The Sweet
As I write this, I’m in a coffee house called “The Hive”at Roehampton University in London. (My husband brought me along on a work trip:) Traveling in the U K. is easy because there’s no real language barrier but there are things I’m still figuring out I think I just tipped the gal behind the barrista the equivalent of $5, oops!) Anyway, back in “The States,” I ran across these bunny ear cupcakes on a website called “Your Cup of Cake” and had to put my 4 ingredient spin on them!
Cupcakes:
A boxed cake mix (carrot, white or lemon is good - strawberry looks cute but tastes artificial)
regular cream cheese
eggs
Icing:
1 and 3/4 pkgs. of regular cream cheese
1 & 3/4 cup of powered sugar
Bunny Ears:
Regular sized marshmellos (They now make pink ones as well:)
Pink sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350
Step 1: Follow the box directions for making cupcakes except substitute softened cream cheese (microwaved about 20 secs. in a bowl) in place of the oil/butter required. (Michael’s has precious paper cupcake holders!) Note: Whenever baking anything, always slowly open your oven so that your creations don’t cave in. Another past oops!
Step 2. For the icing, soften the cream cheese just slightly (15 to 20 secs for the whole block) in a mixing bowl then blend in the powdered sugar using a hand mixer until smooth.
Step 3. After the cupcakes have cooled, ice by hand or better yet use a pastry bag and tip - so fun! (You can find these inexpensively at Michael’s or your regular grocery store. You can also cut the tip off of a plastic bag and use that.)
Step 4. For the bunny ears, cut chilled marshmellos diagonally (see 4.a below) then dip each one sticky side down into sprinkles. (4.b below) and place them on top of each iced cupcake.
Step 4. a
Step 4. b
The Sacred
All the bunny rabbit stuff is super fun, but Jesus got there first. My good friend Debbie Hunter got one of these succulent crosses for her B’day, and I thought it would be great to make them to celebrate Easter and the rssurection! Here’s what you will need:
A moss covered cross. (You can get these for $6.50 on-line at the Wreath Shop or on Amazon (brown moss) for $11.00 - They both take about 1 week to arrive so you best get ordering:)
Lots and lots of small succulents (Walmart has really good prices - I ordered mine on-line.) You will want around 30 succulents cuttings (like the ones in the picture opposite).
Scissors
Old fashioned hair pins (not bobby). These seem to work better than the silver floral pins.
Opt. glue gun and sticks
Step 1. Clip a bunch of succulents leaving a half inch or so if possible of stem. When needed you can remove some of the leaves at the base of the clippings to create more of a clean stem. (if you are working with small individual succulents and can get some of their roots, that is even better.)
Step 2. Use scissors to punch holes in the moss to make a place for each succulent stem.
Step 3. Secure each succulent with a hair pin doing your best to go around the leaves without puncturing them. The smaller clippings only need one hairpin.
Step. 4 You can layer the succulents. For example, it looks really cool when you use mini succulent buds in the center of a larger succulent. You can use hair pins on top succulents or a glue gun to secure them. Glue guns also work great to reattach leaves that have come off.
*You can hang your cross by simply punching a hole in the back of it and putting it on a nail.
** The cross will last longer if you keep it outside in indirect sunlight (or even just at nigh)t and lightly spray water all over it at least once a week.
*** If the moss turns brown and you don’t like that look, just cover all the brown with more succulents.
Looking Back
Last year we did these precious Bunny Napkin Folds - Total crowd pleasers and easy to do!
