Wild Card Wednesday: Mini Olympic Torch Cupcakes

This post could also be titled "Great Idea Bad Execution" or "Why Not To Cook While You Are Sick". Yes, I crashed and burned a little bit yesterday making these cute cupcakes, but whats a torch without a little fire? :)

Let me back up a little- I saw this great idea for torch cupcakes in a recipe book about a year ago... sorry I don't remember the name of the cookbook, so I can't properly thank them for this wonderful idea. I thought I would tweak it a bit and share my creation with you all! I was THRILLED to find these adorable mini ice cream cones- I knew they would be the perfect size- I like a small cupcake I can just pop in my mouth all at once.

Ingredients:
1 box of Confetti Cake Mix
60-70 mini ice cream cone cups
frosting
yellow food coloring
orange fruit roll-up (I used "cherry orange wildfire".... perfect for a flame!)

1. Make cake mix as instructed on the package. My first attempt at making these failed after this step when I added 200% more water than instructed. Nice, right? Since I wasn't feeling very well my sweet husband ran to the store and grabbed another confetti cake mix for me. Phew. I guess this is what I get for trying to be creative when I am sick!!

2. Place mini ice cream cones in a cake pan. I only used 2/3 of a cake mix and therefore ended up only using 40 cones. Don't ask me why I made it so complicated!!!

3. Fill ice cream cones with cake batter. I didn't fill them to the top- I would say each cone was about 75% full.

 4. Bake as instructed on the cake mix box. For cupcakes I needed to bake mine for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. After about 23 minutes I pulled my little cupcakes out of the oven just SURE they were done- I mean, they were in the oven for longer than instructed and they were SMALL cupcakes. And I didn't use an entire cake mix. Well, they weren't done. The bottom of each of the cupcakes was nice and goopy. I didn't find that out until after they had cooled, and I checked to see how my little torches were doing and saw this:

 Yes, a hot mess of gooey cupcakes and deflated ice cream cones. But as you can see by the picture there were a handful of cupcakes that didn't LOOK too bad (although partially uncooked). In desperation and determination I decided to frost the good ones. Because I think the idea is fabulous. My execution- not my finest kitchen moment.

5. Use yellow frosting or add yellow food dye to white frosting and frost away! Can you just see my poor cupcakes leaning over....sigh.

 6. Cut flames out of an orange fruit roll up. I think Airheads would also work well.

 7. Attach the flames to the torch. Quickly snap a picture before the flames fall flat on the cupcake.

8.Give a cupcake to your eager four year old and watch her run around the kitchen holding her olympic torch. Wipe away the tears because you didn't give up and you were able to give your kiddo a few moments of sheer pleasure.

And isn't that what the Olympics are about, anyway? Doing your best, never giving up, and running around with a torch. Perfection.

Happy Teaching!

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties:

Sweet Tooth Tuesday: One of past recipes =)

We thought we would do a flashback from one of our older posts.  This is for all you new followers =)  We want o you to enjoy some our earlier recipe yumminess.

Basic Yellow Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties:

Munchkin Monday: Splash Pad

Looking for something cheap and fun to do with your kids this summer?  Want something to keep you cooled off?  Well, head on over to the nearest splash pad and have lots of fun!!  Here in Ogden, we have 2. One is in South Ogden, by the Ogden Athletic Club and the other one is in Riverdale, by the fire station.  Both are fabulous!  There is also a splash pad on Hill Air Force base if you have connections there.

My kids love going and splashing and having fun.  The best thing of all.....it's free!!  So we usually go there for an hour or however long they want to stay and then our tradition is to go stop by Arctic Circle and have some ice cream....I used to work there back in my teen years so I like to go back once in a while.  I especially love it when they have different flavors for their soft serve.  My favorite are boysenberry and tiger's blood in the summer and in the winter I love it when they have their peppermint.  So head on out to a splash pad and have some fun =)

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties:

My new obsession......

Okay well I have a lot of things I really enjoy. I could list a ton for you all but this post would be WAY TOO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Okay I will share a few....

I might even have a collect of Micro Machine Cars ( I think I might have 300-400 cars). That is one obsession (so if anyone sees any at a yard sale buy them and I will pay you for them) 

Also some people say I might have a CUPCAKE obsession! I don't think buying a new stove (convection), cupcake pans that cook 24 at a time so I can cook 72 at once, buying 50 lbs of powdered sugar at a time, and creating at least 35 cupcake flavors means I have an obsession..... Okay that is really an obsession I am totally aware of that. 

Okay I will stop boring you with my random obsessions and I will tell you about the one you will love hearing.......

BOOKS FOR MY KIDS!!!!!

not just any BOOKS

but these books

100 Facts

There are sooooooooooo many topics and fun interesting facts my kids love reading these and I love that they are learning. I like to give them to them after we have learned about the topic. That way they are wanting to learn that topic and this just makes it more fun.

These are a few of the times I have given them to the kids :

National Pirate day- 100 Facts of Pirates

Eclipse day- 100 Facts on Space

Our Moon house bird week- 100 Facts Birds of Prey 

In the car on a long car ride.

Okay, I know that website I showed you all the books, is not in American money so how much are they? Where do I buy them?

I have bought a pack from the "Books Are Fun" company that comes to the schools that teachers/interpreters can order from, but mostly I buy mine from AMAZON. I have Amazon Prime so I get free shipping. Meaning, I love to order things. On Amazon the regular price is $6.95....DON'T PAY that. If you wait, they rotate which books are their bargain books. I never buy a book over $3.00. All the ones I have bought are in the $1-$2 range and I may have bought my kids about 20 so far (I know gasp and then don't tell my husband) My kids have only been given about 6. I really do save them for times they will love them and not be overwhelmed with too many books. Here is a book I plan to buy before I go to Italy so they can read about it while I am gone :) 

Please enjoy these books as much as I do and then let me know which books are your favorite so I can make sure we have them in our collection too!

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties: