Make chocolate baskets by cutting plastic bubble wrap into squares. Spread the bubble side with a layer or two of melted chocolate.

Place each square into a glass or muffin tin to use as a mould.

Refrigerate until hard, remove from mould and carefully peel off plastic.

Fill with [...]]]>

Here is a quick tip for a child’s birthday party.

Make chocolate baskets by cutting plastic bubble wrap into squares. Spread the bubble side with a layer or two of melted chocolate.

Place each square into a glass or muffin tin to use as a mould.

Refrigerate until hard, remove from mould and carefully peel off plastic.

Fill with sweets or serve for dessert filled with ice cream or filling of choice.

You can also use the baskets for small sweets, like peppermint creams.

How to make peppermint creams:

500 g icing sugar
1-2 egg whites
3 ml peppermint essence (almond tastes good as well)
100 g dark chocolate

Sift the icing sugar into a big bowl. Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add enough of the egg white to the sugar to form a stiff paste. Mix in the peppermint essence.

Roll the paste out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar to about 7mm thickness. Use small pastry cutters to cut into rounds, hearts or desired shapes. Leave them to dry for 2-3 hours.

Melt the chocolates in the microwave or in a double boiler. Dip half of each peppermint cream into the chocolates. Allow to dry on greaseproof paper, which will take about 5 minutes.

Yield about 40 peppermint creams.

Tip: Dark chocolate is best to use, as the milk or white versions would be too sweet. Add a drop of green food coloring to the peppermint creams and pink or red food coloring to almond creams.

Note: The chocolate basket method and peppermint cream recipe were originally published on my ezi-edible-gifts blog during 2007

Who says chocolate is not a food group?

Enjoy!

Aside from the games and prizes, one of the things that children look forward to when attending a birthday party is the food.

Kids will eat whenever they have a chance and at a party, they normally eat more just because there is food available that is not normally served.

To ensure that [...]]]>

Kids Birthday Party Food

Aside from the games and prizes, one of the things that children look forward to when attending a birthday party is the food.

Kids will eat whenever they have a chance and at a party, they normally eat more just because there is food available that is not normally served.

To ensure that they will enjoy the food, plan a menu that includes the usual foods that children love to eat such as cake, ice cream, chicken, pasta, cookies, barbeque, and cupcakes.

Of course, if the party has a theme, it will play a role in the kind of food you are going to serve, but will not necessarily dictate it.

For instance, if you have a beach party in your backyard, you will probably decide to serve fish nuggets and potato chips in the shape of fish.

Your sandwiches and cookies will most likely also have fish or other sea creature shapes. However, you can just as well have a fish braai/barbeque with a mixed salad served in  individual crispy cracker bowls. (link opens in a new window)

Yes, kids do like salad, believe it or not.  You can always make up  “names”  for the ingredients that will fit the theme of the party and they will definitely eat it.

The time of the party will also play a role in the kind of food that you are going to serve. If the party is held in the morning (10:00 am – 11:00 am),  light snacks are ideal as the mother would most probably expect the child to eat lunch when he arrives back home.

From 11:00 am to 12:30 pm you can rather go easy on the snacks and serve a light meal like macaroni and cheese or a pasta salad followed by a piece of  cake or ice cream.

Depending on the children’s ages at the party and your child’s wishes, you may choose to make cupcakes and save the birthday cake for a family birthday dinner. Cupcakes are quicker and easier to serve and more times than not will be fully eaten. When it comes to ice cream, stick to the basics, chocolate and vanilla. It will save many headaches in trying to figure out who wants what.

If there will be other parents  present at the party, you can either make different food for them or you can plan the kids’ menu to include food that the parents would also enjoy.

On the other hand, do not stress too much about preparing a reward-winning feast. The party guests will be thrilled just as much with a bag of chips and dips and something to drink.  Keep them busy with lots of games and activities and serve a piece of cake or ice cream just before they have to go home, and they won’t need more.

Remember, although food do play a big role in the success of a child’s birthday party, the important thing is to have fun. Relax and enjoy the planning of your child’s party.

Your turn: What influences your decisions about the food you are going to serve at your child’s birthday party?

