Archive for the ‘Fablehaven’ Category

Dragon Eggs

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

SUBTITLE: What to do after you’ve learned by experience that making cupcakes without cupcake liners is not your best option for getting unbroken cupcakes out of the muffin tin.

Very recently I had the wonderful opportunity of helping with a going away party -of sorts- for the Fablehaven series. An exciting part of the evening was an auction hosted by the fairies. Their hope was to raise enough money to tempt Brandon to continue the series with a large advance. One of the many items in the auction was a rare jar of dragon eggs. I think you’ll find them surprisingly simple to come-by.

As I mentioned in the subtitle, the dragon eggs came about after a disasterous de-panning of  red velvet cupcakes. I was trying out a new recipe and didn’t have jumbo cupcake liners on hand. You’ll come to learn I lack patience in these situations and carried on without the liners. There’s not a lot of suspense about how this story ends.

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Delicious…amazing red velvet crumbs! (this recipe is a keeper!!)

There’s only one thing to do with cake crumbs, which you already know if you follow or know anyone who follows Bakerella. Cake Balls! All those times I wept over cake layers that didn’t fully release from their pan!! Baking was truly savage before the invention  of cake balls.

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Mix with this most perfect frosting. The eye of an experienced frosteur will see that I didn’t allow the heated mixture to cool enough. Fortunately my series of disasters worked together for a happy ending.

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I can, with confidence, advise you to begin with only a portion of crumbs and frosting so you can add more of either to obtain your desired texture. Which in my case was something that could be formed into a convincing dragon egg.

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Convinced? Hold that thought…we still need a shell.

After a little time in the freezer these little guys get dipped in tinted white chocolate and smathered with gold gel. Jar’ em, tag ‘em and it’s time to find out what they’re worth on the open market.

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Evil Fablehaven Cupcakes

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

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I say ‘evil’ more from a sense of moral responsibility than actually believing it to be true. There is nothing inherently evil in a graham cracker crust topped with a moist, dense devil’s food cupcake filled with marshmallow cream dipped in dark chocolate ganache crowned with marshmallow meringue. Even so, such a combination does give an overwhelming impression of sinfulness. The kind of sin that results in either additional hours on the treadmill or elastic waistbands.

We join this frightening tale after the marshmallow cream has already found it’s way into the center of the devil’s food. A momentary flashback depicts the graham cracker crust being tapped into the bottom of the cupcake liners.

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Spooning marshmallow cream into a decorator’s bag can get a little messy, but plunging the metal tip into the cakey chocolate center makes the sticky mayhem well worth the effort.

Clearly the person in charge of documenting this experience got caught up in the debauchery and failed to photograph the events in detail, so we now jump ahead to sometime after the cupcakes have been frozen for convenience, dipped in ganache, and topped with marshmallow meringue, a bit of graham cracker and a semi-sweet ‘F’.

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A cupcake of this nature isn’t going to go out in anything less than a custom design. A square of stylish fabric coated in equal parts white glue and water then shaped and left to dry in a muffin tin is all the rage this year.

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Delicious, gorgeous, evil…that can’t be expected to stay  in on a Saturday night.

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Another layer of chocolate decadence lurks inside the chest, waiting for an unassuming guest, disappointed they opted to play it coy instead of rushing the cupcake table, only then to  joyfully discover  more cupcakes hidden beneath the false platform.

While these indulgent yummies beg to be the center-fold of Modern Baking,  real beauty, and evil for that matter, comes from within…

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Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I put mine in the blender and use pulse)
1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

Cupcake: This time I used a Devil’s Food cake mix and added a small box of chocolate pudding.

Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp rum extract
Slowly heat the cream on the stove top. When near boiling add chocolate chips and allow to sit for a minute or two. Stir til smooth, add extract.

Marshmallow Meringue ( This comes from the Smore’s Cupcake recipe at Annies-Eats.com)
8 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
½ tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in the top of a double boiler.  Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it reaches 160° F.   Whisk starting at low speed and gradually increasing to medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form.  Mix in the vanilla until combined.

Fablehaven Party: Tanu’s Potions

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

The arrival activity at the Fablehaven party was Tanu’s potion lab. As the guests arrived they were led to the potion station, where they found recipes and all the ingredients they needed to create their own potions.

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During the development of this idea we went through a number of possibilities for creating potions that looked interesting, yet were still consumable. The final ingredients along with their ‘real’ identities are:

  • Umite Honey - corn syrup
  • Milch Cow Syrup - corn syrup
  • Pixie Rain Forest Water - unsweetened invisible Kool-Aid
  • Naiad Water - unsweetened invisible Kool-Aid
  • Brownie Candy Apple Granuals - Red colored sugar
  • Dragon Tears - blue food coloring
  • Wizard Slime - green food coloring
  • Swamp Hog Saliva - yellow food coloring.

