Who wants to go to a Teddy Graham Pool Par-tae?

You do?! Well that’s convenient!  A few weeks ago I made the baked goodies for my niece’s 8th birthday…and the theme was Pool Party! I had seen these fabulous Pool Party/Beach Party cake and cuppie combos during my internet travels and was itching to try them out!

My niece, Alyssa, was all about it… saying “well we DO have a pool now! So it makes total sense.” Then when I asked what kind of cake she wanted she said, “Well I think we should do BOTH chocolate and vanilla cake because not everyone likes what I like. Just so everyone gets what they like.” Yes…she is eight, folks. Did I mention she is a bit of a genius?

I did the pre-baking to save time for an already hectic day…. multiple eight year olds + multiple eight year olds’ parents+ pool+ outdoors+sugar= hectic day.

The 30+ cupcakes were left naked (scandal!) to decorate with the lovely ladies of my fam and my niece. At the last minute I decided to surprise my fabulous niece with an additional cake already decorated.. because what is a birthday without surprises!?

I made a triple layer, alternating chocolate and yellow cake.

Yes… that is a big.blue.cake.

I added a bit more of icing to one side and gave it a slight swoop here and there with my knife, and the waves rolled in! (ha!)

Then the fun started… I asked the Hubs to help me decorate the teddy grahams by drawing tiny bathing suits on their chubby bodies. Why take the time to draw bathing suits on teddy grahams? Because our pool party isn’t a pool pool at the Playboy Mansion… pervs. I used small Ziplock bags filled with brightly food colored white icing…I cut a teeny tiny hole at one of the corners. After we both went a little crossed eyed, we have over 50 clothed teddy girls and boys pool party ready.

Add some crushed graham crackers for a beach, gummie life savers as inner tubes, fruit by the foot for beach towels, peppermints for beach balls, a few parasols and some tasteful palm trees….

TAH-DAHHH!
I was very happy with the outcome…and it was super duper festive.

I wish I had thought to get a picture of Alyssa’s face because it made it all worth it. She was so siked.

Now she was all about making the cupcakes to match the cake. We all started decorating the sad naked cupcakes. To speed up to the funess I iced all the cuppies and the decorating fun was on!

I fully intended to basically decorate the cupcakes myself, but to my surprise Alyssa’s attention span was fully on the task at hand. And she was amazing at it! She would give the cupcake a quick look… give a “hmm” face then add a parasol (or whatever the mood called for) to one side, that perfectly balanced out the cupcake.

Each cupcake was slightly different and they looked perfect!

Towards the middle, when she found her decorating groove she looked up at me and smiled saying,”This is fun! When you open your own bakery I can work for you! And I’ll totally work for free!” Eight folks. She is eight.

The end result was beautifully matched cupcakes ready for presentation… most of which were not decorated by me.

The party was great and Alyssa had a great day… I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we decorate some cuppies.. not if I have anything to say about it!