Rose Easter Cake

Easter candy, you are killing me. 

This time of year is always tough. Right as I decide I am going to get in shape for summer, BAM! I forget about the 5 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies I ordered and they show up on a day when I could eat every single one in a sitting. Then, just as I get those out of the picture I am inundated with all that delicious and tempting Eater candy. (I think I had more  fun shopping for Easter Bunny candy for Mini Mac than I did shopping for Christmas. That aisle is so much fun.)

Oh, and did I mention that ALL of the above takes place during Lent? Yeah. Pretty dang tough for this gal. I had to quit giving up sweets for Lent because I failed miserably EVERY year.

I made this cake for my friend Sherry for Easter. Her in laws are coming into town and she wanted something special for their visit. They are not big chocolate fans so she decided on strawberry. I make a mean strawberry cake. My secret? Just a boxed mix, but in place of the water I use pureed strawberries. It makes SUCH a difference. 

I have had this rose pattern on my to-do list for a while now. I thought it would be perfect for an delicate Easter cake. Yes, the large rose to the left screams "Look at me! I want all the attention!" But I think it's pretty for my first try. Check out the tutorial I found at I Am Baker.

And then since it's Easter, I nestled a few Cadbury Mini Eggs in the center. These are the perfect candy for Easter baked goods.

Aren't they adorable?

One last tip that I must share. I was on a discussion board at Wilton.com one day and the topic was how to get a moist cake. One of the commenters shared that her grandmother ALWAYS put any cake she made in the freezer for at least 24 hours and then thawed it prior to decorating. She claims that her cakes were always so super moist and comparable to bakery cakes. Once my layers were cooled, I wrapped them twice in plastic wrap, tied each one up in a plastic bag and tucked them into my freezer. I laid them out to thaw the night before I was set to decorate. They appeared super moist to me, but I can't wait to hear the reviews from Sherry.

A very Happy Easter to you and yours!

Happy Easter !

There's nothing quite like being elbow deep in icing and out of nowhere your nose starts itching. Good times. For some reason it happened to me about 4 times this morning while I was piping the nests onto these Eater inspired cupcakes. I could do nothing but keep decorating and force some happy thoughts.

The first tulips of spring....

The Big Bang Theory....

Kosmic Karma pizza from Mellow Mushroom....

Zac Efron...(yes, I could be his much older sister but you gotta admit, he's pretty.)

....what was I saying? Oh, yeah, cupcakes.

My friend Terri Jo pointed me in the direction of these cupcakes from some pictures she found online. Different versions of them are all over the internet so I didn't come up with the idea on my own. As The Hungry Housewife, Leslie Green, stated the other day, "No one invents anything these days." However, I did put my own touches to them and I am very happy with how they turned out. 

I made chocolate cupcakes and topped them with a layer of green icing. Using a grass tip, I piped chocolate icing in a circular motion building up around the edges to form the "walls" of the nest. I placed chocolate candy coated eggs in the nests and added a candy butterfly embellishment. 

They took a bit more time than the cupcakes I have done lately, but they were lots of fun and turned out super cute! Now, if only I can keep Baby Mac out of them until tomorrow...

A very Happy Easter to you and yours!!