Birthday Cupcakes, Part 2: Owl Decorations

Happy birthday to me!

My sister Amy bought me the sweetest book, Hello, Cupcake!, for my birthday late last month. I decided to reward myself and my first birthday in Kansas (sans the traditional celebrations and celebrants, sniff) with some adorable cupcakes. The choices were fantastical: specific dog breeds, monarch butterflies, ears of corn, an alligator! I settled on owls, partly because I love their stupid faces and partly because I had oreos on hand.

My owlish favorite, Franco, died in the making of this blog, above.

Start with the glorious PB cupcakes from my previous post and two cans of chocolate frosting (or your own recipe). I didn't have a few of the other candies required — no thanks to George for eating all of my possible banana runt noses before I could use them. But, hey, I am a creative professional trained to improvise. In desperation I turned to skittles, which didn't taste so lovely with my chocolate-pb combination. The book's recipe calls for Junior Mints over the Oreos as eyes, but they were very brown with brown frosting. I opted for the holiday-colored Reese's Pieces instead, and they were the perfect choice to reinforce my pb-chocolate flavors!

A passel of owls, some wary, some befuddled, watches over the dining room.

If you haven't seen this book and you are a cupcake lover, run to find it immediately! The decoration ideas in here will keep you a popular party guest (or simply the best mom ever) for years to come.

Hello, Cupcake! gets four licks for tantalizing and creative use of materials.