Wonder Woman & Aquaman Candy Hearts

Did you know Wonder Woman turned 75???

Still going strong for 75 if you ask me.   As so many do, I have a thing for Wonder Woman as a strong and powerful role model.  I know a lot of people probably have issues with her outfit these days, but I think you can kick some butt and still look good because you want to (not because dudes like it).  

Anywhoo, in additon to WW turning 75, I made some candy hearts for both Wonder Woman AND Aquaman since they both have their own movies coming out next year.  They both showed up in Batman Vs Superman so we got a preview of what they're up to.  Aquaman is no longer the blond hair blue eyed comic book hero who has the power of talking to fish.  He looks like a bad a$$ and is played by Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones fans will recognize him as Khal Drogo) and probably the furthest you can get from the traditional Aquaman look!

I know, right??

Although I love the new look, I still love the old orange and green colors as well.  

For these candies, start with heart shaped peppermint patties (scooped up on sale after Valentines day - freeze them and they are as good as the day you bought them!)

Dip each top and bottom in some candy wafers/melts in the coordinated colors of Wonder Woman and Aquaman.  

 

I know I just complained about hating to dip stuff here BUT these are really easy to dip and no expertise needed at all.

Dip one side then dip the other and add your accents while the candy is still wet.

Easy peasy.

Aren't they super cute?!

And I would totally ship a Wonder Woman/Aquaman romance.  I don't think that's in the stars but it would be an interesting movie cross over angle!

Now go vote for your favorite Wonder Woman running for president! 

Wonder Woman and Aquaman Candy Hearts

by Michelle Clausen October-24-2016

Ingredients

• 18 heart shaped mini Peppermint Patty (or other heart shaped candy will work too)
• 4 cups of candy melts/wafers (1 cup of red, blue, green, orange)
• 1/2 cup of candy melts/wafers (1/4 cup of black and 1/4 cup of yellow)
• white non-pariel sprinkles
• green sugar sprinkles

Instructions:

1. Melt the candy wafers in microwave safe bowl in 10-20 second intervals until candy is melted.  Stir in between intervals.   Do one color at a time when you need to use them or candy hardens quickly.
2. Dip 1/2 of heart shaped chocolate in each of coordinating super hero colors.  Let candy harden 10 minutes in between dippings.  
3. While candy is still wet add sprinkles for accents (as in pictures)
4. Add some yellow melted candy to plastic freezer bag, snip a small corner and "pipe" A (Aquaman logo) onto parchment.  Let harden 10 minutes.
5. Using same yellow melted candy in freezer bag, add detail to Wonder Woman heart (see pictures).
6. Add some black melted candy to plastic freezer bag, snip a small corner and "pipe" blag band across Aquaman heart (for belt).  While still wet add the hardened "A" onto middle of heart.
7. Let dry 10 minutes.

Prep time: 1 hour Yield: 18 candy hearts

Super Hero Pretzel Snacks

So guess what??? I made more pretzel snacks.  Don't groan, I know I make them all the time, but these are different.  They are super hero themed! Specifically Superman and Wonder Woman.  

They make me smile!

I always use Snyder's Pretzel Squares as the base and then add the sweet stuff on top.  Add chocolate/candy wafers to a zip lock bag and melt in microwave.  I do it in 20 second intervals until nice and melty.  Then snip an end of the zip lock and "pipe" the superhero design onto wax or parchment paper.  I flipped them over and used the flat side as the topper so if you want to do that, make sure you reverse your image for the superman logo.  (If you forget, like I did here for these superhero cupcakes, you can still use it, but the top will just be more bumpy then flat).  

One the topper is hardened, add more candy melt or chocolate to the top of the pretzel and then add your candy topper while it's still wet.  Use anything you like, then just wait 'til it's hardened.  