The polony and egg pies on the photo fall into the above criteria for party food. It is easy to make, do not cost a lot, (you are bound [...]]]>

Party food should be easy to make and something that both kids and adults will enjoy eating which could be a snack or a meal in itself.

The polony and egg pies on the photo fall into the above criteria for party food. It is easy to make, do not cost a lot, (you are bound to have all or nearly all the ingredients in your fridge and cupboard),  and both adults and children will enjoy it.

It is also one of those kinds of recipes where you can add other ingredients to the basic egg mixture to have different tasting pies every time.

You can  substitute the polony slices with other cold or processed meats if you like.

It can be served hot or cold, so it is suitable for winter and summer parties.

Polony and Egg Pies -Basic Recipe:

You will need:

• 12 slices of French Polony (or processed meat of choice)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 100ml milk
• salt and pepper or seasoning of choice to taste
• finely grated cheese of choice

Do this:

1. Preheat oven to 160° Celsius.
2. Spray a 12 hole, deep muffin pan with non-stick spray.
3. Line the muffin pan with the polony slices.
4. Fry onions in a little oil until soft and translucent.
5. Add to beaten eggs, season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Add the milk and mix well.
7. Spoon mixture into the polony cases – do not fill right to the top.
8. Sprinkle cheese on top of the mixture.
9. Bake 10 – 15 minutes until the mixture has set or until the cheese turns golden brown.

Variations:

• Add some chopped mushrooms and bacon to the onion before frying.

• Add grated cheese to the egg and milk mixture before spooning it into the polony cases.

• Add fresh, chopped parsley and/or chives to the mixture.

• Use plain yoghurt instead of milk, but increase the eggs to 4

 Enjoy and have fun when planning your child’s birthday party!

This chocolate cake with marshmallow topping is quick and easy to make. You can even bake the cake a week before the birthday party and keep [...]]]>

Tray-bake cakes cut down considerably on the time it takes to make a “proper” birthday cake for your child, but can be made to look festive enough for any party.

This chocolate cake with marshmallow topping is quick and easy to make. You can even bake the cake a week before the birthday party and keep it in the freezer until the day before the party.

Take it out of the freezer and leave to thaw at room temperature. Make the marshmallow topping, then keep cake in the fridge so the marshmallows can set completely before cutting it into squares on the day of the party.

You can also just cut the cake in squares and decorate the individuals squares with the marshmallow mixture by using a piping bag and nozzle of choice, or simply let the mixture drizzle down the sides of the squares.

To make the chocolate cake:

• 4 large eggs
• 375ml (300g) white sugar
• 1 cup (250ml) milk or water
• 125ml oil
• 100ml cocoa powder
• 275g (500ml) flour
• 10ml baking powder
• pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a 23cm x33cm x 5cm rectangular baking pan with waxpaper. spray the sides of the pan with baking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Mix the water, oil and cocoa powder in a small saucepan. Heat to boiling point, remove from heat and stir thoroughly until cocoa powder has dissolved completely.
4. Add to the egg and sugar mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add the two cups of sifted flour, a pinch of salt and 10 ml of baking powder.
5. Beat on medium speed until combined.
6. Add 10 ml of vanilla essence and beat for a few seconds.
7. Pour batter into prepared cake pan/s and bake 30 – 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
8. Take out of oven and let the cake cool for a while in the pan, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Remove the wax paper and return the cake to the pan.

To make the marshmallow topping:

• 500ml water
• 400g (500ml) white sugar
• 40ml gelatin
• 2ml cream of tartar
• 25ml lemon juice

1. Heat the water, white sugar, gelatin and cream of tartar in a big saucepan over medium heat until it reaches boiling point.
2. Continue boiling for 10 minutes (do not cover with a lid). Set aside to cool.
3. When the mixture has cooled completely but has not yet started to set , add the lemon juice and beat on high speed until it is thick and holding its shape.

Spoon the mixture evenly over the cake in the pan. If desired, decorate with toasted coconut, hundreds and thousands or finely chopped nuts of choice. Leave the cake in the fridge until the marshmallow topping has set completely. Cut into squares (approximately 3cm x 3 cm) before serving.

