Cupcake Nest

I had one little cupcake left over from a batch I’d made and while my daughter and her friend were decorating chocolate crispy nests and chocolate pretzel nests, I decided to try to make a cupcake nest.  I only had a green cupcake left but I would probably have used a vanilla or chocolate cupcake. 

First I cut out the center.

Then I piped a ring of icing around the edge so I’d have something for the sprinkles to stick to, and it would cover the green cupcake.

I put flower and heart sprinkles around the edge, but you could use anything.  Then I filled the hollow in the cupcake with eggs and tried both the oreo truffle chicks on top.  I still think the brown eyed chick is cuter.

My children all fought over who got to eat the cupcake nest, so it was obviously good.

Chocolate Crispy Nests

As a child I always remember making chocolate rice crispy nests at Easter and I’ve never made them with my children.  I was determined to this year as they are so easy. 
First I melted the chocolate chips on 50% power in the microwave. I put it in for a minute, stir it and then put it in for another 45 seconds on 50% power and that is usually enough to melt the chocolate.


I’m not sure the exact quantities I used because I tend to throw in what looks about enough and hope for the best. I think about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of rice crispies will make one nest, so just increase your quantities for however many nests you need. You can also use corn flakes instead of rice crispies.
Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the rice crispies and spoon into muffin cases.
 
Cupcake cases aren’t quite big enough. If the nest is too small you can’t fit many eggs inside or the chick on top. Use a spoon to flatten the center to make room for the eggs and chick.

My daughter decorated the nests for me and for some reason I don’t have a photo of the chocolate crispy nest with a chick in it.  If you don’t want to make the oreo truffle chicks, you can buy any kind of chick to go in the nest.  Peeps work really well but you could just put a toy chick in too.  I just always prefer something I can eat.


And just to prove that decorating crispy treat nests isn’t just for little girls, my step son made a minimalist ‘manly’ chick.

Chocolate Pretzel Nests

Last year I made chow mien marshmallow nests (it sounds really yucky but actually they were pretty good) with peeps chicks in them but this year I wanted to try something different.  I made the oreo truffle chicks so they needed nests to sit in.  I had lots of chocolate chips, so I started with those – white chocolate would have done just as well.
First I melted the chocolate chips on 50% power in the microwave.  I put it in for a minute, stir it and then put it in for another 45 seconds on 50% power and that is usually enough.


Then I put some pretzel sticks in the bowl too and crushed them a bit with a spoon so that the sticks weren’t quite so long.


Then I mixed the pretzels well so they were covered with chocolate and put a large spoonful into muffin cases.  I used the spoon to press down in the center to make a nest shape.

When the chocolate was dry my 3 year old daughter and her friend decorated the nests for me using flower sprinkles stuck on with a blob of icing, and then filled them will chocolate eggs and jelly beans.  We topped the nest with one of the little truffle chicks.


It was a cute little craft for the girls and really easy for children of any age.  I had my son’s preschool class decorate nests last year, so even with very little icing experience it’s a lot of fun.

Sheep Cupcakes

I grew up on a farm and sheep are my favorite animal.  Unfortunately I’m not so good at making sheep out of icing. I started off with a cupcake rough iced to look like grass.

Then I covered an oreo truffle in white chocolate and placed it on the cupcake.
 
I’d had a long day and just wanted to be done with cupcakes (sometimes even I get to that point and I LOVE cupcakes), and so I was in a rush piping his legs.

As you can see his front right leg is a bit deformed, but other than that, he was quite a sweet little sheep.  I only had one truffle ball left, so I couldn’t redo his leg without messing up the grass on the cupcake, so I just left him as he was.

He looked fine from the other side with his funny leg obscured.  Once again I realized how many attempts the people who publish cake decorating books must have to make before they get the perfect cupcake design, I just don’t have the time to make 10 sheep and chose the best one.  I piped a ball of icing for his head and used a mini marshmallow cut in half for his ears and put some flowers around him.  The flowers are Wilton flower sprinkles I found at Joann and I piped a dot of icing in the center and put a white pearlized sprinkle in the middle.

Bunny Cupcakes

I made a batch of oreo truffles last week to make Easter chicks out of and I was inspired by a design I saw in my Hello Cupcake book.  They showed the tail of a rabbit sticking out of a burrow and I thought I’d make my version.  I know that to create an actual rabbit is beyond my skills (as you’ll see at the end of this post), but I figured I could make a rabbit’s bottom.

