A little April Fools' fun

(Please forgive the delay in getting this posted--I tried to post it Friday night... and for days afterward...but my computer and Blogger weren't getting along for some weird reason. Those problems finally seem to be resolved.)

Today is April Fools' Day--a "holiday" that usually comes and goes without any true acknowledgement on my part, other than extra vigilance to be discerning on Facebook and in everyday life. It just kind of bugs me that for an entire day I don't feel like I can trust what I hear or see. I'm not opposed to a good, fun prank on April Fools' or any other day--it's the words intended to deceive that personally don't sit well with me.

But... that being said, I'm not opposed to a little playful April Fools' fun that isn't blatantly deceitful. And as those of you who know me are aware, I love any good excuse to bake.

So I made these and took them to work.

I spotted the instructions for these in a cupcake book I own and thought they were too cute. I've wanted to make them, but when is one going to have an opportunity to bake something like that but on April Fools'? So I decided to make some and take them to work.

My co-workers loved them so much that our marketing department took pictures of them and posted them on the WBIR fan page on Facebook!

They look sort of complicated, but they're really not.

The "spaghetti and meatballs" are regular cupcakes with vanilla icing tinted and piped to look like spaghetti noodles, topped with strawberry preserves for spaghetti sauce and Ferraro Rocher chocolates for meatballs. Some thin white chocolate shavings sprinkled on top gave the appearance of parmesan cheese.

The "corn on the cobs" are regular cupcakes with vanilla icing, a combination of Jelly Belly (I used the lemon, pina colada and french vanilla flavors--the buttered popcorn ones have a good "corn" appearance, but I think they taste nasty) and Starburst jellybeans (I ran out of Jelly Bellys, so one of the corn on the cobs looks a little overdone), lemon Starburst candy for a pad of butter and colored sugar for salt and pepper. Arrange the cupcakes into sets of three and stick some actual corn on the cob holders into the outer sides of the trio to complete the look.

For more information on these cupcakes or some other super cute ideas, check out the book "Hello Cupcake" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. These ideas came from that book. "What's New, Cupcake?" is also a great resource if you enjoy making cupcakes.