Smart Idea:

You can also use this quick and easy marshmallow recipe to make the topping. The recipe on this page makes quite a huge batch of marshmallows, so here are the ingredients to make just enough marshmallow mixture to cover the cake. If you do decide to make the recipe as given, use the rest of the marshmallow mixture to fill ice cream cones for another quick and easy party snack.

Marshmallow recipe:

• 25 g (40 ml ) gelatin
• 65 ml cold water
• 187.5 ml boiling water
• 2 x 250 ml white sugar
• 1 egg white
• pinch of salt
• 5 ml vanilla essence or flavor of choice

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer and allow to soften. Add the boiling water and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. Add the white sugar, egg whites and salt, beat with the whisk attachment of electric mixer for 15 to 20 minutes until the mixture thickens.

Another smart idea:  Use the cake recipe above but omit the cocoa powder and decrease oil to 100ml – then colour the batter with a few drops of food colouring of choice before baking the cake.

Use any of the above marshmallow recipes but colour the marshmallows to compliment the colour of the cake.

Bake cupcakes and when they have cooled, spoon  marshmallow mixture  into a piping bag, fit with a star nozzle and pipe the marshmallows on top of the cupcakes. Decorate further as desired.

Enjoy and remember to have fun when you plan your child’s birthday party.

The following recipe [...]]]>

A Cottage Pie is sometimes also known as a *Shepherds Pie. It is made from a mince meat mixture topped with mashed potatoes. It can be made in a single serving dish or for the purposes of the winter wonderland party theme food, it can be served individually in cups or ramekin dishes.

The following recipe is for a basic mince mixture that can be made a few days before the party and  stored in the freezer. Take the mixture out of the freezer the evening  before the party, leave in the fridge to thaw overnight. On the day of the party, you then just have to make the mashed potato for the crust/topping, add a few extra ingredients to the basic mince mixture and you can serve the cottage pie in a matter of minutes.

Basic Mince Mixture:

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed (optional or add garlic to taste)
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 kg extra-lean beef mince
• 410g can tomato and onion mix
• 425g can red kidney beans, drained
• 5ml oreganum
• 250ml beef stock
• 10ml sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 25ml cooking oil for frying

If you want to serve a hot meal, serve white pizzas or prepare individual chicken or cottage pies for each guest, add some [...]]]>

When you prepare the party snacks for the snow party, think “white  snacks”, like popcorn snow balls, marshmallow snowmen, homemade marshmallows, meringue snowflakes and snowflake shaped cookies decorated with white icing or fondant.

If you want to serve a hot meal, serve white pizzas or prepare individual chicken or cottage pies for each guest, add some small, freshly baked bread rolls and round off the meal with a white hot chocolate drink.

Even if you have to think “white” snacks and food, the food would seem quite boring if it is all white, so you can bring in colour with toppings, fillings and added decorations to the snacks.

Here is a recipe for the popcorn snow balls:

• 40g margarine
• 100 g popping corn
• 250g white marshmallows
• icing sugar

1. Heat margarine in a large pot. Add corn and cover with a lid. Cook over a medium heat, shaking the pot occasionally, until the corn stops popping. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Put the marshmallows into a large glass bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water to melt. Stir occasionally. When melted, stir in the popcorn until well coated.

3. Dust your hand with icing sugar and roll the popcorn mixture into small balls.

Meringue Snowflakes:

Recipe for Meringues

Measure enough parchment paper or foil to line two large baking sheets. Use a pencil to draw snowflake patterns on the paper. Turn the paper printed side down and secure with a little bit of meringue mixture in the corners of the baking sheets. Transfer meringue to a decorating bag fitted with a 3/8-inch round tip. Pipe snowflake shapes onto the paper-lined sheets or foil following the patterns. Sprinkle the meringues with edible glitter or colored sugar.

Snowflake Shapes for Meringues

White Hot Chocolate: (6-8 servings)

 Heat 1 liter of milk to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and add 200g grated or chopped white chocolate to the milk. Stir until chocolate has melted. Pour into glasses. Spoon one tablespoon of whipped cream on top of the milk in each glass and sift some icing sugar over the tops.

Decorate the glasses with silver snowflake stickers.

Your turn: What kind of “white” snacks would you prepare for a winter or snow  themed party?

The “snow village” on the image comes from the Better Homes [...]]]>

No birthday party is complete without a birthday cake.  Although it may seem quite difficult to come up with a cake idea for a snow party, it’s quite easy to make a whole “snow village” from two round gingerbread cakes and lots of white frosting.

The “snow village” on the image comes from the Better Homes and Gardens – Creative Cake Decorating Book that was first published in 1983.

Apart from all the lovely albeit unusual cakes like a Father’s Day Shirt, Driver’s License, Slice of Watermelon, Pumpkin shaped cake, to name a few, it also has kids party theme cakes like  Old Macdonald’s Farm/Barn, Moon Rocket,  School Day Bus and even a baseball shaped cake complete with smaller personalised Baseball Cap cakes.

There are also lots of cake and frosting recipes, step by step instructions on how to decorate the cakes, hints and tips on preparing cakes before frosting and clear diagrams for the more difficult cakes in the book. An old edition, but still worth to have in your recipe book collection.

On to the snow village…

Here’s what you will need to make it:

The cake:

2 x 14½ ounce packages gingerbread mix

Prepare each gingerbread mix separately according to package directions, except mix in a bowl with a fork and bake each in a greased and floured 9 x 1½ inch round baking pan. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove, cool completely. Cut the other layer as shown in diagram, below left.

The glaze:

Stir together 2 cups sifted powdered sugar and ¼ cup water. Use a pastry brush to brush glaze over all surfaces of the cake pieces. Let dry on a wire rack.

The frosting:

2 cups fluffy white frosting and pearl sugar or crushed sugar cubes.

You can use a fluffy white frosting mix for a 2-layer cake or make your own. This recipe is also taken from the book:

To make Fluffy White Frosting: (2 cups)

• ½ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/8  teaspoon cream of tartar
• dash of salt

It is also very easy to make. All you need are one square cake and a bar or loaf cake, white chocolates and a few licorice pieces.

To make the cake:

2 packets butter [...]]]>

This rather simple but pretty piano cake is perfect for a music themed party or if you have a budding pianist in your family.

It is also very easy to make. All you need are one square cake and a bar or loaf cake, white chocolates and a few licorice pieces.

To make the cake:

2 packets butter cake mix

1½ quantity ButterCream Icing

2 x 150g blocks white chocolate

licorice

1 icecream wafer

a small piece of cardboard

Do this:

Make the cakes according to directions on the packets, spoon one quarter of batter into a greased 25cm x 8 cm (10in x 3in) bar tin, spoon the remaining batter into a greased deep 20cm (8 in) square cake tin, bake in a moderate oven 180 degree Celsius (320 degree Farhenheit) 30 – 35 minutes for the bar cake, 1 hour for square cake or until cooked when tested.

Turn on to wire racks to cool completely.

Cut 2.5cm (1in) slice off one side of the square cake, stand cake on end to form back of piano. If necessary, trim sides of bar cake; cut one end off bar cake to make it the same length as back of piano, position in front of other cake (see diagram), to form the keyboard.

using a 4cm (1½ in) round cutter, cut a circle from cut-off piece of the bar cake to make the piano stool; cut a piece from base of stool so it is lower than keyboard. Place on board.

Ice both piane and stool with buttercream icing in colour of choice. Cut chocolate into 5cm (2in) strips, place upside down along keyboard (as shown in image), to represent the white keys. Cut licorice strips 4cm (1½ in) long, place along keyboard, as shown, to represent black keys. Trim the icecream wafer inta a rectangle 5cm x 4cm( 2in x 1½in), press into back of piano, as shown, to represent music stand. sheet music can be cut out and pasted on to a small piece of cardboard.

Add a small candelabra or any other small candle holder.

Sheet music can be downloaded for free from this site, you can then copy and paste it into a graphics program to resize  it before printing it out.

Try using white or pink-tinted buttercream icing for a girl’s party or use fondant to cover the cakes and make the keyboard and keys.

This piano cake is just one of many easy and beautiful birthday party cakes found in the Children’s Birthday Cake Book

Have fun when you plan your child’s music themed party and making the piano cake.

