Midnight art

For Ani's birthday, there was no question about what the theme was going to be. Since his every conversation, every waking moment, every decision automatically either centers around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or has them playing a significant role, why would his party have any other theme?

The decorations were easy to handle, but the big question was the cake. I tend to shy away from cakes that one actually has to cut. In parties, cutting and passing out pieces of cake ends up being the default role of the mom and I don't like it. There's so much stress! Kids come up to you and say, I want this piece, or that piece right in the center and sometimes they say, you gave me a little piece, I want a bigger one. Jeez. And there's the ever-blooming fact that the rate limiting step in the whole process of getting all the people their cake is you.Like I said, too much pressure.

Not that I have ever actually cut a cake all the way to the very end. Thankfully what usually happens is that one of the guests sees me puzzle over the cake cutting, sees me increasingly agitated and sweaty, takes pity, steps up and says, "Do you want me to cut the cake, Varsh?", whereupon I gratefully pass the knife and collapse in a heap of gratitude. Yaay sisterhood!

Instead of a cake horror, think of a cupcake. So easy! Your kid blows out the candles and instead of immediately grabbing hold of the knife and sawing away at the cake in a frenzy, you smile easily, point to the cupcake tray and say, "Please help yourself!" and walk away to chat. Perfect.

So no contest. Of course we were going to have cupcakes. But how to get a TMNT-themed cupcake? Bakeries nearby quoted insane amounts. Any bakery item is worth the money if a) you don't know how to make it and b) you know how to make it, but you don't know how to make it well. Cupcakes are easy enough. After viewing a bunch of Google results for "TMNT cupcakes", I saw this. Easy enough to make the green faces and the eyes and mouth. But the bandana? The recipe called for chewy fruit flavored snacks, but how would you get purple or blue colored snacks without artificial colors? Plus, chewy fruit-flavored snacks? Not exactly the best choice, are they?

I figured out the perfect alternative, to get the right colors and the right look without using too many artificial colorings or preservatives: white chocolate!

So here's how it all turned out.
First the cupcakes, baked with the help of my new friend P:

If I had any aspirations towards food photography, this picture with its incompletely filled tray and the half-eaten cupcake on the top left corner in the frame would have ensured my immediate failure

Then the frosting:

Still more signs of flunking food photography 

You know what colors I used?

Guess what they make their colors out of? Yellow is from turmeric, red is from beetroots and blue is vegetable juice! Nice, eh? To get green, you have to add yellow and blue. I cheated a bit, though. I got worried about the amount of yellow and blue I was using up to make the green and thought I wouldn't have any left for the bandanas. So I added a couple of drops of artificial green as well. In hindsight (and since I know how much I actually used for the whole project), I could have just stuck to the natural colors and I would have been fine. Oh well. A lesson for next time. 

Then, the bandanas:

First melted some white chocolate

Then squeezed some red into it.

Mixed like crazy. 

Flattened out with fingers and a rolling pin and stuck in the freezer for a couple of minutes.
Pink in picture =red in real life

Eyes and mouth with writing gel. Tada!

Not bad, eh? Total cost? About $40. The most expensive item were the colors (about $15 at Whole Foods), but I think it was worth it.

Result: Kids loved, loved, loved it. The best part was being able to choose whom they wanted to eat. Next time, I ought to make some TMNT villians (hmm... Shredder's blades with kale chips! Kraang as an upside down cupcake with tentacles made of frosting) as well as make it more girl-friendly. A couple of girls were looking for April and I had to admit to making a male-only cast. Maybe for Durga's birthday next year, I shall make an April-Karai themed party.