Remember this summer when I made mini fruit pies?

Well, they were such a success that I decided to try mini cakes — and boy were they a hit!

Aren’t they cute…

The mini cakes were for my 3rd-grade G.E.M.S. cake decorating badge.

I suppose I should have known better than to let 3rd-grade girls run wild with cake, frosting, and unlimited amounts of sprinkles {at church} but I figured it would be fun…

…and it was!

The first part of the badge was supposed to involve learning about different cake decorating tools and techniques, but they really couldn’t focus with all the frosting and sprinkles on the table — so we skipped right to part 2; decorating!

Their little hands could hardly hold the bags of cake frosting, but that didn’t matter, they just wanted to get as much frosting and sprinkels on their cupcakes as possible.

I think they succeeded!

YUM!

So I spent a bit of time cleaning up our mess, but the girls left church that night with frosting covered faces and told me “this was the best G.E.M.S. lesson yet!”

I suppose it was worth the mess.

Oh, and here’s the SIMPLE frosting recipe:

• 3/4 c. shortening
• 1 T. butter
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1 t. vanilla
• 4 c. powdered sugar

Simply mix everything together with an electric mixer and add your favorite food colorings.

You can find the cake recipe on the back of any Betty Crocker box

Happy Valentine’s Weekend!