Pretzel snacks are really really (really) easy to make and prep.  I've made them a bunch of times, especially to bring over for parties since most people (young and not so young) love sweet and salty. They are great finger foods and also super portable.  Here are some I've made already:

1. Snowflake pretzel snacks to go along with some Disney Frozen movie cupcakes
2. Pretzel snacks in football team colors for a Super Bowl party
3. Gold and chocolate pretzel snacks for an all gold dessert display (coming soon!)
4. Flag pretzel snacks for Memorial Day
5. Minions from the Despicable Me movies
6. Christmas Ornament cookie and pretzel snacks from this past holiday season

You can also wrap them up for gifts, party favors, teacher gifts, or they would even make easy and fun valentines.  Or you can color coordinate for wedding and baby showers.  Add a free printable from off the inter web and you're all set!  My 6 year old wants The Flash as his next birthday cake, and I'm thinking Flash pretzel snacks would be cute goodie bag treats! (I'll spare you all another pretzel snack post - but I'm sure you may see it over on Instagram!)

OK off to take down all the holiday stuff - although it feels like I just out the tree up!  Hope you had an awesome weekend, have a great week, and thanks for swinging by!

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Wonder Woman Cupcakes for the Cupcake Couture Blog Party!

So when Betsy from Java Cupcake and Cupcake Takes the Cake and Carrie from Bella Cupcake Couture said they were hosting a Cupcake Couture Blog Party AND would be sharing some of the cool and unique Bella cupcake wrappers with a bunch of bloggers, I was totally in!  The challenge was to go nuts with a fun cupcake wrapper, create a matching or coordinating cupcake and then to style the cupcakes in a display using items already found at home.  How fun is that??!

For this party I did some Wonder Woman cupcakes! If you follow me on Pinterest, may know I have a thing for Wonder Woman, so it was time to bring some cupcakes to life and this Blog Party was just the thing to get the creative juices flowing!  

I was so excited when my cupcake wrappers came in the mail.  Mine were these fun pink and white stripped ones!

And I used some inspiration from one of my favorite Wonder Woman shirts:

I love the pinky and purpley colors for everything so I went with those colors for the cupcakes.  

Here is a run down of my cupcakes and set-up!

Cupcakes:

• Cupcakes-homemade chocolate cupcakes (that I had frozen from a previous project BTW-I always freeze baked cupcakes when I have too many.  Just pop them out of the freezer and then let them thaw on the counter-always as good as the day they are baked!).  
• Frosting-some homemade buttercream flavored with a packet of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations in White Chocolate Raspberry which gave a nice light purple color.  The frosting is piped with a thin leaf tip using this tutorial from Robin of Bird on a Cake (Thanks Robin, your petals look way better!)
• Cupcake Toppers-I used candy melts like in this post to make the Wonder Woman logo, but again in colors to match the cupcake design.  Then brushed with some Wilton Shimmer Dust in Pearl and added some white star sprinkles on the icing finish the Wonder Woman look.

Props:

• Some foam craft discs in yellow, blue, purple and pink that we already had in the house for some art projects (I kinda like this look by itself with the cupcakes!)
• Confetti- that was made from some of the kids' old comic books
• Comic book bunting - again made from triangles cut from the comic books and cake pop sticks

And that's it! I really love the look of these cupcakes in the wrappers and the added set up (which is a bit different for me, as usually I just go with a white or neutral background to let the treats stand out more).

Please go check out the other bloggers participating in the Cupcake Couture Party!

Link over to their unique cupcake creations!

An American Cupcake in London
Bella Cupcake Couture
Chronicles of a Foodie
Crazy for Crust
Creative Food
Cupcakes Take the Cake
Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Eat Your Heart Out
Haniela's
Hoosier Homemade
In Katrina's Kitchen
Inside BruCrew Life
Java Cupcake
Love From the Oven
Make Bake Celebrate
Not Just a Mommy
Sugar Daze
Sugar Swings! Serve Some
The Baked Equation
The Baking Cup
The Decorated Cookie

There is also a sweet Prize Pack as part of the party!  Thanks to our amazing sponsors for their generous donations!  Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!

Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stand
Java Cupcake
Lil' Punkin Creations
Sweets & Treats Boutique

To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below.

Contest opens 21May13 at 0700 PST and closes 27May13 at 2359 PST.  One winner will be chosen and announced within 24 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email to claim their prize.

This contest is open to residents of the USA and Europe only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This was the first time I've used cupcake wrappers, and can I say how much I love them??! Since I bake a lot of cupcakes, these are a great way to dress them up a little and make them look really nice and professional.  Also since darker cake cupcakes tend to bleed through the cupcake liners, the wrappers are a great way to hide that.  It's really simple to use them too.  There are 3 slits on the side of the wrapper and you select the size that best fits with your cupcakes.  Want to try them?? Enter the giveaway and GOOD LUCK!!

