Peeps Sunflower Cake

This bright and cheery cake is so easy, that anyone could make it! In fact, my 7 year old helped me with mine and I didn't even have to go all control-freak on him and redo his areas!

Ingredients:
1 two-layer baked and frosted cake (recipe for chocolate cake below)
17-20 yellow Peeps chicks
chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips as well as mini chips for the center)

Directions:
Prepare and bake cake.

1. Level and frost cake when it has completely cooled.

2. Without separating Peeps and curving slightly to fit, arrange chicks around edge of cake for sunflower petals.

3. For sunflower seeds, arrange chocolate chips in center of cake.



**"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe:**

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.


"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Easter Ideas

Don't forget these ideas from last year!



Easter Carrots



Easter Bag

Spring Chick Nests

These neat little nests, crafted from crunchy chow mein noodles and melted marshmallows, are perfect for nestling chocolate eggs or jellybeans and make sweet place settings for springtime celebrations. What a perfect Easter treat! My friend Diana was sweet enough to think of me when she saw these, and shared the recipe with me.


Ingredients



* 2 cups miniature marshmallows
* 1/4 cup butter
* 4 cups chow mein noodles

Cooking Instructions

1. Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.

2. Combine marshmallows and butter over medium heat in a saucepan; stir until the butter and marshmallows have melted. Stir in the chow mein noodles, coat well.

3. Butter fingers and press the mixture into the bottom and sides of the prepared muffin tin. Refrigerate until firm.

Spring Napkin Rings

What you need:

Empty toilet paper cardboard roll
Glue (and frosting, optional)
Dry cereal
Scissors

Instructions:

To make two napkin rings, cut an empty toilet paper roll in half. Cut out a 2x7-inch strip of colored paper, and glue to ring.

Glue on colorful cereal to complete any design you wish.

Safety note: Don't let children eat cereal that has been glued. An alternative to glue would be to use frosting-- that way if any cereal pieces fall off and are consumed, you'll only have to worry about a sugar high as opposed to glue chemicals. :)

Easter Carrots

Here is a cute alternative to all of the candy treats that kids receive at Easter time. Easter carrots! They are so easy to make... all you have to do is fill a disposable decorating bag with Cheetos and tie with a little green ribbon. Voila! A tasty Easter snack.

Easter Bag

Today, my kids and my niece and I made cute little Easter bags out of felt. I let the kids really do them completely on their own, with the exception of me cutting the bunny shapes out ahead of time. They were fast and easy to make and the kids were so proud of their creations! Here is how we made them:

What you need:
2+ pieces of felt (one colored piece for the bag and one white piece for the bunny)
Fabric glue
sewing machine/thread
baubles for the eyes (optional-- you could also use felt)
yarn


Assembly:
Cut a circle and two ears out of the white felt.



Fold your colored felt in half and place the bunny pieces on the colored piece to get an idea of how big you want the bag to be. Place the bunny lower down on the bag so you can trim the top to have for the handle. Carefully cut along the top of the colored piece to remove a strip about an inch or so wide. This will be your handle. Now cut along the fold of the colored piece so that you end with two separate colored pieces. (Be sure to do this after cutting the strip for your handle)


Using the fabric glue, adhere your bunny head to one piece of the colored fabric. Decorate the face with the baubles and yarn as desired.



Once the bunny face is completed and dry, use a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine to stitch the two sides and bottom of the bag, leaving the top open. I used a contrasting colored thread for pizazz.



Attach the handle with the sewing machine as well.

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Today we made cute little cupcakes that are decorated like Easter Baskets. I saw the recipe at Taste of Home , although they used dyed coconut on top of the frosting and I didn't have coconut on hand so just skipped that part. They were really easy to make, although our licorice ropes were to soft and they won't stay standing tall as a basket handle!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
FROSTING:
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon water
4 drops green food coloring
1-1/2 cups flaked coconut
Red shoestring licorice
Jelly beans

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and orange peel. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.



In a small mixing bowl, beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar; spread over cupcakes. Combine water and food coloring in a large resealable plastic bag; add coconut. Seal bag and shake to tint. Sprinkle over cupcakes.



Using a metal or wooden skewer, poke a hole in the top on opposite sides of each cupcake. Cut licorice into 6-in. strips for handle; insert each end into a hole. Decorate with jelly beans. Yield: 1-1/2 dozen.