Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Yo Gabba Gabba Cupcakes

 Yo Gabba Gabba Cupcakes

I'm baaaaccckkk.... Sort of. Sleep deprived, exhausted, zombie-fied, but I have been baking and I neeeeed to blog. Oh and I have NO CLUE what happened to my background. I saw that blogger changed its format one day and I was looking at it and I guess I changed it and couldn't figure out how to fix. Hopefully I will soon because it looks goofy. I am not an IT person so for right now that's what you get. ha ha

So my first blog is some cupcakes I made for a good friend for her kiddo's 2nd birthday. I KNOW I said my first blog back from my self appointed baking maternity leave would be killer vanilla cupcakes but those will be soon ( and they weren't as killer as I thought they would be..) any who. My friend's little boy is 6 days older than my first daughter so they are good friends and we do play dates all the time and my gift to him besides a very obnoxious batteries required monster truck that his dad just LOVES was his birthday cupcakes. Jack is a HUGE Yo Gabba Gabba fan so I made cupcakes to match the theme of the party. I TOTALLY didn't take step by step pics. I know. I suck. BUT. They are MY go-to chocolate cupcake recipe and a basic vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, dyed with ameri-colors food colorings to get those nice bright colors. Americolors are a gazillion times better than Wilton's for 2 reasons: 1. squeeze bottle. No digging around in a tub with a toothpick. 2. You use way less to achieve a nice bright color. So no funny dye taste. I made 20 cupcakes and 2 cakes. I used my wilton sports ball cake pans for the two half dome cake pans. It was also Jack's dad, Noah's birthday celebration so I made him a cake too. I am not all that familiar with Yo gabba gabba so I found several online for inspiration as well as the Nickelodeon web site

Okay. Picture time

Jack - the birthday boy patiently waiting for his cake/cupcakes

 I bought this stand just for the party. There are 5 different characters so I made 4 of each one. Aren't the colors great? Americolors baby!!

I laughed when I saw how I had outlined the eyes on some of the characters. They looked like they had glasses on. My friend Kaysie had made a Yo Gabba Gabba quilt and said that the characters looked like members of The Cure with the black around the eyes. We were cracking up.
For the fondant dots I rolled the fondant thin and used a #12 round wilton deco tip. Worked perfectly

Jack's favorite character is this guy, Brobee, so I made him a smash cake. So what if kids usually only get a smash cake on their 1st birthday, I don't think it should stop at age 1, I think everyone should have a smash cake. So I will have one at my "29th" birthday next year... ha ha.  I used the grass tip for the fur and it wasn't that easy to use with swiss meringue buttercream. I have hot hands and when I pipe the frosting started to soften up so the fur would look a little mushy. I kept having to chill the bag a little so it would harden back up enough to show the detail.



This is the cake I made for Jack's dad, Noah. There is a DJ in Yo Gabba Gabba named DJ Lance and he wears this crazy orange hat with a funky star. I figured since Noah is a DJ by hobby that he needed a DJ Lance hat cake.

Here is the whole set up with the Yo Gabba Gabba quilt in the background. My friend Kaysie did a great job with it.

Cake smashing time. Jack was already messy from the finger painting session so why not dive into the cake. And of course he wanted cupcakes too and why not? It was his birthday afterall

My munchkin diving into a cupcake

I was dying laughing she looked like she had lipstick on. I think from now on I will just do frosting shots. That's all kids eat any way...

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe



Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes about 5 cups
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
6egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.   With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. If it is still runny keep beating it will come together I promise. Add in the vanilla extract and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.

19 comments:

  1. Anche mia figlia Giorgia è una fan dei Gabba Gabba, mi segno la ricetta, grazie per l'idea ti son venuti proprio bene! Brava

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  2. these look great! my kids love yo gabba gabba, and my daughter wants a gabba cake next year....great job especially you have a newborn! (I have 3 yr old twins so I know the sleep dep is tough!)...I wish I could just keep bright colored frosting in the fridge year round, that saves so much time...

    michelle
    http://sugarswings.blogspot.com/

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  3. I have no idea what a yo gabba gabba is but they sure are cute!

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  4. WOAH! I LOVE this show! This is a fabulous idea!

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  5. oh also i redid my blog :) just to let you know. has a different title and layout and posts :) My cupcakes and cakes aren't from scratch but they are doctored up cake mixes :) your cupcakes always look so yummy!!

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  6. Steph - its a kid's show on Nickelodeon. I don't really know what it is either so I had to do research to find out!

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  7. I just stumbled onto your blog because I had done a Google search for caramel swiss meringue buttercream, and your blog post about your mocha cupcakes was the first thing that popped up! I just wanted to say that I love, love, love your Yo Gabba Gabba cakes! My son is addicted to this show, and he will be turning 2 in a couple months. Now you've given me some great ideas for his birthday! Thank you. And congrats on your baby girl!

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  8. Your cupcakes were a smashing success :-). I love those little faces. I am new to your blog but will be back often. I love the recipes and food you feature here. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  9. You have so cute little cupcakes! This is absolutely great for my son's yo gabba gabba party invitations. I having a hard time creating their faces on the icing, but I will try my best to have such cupcakes like yours.

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  10. Your cupcakes were perfect! I am not a Yo Gabba Gabba Fan but I have to say you made Brobee look pretty darn cute!

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  11. My son is turning 1 years old on tuesday, he absolutely loves Yo Gabba Gabba including my 32 month old twin girls!!! This would be a perfect idea to make for his party this Saturday. however between work, 3 children, and planning a birthday party out of town, I'ts difficult finding time to make on my own cake. I wish I could pay someone to do make them awesome cupcakes for me! I admit I'm a fan too ;-)

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  12. MY GOD!
    I'm so in love with your Blog! :)
    The recipe is great and the photos are absolutely adorable!
    I would be glad if you had a look at my Blog and I'd feel so honoured if you want to follow me.
    Lovely regards,

    xx, Jana from petit fournil de paris. :)

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  13. YEA! I found your Swiss recipe! I did some You Tube searches for techniques, but your explanations were just as clear as seeing them in action...great job!

    I cannot wait to try this for the next cake...I have to make 5 recipes of it to cover the cake size, but I think I can do it! Again, any tips you want to share to prevent me from flopping??? Thanks! You're awesome and your blog is INSPIRING!!!!

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  14. How did you manage to get your SMBC to such dark primary colors? I can barely get mine to color to pastels! It's so frustrating... :(

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  15. Amanda - I use Americolor gel paste colors. They can be found online like at globalsugarart.com, bakedeco.com etc. They are amazing colors. It only takes a little bit to get deep colors. I was using Wilton's and they would never get this dark and I was using so much of the Wilton color it would change the consistency of my icing. Plus the longer it sits the darker it gets.

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  16. Thank you so much! They finally opened a Hobby Lobby here in Vegas and they sell Americolor so I will go get some to try!!!

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