ladybug | EASYBAKED

Ladybug Cake!

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Ruthanne

It’s my Birthday today! Yay! Birthdays were always a huge celebration as I was growing up. My mom had a big yellow box of recipe cards from Betty Crocker that had tons of fun ideas. One of the categories was “Children’s Parties” and it was full of card-after-card of fun cakes.

Every year, mom would tell my brother and I that we could pick ANY cake out and she would make it for our birthday party (this, I believe, is where my great love of beautiful desserts began!) I had all sorts of cakes- a Panda bear, an Igloo….and one year, a giant ladybug. I loved it!

So, this year we are taking a trip down memory lane, back to the mid-70’s, for this retro recipe that made me smile then and now.

Betty Crocker 70's recipe card- Lady Bug Cake!

The Original Betty Crocker Recipe Card

INGREDIENTS: (original Betty Crocker recipe can be found here)

1 box of cake mix, any flavor, plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package.
2 sticks (1 cup) of salted butter
2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of clear vanilla flavoring
Red food coloring gel
York Peppermint Patties
Wilton candy melts in red and dark chocolate (just a few!)
Mini M&MS

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Generously grease and flour a 2 quart oven-proof bowl.
Make cake mix according to package, and pour into prepared bowl.
Bake at 350F degrees for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool for a few minutes and then run a knife around edges and tip upside down on a cake rack to cool completely.
Make icing by combining butters, powdered sugar and vanilla and beating on high until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Place cake on serving plate and spread a smooth layer of frosting over entire dome of cake.
Refrigerate about 10-15 minutes to harden 1st layer of frosting.
Use red food coloring gel to color about 2/3 of remaining frosting.
Frost over 1st layer with white over the front 1/3 of cake and red over the back 1/3.
Decorate with peppermint patties, icing and M&Ms. You can use licorice for the antennae, nose and mouth, but I just piped colored candy melts into the shapes I wanted.
Enjoy!!

My thoughts:You really can use any items you want to decorate this cake. You can see that Betty Crocker used gummy candies and black string licorice. Making this cake brought back great memories of being a kid. Many thanks to my wonderful mom for making childhood so much fun!

One of my favorite parts of this site is being able to give you creative recipes to surprise your family with on their special days! Here’s to many Happy Birthdays for you and yours in this coming year! Enjoy! ~r

Other fun birthday recipe ideas:

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Posted in Cakes, Candy and tagged baking, birthday, buttercream frosting, cake, cake baked in a bowl. recipe, cakes, celebration, chocolate, dessert, ladybug, M&Ms, peppermint patties, recipe, string licorice. Bookmark the permalink.

Lady Bug Oreo Pops!!

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Ruthanne

What could be better than a cute ladybug cookie on a stick? Biting in and finding an OREO!!!!!

These cookies are such a fun treat! Perfect as favors and prizes at parties- they just make you smile.

We’ve done lots of Oreo Pops here at Easybaked. The technique is the same for these as for our Original Oreo pops. To see the how-to photos and technique, click here.

Here’s what you will need for about 24 Oreo Pops.

INGREDIENTS:

One box of Double Stuff Oreos
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in yellow
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in red
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in dark chocolate.
One bag of mini M&Ms.
24 lollipop sticks
Candy Eyes (if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Carefully twist apart all of the Oreo cookies.
Using one of the pop sticks, make an indentation in the white filling of each cookie.
Melt the red Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until completely melted and smooth.
Dip the end of one stick into the melted candy melts, drizzle a little in the center of the white cookie filling and then gently press it into the indentation made.
Place the top of the cookie back on and allow white chocolate to harden (5 minutes or so), cementing the cookie back together with a stick inside.
Holding the stick, lower the entire Oreo into the bowl of melted red chocolate, spooning it over the top and sides to cover it completely.
Allow the excess chocolate to drain off and gently place covered Oreo on a piece of parchment paper to harden.
Add two brown mini M&Ms to each half of the pop (use the photos as a guide– leave room for the top to be dipped in chocolate and for a line to be drawn down the middle.)
Dip half of the pops in the red chocolate and then melt the yellow chocolate and repeat the process with the 2nd half of the pops.
When candy melts have completely hardened, melt a the dark chocolate melts.
Use a spoon to gently scoop chocolate over the top tip of the cookie, making a head on your ladybug.
Set each pop on parchment paper and add candy eyes (if desired) before chocolate hardens.
After dipping the tops of all pops, and placing eyes, spoon remaining chocolate into a small ziptop bag and clip a corner.
Pipe a line from the head of the ladybug across the top toward the stick. (use photos as a guide).
Allow pops to harden completely.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: I’m addicted to Oreos. I keep making Oreos into pops because it gives me an excuse to eat the extra Oreos that break.

True confession.

The other reason: they make people smile. It never fails, you hand one of these crazy fun pops to anyone and they smile. Even if they can’t or won’t eat dessert….they smile. These pops are like puppies. They make people happy! Every few months I feel an overwhelming urge to make a different variety to share with you….so I hope that you enjoy them– and that you smile 🙂 ~r

Other Oreo Pop ideas we have tried: