That was Hayden's response in our latest video. Although she knows most of her animal sounds, she thinks it's funny to answer, "meow" when someone asks what any animal other than a cat says (kids catch on quick when it comes to getting a laugh; she thinks she's a riot).
If you caught my "A Marriage of Flavors & Raw Cupcake Chaos" video, you probably remember my son Jacob wondering if the Rawdorable Maple Fakin' Cupcake formed in a liner with "feet" was a turtle hiding his head in his shell. I guess it could appear that way to an imaginative child, which got me thinking ... maybe we should make some raw vegan animal cupcakes with those liners. Besides, that's what they were meant for making (and not just baking, in our case).Yesterday (when we filmed the video) was so hot that we decided to make n'ice cream cupcakes rather than our usual raw cupcakes. We whipped up n'ice cream (banana/fruit-based ice cream) flavors in my trusty old school food processor to match the liners, mounded it up high in each liner, like cute rounded cupcake bodies, and placed tiny scoops where the heads would be. Then, we used various fresh/dry fruits and such to decorate them with animal features.
Luckily, I took a moment to take some photos before presenting them on video to the kids (and before they melted entirely; the elephant and the puppy really didn't do well in the heat). Hayden instantly chowed down on her pink piggy cupcake, and Jacob dove (literally; face-first without a spoon) into his already melting chocolate n'ice cream puppy, as soon as he turned off the camera (yes, he was the videographer again).So, here's a little more detail about each one:
The kitty cat was made out of mango banana n'ice cream (frozen banana and mango blended into an ice cream consistency). The ears and stripes were created out of orange slices/rind, and the tail was a piece of freeze-dried peach. We used raisins for the eyes and mouth, and a strawberry bit for the nose.
The elephant was sculpted out of a blueberry banana n'ice cream, which gave it a purple hue. It reminded me of how my hubby got in trouble in kindergarten for coloring his elephant purple or blue, instead of a more natural gray (he was just trying to be artistic). The eyes, trunk and tail were cut from fresh plums, while the mouth was formed from a slice of dried plum. The eyes were raisins.
Jacob's puppy was made out of chocolate n'ice cream (add cocoa powder to the basic banilla base or whatever flavor you have left in the food processor). It had dried plum ears and a tail, and raisin eyes and a nose. The tongue was a tiny piece of strawberry. The spots were chocolate chips, as he really wanted to use them. These weren't raw (although you can easily make raw ones, if you have time to do so), but they were still vegan.
Lastly, Hayden's pink piggy was a strawberry n'ice cream base with strawberry ears and a snout. The eyes were raisins, and the mouth was a slice of dried plum. It was finished off with a cashew tail, since it has a slight bend in it (pigs should have curly tails).Hope you enjoyed our parade of n'ice cream animal cupcakes. Here are some more raw cupcake animal ideas, in case you missed them the first time. Enjoy!
