Cake Ideas for a Batman Party

With the newest Batman movie set to come out this summer, you’ll be a hit with kids of all ages when you host a Batman themed party!

This easy-to-create Bat cake is sure to please all your little superheroes!
What you’ll need:
• 10″ round cake pan
• 1 cake mix
• 2 - 16 oz. containers of ready-made frosting (Start with chocolate frosting as opposed to a white frosting, because black frosting may taste bitter if you add too much food coloring.  The chocolate frosting is easy to tint black, and the taste will not become bitter.)
• Black paste or gel food coloring
• 2-1″ Plastic Wiggle eyes
• 1-Black Pipe Cleaner to create antenae
• Cake board
• Bat Confetti (optional)

Bake cake according to directions on the package. After the cake cools completely, place in the freezer.  After the cake is frozen, cut the cake into a bat shape.  Cutting and frosting are much easier with a frozen cake, and you’ll avoid most of the crumbs created by a cut edge when frosting the sides.  Frost the entire bat shape with the black frosting.  Add wiggle eyes.  Bend pipe cleaner into a “V”-like shape, and curl top ends.  Add this to the top of the bat head. 

Because you are cutting the cake into a shape, you will be discarding some of the cake, and will need to adjust the size accordingly. If you are serving more people than can be accommodated by two boxed mixes, we recommend that you bake extra cupcakes.  Simply frost the cupcakes with black frosting, and add one Batman Begins Bat-A-Rang (from the Favor Packs) to the top of each cupcake.

Food:
• Super Heroes eat hearty meals when they are on duty! Serve “Penguin Poppers” (Pizza Rolls, Chicken Nuggets) or “Penquin Pizza”, “Catwoman Claws” (Bugles for claw-like fingertips), “Mr. Freeze Cream” (Ice Cream), “Harlequin Hamburgers”, or “Two-Faced Sandwiches” (half of each ingredient on each side). Have your little Bat-fan help you name foods as a nod to Batman’s foes and friends.  Guests will marvel at the feat you’ve easily conquered!  Write the names of the food on Bat Static Clings with a paint pen or permanent marker, and wrap the clings around bowls or platter edges.
• Offer some “Poison Ivy Potion” as a beverage. Guests will be spellbound when they witness your power to turn an ordinary beverage into a drink that transforms! Start with green punch. After you have placed a filled glass in front of each guest, add a few Pop Rocks™ candies to each one. Since this candy is processed with carbon dioxide, it will crackle, pop, and spit when it comes into contact with a liquid.
• Don’t feel obligated to serve a meal as most kids ages 4-9 will only stop long enough to eat cake and ice cream. If you aren’t serving a meal, serve some snacking treats that will be sure to power-up your guests.  Acknowledge the danger that lurks within Batman’s world by serving dry snacks in an upside down Top Hat…Penquin’s favorite accessory!

Precious Treats for a Tea Party

All the party guests will live happily-ever-after, after they consume this easy-to-make Dress Up Doll Cake!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
• One packaged cake mix
• One 16 oz. Container of pink ready-made frosting, or Strawberry Cool Whip
• One board for displaying the cake
• One 9 or 10” diameter oven proof deep bowl
• Deep pink piping frosting to decorate the skirt
• Container of gold edible candy balls
• Edible iridescent glitter to sprinkle over the entire cake
• One clean 11” plastic doll (a Barbie™ doll works well)

Prepare and bake cake according to directions on the package. After cake is completely cooled, place inverted cake in the center of the cake board. In the center of the cake, cut out a small opening and place the doll into the cake. She should be covered from the waist down. Frost the entire cake skirt with pink frosting. Next, using a star tip, pipe a top onto the doll. Decorate the skirt with gold balls, pink piped trim, and edible glitter.

As an alternative, make a cake using our flower cake pan and frost it to match the sweet flower on the Tea Party Ensemble plate.

Food:
• Serve dainty finger sandwiches, strawberries dipped in chocolate, mini cutout sugar cookies, pink punch in tea cups, and mini J-ello Jigglers.
• As the excitement is so high at children’s birthday parties, most children under the age of 10 will eat very little and the waste can be disheartening. Schedule your party during a time when parents will not expect that their children will eat a meal and serve only cake, ice cream, and a few other munchies. Serve snacks in heart shaped buckets for a dainty touch on your “tea” table.

Plan Fantastic Food for a Rehearsal Dinner

The food that you decide to serve for your wedding rehearsal dinner is entirely up to you! If you are hosting a theme dinner, we recommend you serve food that is appropriate for the theme. For example, if you are throwing a Western rehearsal dinner, you would want to serve barbecue chicken, baked beans, etc.

If you are holding a more formal, traditional rehearsal dinner with a sit-down meal, we suggest that you choose something other than what you will serving at the wedding. If you will be serving chicken on the big day, then serve steak or pork the night before.

Some brides are choosing to bring back the Groom’s Cake these days and it is showing up at rehearsals also. The traditional Groom’s Cake is a dark chocolate cake, sometimes flavored with liqueur. It should represent something that is special to the groom, so use your imagination for a truly unique and fun cake!

No matter what food you decide to serve, have a great time decorating your tables. Check out table decorating ensembles in the hottest color combinations or mix and match centerpieces, tablecovers and confetti for your own unique look!

Snacks for a Valentine’s Day Heart Party

The key to a successful menu for a Valentine heart party is to be sure that everything you serve is very kid-friendly! Usually this means that food should stay on the simple side, nothing too gourmet! It is always fun, however, to add a bit of festive spirit into the food that you serve and it is the small touches that make the biggest impact. Here are just a couple of suggestions to make your food look even love-lier!

Use pink and red food coloring in as much food as you can! This works especially great in a variety of desserts like cake or mousse!

Cut sandwiches into hearts and X’s and O’s (you can find unique baking items at www.williams-sonoma.com).

Go to a gourmet cooking supply store and look for edible hearts and cupids to adorn your kid’s favorite foods!

Make easy heart-shaped cupcakes to thrill your little love bugs. Place liners in your muffin pan and fill them half way full with cake mix. Place a marble in between the liner and the pan to create the niche in the heart. Decorate them with pink frosting and heart sprinkles.

Kids love popcorn and marshmallows - combined they make a great Valentine’s treat!

What you need:
10 C. popped popcorn
3 T. margarine
1 10 - ounce pkg. marshmallows
Red food coloring

Place popped popcorn in a greased 13×9x2-inch baking pan and keep warm in a 300 degree F. oven while making marshmallow mixture. In a large saucepan melt margarine over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Stir in red food coloring. Stir in popped popcorn, half at a time. Cool until easy to handle (10 to 15 minutes). Press mixture into greased individual heart-shaped pans. Cool. Remove from pans. Sprinkle with red colored sugar. Wrap each heart in plastic wrap and tie with Curling Ribbon. Makes 9 hearts.
If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan to bake a cake in, don’t fret - it is simple to make one of your own! Simply bake a standard round cake as well as a square 8 x 8 cake. After they have cooled, cut the round cake in half and place each half next to two sides of the square cake to create the heart shape. Decorate it with either pink or white frosting and red hot candies! Use a cookie cutter as a guide to frost smaller hearts around the edge.

Check out Valentine’s table decorations to accent your party food in Valentine’s style!