Halloween Cupcake Crazy

 Nothing is as fun as a Halloween cupcake. Home bakers can have a field day with creating all sorts of fun decorations  from witches hats to mummies. Yet you start out with the right icing and topping to create an Insta ready little cake (it big cake if you want ).It just takes patience and a flair for fun.

The first thing is do you use a store bought or homemade frosting (keep in mind that frosting and icing are interchangeable words but they are different. Frostings have some ki nd of fat, - whether butter, plant butter  cream cheese, whipped cream or eggs  in them while icings are just confectioners sugar , milk cream juice or egg whites. ) Store bought frosting is denser while homemade is lighter and airier thanks to it constantly being whipped. However you can lessen the density of the store bought kind just by whipping air into it. One important tool you will need is either wax or parchment paper. Tear off a good sized sheet (about six inches long ) and cut into squares. Use them when you have to flatten the puffs of icing into a workable canvas. A n icing spatula can also come in handy when smoothing a frosting's surface and sides. If you're planning on using sprinkles  make sure you have a bowl for them. This also makes it easier to roll the cupcakes in them for decorated edgea.

Decorating is the fun part once all the cupcakes or cakes are iced.Reese's mini peanut butter  cups can double as witches hats or as the bottom of a broom, once iced. Mini ice cream cones can also work well as a crone's hat too. Just thoroughly dip these in either dark or milk chocolate , let set and them place on the cupcakes. Use black gel icing for the band around the base of the cone part and add yellow or gold icing to create a belt. A broom us made by inserting a pretzel stick in the center of a mini peanut butter cup and then using brown or dark yellow icing draw lines up and down to simulate straw. YOu can also create either white, dark ro milk chocolate spider web ls by pouring chocolate in thin, concentric circles and then attaching them .Let dry and stick on the top of  the cakes, Spiders are made just by putting two blobs or black icing together and then drawing eight legs out from the body. Use candy eyes for the eyes. You may have to use tweezers for this. A spooky cupcake might have a tombstone on top. Use Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies for this. Write RIP on them and just stick into the icing. Add a gummy work or two for more creepiness.

Halloween cupcakes are always a nice addition to any holiday party. Go wild with decorating.It wil only add to the day.

Cookie Party Interactive Baking

Cupcakes at the mall? Yes, these fun treats are even showing up next to department stores thanks to the latest pop up stand Cookie Party. Despite the name, the micro bakery serves some cool cakes along with other treats. Best of all they can even plan a party for your kids. Not many regular bakeries can do that but Cookie Party can.

Cookie Party is , like other bakeries, a family owned business, started in 2007 by Judy Pennetti and her two children , Dana and Anthony, who also help in the baking and managing. She cashed in on the concept of "mother's little helper" to create an interactive bakery at their East Hanover location . Here kids  bake and decorate their own creations along with having cake and pizza . Parents are not that far away,  relaxing in a separate room, enjoying  a big screen TV and Cookie Party treats.There's also a micro bakery in the Garden State Plaza as well as one at the ultimate kid's paradise, Times Square's Toys R Us.

The cupcakes I had were good - and kid perfect. The brownie nut  was just that but in cupcake form with a creamy, fudgy frosting.The sprinkle kind  was not only cute but also tasty. It was a simple vanilla with a fluffy butter cream topping. On my next trip I am definitely going to try their red velvet along with the tiramisu. There's cookies,of course, including the butter S spritzes which is the bakery' signature treat. Brightly colored butter cookies  and pecan cups are also featured as well as the Cookie Party's version of a Reese's peanut butter cup. This last is more like a ping pong ball sized  truffle . Cookie Party also makes regular cakes and cheese cakes too.

Cookie Party represents a new kind of interactive bakery. However it still makes thesame treats we've loved as kids as well as some spins on classics. It's not only fun but also unique.