I’ve promised a post with some pictures and ideas of things I made for the party a couple of weeks ago for my new baby niece, and I think it’s finally time to deliver.
First, some background for my non-Jewish readers. The party is a traditional Jewish celebration in honor of the birth of a baby girl. In most cases, including this one, the party took place on Sabbath afternoon, just after prayer services. This party was attended by mostly neighbors, as observant Jews don’t drive on Sabbath. My brother lives in a very young neighborhood, with what often feels like two million kids. When planning the goodies I made, I tried to balance pretty (for the women) and kid-friendly. Here’s what I came up with. As you will soon see, the theme colors were pink and silver. Pretty for a little princess, right?
Cake Pops!
The internet is full of directions on making cake pops, so I won’t include those here. For proper directions, go back to the source. Here are a couple of tips on what I did with these:
- The chocolate was not made because it matched the color scheme, but because it tastes a lot better than candy melts. Think about that when choosing what to cover your cake pops in.
- To drizzle the pink on the chocolate I put melted pink candy melts in a squeeze bottle. When I wasn’t using it, I stuck the bottle in warm water to keep it from hardening.
- To get the silver sprinkles on top of the pink actually took some experimenting. I tried the squeeze bottle, but it was too thick. I wound up using a paint brush to apply a thin layer of pink, like glue, then I dipped it in silver sparkly sugar. Careful when doing this, because the very thin layer means it dries exceptionally quickly.
- This is more of a generic cake pop tip, but make sure you cover the pop all the way. Rather let the melted candy drip a little down the stick than leave exposed cake around the stick. The exposed cake gets too soft and makes the stick fall out.
The verdict: Let me quote one little boy whom I heard calling his friends into the party. “Come in here,” he exclaimed, “it’s AWESOME.” Every kid who came in made a bee-line for these. I couldn’t have made anything they enjoyed more. Except maybe…
Oreo Cake Pops:
These cake pops were made by using this recipe (have I mentioned it’s my favorite thing to make for any party?) Once your Oreos are stuffed, instead of rolling them in sprinkles, stick a lollipop stick in it and freeze them. Once frozen, proceed with the coating instructions for cake pops. Decorate as you like. I used the same glue method as I mentioned above. The little sugar pearls really add an amazing touch to these, dontcha think? 
The verdict: hard to say which the kids liked more, but there’s something about the joyous exclamation of “A cookie on a stick!” that makes all the work worth it!
Decorated Marshmallows:
Honestly, I made these simply because they were so easy and the colors matched my scheme so perfectly. I found the tutorial here, and honestly, I have nothing to add to it- it’s all so clear and oh-my-gosh-gorgeous.
The verdict: How is this even a question? Candy coated in sugar…two guesses if the kids loved them!
Bakery Style Cookies:
Do these look familiar? They should.
The verdict: The kids loved these (what a shock, right?). The funny thing, though, is that my family (who had tasted these before) were all annoyed that most of them were eaten by the kids!
Mini Blueberry Crumb Muffins
I’ve posted this recipe before, but those were big. I decided to make them in mini, because somehow a large muffin seems daunting and indelicate for a person standing at a dessert table. The only difference here was to bake them in mini muffin pans and for 10-12 minutes, instead of the longer baking time.
The verdict: I didn’t notice the kids eating these (not enough sugar coating, I guess), but the mothers were absolutely crazy over them. And my family fought over who got to take home the leftovers- although there were almost none!
Mini Strawberry Bundt Cakes with Strawberry Cream Glaze:I’ll be posting the recipe to this eventually, but in the meantime, you can do this with your favorite cupcake recipes: bake it in a mini bundt pan, glaze it with a matching glaze, and put some decoration (in this case, pink sugar pearls) in the center. It’s a great way to dress up the simple cupcake.
The verdict: These cakes (which were a lot prettier than they look in the picture, I think) got one of the best compliments I’ve ever received on a baked good. “Wow, these are delicious. I wasn’t expecting them to be so good, because usually things that look this pretty don’t taste this good.”
Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
I’m slightly hesitant to post these, because I’m still very new to cupcakes (as you can see from the picture!), but here’s what I did: I used my go to vanilla cake recipe, and baked it in silver foil cupcake liners. (Super cheap but hey, it matched my theme so good for me, right?) I used the Strawberry frosting recipe from Sprinkles, (increased the powdered sugar a but to make the frosting thicker) and piped them using a 1M frosting tip. I also used silver shimmer dust from Wilton, which set me back about a million dollars, but definitely made them look shiny and oh-so-pretty.
The verdict? Everyone loves cupcakes, right? I felt bad because the mothers were trying so hard not to let their kids have them, but those that did were thrilled. Then the guests left and the adults dug in. I was going to bring the leftovers to my office, but suffice it to say…none of them made it that long.
That’s about it folks. I made some simple cookies too, and lots of neighbors sent over treats…and unsurprisingly, nobody was left to starve.
If you have any specific questions about the treats I made here, please ask me in the comments and I will post the answers.
Enjoy!
