...there can be exceptions made.....

When there are pinata cakes involved!!!!!!

A Pinata cake doesn't have to be polished or neat.

It is exploding with fun and celebration from the inside out!

The best thing is that you can fill the cake with any candy or treat you desire.

(I even thought of making a Mountain Dew cake with Doritos coming out of it, maybe I'll do that in the future).

I made matching Pinata Cupcakes to complete a whole "set."

I divided shredded coconut into ziploc bags and added a dot of Americolor Gel Paste to each ziploc bag (colors used here are Electric Pink, Sky Blue, and Electric Yellow). I sealed each baggy shut and danced a little in my kitchen to shake the color into the coconut. I piped frosting onto each cupcake and sprinkled with colored coconut. I piped pretty big fat swirls on top so that the cupcakes would look bigger and more full, but you can put on as much frosting as you desire.

Each Pinata cupcake is filled with Sixlet Pearls as a "SURPRISE"!

And look at how the shredded coconut colors the frosting!

It reminds me of one of those mexican hoodies you can buy at farmers markets.

I use a measuring spoon to scoop a hole out of the center of the cupcake. I keep the cake I scooped out and put it to the side. I fill the hole with pastel Sixlet pearls and cover it again with the the leftover cake from my scooping.

How did I make the pinata cake?

Using my favorite cake recipe, I baked four 8" round layers of cake.

I used a 4" biscuit cutter to cut a hole into the center of 2 out of 4 of my cake layers.

  

Cake Assembly Order:  

A.  Place 1 uncut layer on a cake stand/turntable and spread your favorite frosting on top using a piping bag or a frosting knife.

B.  Top this layer with 1 layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

C.  Top this layer with the other layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

D.  You'll see a big hole in the center of your cake. Fill it with all kinds of goodies! I used Peanut Butter M&Ms, milk chocolate M&Ms, multi-colored gumballs, and chocolate coins in many colors! Can you imagine making a baby reveal cake like this too using pink or blue M&Ms and other colored candies?

E.  Place the final layer on top of the cake.  Using a large frosting knife and your favorite frosting (the more creamy & whipped the better), frost the outside of the cake!

You can even top the pinata cake with another mini sized pinata that is also filled with nummies.

Mind..blown!! ♥

I decorated my pinata cake all fancy schmancy.

Each layer was frosted with a different color before I stacked the cake layers on top of each other!

Just remember, the most fun part of the cake is the inside! Cut a BIG PIECE out of your cake using a large knife..or if you are feeling it, smash the cake.  Either way you'll find something you like, I'm sure of it. My favorite are the chocolate coins. What's yours?

♥♥♥

The Cupcake Dance!

A few weeks ago, a dream of mine came true.

I opened my cupcake shoppe!

And it isn't just any cupcake shoppe.

It is my vision.

A home for my cupcakes.

I call it The Cupcake Mansion because it should be a destination.

A place for people to fill their bellies (and mustaches, hair, skin!) with sugar and frosting and sparkles.  But also a place with purpose, a place that fills you up with happiness like when you were a little kid.  

This is the action. My friends & I preparing the cupcake mansion for lots o love. We were GLITTERIZING the wall in the shoppe. Yes, just throwing sparkles at the wet wall. (People asked how we did it.. we painted the wall with clear glaze and threw glitter all over it while it was still wet. Lots and lots of glitter!)

When I say this place has purpose..

it is more than just about making people happy.

I'm on a mission to use my God given gift of cupcake making to change lives :).  

(which you may or may not have already known, but now I'm announcing it loud and clear!)

(cupcake skirt with glitter hearts!)

I painted some lives with delicious dreams a few days after my successful grand opening!

I hosted a cupcake *surprise* party at my mansion for the New London Girls Dance Team.

22 girls who had just found out they were on the dance team.  Their coach surprised them with a trip here ♥. And the girls thought they were going bowling!   I can't even imagine what a  wondrous shock it was when we threw glitter at them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the Cupcake Mansion!" when they walked through the door! ! ! !

my adorable assistant Billie who helped me throw glitter on the girls!

I taught them how to make rainbow cupcakes and how to make edible gems out of delights like m&ms, peanut butter cups, and Hershey kisses. ♥  I even prepared 22 edible words and ballet slippers out of pink candy melts so their cupcake could dance!

Some of their creations ♥

While I was teaching cupcakes in one room, my fairy godmother (Jane) taught the girls how to make ribbon headbands that they could wear.  (So the ribbons would move with the girls when they danced)!  

♥

An adorable dance team/exchange student from Germany exclaimed the cutest thing ever: "I want to take my cupcake back to Germany!

There was one rule at this party.

If you stepped on the rug in front of the counter of goodies..(inevitable!!) you absolutely had to DANCE ♥♥♥!!

I asked the girls to make up a "cupcake dance".  As I recall it involved a mixer..and the motion of eating a cupcake ♥ Hmm I am thinking cupcake dance flash mob in the near future?! Or a visit from Ellen Degeneres (it is STILL my goal to dance with her and eat a red velvet vegan cupcake with her and her audience)!

Glitter, smiles, sugar, music, dance, cupcakes.

"A laugh is a smile that bursts."

..or so I have heard!:

Sparkly tutus!

Our "toast" to sparkly marshmallows and hot cocoa.

My Irish fairy godmother's sparkly marshmallow and hot cocoa toast:

An Irish Toast to Liars, Cheaters & Stealers:

May you lie your life down for family and friends,

May you cheat death & dishonor at every chance

And may you steal the hearts of those you love all life long.

The girls enchanted by her Irish toast ♥.

During the party I stepped back for a second to watch everything happening. And that was just it. This dream of a cupcake mission was "happening."  My glittery cupcake heart was being shared with 22 amazing girls.    

Their completed cupcakes on the cupcake skirt♥

Wrapped up in that little cupcake liner was a memory of a lifetime. D

Learning all about Amanda Cupcake ♥ on my wall of fame :)

Maybe you should make a wall of fame.

It really highlights all the wonderful people & experiences you meet when you take on life's adventures, no matter what they are!    Do you have any idea of how rewarding it is to use all your seconds and minutes in life to do good for the world..and then sit back and watch it all unfold!? (or perhaps,  watch it dance in this case).