Gnome ice cream treats

It all began with a small container of spiced apple cider ice cream that  was flesh like in color.  

At least it was the color of my flesh this time of year - a little anemic looking.

My crazy brain told me to make it into a gnome face.

It was super warm out the day I made this, so he is starting to melt like the the Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

All it took was a scoop of the "fleshy" ice cream (coffee flavored ice cream would also work), candy dots for eyes and nose, half of a red hand candy for the mouth, a sugar cone  glazed in blue icing, and a can of Rediwhip to make the mustache and beard.

It seems I have had a case of gnome on the brain lately.

Is this normal?

Neopolitan cupcakes

The other day at the grocery store, I noticed a bag of Bugles in the snack aisle.  I remembered them being the snack of choice in the 70's, but really hadn't noticed them in years.  Immediately, they reminded me of little ice cream cones and I knew that an ice cream cupcake project was in the works.  Neopolitan was the ice cream I decided to use because of its color.  I have to admit I don't really care for it (I'm the one who only eats the vanilla, carefully carving it out of the container).  Nevertheless, the pink, white, and brown combo would be really cute so that is the direction I headed.  Here is a look at what I used.

I almost aways use boxed cake mix with a package of instant pudding thrown in when making a cake.  It makes an ordinary cake mix rich, moist, and dense.  Some of my favorite flavors to use are cheesecake, white chocolate, and french vanilla because they can be used with any flavor of cake mix.  I also like flavor to be very intense, so this is what I did to bump up flavor and color. 

After mixing up the cake according to package directions, I divided it into three bowls.  For the chocolate I added 1/3 box of chocolate pudding, 1 tbsp. baking cocoa, and one drop brown food coloring.  For the vanilla I used 1/3 box vanilla pudding and 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract.  For the strawberry I added 1/3 box strawberry pudding, strawberry flavoring, and a couple of drops of pink food coloring.

I layered the batter one on the top of the other and baked them (you may want to add a few minutes to the baking time for when the batter has been doctored up to this degree). 

While the cupcakes cooled, I colored fondant with pink and brown food coloring and left some white for the vanilla.  Now all I had to do was form little balls and press into the top of the bugels. 

I frosted the cupcakes, add the little ice cream cones and a sprinkle of pink dragess, and it was done.

Aren't they adorable?

When you take your first bite, the neopolitan layers of the cake show up.  I have to say, the flavor of this cupcake is amazing - I didn't even have to carve out the vanilla layer to eat alone!

I love this project because it is delicious, inexpensive, anyone can do it, and its just plain fun.

Today I am linking up with
Sunday Scoop
Pink Saturday
Heck Fridays
Wow Us Wednesdays
Show and Tell Wednesday
Sugar Bee Crafts
A Stroll Through Life
Get your craft on Tuesday