Bake a Basket Cake
An Easter Basket Cake from FamilyFun
by Catherine McGrady
Why miss an opportunity to make a holiday a really special day? Not only is
this Easter basket cake a terrific alternative to the store-bought plastic
variety, it's also one of our cutest and most inventive cakes. Did I mention
that it's also easy to make?
Ingredients and Materials
1-lb., 2.25-oz. box yellow cake mix
1-lb. container white frosting
1 cup shredded coconut
Green food coloring
Jelly beans and other Easter candy
Pipe cleaners
Ribbons
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 1 1/2-quart stainless
steel bowl.
Prepare the cake mix according to the
directions on the box.
Pour the batter into the bowl.
Bake for 70 minutes or until an inserted
toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the bowl for 15 minutes, then
unmold it onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.
Turn the cake right side up and place it on a platter.
Cut a circle out of the center of the cake, leaving
a 1 1/2-inch border.
Scoop cake out of the circle to form a 1-inch-deep crater.
Frost the cake.
For the grass, add several drops of green food coloring
to the coconut in a zippered plastic bag.
Close the bag and shake it well (a good job for kids).
Fill the crater with the coconut, jelly bean eggs and
the other Easter candy.
For a handle, arch two pipe cleaners over the cake.
Wrap ribbons around the handle and tie a big bow in the center.
Bunny Cake
Step 1
Bake your favorite cake recipe or store-bought cake mix according to package
directions in two 9-inch round cake pans (you will need only one layer of cake,
so save the other for snacking).
Step 2
When cooled, cut the round in half, frost the top of one half, and place the
other on top of it.
Step 3
Arrange the cake upright on a platter with the cut sides down. Cut out a small
triangle and round the edges with a knife.
Step 4
Frost the cake with white frosting and sprinkle it with a layer of coconut
'fur.' (For a pink bunny, you can mix the coconut with 4 drops of red food
coloring.)
Step 5
Decorate with construction paper ears, and use jelly beans or gumdrops for
eyes, a nose and a mouth. Black shoestring licorice makes good whiskers, and a
marshmallow, of course, makes the perfect cotton tail.
Ducky Desserts
A quacky snack from FamilyFun
Make a splash on a rainy day by scooping up a flock of these ice-cream
ducklings adapted from THE CHILDREN'S PARTY HANDBOOK (Barron's). They're
delicious, fun to make and take no time at all. Just follow these five easy
steps:
Materials
Ice cream, flavor of your choice
Chocolate chips or raisins
Orange gumdrop, flattened
Fruit leather or dried apricots
Directions
First spread out a paper cupcake liner and set it on a small plate or in a
bowl.
For the body, place a large scoop of vanilla ice cream or lemon sherbet on top
of the liner.
Create a neck by topping the body with a spoonful of ice cream and use the bowl
of the spoon to flatten it slightly. Place a small scoop of ice cream on the
neck for the head. Press on chocolate chips or raisins for eyes.
For a beak, flatten an orange gumdrop and cut it into two pieces. Or you can
simply insert a shelled peanut into the ice cream.
Finally, make webbed feet with pieces of fruit leather or dried apricots.
Easter Bonnet Cookies
by Ann Hallock
As an edible holiday project, these beautiful, bonnet-shaped cookies are just
about the best.
Use the sugar cookie recipe below--or store-bought cookie dough, if you want to
save time--for the bonnet. Then get out the frosting and candy and start
decorating.
Whether you are planning to serve them to your guests at Easter or eat them
yourselves in celebration of spring, you and the kids are bound to have a ball.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
Decorations, such as frosting, tubes of decorating gel, sprinkles, fruit
leather
Directions
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the
eggs and vanilla extract, then stir in the dry ingredients and combine well.
Divide the dough and roll it into 2 logs, one about 10 inches long and 2 inches
in diameter, and one about 10 inches by 1 inch. Wrap them in plastic and
refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.
Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the logs into 1/4-inch slices and bake on
greased cookie sheets for 8 to 10 minutes for the large slices and 5 to 7
minutes for the small. Cool on wire racks.
Stack the small cookies on top of the large ones, gluing them in place with a
dab of frosting. Frost the bonnets, then decorate them with gel icing,
sprinkles, and fruit leather ribbons. Makes about 40 bonnets.
Easter Bunny Carrot Muffins
They'll be hoppin' for these muffins from FamilyFun magazine.
1 of 2
These soft, moist muffins have all the ingredients little Easter bunnies (and
breakfast cooks) love: raisins, nuts, a crumb topping, and, of course, grated
carrots for flavor,
Easter Bunny Carrot Muffins
These soft, moist muffins have all the ingredients little Easter bunnies (and
breakfast cooks) love: raisins, nuts, a crumb topping, and, of course, grated
carrots for flavor, texture, and a splash of color. Kids' Cooking Skills: Use
this recipe to teach your child how to fold bulky ingredients, such as grated
carrots, into muffin batter and how to blend a butter crumb topping.
1. Heat the oven to 400�F. Place paper liners in 12 muffin pan cups.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl.
Stir in the raisins, walnuts, and orange zest.
3. Crack the egg into a medium-size mixing bowl. Add the buttermilk, brown
sugar, and oil. Whisk well.
4. Make a well in the dry mixture. Pour in the liquid all at once and stir
until the ingredients are almost blended. Then fold in the carrot.
5. Have your child use a large spoon to divide the batter evenly between the
muffin cups. Gently press a little of the crumb topping (see below) on each
one.
6. Bake the muffins on the center rack for 20 minutes, or until the tops are
golden brown.
7. Cool the muffins in the pan for two to three minutes, then transfer them to
a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12.
