Cat in the Hat cake!

WARNING: This post has nothing to do with sewing.

When I am not sewing in my spare time, I am in the kitchen. Which could explain some things, but that is another story :)

I love being in the kitchen because my kids love being in the kitchen. They love to mix and pour and stir and measure and dump. Little man knows how to correctly level flour with the back of a knife. Baby girl loves to make a huge mess. We turn up the CD player and sing and dance and bake.

So this is a short tutorial on how to make some fun, EASY cakes. These were made for a cake walk for a fundraiser family fun night for Little man's school.

First up: Cat in the hat cake.
I bought a package of aluminum foil 7" pans at Dollar Tree. They came in a package of 4...perfect!

I then made a delicious quick buttermilk chocolate cake, which filled those 4 pans perfectly!
I cut the tops off after these baked to make them nice and flat, then when they cooled I frosted and stacked these four layers together (sorry, it was 11 PM and didn't get out my camera to document these steps!) I used the Wilton Buttercream frosting recipe. This is a little stiffer than storebought, so much better for decorating.

I then frosted the outside and smoothed it. A knife dipped in warm water is great for this...unless you have colored frosting, then the water can kind of bring out the dye and make funny spots!
The stripes were super easy...fruit by the foot!

These were also used on the top of the hat, just right next to each other for a solid red look. Add these when the frosting is fresh so it sticks. Or, dip your (clean) finger in water and run it along the back of the fruit strip to stick it to the frosting.

Next, I baked the same cake recipe and made cupcakes. Then I frosted them white, then added some spiky blue "hair". Wrapped with a cardstock ring (my local Hobby Lobby was out of red cupcake papers! and couldn't find them anywhere else...I even tried to dye my own, to no avail), and they became Thing 1 and Thing 2!

And a Swedish Fish poked into the top of a cupcake became the fish in the fishbowl!

I think it turned out well! It was one of the first cakes to be chosen at the cake walk, so guess someone else thought so, too!