Thanks to Betsy for pulling all of this together and for including me in this super fun party! 

mini superhero gingerbread men.....!

 ...so i know, i know i've done superhero themed stuff a bunch of times already, and last year did these superhero gingerbread men and women....

....and although i really enjoyed doing them, they did take some time to do....so i thought i'd share this simple version and they are mini! win-win right??



...i got a mini gingerbread man silicone pan for my birthday last month (thanks Sus and Ebb!)....and then just used a boxed gingerbread cookie mix....and baked them up in the pan!

just be sure to bake long enough so the cookies are firm enough to pop out of the mold (had a couple of gingerbread men with some issues, but no worries they didn't go to waste!) or you could also freeze them for a bit before popping them out....aren't they cute even un-decorated??

then just pipe on some simple superhero logos with candy melts/wafers (you could use royal icing too, but i always have different colored candy melt around so this is much faster for me).....and in case you can't guess, from left to right from the top:

x-men, green lantern, batman, wonder woman, fantastic four, superman, iron man, captain america, the flash, spiderman, and the punisher

...and really these probably took less than an hour or so once baked (which took hardly no time because i used a boxed cookie mix)....this year i'm all about taking some short cuts to make my life easier (but still fun!)

...have a happy happy holiday season!!!....i'm so enjoying all the fun christmas and holiday goodies being shared out there....you people are so dang creative! thanks as always for stopping by!

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superhero cupcakes.....!

....so aside from star wars....we also have big superhero fans living in the house....lots of battles going on....blankies used as capes....with super fast running and yelling and stuff....and we were going to visit friends that are also in the same boat we are (with 3 kiddos....2 boys and a girl plus a 40 year old kid)...so decided to superhero up....!

.....start with a bunch of these.....(used a doctored chocolate box cake...add an extra egg, 1 cup of buttermilk to replace the water, same amount of oil, and added a generous squirt of hershey's chocolate syrup).....

....you'll also need these for the toppers.....and print out your superhero logos...(again...thank you google images...!)....also as a side note...can i tell you how much i love love love candy melts....?....they are so easy to use and adaptable....i've used them so many times with great results...here, here, here...and here....as examples....

...as a little something extra....filled these with buttercream too....used the cone method....where after the cupcakes are cool...use a knife and cut out a cone shape.....cut off some of the smaller end of the cone...fill the cupcake with your favorite filling....then replace the shortened cone.....it works great....

...then frost with whatever frosting is your fav....i use this one all the time and it's so simple and pretty yummy....just tinted red....blue...and yellow.....

...for the superhero logos....tape some parchment down and slide the logos underneath...nuke the outline colors first in a zip lock baggie for 20 second intervals until "pipeable"....then outline....(be sure to warn your 3 y/o not to run head first into your legs while you are doing this because that may result in some funky batman bats....not that i care about that at all....nope not at all.....right?)....


...anyway....after the outlines are dry...it only takes 5-10 minutes or so....(or you can pop them into the fridge if you don't have 10 minutes to spare)......fill in the other colors....i flipped them over once dry to use the "flat" side...so if you want to do this then make sure you get all the crevices filled in well (use a knife to spread it out or you may end up with some holes when you flip them over)....didn't do this for the superman symbol....well because i forgot to reverse the pic when i printed it out....doh....!

....it's a little more bumpy than the other logos...but think it ended up ok....well good enough for the kiddos.....!...and spiderman is just black royal icing with vanilla candy melt eyes....couldn't be any easier.....

.....also to mix it up a little....added different color frostings for the fillings because what kid doesn't like a super colorful superhero cupcake....?...and if you didn't recognize....that's wonder woman....not the worldwildlife fund...or world wrestling federation....!

....i think next time i'd do the side kicks....they always get the shaft.....no one ever says....mom!...i gotta have a robin cake for my 7th birthday.....!......or.....please please please i need an arthur costume....or....check out this awesome jimmy olsen tattoo....it just doesn't happen....oh well next time junior cape crusaders.....