Herbal Blessing: DECORATED TEA CAKES

October is National Bake and Decorate Month plus tomorrow, October 10th, is National Cake Decorating Day and there is nothing that gets more “WOW’s” at a tea party than decorated tea cakes. Of course they have to taste great too, so let’s start with a quick, easy and delicious recipe for some basic tea cakes in either the regular or mini version:

BASIC TEA CAKES: Combine 1 cake mix and 1 1/2c combined liquid (pie filling, yogurt, applesauce, etc.)instead of eggs and oil then whisk until just mixed. Pour into greased or lined muffin/mini-muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins.

Here are some basic combos that are tried and true, but this is also where you can create your own special favorites:

CHOCOLATE: chocolate cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin (this is the 1 1/2c liquid)

CRÈME: yellow cake mix, 1 1/2c vanilla yogurt (this is the 1 1/2c liquid)

SPICE: yellow cake mix, 1 1/2c applesauce (this is the 1 1/2c liquid) and 1tsp spice mix

FRUIT: any cake mix, 1 can any fruit pie filling (this is the 1 1/2c liquid)

Next is an easy frosting – how about 3 simple ingredients that are not overly sweet: 1 package cream cheese, 1-7oz jar marshmallow crème and 1tsp vanilla extract. Again you can experiment with extracts to get different flavors, add cocoa powder for chocolate or just add your favorite flavor of Jello to add not only flavor, but color!

Finally it’s time for some decorating fun, so I’ve collected some of my favorite and easy ideas from Pinterest to share with links for complete instructions (just click on the titles):

SPRING FLOWERS: arrange an assortment of candies by Jelly Belly such as jelly beans, bunny corn, fruit sours, Jordan almonds, licorice pastels and mint cremes on the pastel iced tea cakes.

ALMOND JOY: Top the iced chocolate tea cake with a combination of coconut, sliced almonds and semi-sweet chocolate chips

GERMAN CHOCOLATE: Create a traditional German chocolate frosting with pecans and coconut and place in the center of a chocolate buttercream iced around the edge German chocolate tea cake.