This elfin hideaway is more than a treat - it's a fun activity for a fairy-themed birthday party, or for a nature- or garden-themed gathering. Give each guest a bare structure assembled from a cupcake or a store-bought pound cake, then provide a variety of frostings, candies, and cookies and let kids go to town.
Make it easy! Before the party, assemble a variety of unadorned houses for guests to decorate later. We used two store-bought pound cakes - a 16-ounce loaf and a 10-3/4-ounce loaf - and one large cupcake for the five structures here.
Ingredients
- 2 pound cakes (16-ounce loaf and a 10-3/4-ounce loaf) and one large cupcake
- Butter biscuit cookies (we used Lu Le Petit Beurre brand)
- White frosting and chocolate frosting
- Jelly beans
- White bark chocolate
- Green and yellow Tootsie Rolls
- Chocolate-covered cookies and graham crackers (we used Keebler brand)
- Nonpareils
- Mini marshmallows
- Sugar wafers
- Pretzels
- Starburst candies
- Flower-shaped decorator candies
- Biscotto-like cookies (we used Stella D'oro brand)
- Leaf-shaped butter cookies (we used Bahlsen brand)
- Miniature vanilla wafers
- Chocolate and peanut butter chips
- Green food coloring
- Waffle cones
- Chocolate wafers (we used Keebler brand)
Instructions
1. Butter Biscuit Bungalow: Butter biscuit cookies (we used Lu Le Petit Beurre brand) make great roofing. Working from the lower edge, gently press the cookies onto the frosted cake, then pipe on a line of frosting and add a jelly bean peak.
White bark chocolate windows stand out nicely against dark frosting. For shutters, we used green Tootsie Rolls, quartered lengthwise. The door is a chocolate-covered cookie (we used Keebler brand).
Use jelly beans to give your cottage an earthy foundation.
2. Cozy Cupcake Hut: Chocolate-covered cookies and graham crackers make appealing chimneys and doors (we used Keebler brand).
Is it snowing in your fairy village? Try a roof of nonpareils! A foundation of mini marshmallows might be in order too.
3. Sugar Wafer Chalet: We used sugar wafers and a pretzel rod for this simple peaked roof.
To make the doors and windows, warm Starburst candies in the microwave until they're just pliable, about 5 seconds, then use a rolling pin to flatten them. Cut out the desired shapes and press them in place.
We pressed on a pretzel window box, then filled it with flower-shaped decorator candies.
4. Birch Bark Abode: The marbling technique on this birch house is marvelously easy. Just frost the base white, then dip the tip of a table knife in chocolate and drag it across the cake, gently swirling the colors.
The roof is made of a biscotto-like cookie (we used Stella D'oro brand), and the chimney, a yellow Tootsie Roll.
5. Leaf Cookie Lodge: Butter cookie leaves (we used Bahlsen brand) are always popular with fairies. The door is the unfrosted side of a half-dipped fudge graham.
To round out your cabin, press on a pair of miniature vanilla wafer windows.
For a quick and easy foundation, alternate chocolate and peanut butter chips.
6. Waffle Cone Trees: Use food coloring to tint white frosting green. Generously frost a waffle cone, then use a fork to pull the icing into boughlike peaks.
7. Delicious Dirt: We used crushed Keebler-brand chocolate wafers for our forest floor.
8. Tiny Toadstools: Microwave a red Starburst candy until just pliable, then roll it into a ball. Flatten one side, then use a dab of frosting to attach a marshmallow base. Pipe on frosting dots.
9. Make it easy! Before the party, assemble a variety of unadorned houses for guests to decorate later. We used two store-bought pound cakes — a 16-ounce loaf and a 10-3/4-ounce loaf — and one large cupcake for the five structures here.
Food
