Kids Cuisine

This summer has been a kid-filled summer. Now, I adore kids; however, I don’t have a desire to have any of my own.  Nonetheless, I have been spending time with a friend and his three and four-year olds who are visiting for the summer.
Toddlers?  Phew!  No one told me.  Middle schoolers/mini teens, I am good.  I am used to, and understand, the rollercoaster of moods and need to be away from adults, etc.  But, as I approached the first several summer outings with trepidation, I had a short window of time to learn how to not to show panic as fingerprints covered my car windows, or as juice spilled on my light fabric car seats — and then, who knew I would become immune to the constant “la, la, la, la” singing coming from behind me. My friend laughs as he watches the little one fall asleep on my shoulder, “And you thought maternal instincts skipped over you.”
Joking and panic attacks aside, I have loved learning how to interact with wee ones.  And, oddly enough, the wee ones love me!  It has been most enjoyable walking through the little people clothes aisles and picking up little 3T and 4T ruffly skorts and Marvel T-shirts, seeing the amazement on their faces as we walk through the aquarium, and witnessing their learning as they look through their Eric Carle Alphabet Activity Kits.

So, as I prepared myself for an afternoon of stars and stripes this July 4th, I remembered my recently completed Wilton class and the cupcakes we decorated.  What better time to practice my lesons than the holiday weekend?  So, I made clown cupcakes for the kids to enjoy, while the adults dug into the flag cake I threw together.

These are very easy to make, even for those who run from decorating with icing tips. Unlike the real buttercream I used for the grown up cake, I made (a fraction of) the Wilton buttercream recipe for the cupcakes, coloring portions of red, white, and blue. A real, but stiffer, buttercream would work just as well.  Click here for the How-To and smiles will be seen from miles around!

(Transporting these top-heavy treats?  If you’re like me and don’t have a cupcake carrying case, get creative. Before decorating, I punctured a small hole in the bottom of the cupcake with one end of a mini skewer, then in a foil-covered Styrofoam board with the opposite end of the skewer.  After decorating the cupcake, I secured the cakes on the board with the skewers and them placed them in the box. I still had to drive carefully with the box sitting flat on the floor of my car, but the clowns arrived safely and unscathed.)