8. Butter Crumb Topping Gently pressed on top of the batter just before baking,
this sweet muffin topping works well with most recipes.
9. To make enough for a dozen muffins, combine 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour,
1/4 cup of packed light brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl and
mix them with your fingertips.
10. Add 2 tablespoons of cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces. Rub it
thoroughly into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the topping is
gravelly in texture.
11. If you like nuts, chop up a handful of your favorite ones and toss them in
too.
Fluffer Bunnies
Mold marshmallows into sweet mini bunnies that are a treat to eat.
� Marshmallows
� Food coloring
Step 1:
Using scissors, make a diagonal cut in the upper left corner of the
marshmallow.
Step 2:
Gently lift the corner and make a snip down the middle.
Step 3:
Use your fingers to separate the ears and angle them outward.
Step 4:
>From the point where the first cut was made, snip to the middle of the
>marshmallow.
Step 5:
Pinch the cut end slightly to form a rounded tail.
Step 6:
For the bunny's face, make an 1/4-inch horizontal cut midway between the base
of the ears and the bottom of the marshmallow.
Step 7:
Create the feet by making a diagonal cut in the lower left corner of the
marshmallow. Divide the feet as shown.
Step 8:
Using a toothpick dipped in food coloring, draw on the eyes, nose, and
whiskers.
Garden Carrot Cake
Like his cousin Peter Rabbit, the Easter Bunny has been known to steal
vegetables from Mr. McGregor's garden. On this Garden Carrot Cake, the almond
Easter Bunny nibbles marzipan cabbages, carrots and radishes.
Step 1
For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a
13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil and brown sugar
until well blended. In a separate bowl, sift the baking soda, cinnamon, salt
and flour, then gradually add it to the egg mixture; do not overmix. Add the
pineapple and syrup, coconut, walnuts and carrots, and beat well.
Step 2
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a
toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan
for 10 to 15 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely. Serves 12
to 14.
Step 3
For the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and cream
cheese until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Makes
3 1/2 cups.
Step 4
For the marzipan vegetables: Break the marzipan into six or so balls, and knead
in small amounts of food coloring paste, so they match the colors of the
vegetables you wish to mold. Be sure to leave some marzipan uncolored for the
bunnies. All of the following decorations can be made up to three weeks ahead
and stored in an airtight container.
Step 5
Carrots: Roll orange-colored marzipan into a ball the size of a large pea, then
roll one side of the ball into the tapered shape of a carrot. With a toothpick,
poke a hole in the larger end for the green carrot tops. Make the tops by
rolling one tiny piece of green marzipan into three tiny, thin strings. Pinch
them together at one end and insert that end into the hole at the top of the
carrot. If the stem wobbles a bit, use a toothpick to push the carrot top
snugly around the stem.
Step 6
Lettuce or red cabbage: Make these vegetables from balls of green and purple
marzipan, respectively, rolling one marble-size ball and two slightly smaller
balls for each. Place the two smaller balls between sheets of plastic wrap, and
use a small rolling pin or the flat side of a butter knife to flatten them into
ovals; cut each oval in half. Slightly flatten the bottom of the large ball so
that it doesn't roll. Wrap three or four of the half ovals around the large
ball so that they resemble the outer leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage. To
secure the leaves, press the cut edges to the base of the center ball.
Step 7
Radishes: Form tiny, slightly egg-shaped red balls and poke a hole in the tops
with a toothpick. Form the stems by shaping one to three small green balls,
each flattened into a disk, then pinched into a curl. Insert the pinched edge
into the hole at the top of the radish, as with the carrot.
Step 8
Ice the cooled Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Sprinkle the crushed
cookies on top for 'dirt.' Form a log of marzipan for each bunny's body, and
pinch to form back feet. Roll ovals for the head, tail, front paws and ears,
and press onto the body. (Note: Microwaving the marzipan for a few seconds will
make it easier to handle.) Using a clean paintbrush, paint the face with food
coloring diluted in water. Add the bunnies and rows of Marzipan Vegetables.
Flower Power
Welcome spring with this easy-to-create garden of beautiful buds.
� 2 1/2 to 3 cups white icing
� 1 baked 13- by 9-inch cake
� 4 baked cupcakes
� 5 baked mini cupcakes
� 1/4 cup green icing
� Green gel icing (optional)
� Candy for decorations, such as spearmint leaves,
� colored sugar, colored nonpareils, LifeSavers
� Gummies, sour rings, jujubes, M&M's Minis, and Jujyfruits
Step 1:
First, frost the 13- by 9-inch cake with the white icing. (Tester's Tip: To
avoid dark crumbs in the light-colored icing, we used a white cake and
cupcakes.) Arrange the cupcakes and mini cupcakes (you can cut them in half
horizontally for thinner flowers if you wish) on top of the cake, wherever
you'd like a flower. Cover them with the white icing as well, including the
sides.
Step 2:
Using a pastry bag (or a plastic bag with one small corner cut off), pipe a
green icing stem for each flower. If you'd like, you can also add green gel
icing grass. Place spearmint leaves along the icing stems, then decorate the
cupcakes with colored sugar and candies to create a garden of colorful blooms.
You can also pipe on dollops of icing, as we did with some of our flowers.
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INGREDIENTS
Carrot Cake (See directions below)
Cream Cheese Frosting
3 tbsp. crushed chocolate cookies
Marzipan for Easter bunnies
Paste food coloring
Marzipan Vegetables
CARROT CAKE
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups corn oil
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple in natural syrup
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3 cups grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 1/2 to 3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Green food coloring
MARZIPAN VEGETABLES
Marzipan (roughly 14 oz.)
Food coloring paste
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INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed grated carrot
Butter Crumb Topping
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to
you when you have forgotten the words.
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