I have only pulled off one very successful April Fool’s Day prank in my life. My husband, a resident at the time, would be starting his first day of the pediatric surgical rotation on April 1st. He was a bit nervous and it didn’t help that the chief attending of the pediatric service was a tough bitch.

The morning of April 1st, dearest husband needed to report for rounds on the pediatric service at 7 am. When the alarm went off at 6 am I shook him and shouted “OH MY GOD!! I SET THE ALARM WRONG. IT’S 7:30!!!!”

He went flying out of bed, scrambling to get his stuff together. I only let him suffer for about 15 seconds. “APRIL FOOLS!”. It was a good one.

Chinese Takeout Cupcakes

Ingredients:

6 vanilla cupcakes , baked in white paper liners
6 to 8 green fruit chews such as Jolly Rancher or Laffy Taffy (I bought Starburst since those were the only chews I could get. No green ones in there, but how would I know since I don’t normally eat them. Mad scramble through my candy stash turned up some spearmint leaves. Not ideal, but they did the trick)
3 pink fruit chews such as Jolly Rancher, Starburst, Laffy Taffy (NOW I get why Starburst was only included on this ingredient line)
1 1/2 cups canned vanilla frosting
Green and yellow food coloring
1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark green sprinkles (I used sugar crystals)
1 strand green licorice twist (Twizzlers Rainbow Twists), thinly sliced diagonally
Chinese food take-out containers (optional)

Directions:

1. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

2. For the broccoli stems, make a lengthwise slit halfway down the center of each green fruit chew and open slightly. Place the stems on the prepared cookie sheet. Microwave the pink fruit chews for 2 to 3 seconds to soften. Press the pink fruit chews together and roll out into a 2-by-3-inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. For the pork slivers, cut the flattened fruit chew rectangle crosswise into 1/8-inch-wide strips. (If you only have spearmint leaves, too, just microwave and roll out till slightly flat).

3. Tint 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting bright green with the green food coloring, spoon the frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air, and seal. Tint 2 teaspoons of the remaining vanilla frosting with 1/2 teaspoon of the cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon water and mix to make a smooth brown paste. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting light brown with 1 drop of yellow food coloring and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder. Spread the darker brown paste down the side of a ziplock bag (I used a pastry bag fitted with a #6  round tip) and then fill in with the light brown frosting. Press out the excess air and seal.

4. Place the green sprinkles in a small bowl. Snip a small (1/8-inch) corner from the bag with the green frosting. For the broccoli florets, pipe mounds of frosting on the tips of the split ends of the green fruit chews on the cookie sheet. Holding the broccoli by the stem, press the frosted end lightly into the sprinkles to cover completely; return to the cookie sheet.

5. Snip a small (1/8-inch) corner from the bag with the brown frosting (To do this I used a pastry bag with a #6 round tip). To make the lo mein noodles, pipe the frosting in an irregular pattern all over the cupcakes, piling it high and letting it hang over the edges (the darker brown frosting will look like soy sauce).

6. Arrange the pink fruit chew pork slivers randomly on top of the cupcakes. Add one or two pieces of broccoli on top. For scallions, scatter a few green licorice slices on top of the cupcakes.

To get the full effect, carefully place the cupcakes in the Chinese take-out containers, if using.

Makes 6 cupcakes

Recipe, only slightly adapted, from What’s New Cupcake?

The recipe I used for the vanilla cupcakes is from the Magnolia Bakery.  I have been wanting to try them since I saw the recipe over at Confessions Of A Cookbook Queen.

The vanilla cupcakes are the dense sort and kind of reminded me of pound cake. They have a lovely crumb and wonderful vanilla flavor. Since I only needed 6 to make the Chinese Takeout Cupcakes I went the easy route with decorating the remaining vanilla cupcakes. I piped some swirls of blue icing on them (had some to use up from another project) and sprinkled on some non-pareils. Very elegant.

This song will be just perfect for these vanilla cupcakes. Matthew SWEET. Even sweeter.
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs-Sugar Magnolia

And like Elaine once said “Fake, fake, fake, fake”.
Daniel Johnston-Fake Records Of Rock And Roll

Remember: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Cheers and Happy April Fools’ Day!