Magpie's Musings: Sewing Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Sewing Sweets

Step 1: The Idea

March 15th is my Aunt Bunny's birthday. She loves sewing and crafts. She also has a fondness for buttons. My sister Kate and I decided that a sewing themed gift was just the ticket. While making the leprechaun hats, it occurred to me that the adding another end on top of the marshmallow would create a bobbin. That led to the idea of buttons, thread, and needles.

Step 2: Baking

My sister bought me a beautiful heart-shaped cake pan complete with a pan for six heart shaped cupcakes. This time the baking offered quite the excitement. There was too much cake batter for the size of the pans, but I tried to squeeze it in. The batter ended up cooking over the heart pan and spilling all over the bottom of the oven. Still not wanting to admit defeat, I ended up scraping the batter off the bottom of the oven and tried to let it finish baking. Obviously that was silly because it kept bubbling over and eventually caught on fire. Unwilling to start over, I kept scraping out the bottom and let the cake finish baking. It may have been a CRAZY ordeal, but the cake ended up fine. I do wish I had a picture of my smoke filled kitchen to laugh about now. :-)

Step 3: Decorating

I made the Sprinkle's buttercream frosting, tinted light pink. The purple glitter frosting was store bought in a tube. I used a tip to pipe on pretty little star/flower shapes around the edge. The buttons were molded, fruit-flavored tootsie rolls. If you heat them in the microwave for around 10 seconds, they become malleable. I simply rolled them into balls of varied sizes and colors then pressed them flat. They need to firm up a little bit before you poke the holes with a toothpick. The needle was made out of the same tootsie rolls. Simple roll out a piece that is thicker at one end than the other. Again, it is best to let it firm up a bit to cut the needle hole in the thicker end. The tootsie rolls can also be rolled out to create the thread. I then wound it around the candy bobbins. As I indicated above, the bobbins are made out of piped white-chocolate almond bark. You pipe the circles, stick a mini-marshmallow into the center and then let them firm up. A second piped almond bark circle was adhered to the other end of the marshmallow to create the bobbin effect. With the thread wrapped around it, the bobbin looks quite realistic. They are actually pretty true to size.

The candies were arranged in different patterns on top of the cupcakes and cake to make it look like a sewing project was in progress. I love the effect of many different sized buttons all in a pile. The bobbins were tipped over and stood up to add dimension. The "thread" can be rolled out across the top in different patterns. I ended up writing her name with the white get that I had purchased for other projects. I just couldn't get the thread to lay right.

Step 4: Sharing and Presentation

I brought the cupcakes to my sister's house where Bunny and her husband George met us for the party. She was very excited by the cake and sewing themed gifts! My sister and I put together a beautiful magnetic box of sewing supplies for her, complete with yards of gorgeous fabrics, unique buttons, a book on 1yard sewing projects, and a variety of other items. It was such a nice day that we were able to spend much of our afternoon outside. It is a true miracle to be outside in Maine in March.