Campfire Cupcakes!

Author: Cassie Stevens

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DoTerra Orange Party Cakes

Orange Oil Infused Chocolate laced atop a Do-Terra Orange Oil Cake

Author: Cassie Stevens

I have been doing cakes and other treats for Do-Terra Orange parties for almost a year now. I love using these oils better than pure extracts for breads, cakes, desserts, and just about anything else. In the past year I think I have added Do-Terra Orange Oil to my sweet tea (which is really good by the way), whipped cream, Chocolate Shakes, Fruit Smoothies, and anything else I find interesting to add it to. It only takes a drop or two, that’s all you will need. Unfortunately, I have only worked with their Orange and Lemon oils.  Here are a few pictures and recipes of some party favorites. Enjoy!

Orange Chocolate laced Cupcakes

Start with your basic cupcake recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour (whatever flour you like best)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

Then add: 1/2  teaspoon Do-Terra Orange Oil

For Icing, Start with your basic frosting recipe:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Then add: 1/2 teaspoon Do-Terra Orange Oil (add more if you think it needs it)

For Chocolate:

1 cup Chocolate chips (your flavor choice Dark, Milk, Semi-Sweet, etc.)

1/2 teaspoon Do-Terra Orange Oil

Mix and spoon into molds to cool or drizzle over cakes and cupcakes.

Do-Terra Orange Cranberry Cupcakes with Mandarin Oranges

Start with your basic cupcake recipe (above)

Once the batter is spooned into your cupcake papers add a dollop of cranberry sauce to center of cupcakes (about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon) bake as normal.  Frost with your basic frosting recipe (above) and top with a slice of mandarin orange. Viola! Delish!

Do-Terra Orange Cake with Mandarin Oranges

Start with your basic white cake recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour (whatever flour you like best)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk (whatever milk you like best) I have used almond milk in this and it is very good the texture of the cake is denser than using whole milk

2 eggs

1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons Do-Terra Orange Oil

 mix well, Bake 325 until toothpick inserted comes out clean cool and frost using basic frosting recipe (above) color icing with food coloring if desired garnish with mandarin orange slices

Marshmallow Fondant Elmo Birthday Cake & Treats

Author: Cassie Stevens

I had a lot of fun with this project..it consumed me for three days. I have a one year old daughter so EVERYTHING takes longer (not complaining). On day one I made the fondant. This is the first time I have ever made it myself.  I had worked with fondant before, but it always came in the store already on the cake then I decorated it.  I was a little nervous about making my own fondant because I have seen how it can tear apart so easily. I did a ton of research on the internet, watching video tutorials, reading recipes, and tips on making and working with fondant. Now, after making this recipe I can honestly say fondant is not hard at all. I had nothing to be nervous about. This recipe is my new favorite go-to fondant recipe, and it was very tasty too.  I had heard quite a few times that store bought fondant was very yucky (except Duff’s of course).  So I set out on the quest to make an conquer my own.

I have recently been given a large collection of cake decorating supplies by a very kind Aunt of mine.  She had taken a cake decorating class and gave me everything including the course books. Well, she couldn’t have given it all to a better person. I have been using everything since I received it all. I keep going through all the stuff and find myself saying “Man! I have everything, how nice”.  I came across a hand written marshmallow fondant recipe in her book that was very similar to those that I found on the internets, and this is what worked for me.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

16 ounces mini marshmallows

4 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 lbs confectioners sugar

I put the marshmallows in a microwave safe container and heated them for about two minutes or more, just until they are puffed and melted. Grease a wooden spoon, add vanilla, water, and half of the sugar and mix well. Mixture will start to harden as you mix and add more sugar. You want to mix well before you add more sugar you want it to become a stiff ball, then turn it out onto a greased and powder sugared surface (not too much grease).  Grease your hands.  Knead and work in the remaining sugar. Your consistency should be pliable without tearing or sticking to anything ( it’s easier than it seams trust me).  When rolling out fondant; sprinkle surface with powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick.

Fondant is very versatile, it can be molded and shaped or it can be rolled and cut. It is almost like play-doh.  I really enjoyed working with it. It really brought out the artistic side of myself that I haven’ t seen or felt in a while.  Next, I dyed the fondant several different colors; red, blue, green, yellow, orange, black, and I left the rest white.  I used Wilton’s cake decorating gel colorings.  I also made sure I used gloves when mixing the dye (so my hands wouldn’t stain) and change gloves with each new color.  That was all I could get done on day one. I felt accomplished after conquering my new feat. I was very excited and couldn’t wait to start on the project again the next day.  Now, it’s family time. Daddy’s home. Time to play! Time for dinner, bath time, play time, then bed time, and everything else in between in our routine of things every night. Tomorrow is another day..

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

YAY! I’m so ready for day two, I dreamt of Elmo dancing and singing in my head. The fun has begun. Time to roll out and cut out Elmo. I did a quick sketch up of the cake layouts before I started the project and it was approved. So, I already had a print out I found off the internets that I really liked and re-sized it so it would fit on the cake appropriately. I sprinkled powdered sugar over the top of the fondant so the paper wouldn’t stick and cut out Elmo. Then cut out the white and black for his eyes and mouth, and an orange oval for his nose. Elmo is a very easy character to make. I set the assembled and outlined in black Elmo on a sheet pan lined with parchment.