If you look at the lion cake on the image, you will realise how corn flakes and other cereals can be used to give instant and interesting texture to an animal cake.

You can use the corn [...]]]>

Have you ever used breakfast cereals to decorate a birthday cake for your child? If not, why not?

If you look at the lion cake on the image, you will realise how corn flakes and other cereals can be used to give instant and interesting texture to an animal cake.

You can use the corn flakes as is or you can crush it in a plastic bag with a rolling pin for a finer texture that can be used to resemble fur, for instance on a bunny or bear cake.

You can also substitute the corn flakes with bran flakes if you want a darker “look”, if you want a sweeter taste than the normal cornflakes, use frosted corn flakes.

So the next time you want to do something unusual with a birthday cake, first take a look in your cupboard at the different kinds of cereals you have in there.

If you use cereals to decorate your child’s birthday cake, they still have the wholesome goodness of wheat together with the sweetness of the cake…

Ok, to make the lion cake on the image, you will need the following:

• 1 round cake about 23cm/9 in in diameter (use your own favourite cake recipe or a cake mix)
• 1 quantity Butter Cream Icing in colour of choice

To decorate the cake you will need:

• Corn Flakes
• chocolate vermicelli
• 2 green Smarties for the eyes
• 1 red Smartie for the tongue
• melted chocolate or brown icing
• a big bow

Do this:

Bake the cake and leave to cool completely.  Cut out two ears and shape as shown on the next image. Then position the ears to basically get a face shape as shown.

Use a small amount of butter cream icing to “glue” the ears to the face, then cover the whole cake with the icing. Using the photo image as guideline, decorate the cake with the corn flakes and chocolate vermicelli. Position the green Smarties on the cake. Using a piping bag, pipe the rest of the features with the melted chocolate, then position the red Smartie.

Finish the decorations by adding the bow.

Click on the images to open in a new window, then save to your computer for reference if you would like to bake this cake.

As always, remember to have fun when planning your kid’s birthday party.

A special thank you to Fuzzimo for the lovely Polaroid frames I used in the main image in this post.

Source for the lion cake:   SARIE MARAIS Magazine – 19 March 1980  – one of the popular Afrikaans Magazines in South Africa

Note: The name of this magazine has since changed to SARIE

Boys in particular love army parties and I was asked a few weeks ago to bake a cake for a friend’s two little boys who wanted an army party for their birthday celebrations.

I found the idea for this army tank cake in a magazine from [...]]]>

Boys in particular love army parties and I was asked a few weeks ago to bake a cake for a friend’s two little boys who wanted an army party for their birthday celebrations.

I found the idea for this army tank cake in a magazine from 1988 and just had to try making it.

The original cake (in the magazine article) was made from one rectangular cake baked in a 34 cm x 24 cm x 11 cm cake pan with a round cake baked in a 21 cm diameter cake pan,  then covered with fondant.

For extra fun and excitement, the cakes were also “camouflaged” by dividing  the batter for each cake in half; the first half went into the pan as is, the second half was halved again. One half was coloured with green food colouring and the second half with a small amount of cocoa powder. The coloured batter was then spooned in patterns on top of the white batter.

Apart from one or two rectangular cakes and a round cake, you will also need about 2 pieces of corrugated cardboard for the caterpillar tracks, 20 chocolate covered biscuits for the wheels, (sandwich two together with small amount of icing and use five on a side), orange Smarties and orange and red jelly sweets for the lights and other desired decorations. For the gun barrel you can use a chocolate cigar or as I did, a crayon covered in tinfoil. Insert it into the top of the tank and if necessary, use a toothpick to support it.

The camo effect of the icing was done by just putting blobs of coloured icing (brown and green in different shades) on the cake and using a knife to blend the colours. I must be honest, I cannot really remember what food colouring I used to get this particular green; a few drops of green, maybe one or two drops of blue, some cocoa powder, one or two more drops of green and so on until I had the desired colour. The brown icing was a simple cocoa icing.

Use brown sugar around the cake to resemble desert sand and decorate further with plastic toy soldiers.

Remember to have fun when you plan your kid’s birthday party!