While flipping through the June 2010 issue of Parents Magazine, I came across an article titled, “Save Room for Dessert”, by Colleen Pierre, R.D. Her recipe for “Cake Cuties” caught my eye and I just had to try them.
So, a few days ago I decided to make them. It just so happened that I was watching my neighbor’s three daughters at the time, but I thought it would be a fun activity for all of us to do together. Looking back, I’m not quite sure what I was thinking; who tries to make fake petit fours with five kids in the house? Apparently, I do…
When we were finished, the kitchen looked like a bomb blew up in it. There was icing everywhere, cake crumbs all over the floor, and sticky fingerprints everywhere! But, lots of laughs were shared, and the little cakes turned out to be quite tasty (once they were chiseled out from all of the excess icing!).
Overall, I’d say that the recipe went fairly well – but I would definitely advise limiting the number of children involved in making these fake petit fours. [Just look at what happened during the frosting phase!]
FYI – I took the liberty of modifying her recipe as I had to use what was on hand:
Cake Cuties
Ingredients:
* 1 box of pre-made butter loaf cake (I used Entemann's brand)
* 1 bottle of red food coloring
* 1 16 oz. can of chocolate frosting (I used Betty Crocker)
* 1 16 oz. can of white frosting (I used Betty Crocker)
Directions:
1.) Slice the butter loaf cake into approximately 20, 1 ½” cubes, and line the cubes up on a tray.
2.) Remove 3-4 tablespoons of white frosting from the can and set aside for later on.
3.) Now add 2-4 drops of the red food coloring into the white can of frosting and swirl. Add food coloring drop by drop until a light pink color is achieved.
4.) Microwave the can of frosting on high for 20 seconds. Remove from microwave, stir, and heat for another 15 seconds.
5.) Carefully remove the frosting from the microwave; it will be in a semi-liquid state and very hot!
6.) Pour the pink frosting over half of the cubes. You should only need about ½ – ¾ of the can of frosting. Set aside the remaining pink frosting for later on.
7.) Repeat steps 4-6 with the chocolate can of frosting.
8.) Now add 2-3 more drops of the red food coloring into the remaining can of light pink frosting and swirl. You want the frosting to become a darker pink color.
9.) Microwave the frosting on high for 20 seconds and carefully remove the frosting from the microwave.
10.) Gently pour the darker pink frosting over the lighter pink cubes creating random patterns.
11.) Get the 3-4 tablespoons of white frosting from Step 2. Add it into the remaining chocolate frosting and stir. You want the frosting to become a lighter shade of brown.
12.) Repeat Step 9, but gently pour the lighter chocolate frosting over the darker chocolate cubes creating random patterns.
13.) Refrigerate to harden the frosting before serving, if need be.
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