Each recipe was some combination of corn syrup, Kool-Aid, and food coloring. The vials each had extra-fine glitter in them from the beginning.

Download printable potion-recipes .

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Our very first potion, for photo purposes, was actually just colored hand sanitizer with the added glitter. Unfortunately, I brought it along for display purposes along with a few other early tests. When one of the kids lost his potions I told him he could take the displays…only to remember a few minutes later that one of them was Germ-X! Rather than simply smell each vial, I foolishly dabbed them with my finger and tasted them. A little Germ-X flavor goes a long way…ugh.

I had the most fun with the labels….

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honeydragonandwizardapplepixie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our test tubes we visited www.testtubesonline.com. Imagine that! Plastic tubes and corks in all kinds of sizes.

I was thrilled with how well the potion lab entertained the guests. As the party was winding down many of the kids found their way back over to the potions to mix and shake some more. I hope you find an excuse to have as much with potions as we did!

Fantastical Invites

Monday, June 15th, 2009

The Fablehaven invitations were adapted from a teeny-tiny invitation I did over on OccasionalGenius.com. They seem especially fitting for fantasy-type themes - just like Fablehaven.

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In plain terms, the invitation is a rolled piece of paper held bound by a smaller tube of paper. Beads and a name tag are held at both ends by a piece of string run through the center. 

Plain terms are hardly fun, however. I much prefer decidedly un-plain terms with plenty of details.  It’s interesting to know, for instance, the invitation is written on gold-dust vellum.

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With pictures like these, I’m afraid you’ll have to take my word for it…it was like printing on, well, sheets of gold dust. Almost magical even! (And worked just fine in my laser printer)

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The bands might be my favorite part of this project. These began as small squares of brown cardstock. Just a quick impression using Cuttlebug’s ‘pebbles’ embossing folder and a twist ‘n glue around the cap of a marker was all it took to transform paper into bead-like tubes. That little piece of brown cardstock got a serious make-over!

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The beading really is simple. I don’t think even I can blow this part too out of proportion. For the half sheet of vellum - 5 1/2 inches across - I used about 18 inches of twine. The white bead is at the center point of the twine, with both ends coming back threw the flat bead.

Both ends of twine are run through the roll of paper, next the last bead, then the name tag (a very small punched hole), and finally knotted at the end.

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I guess as finely detailed and ingenious as I try to present these invites, they are  just too quick and easy to warrant going on and on about. It’s just as well. Fast and simple is nice too.

Fablehaven Author Tags Fans

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Typically I like to save the best for last. Sometimes, however, the best just has to go first.

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Obviously, having Brandon Mull attend our little party was amazing. Short of loading everyone in his car and taking us all to Disneyland he couldn’t have been a nicer guy. Super-cool, famous, best-selling author aside…my favorite part was the super-cool thank you note Liz and I received from the party guests. We couldn’t have thrown a party for a nicer group if we had hand-picked them. So, tremendous thanks to Brandon and the Owen family and friends!

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As the guests arrived our fairy put them to work in the potions lab, where they could make their own potions using ingredients such as Wizard Slime, Umite Honey, and Pixie Rain-Forest Water.

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When Brandon arrived the introductions were made…

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and everyone got to show-off their potions.

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Finally, we dispensed with the pleasantries and a spectacular game of Steal the Artifact ensued. I figure plenty of people get to meet their role-model….but how many kids get to be viciously tagged by their favorite author?

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Following a solid 3-0 defeat by Brandon’s team, the kids had the opportunity to compare their own interests with those of the Fablehaven creator.

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Who could have guessed that Brandon’s most coveted invention would be a device that takes the words right from his brain and puts them on paper? Or, that his favorite video game is Twighlight Princess? And, that he’d rather drive the Batmobile than an Aston Martin? Duh!

A silver dragon egg hunt revealed the password to the magic box containing the party favors. Brandon graciously identified the Fablehaven items as everyone opened their bags: a dizzy crystal, fairy cacoons, magic-knot bracelets, Nero’s gold, and assorted edible rocks.

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With a little reluctance we cut into the Fablehaven cake created by Dippidee in American Fork. Fortunately the delicious taste helped us forget the pain of destroying such a marvelous creation.

If everyone had as much fun as I did the party was a huge success! Upcoming posts will detail the invitations, activities, and favors so you can throw your own Fablehaven bash!

For our next party give-away, I’m thinking pirates!!