Ten-Hut !

I have been told that because the phrase "Ten-Hut!" is just a shortened version of "Attention!" it's not really an official or proper military command. It's kind of like military slang. In fact, it's use is not looked highly upon as it is seen as unprofessional in the armed forces and can result in the "dressing down" of an officer.

If the person who told me this was playing a frivolous April Fool's joke, please let me know.  I would hate to misinform my readers. I know you guys rely on me greatly for my general knowledge of useless information. (Insert sarcastic winky face here.)

My friend Christina has a son with a birthday today and he loves army men. For his special day I made Army Man Cupcakes.

I made chocolate cupcakes and added about half a cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter. I will do this from now on when I make chocolate cake of any kind. I tasted one of the extras pre-icing and these babies can stand on their own with all that chocolate flavor!

I made my aunt Joanna's buttercream icing, left half of it white and matched the other half to the color of the army men. I used a large round tip and the swirl technique I mentioned a while back. The tutorial can be found at Our Best Bites.  It's SO easy.

For the army men I used wire cutters and removed the flat base in between their feet. I didn't want it flattening out my icing.  Without the base I was able to just plant their feet into the icing, which looks more realistic and less awkward.

"So you wanna stick your finger in this icing, huh? Not on my watch!"

This guy up there is my favorite. He is positioned as if he were meant to defend that delicious mound of buttercream frosting.

"You mess with my buddy or his icing and you mess with ME!"

And this guy has his back.

Happy Birthday, Jamil!