DIY Bear Cub-cakes

Hi all!

This past weekend, my father celebrated his birthday.  His name is Dov, which is Hebrew for “bear”, so I decided to make adorable bear cupcakes in his honor.  I thought it would be really fun to post a step-by-step guide showing you how I made them, so without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 12-cupcake pans

24 cupcake liners

1 cake mix box of your choice

1 tub of chocolate frosting

1 box Teeny Bits cookies or mini Oreos (any bite-sized chocolate cookie will do)

1 container of chocolate sprinkles

1 container of chocolate nonpareils

1 small tube of black icing

1 bag of chocolate chips

1 bag of white chocolate chips

1 offset spatula

1 cake pan or plate

Step-by-step:

• Pre-heat your oven according to the cake mix package’s directions
• Prepare cake mix according to package’s directions and line pans with cupcake liners
• Pour batter halfway into each cupcake slot
• Bake according to package’s directions or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

• Evenly frost the tops of each cupcake with a tablespoon amount of chocolate frosting, using an offset spatula

• Fill a Ziploc bag with frosting and cut a small hole at the tip.  (Pro tip: you might find it easier to place the Ziploc bag in a cup, fold the sides over the rim, and fill the bag with frosting that way)

     

• Place 1 chocolate nonpareil flat chocolate-side up (sprinkles-side down) on the lower 1/3 portion of the cupcake and cover that with frosting as well - giving you the elevated snout part of the face

• Place 2 white chocolate chips - flat-side up - above the frosted nonpareil, creating the bear’s eyes

• Take 1 regular chocolate chip, flatten it out by cutting the tip off and place it on the upper ½ side of the frosted nonpareil as the bear’s nose

• Take one mini chocolate cookie of your choice (if you are using mini Oreos, split them and scrape the crème off) and cut it in half
• Take both halves of the mini chocolate cookie and dab a small amount of frosting on their bottoms, and then place both halves on either sides of the cupcake above the white chocolate chips, creating the bear’s ears.  (If the cupcake was a clock or a steering wheel, you would stick the ears at the 10 and 2 positions)

• Place the cupcake in a cake pan and cover the cupcake with lots of chocolate sprinkles (Pro tip: using the pan or plate to catch the sprinkles that fall out will let you reuse the sprinkles for other cupcakes, and also help make clean-up easier.)

• Using the small tube of chocolate icing, dab a small dot on each white chocolate chip (making an iris on each one)
• Using the same chocolate icing, create the bear’s mouth by making a rounded “w” on the bear’s snout, with the middle of the “w” touching the bottom of his nose

And that’s it!  You’re all done!  You might find the process a bit tedious, but once you get through the first two or three cupcakes, you’ll get the hang of it and the rest will be a piece of (cup)cake.  By the way, you can easily take this concept and, with a little touch of creativity, transform the bears into any other animal - add whiskers and small teeth to make mice, or use vanilla frosting and bits of chocolate to make Dalmatians!  Depending on what you choose to do for the ears or fur, you can really make cupcakes look like anything!  I thought mine turned out really well and were so cute, and they were a big hit at my father’s birthday dinner!  What do you think?  Please let me know how yours turn out, or if you have any other cool ideas of what kind of animal cupcakes you can make.

XOXO,

Grace

Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons Palette Review

Hey everyone!  This week, I wanted to share my thoughts with you on a really fun palette called “Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons”.  This is the first palette I’ve purchased from the Chocolate Bar Eye Shadow Collection.  The palette comes in an adorable heart-inspired package, and just like the rest of the company’s chocolate-themed and scented products, the palette smells like yummy delicious chocolate!

   

The palette comes in a retro-inspired pink tin box, embossed with hearts and sealed with a magnetic clasp.  Inside, the palette contains a rectangular mirror on the lid, and 16 eye shadow pans, 14 of which are heart-shaped and weigh roughly 0.03 ounces.  The other two shadow pans are rectangular and weigh about 0.07 ounces.  All of the shadows are very finely milled, and feel like butter.  They glide on nicely, with little-to-no fallout, depending on whether you’ve tapped the excess shadow off of your brush.  The shadows also blend really nicely.

The range of finishes inside this palette is also impressive, as there are matte, metallic and full-on shimmery shadows inside.  A majority of the shades (9 of 16) are cool and warm-toned neutrals, while the rest vary between deeper shades and cool-toned bright colors.  The palette also comes with a How-To Glamour Guide, complete with three suggested looks for inspiration.  This is a great start, but don’t limit yourself!  Make sure you experiment with the shadows, and find a fun and original look that’s all you!  If you find yourself thinking of new looks to create with these shades, you can always do what Jeffree Star does and create a look by going down the columns or along the rows, covering the rest of the palette with your hands.

Here’s how the shadows swatched on my fair skin:

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, I’m really pleased with my purchase and love using this palette.  I feel like it can definitely become a top-shelf makeup item in my vanity, as it allows me to create beautiful everyday eye looks, stunningly dramatic evening ones and everything in between.  The cute packaging also makes it a perfect wish-list item for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, a birthday or an anniversary gift-- or don’t wait for anyone and just buy it for yourself!  

Let me know what your thoughts are on this palette (if you already own it or not), or your opinion on any of the other chocolate palettes by Too Faced.  

XOXO,

Grace