The Sesame Street sign was next. I did that all freehand. No stencils on that one. Easy, again. I did Wesson’s name and the yellow outline in icing.  So, I just set the green fondant sign on the sheet pan with the rest of the pieces ready for assembly. I placed all that stuff in the fridge for a while to harden up.  Fondant will soften as you work with it (the warmer it gets).  Next was baking the cakes. Red Velvet. I cheated and used a box cake mix. Don’t judge me, it was faster. If I had the time I would have. I recently made an awesome red velvet cake from scratch for another friends birthday party. I really liked that recipe too, but that’s another blog post (when I have the time). LOL

I made a two layer cake a smash cake and about 36 cupcakes. Whew…time to let them cool…

Elmo Cupcakes too!

After the cakes cooled it was time for assembly. I iced the cake and rolled out the fondant about a quarter of an inch thick . I then draped it over the cake and pressed it all around the edges. Cut off the excess, then assembled all the rest of the cake. One cake done.

Time to get started on the cupcakes. Did I mention I really enjoyed this project? Ha  ha. Even though my hand kept wanting to give out from all the piping I did, I had a lot of fun with everything. I did cookie monster first. Added the googly eyes and the half a cookie, or in some cases just some crumbs. I ran out of store bought eyes after about ten cupcakes. So I decided to try to make my own. I rolled out the white fondant and cut out little eyes with the back of a large icing tip, then piped the black on the eyes.  Easy, again.

Time for Elmo cupcakes! YAY! The whole time I was singing with my daughter the theme song to Elmo’s world, and of course it got stuck in my head. Then I begun to despise the stupid song, as much as I love Elmo and all, anything on repeat can get annoying. Ha ha.

I started with the black smile directly on the cupcake, then I piped around the rest of the cupcake to make his fur. I added the fondant eyes, and piped the nose on with orange icing I mixed up.  The cupcakes are done Whew…Now it’s family time. Daddy’s home. Time to play. Time for dinner, bath time, play time, then bed time, and everything else in between in our routine of things every night. Tomorrow is another day.. I will finish the smash cake.

The day of the party! Crunch day…Time to go over everything and make sure it was all up to my standards. The party wasn’t going to start until the afternoon so, I still had plenty of time to finish the little smash cake. I Iced it with buttercream icing, then decorated it with a face of Elmo. Very cute! YAY! All done.

The Birthday Boy and his Momma! Precious moments….

I spent the next hour and a half making an Elmo face card cut out of construction paper, with a written excerpt from Mamma’s favorite children’s book.

Baby’s got eyes, ears, and a nose…

A tummy and legs and ten little toes…

Oh, what a sweet baby!

Good enough to eat baby…

Sweep me off my feet baby…

❤ it!

Smash Cake… it got smashed pretty bad.

Shabby Chic Princess Party Treats

This Saturday we celebrated my oldest daughter’s 4th birthday. I had way too many ideas, thanks to Pinterest. I asked Monkey what she wanted as a theme for her party and, of course, my girly-girl said, “Princesses!” As I am not a fan of all the marketing concerning Disney princesses (I like them. I like the movies. I just don’t like all the STUFF.) I decided to make it a Shabby Chic Princess Party. Say that ten times fast. We had pink and white polka dot straws, a fabric tied banner with pink fabric with white dots, roses with a light blue background, pink tulle, and pink balloons. I found shabby chic napkins and cups, and pink plates online. The birthday girl wore a green Tinkerbell dress that her GiGi (what we call her Grandma)  and Pop Pop found at the Disney Store. It was the perfect amount of Disney, and not overloaded.

I made most of the sweets myself, aside from the delicious cupcakes, star of the show. Those were made by the talented Lindsey from Cupcakes and Such. More about those later.

My favorite part of my dessert bar items were the chocolate dipped (and drizzled) pretzel rods… or Fairy Godmother Wands. 🙂

This is how I made my chocolate to dip and drizzle over marshmallows, popcorn, and pretzels:

I used almond bark as my base. And I used gel food coloring in pink and purple. Because almond bark, like other chocolates, seizes up when you add water-based colorants (gel is water based), I added about a teaspoon of coconut oil after adding my color to bring it back to a more workable consistency. This gave my chocolate a slight coconutty flavor that was very tasty! I kind of wanted it to harden up a little bit because the almond bark chocolate on it’s own (before adding color) was too thin for me to do what I wanted with it. Trial and error here…

You can also use Wilton’s Candy Melts, that come in all sorts of colors. But, you know me; I use what I have.

My process:

1. Melt almond bark in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until it is all melted. Use a tall jar for dipping pretzel rods.

2. Add gel food coloring a little at a time. If it starts to seize up, add coconut oil as needed, 1 tsp at a time – it doesn’t take much, to return it to a smooth texture.

3. Use your colored chocolate to dip or drizzle. When I dipped things, I used my big bucket of organic popcorn kernels to prop them up while they dried. When I drizzled things, I did it on a piece of parchment paper for easy clean up.

Sprinkles add texture and fun to these treats, so go for it! Magical!

Fairy Godmother Wands

Princess Pillows

Both kids and adults had a blast at Monkey’s party! The dessert bar was a big hit, and I had fun making it, with a little help from the birthday girl.

And those cupcakes? They were chocolate chip cup cake with pink butter-cream frosting, adorned with white and dark chocolate tiaras, sprinkled with edible silver glitter. Yeah, they were as awesome as they sound.

My little princess is 4! I can’t believe it. It feels like yesterday that I was laboring through the night, knowing that she would be in my arms soon. See my post on my other blog to read more about why I am the woman I am, thanks to having this beautiful little girl in my life. I am so thankful for her.

So tell me, do you do big birthday parties or do you have a cozy family affair? Lots of homemade treats or order pizza. What’s your favorite way to party?

~Veronica