Tasteful Tuesday

Drew's birthday was Sunday and he really wanted a Percy Jackson birthday cake. Percy Jackson is a book series that has a lot of Greek mythology in it and it is huge among the kids Drew's age. I searched all over online looking for a cute cake and couldn't find anything that I liked so I had to come up with something on my own. There is a recipe at the end of this post but it is mostly about this cute birthday cake idea. I know it doesn't really go along with my new low calorie recipes but I have to say, I wasn't even tempted to eat any cake. The rice krispies, on the other hand.... (they are what I used under the fondant). Here is Drew with his cake. We took it to the park for a get together so I didn't get a picture with the candles in.

Here is the Medusa head the girls and I made. Didn't it turn out cute? Ainslee and Kaitlyn did most of it.

In the top picture with Drew in it, I had added the "minitaur horn"...not sure if I liked it on there or not, but he wanted it so I threw it on.

To go with the cake I wanted to make some wave cupcakes but I ended up running out of time and decided to just top the cupcakes with whipped cream. For the cake, I made a jello poke cake, which is one of my favorite cakes to make that takes minimal prep. and tastes really good...not to mention the yummy surprise inside. I also made the cupcakes that way. The recipe is down below. Read through my notes to find out the new buttercream recipe I used.

Jello Poke Cake

1 box cake mix*

1 (4oz) package jello

Cool Whip

Bake cake according to directions. While hot, poke holes in cake and prepare jello according to directions. Spoon jello over cake and then refrigerate until jello is set. Top with cool whip and enjoy!

My Notes:

*any flavor of cake mix is good but you can try these combos: spice cake with orange jello, white cake with any flavor, chocolate cake with cherry or black cherry jello, lemon cake and lemon jello. Whipped cream is the best topping but if you are like me and want to actually decorate the cake, whipped cream doesn't work really well. I found a fun twist on a buttercream frosting that tasted good with the cake but still allowed me to use a cake decorating tip. Use 1/2 cup butter, softened; 4-6 cups powdered sugar; 4-6 tablespoons prepared jello (before it has set up...I poured most of the jello over my cake and cupcakes and then used the small amount that was left to put into the frosting). Beat the butter until fluffy and slowly add in the powdered sugar, alternating with the jello. Continue adding sugar and jello until you reach desired consistency.

Recipe source: Kraft foods