Peeps Sunflower Cake - Cute And Simple

On Easter Sunday, i invited my whole family (including in-laws) to dinner.

I wanted to have a nice dessert that was kid-friendly, because between my sister and myself, we have a half dozen kids running around.

My wrist still isn't taking a whole lot of action without me paying for it the next day, so i decided to make a Peeps Sunflower cake. I've seen it on the internet for the past few years, and i just thought it was so cute!

I used a standard yellow cake recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cook book. It's my husband's favorite cake color/flavor. (You can use any cake you would like for this.) Honestly, it didn't come out too yellow so next time i make one i need to look for a new recipe. I've been using my cook books more than the internet for recipes lately because sometimes internet recipes just don't come out right. It's not always the case, but i find myself having to tweak more recipes i get from the web... and when i need to bake something and don't want to screw it up, i know my BH&G book won't fail me.

I went for a chocolate frosting. I used the butter icing recipe from my book as well, and i think next time i may try something different, like a cooked icing.

I did one coating with a thicker icing, and i made another batch of icing a bit easier to spread for the finishing layer.

I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and patterned them out in circles, just like a sunflower.

When it was time to put the Peeps on, i used some extra frosting to cement them onto the cake a little better.

It was really cute and my family loved it! My teenage son loves Peeps, and he got a real kick out of it.

My only complaint is that it was difficult to get the Peeps on there and make them look ROUND. Maybe i should have tacked them down with toothpicks or something. Oh well, Sunflowers are perfect either, are they? Haha.

Easter Basket Cookies (Or Bird Nests. Whatev.)

Now that the Easter hoopla is over and the kids are back in school (finally!), i can get this ship underway!


I recently spent 2 months in a splint and brace due to a broken wrist and surgery. For those long weeks, i realized how terrible it is to have your mobility cut down. Unfortunately, it was my dominant hand, so i did a lot of ordering pizza and drive-thru. It sucked big-time.


As Easter approached, i was very eager to get back to feeling like my old self again. I spent a lot of time on Pinterest while laying broken on the couch. While diddling my time away re-pinning really neat things, i got some inspiration of my own.


I decided to make some cookies. I had seen some links on Pinterest where they made ice cream bowls using the bottom of a muffin tin and cookie dough.


I grabbed my mini pan and made some of Alton Brown's sugar cookie dough. I used a round cookie cutter and cut my dough out, and draped and shaped the dough around my muffin tin cups. I went every other cup around the edge, because otherwise the cookies would have touched and welded together as they baked. Also, I advise against using any of the inside cups, as the finished cookies pop off easier around the edges.


I did not grease my pan. I thought about it. But i baked 3 test cookies on my dark nonstick pan to see how it was going to work out first. All pans are not created equal, so test yours before you fill a whole pan full of cookie dough.

It worked well. I used a butter knife to pop the cookies off my pan. I held it flat under the bottom of my cookie and gently lifted until they came off.

I made some royal icing and a grass tip for the first cookie. I wondered if the icing was going to be too soft, and it really was. It wanted to meld back together  bit. You know how royal icing is. So i made a batch of buttercream icing for the rest of them.


The grass tip was kind of a pain in the butt. I had never used it before, and it kept getting clogged. I used a toothpick to poke into the holes when it got bound up, but by the time i was done, i was pretty annoyed. I don't know if there's a secret to using this tip or not. I guess practice makes perfect.


I will say that PMS and baking do not go well together. For my first baking project out of my brace, it was a rather frustrating endeavor.


But they were cute! I used little mini Cadbury eggs (my favorite Easter candy). I call them Easter baskets, but they kind of look like bird nests to me. I wasn't about to attempt putting handles on them or anything.

For something i kind of came up with on my own, i think they came out very cute. I was pleased.


You can find Alton Brown's cookie recipe here. I used the butter icing recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cook book. I don't know why it calls it butter icing when most websites call the same icing buttercream. It's the same basic recipe you can find anywhere. I think the cookie dough was perfect. It baked up very firm and solid instead of crumbly. I always worry about crumbly cookies if i am going to do more to them than bake them. It's impossible to ice a crumbling cookie.


Enjoy!