First I rough iced a cupcake to look like grass

Then I covered my oreo truffle ball in white chocolate.  It didn’t need to be smooth as rabbits are pretty fluffy. Then I stuck a mini marshmallow tail on the truffle ball and piped feet using white icing and added claws using a small piping tip and chocolate icing.

It looked a bit bare so I added some flowers

Then because I had some oreo crumbs left over, I scattered them around the rabbit’s bottom to look as if he’d kicked up some dirt.

The overall result was very cute and it’s probably one of my favorite cupcake designs.  I think I’ll make them as Easter treats from my children’s preschool classes.

I was so happy with this cupcake that I was inspired to try to make a rabbit’s head.  As you can see I’m not very good at making anything that requires a cute expression.  I used large marshmallows for the ears, with pink icing piped inside and then a mini marshmallow cut in half for the teeth.  The eyes are M&Ms and it’s nose is a blob of icing. My children liked it, but I don’t think I’d make them again.  It’s also really hard to keep the ears from falling down.  I’ll stick to rabbit’s bottoms.

Oreo Truffle Chicks

Make a batch of oreo truffles.  Roll the truffles into balls and leave in the freezer for at least 10-15 minutes.

Melt some yellow candy coating and dip the cold truffle balls into it.  I put them on a spoon and roll them round.  Because the truffles are cold the candy sets almost immediately.

Because chicks are fluffy the coating doesn’t need to be smooth, in fact it usually looks better if it’s a bit rough and ‘feathery’.

I tried three different looks to see which was cutest and I liked the third one best.

White eyes on a chick just look odd.

This little chick looked the best to me, but he really needed bigger wings.  I can’t find big heart sprinkles in any color other than pink, but maybe I’m not looking hard enough. He’ll probably be the tastiest chick you’ll eat.

Oreo Truffle Recipe

My Mother in Law always makes oreo truffles at Christmas and I love them.  I’m always looking for ways to make them year round.  The recipe is so simple and versatile that you can use it for everything from cake pops to dinosaur fossils and you can roll it, cut it or shape it almost any way you want. 
The Recipe
1 block of cream cheese
1 16-18oz pack of Oreos (store brand cheap ones work just as well)
Put the oreos in a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs.  Add the block of cream cheese and turn the food processor on high until the crumbs and the cream cheese form a lump.  Form the truffle mix into whatever shape you need.

I like to make balls and insert lollipop sticks to make very rich cake pops.  The great thing about using this recipe rather than the proper cake pop recipe is you can freeze the truffle mix and then when you dip the balls in whatever coating you choose, it cools instantly and you don’t have to worry about drips or how to hold the pop while the coating dries.  You can also roll it out and then use mini cookie cutters to make toppers for cupcakes.  It really is such a versatile recipe and the truffles taste sooo good.
These are some of the things I’ve made from the truffle mix
Dinosaur Fossils

Christmas Tree cupcake toppers

Snowmen cupcake toppers

Easter Chicks

Edible Dinosaur Fossils

I’ve seen so many recipes on Pinterest for clay to make dinosaur fossils out of, but none of them are edible.  I was hosting a dinosaur birthday party last week so I was on a mission to make an dinosaur fossil that tasted good.
I bought some little dinosaurs and these three were the best shapes to use as they were simple and easily recognizable.

My first try was with Starburst.



It seemed like it should have worked but you could hardly see the outline of the dinosaur.

I even tried putting oreo crumbs in the shape to outline it, but that just made it look worse.

They tasted great, but didn’t really work as fossils.  Next I tried white chocolate (I didn’t have milk chocolate, which would have looked more like rock).

They looked great but I couldn’t get the dinosaur out of chocolate without cracking it.

Again they tasted good but they didn’t look good.

My last attempt was using one of my favorite recipes – oreo truffles.  The photos are blurry and because the truffles are so dark the fossils don’t show up to well, but they worked perfectly.

I flatten a ball of the truffle mix and then pressed a dinosaur into the truffle.

Then I put them into the fridge for about 30 minutes to harden.  If your kids are desperate to eat them you could put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes or just let the kids eat them as they are.  I let mine harden as I needed them for the party and wanted them to be firm.

They looked much better when you make them rather than in the photo.  I turned them upside down in a bowl of oreo crumbs and had the kids at the party pretend they were excavating, which they loved.


My children just had great fun making footprints and molds of dinosaurs and candy.  I’ll definitely make truffle fossils again.