Archive for Kid-friendly
Hot Wheels Birthday Cake
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It was such a busy summer that I never got around to sharing this birthday cake idea with you. My son loves Hot Wheels
I started going through his Hot Wheels tracks for ideas. I found a fun little track that I thought would be fun to incorporate with it. But, I couldn’t remove all the track pieces from the base and support structure. As I discussed the idea with my husband, he suggested that we just use the regular flexible Hot Wheels track pieces
I didn’t get pictures of the building process. I was too busy trying to figure out what to do to stop and take a picture. And, I’m really sorry I never got a video of it working. We had to enlarge the tunnel a little, and find the right, low-profile car
More specifics:
I baked two round 9″ cakes. I used Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cake Mixes
I made Wilton’s recipe for Chocolate Buttercream Icing, and used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
).
For the bottom layer cake, I cut a path for the tunnel 3/4 of the way through the middle. (At this point, it looks almost like the letter U.) Then, I frosted the top and inside the tunnel.
For the top layer cake, I cut out another path for the tunnel. Then, I placed the cake on top of the bottom layer. I had to make some adjustments for the tunnel, by cutting a little more here and there so that the cake becomes like a ramp down the middle. After testing it with the track, I frosted the top, sides and inside the tunnel.
For the side of the cake, I tried to keep the decoration simple. I used a plastic chop stick to make indentions along the side of the frosted cake to resemble tire tread.
For the flames: I used simple icing made with powdered sugar and water. (I start with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp water and adjust as necessary.) Then I separated it into three small bowls and used food dye to create red, orange and yellow frosting. I used Wilton’s small round #3 decorating tip
For the support of the track, my husband used a yard stick and a dowel rod secured with a nail. The track and clamp
More Great Birthday Cake Ideas:
- Heidi made a show-stopping Monster Truck birthday cake at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom.
- Heidi also made a fabulous Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet cake you should check out.
- And, don’t miss Andrea Meyer’s Lego Star Wars Stormtropper Cake at Andrea’s Recipes.
- If you’re looking for a Cars cake, Andrea also built a great Lightning McQueen cake.
I’m also linking this post to Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker, where you’ll find lots of wonderful gluten-free recipes, reviews and ideas.
Mexican Pizza
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I’ve recently learned that pizza is a great way to use up leftover ingredients. I’ve been wanting to try Gluten Free Gobsmacked’s “Chebe” bread recipe for a pizza crust for a while. I use the recipe frequently for rolls and hamburger buns, but never tried it for pizza. Well, I finally did it! I baked the first pizza a little too long — pre-baked it for 15 minutes. It was crunchy. I added pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, sliced black olives and sliced mushrooms. Although the crust was a little too crunchy, it was still tasty. My son ate two big slices, which is a lot for him.
The second pizza, I pre-baked for only 10 minutes. The crust turned out much better. I decided to use up some leftovers to make a Mexican Pizza. Instead of a traditional tomato pizza sauce, I used salsa. Then I topped it with leftover shredded chicken, black olives and a mixture of shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese. The best part about the pizza was the fresh tomato and avocado slices. We placed them on top of the pizza after we removed the pizza from the oven. It was really nice to have the added fresh, raw vegetables on it. Perfect for a summertime pizza.
Mexican Pizza Recipe
Ingredients:
Pizza Crust – Use your favorite or try a Cheese Bread Recipe.
1/2 Cup Salsa – Use your favorite recipe or jarred gluten-free salsa.
1 – 2 Cups Shredded Mexican Chicken
2 Cups shredded cheese (Try cheddar, Monterey Jack, and/or mozzarella.)
1/4 Cup sliced black olives
1 Avocado, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
Directions:
- Pizza Crust – For the Cheese Bread recipe: Combine the ingredients in a food processor
(or mixer), then turn out onto a large piece of parchment paper
- Remove the pizza from the oven and add your chosen ingredients. Start with spreading the salsa (or pizza sauce) on the crust. Then add the chicken, cheese, olives, jalapeños etc. Return the pizza to the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool slightly while you slice the tomato and avocado. Then, top the pizza with the avocado and tomato slices.
- Slice
Notable Links:
- Recipe for “Chebe” bread or Pao de Chejo from Gluten Free Gobsmacked
- Try The W.H.O.L.E. Gang‘s Quick and Easy Mexican Pizza recipe at GingerLemonGirl.com.
- For more Slightly Indulgent recipes, visit the roundup at Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free.
- You’ll find more gluten-free recipes and ideas at The Gluten-Free Homemaker’s Gluten-Free Wednesdays.
Fruit Pizza Dessert
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Every year, we get together with family to celebrate all the summer family birthdays. Most years, each person has already had a birthday cake to celebrate on their special day. So, when we finally all get together with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, we often do something other than birthday cake for the dessert. Last year, we had chocolate fondue for dessert. This year, I decided to make a dessert pizza with fresh fruit.
It was a busy weekend for us, and I actually decided last minute what I was making, so I took a short cut and used Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix
Gluten-Free Fruit Pizza Dessert
Ingredients:
Sugar Cookie Dough (2 Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes, 1 Cup margarine, 1/2 Cup rice milk, 5 tsp vanilla)
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 Cup powdered sugar, sifted
Variety of fruit, sliced (I used 3 kiwis, a pint of strawberries and a handful of blueberries.)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.- Make the sugar cookie crust. Follow the recipe as usual for the sugar cookie dough. (I combined two mixes with 1 Cup melted butter, 1/2 Cup almond milk, and 5 tsp vanilla.)
