Kitschy-Cat

Okay, so it's Easter and if you have NOTHING to do today, I have a coupla yummy treat ideas. They're easy to make but really involved, so grab the kids and the hubs and have some family fun making a mess in your kitchen together! Idea adapted from Bakerella.

Start with a box of lemon cake mix, some farm fresh eggs, some water, a lemon and as much applesauce that the mix wants you to use oil...zest and juice the lemon and add to applesauce. (those ingredients are what my box called for...the only thing I subbed out was the oil...cuz mine smelled weird and I know that you can sub apple sauce for oil and it makes for a moist cake) My applesauce was the cinnamon kind...even better...but I couldn't really notice the cinnamon flavor at all in my taste-tests...

I chose to add the lemon zest and juice cuz I wanted the lemon to really come through!

Also something else I added cuz I love it...2 teaspoons of Mexican Vanilla:

I usually sift my mixes cuzza the balls that don't fit through the sifter. I smash the balls through the screen into an 8" cake pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Makes for a nice exit strategy for the cake...

Fill just one 8" cake pan and I added white chocolate chips. You don't have to...my friend gave me a ginormous bag so I figured I'd use 'em as often as I can. I only did one cake because the baskets are seriously NOT something you're gonna want to make more than 15 of today. I promise...so I say use the rest of the batter for CUPCAKES!! Yessss...

So I grabbed some standard liners and some small liners...they're just delicious. I love cute cupcake liners! And just LOOK at that batch of white chocolate chips! Thanks, Jenn!

I put a few in each cupcake. They don't melt very well and they don't stay melted so each cupcake ends up with a little nugget of yum at the bottom, cuz they sink during baking. I did NOT know these things. I don't think I'll do it again.

Allright...the cake is done and needs to cool. The cupcakes are in the oven...time to make the frosting!

I used the one from Whitney's previous post...that lime frosting...mmmm

So, softened butter: 1 cup

1/4 cup lime juice

I squeezed three limes and still needed to add the bottled stuff to make 1/4 cup

Lime Zest: 1 teaspoon

add juice and zest to the butter and mix well...

5 cups powdered sugar

add 1 cup at a time and mix well...

1 tubba thawed Cool Whip

Dump and mix well...so, I grabbed Sugar-Free...didn't mean to.

Once the 8" cake has cooled, crumble it up into a bowl. Add a cup of frosting and mix well.

Pop it in the freezer while you work on frosting those cupcakes that have been waiting their whole, entire lives for this frosting...lemon cake + lime frosting = yumm...

To decorate the cupcakes and to make 'grass' for the baskets you'll need some colored sugar. I had only black and didn't think that felt very Easter-y...so I made some of my own. Just grab a baggie, add some sugar and a few drops of food coloring...shake it and mash it and shake it some more 'till it's all covered.

Now, I suppose you could use coconut...bleh...but I only eat my coconut like this:

oh, babay...!! I ate that on the beach in Mexico. Hi Mexico!! I miss you!

Anyway, I let the sugars sit for a bit to dry out while I got out my frosting bag and tips. I have never ever used these things and so I'm just gonna wing it. Wish me luck.

Grab the cake ball mix outta the freezer and form into dough balls. Pop 'em back into the freezer and get bizzy frosting/decorating those cupcakes.

Have fun...the kids will LOVE this part. It's a mess!

Grab those cake balls and form them into alien head shapes. They're gonna get shoved into ice cream cone tops...the hard kind. Sugar cones. Twelve is a good number for these. Gather up your basket handles (licorice or sour straws/strips) and Peeps...I grabbed some chocolate bunnies. Mini cupcake liners and Almond Bark are easy tools to use to close the hole in the bottom...

I'm gonna go on a tangent now...I made these mini cone cake ball treats for a class I taught at Creative Escape last year, but all I needed then was the bottom little part, so the hubs...he's so awesome...he bought a Dremel and sawed the cone tops off for me. I stuck 'em in a bag and saved them for these Easter Basket cake ball treats. Which brings me back to now...now is when you're gonna want to cut some cones.

Almond Bark is amazing. I stuck some in a bag and microwaved it for 30 seconds at a time then snipped off a corner so I could pipe it into the bottom of the cones to close the hole at the bottom.

I added some 'glue' to the bottom then placed it onto a mini liner then filled the bottom with more 'glue'. Pop 'em in the freezer so the 'glue' can set.

While they're setting up, get your basket handle candy straws, which I could not find ANYWHERE so had to use the flat strips instead. I cut them in half lengthwise then had to trim a coupla inches off so they would fit nice on each side of the cake balls. Stick the cake balls and handle into the cone then pipe the melted Almond Bark (which is just like white chocolate candy coating)...pipe it all over then give it a tap to help it cover the entire top and sprinkle with some green sugar for a grassy look. Pop them back into the freezer along with the Peep Bunnies for a few minutes. You can then pop the basket outta the paper liner and 'glue' a bunny to the side of the basket...so cute!!

I just noticed something that coulda been awesome!! I used some leftover yellow-dyed Almond bark that I saved from a past treat extravaganza...and when I peeled off the liner I noticed that it seeped out a bit on this one...if it was green it coulda totally looked like grass!! Next time...