A few weeks ago, my youngest child turned five. She had requested a butterfly birthday cake, and with the help of our local library’s cake pan program, I was able to check out a butterfly mold with my library card. I love that program, and have used it in the past to make fancy cakes, and adorable little loaves of banana bread.

A few days before her birthday, we created these butterfly cupcakes for Lily’s preschool birthday celebration. Last year we did ice cream cups, but since there are no food celebrations in elementary school (a rule my husband and I high-fived over in glee when we heard), I went a little fancier for our last hoorah.

I frosted these guys and cut the marshmallows in quarters, and Lily put the sour worm bodies on and the marshmallow wings. I then threw faces on them. Most of them look jolly, but a few look scared, mad, or even a little drunk. Just like parents.

In keeping with the butterfly birthday party theme, check out the corn dogs we had for dinner!

I saw these on Kids Activities Blog, and knew the kids would love them. Truthfully, I love corn dogs and Doritos, so it was also a good excuse to get some of that deliciousness in my grocery cart. They were easy enough to make, but until I was on the hunt for flat, unbroken Doritos, I had no idea how many in the bag would not make good wings. It’s almost like the guys at Doritos don’t think about corn dog butterflies when they are cranking out tortilla chips.

To make these, bake the corn dogs first, then slice two slits in each side of the corn dog large enough for a corner of the chip to fit. Cram the chips in there, and use an icing pen, mustard or ketchup, or a black food coloring pen to create the face on the butterfly. I reheated ours a bit after making the butterflies, because they had gotten a little cold.

Finally it was time for the requested butterfly cake, which was chocolate with chocolate frosting. I toyed with the idea of making her a Monarch butterfly cake, but we went with a pink and brown theme instead. She helped a little with the frosting. And by that I mean she was mostly eating it. Her brother was a real asset in this department, too.

Lily was happy with the level of butterfly-ness of her birthday, and I was thankful that I wasn’t frosting an Elsa-shaped cake this year. Next year, probably, but we’ll cross that ice bridge when we get to it.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

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