- Place the dough on a large sheet of Parchment Paper
and top with a large sheet of plastic wrap. Then roll, or press, out the dough to a 16″ round. Remove the plastic wrap and slide the parchment paper with dough onto a Pizza Pan
or cookie sheet.
- Place the large cookie dough into the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until it starts to brown around the edges.
- Remove the pizza crust from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. The parchment paper will make it easy to slide the crust off the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack.
- Mix up the cream cheese spread by thoroughly mixing together the cream cheese and powdered sugar.
- Once the crust is completely cooled, spread the cream cheese/sugar mixture evenly over the top of the crust.
- Now add the sliced fruit to the pizza. If you are going to make a fun design, I suggest you start in the middle and work your way out to the edges.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until time to serve.
Additional Notes:
We cut our pizza into 16 large servings.- Each Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix
- Feel free to use any variety of fruit: berries, peaches, nectarines, mango, cherries, etc. You can also use bananas, but remember they will brown so add them right before you serve it.
- Want more fruit? Cut thick slices, overlap the fruit, or just pile it all on. Get creative and have fun!
- You can also use canned fruit, but be sure to drain any sauce or liquid completely from it, so it doesn’t make the pizza soggy.
- Some of our family members added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top their pizza slice. I don’t think it needs any topping, but if it sounds good to you, you may also consider topping with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or a simple glaze.
- You don’t have to make this as a round pizza. Use a baking sheet/jelly roll pan for the crust. Then, cut into squares for serving. Or, halve the recipe, press it into a 9×13 pan, and bake it for about 15-20 minutes.
- This is such an easy dessert to make, it would be a great project for the kids to make.
Notable Links:
- Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix
- This Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe from scratch makes about 4 dozen cookies, so you should only need to make one batch.
- Visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker for more gluten-free recipes and ideas.
The Princess and the Frog Birthday Cake
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Earlier this year, while visiting family in Omaha, we celebrated three different birthdays. Both my mom and sister bought gluten-free cakes at the Cupcake Island so we could enjoy their birthday cakes with them. The gluten-free cakes and cupcakes were delicious and decorated perfectly for the occasions. I hadn’t really investigated getting gluten-free cakes from local bakeries in Virginia. But when I came home, I thought I’d see if a local bakery could make a gluten-free cake for my daughter’s birthday. Surprise! Cakes by Happy Eatery in northern Virginia makes gluten-free cakes. Unfortunately, my daughter was having a lot of friends at her party, and the cake large enough to accommodate was going to cost $85-100. I just didn’t think that would fit into my budget. So, I made the cake myself.
I enjoy decorating cakes, but I was short on time this year. Rather than make the cake from scratch, I took the short cuts: Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes and frosting. I used four cake mixes. For the bottom layer, I combined two yellow cake mixes and baked them for about 50 minutes in a 9″x 13″ pan
Now to decorate. My daughter wanted a Princess and the Frog
Some of the tools I used to decorate the cake:
- Wilton Color Mist spray
– blue and green for the swamp
- Disposable Decorating Bags
- Wilton frosting tips – Open Star Tip
to decorate the edge of the cake, Leaf Tip
and multiple-hole tip for grass
to define the edge of the pond, and round tip
for writing.
Want to purchase a gluten-free cake or cupcakes, instead?
Give these bakeries in the DC/MD/NOVA area a try:
- Cakes by Happy Eatery in Centreville and Manassas, VA
- Cherry Blossom Cakes in DC
- Free For All Cupcakes available by special order
- Mallow Drama in Reston, VA
- Sweet Sin Cupcakes in Baltimore, MD
More Notable Links:
- Don’t forget to visit The Gluten-Free Homemaker this week for the Cake Challenge. Lots of great gluten-free cake recipes are linked up.
- Celebrate It! is hosting this week’s All Things Family blog carnival with a roundup of summer party and craft ideas.
Chocolate Eggs in a Cookie Basket
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This is one of my favorite Easter treats to make for the kids. OK, it’s really a treat for me, but don’t tell them that. 
) Chocolate eggs in a “basket” made of chocolate chip cookie dough — what could be better? You will need an Individual Tart Baking Pan
.
Chocolate Eggs in a Cookie Basket
Ingredients:
Chocolate Chip Cookie dough (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.)
Candy-coated chocolate eggs (I used Cadbury Mini Eggs, but you can use M&M’s Chocolate Eggs, too.)
Directions:
Mix up chocolate chip cookie dough according to directions, and drop a large mounded tablespoon of dough into each tart impression in the pan.- Bake cookies in the tart pan according to the recipe directions.
- When cooking is done, remove pan of cookies from the oven and press chocolate eggs into the center of each cookie tart. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, gently remove the cookies from the pan by grabbing the edges of the cookies and pulling out with a slight twisting motion. The pan will still be hot, so be careful not to touch it with your fingers!
Additional Notes:
- If the cookies start to come apart while trying to remove, they are probably too soft and warm. Let them cool down for a few more minutes. If the cookies won’t move at all, they are probably too cool. Set them back in the oven for a couple minutes to warm them up. They should now release easily from the pan. (I’ve never had to spray my non-stick pan, but if yours isn’t a non-stick type, you may want to use a non-stick spray before dropping the cookie dough onto the pan.)
- If you can’t get the chocolate eggs, or want to make these for another occasion, try using a different chocolate candy. These are really good with Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cups or Hershey’s Kisses, too!
- One batch makes about 24.
Notable Links:
- For more gluten-free recipes, check out this week’s edition of Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.
- For more Easter treats, take a look at Celiac Family’s Meringue Duckies and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
