The Baker Chick

Baking up a delicious life.

Mini Tin Can Birthday Cake

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Mini Tin Can Birthday Cake- The Baker Chick

Sometimes in life you just don’t want to share your birthday cake. You want to sit with a perfectly portioned serving of sugary goodness and eat the whole thing all by yourself. I mean you’re welcome to share, but with this adorable little nugget of a cake you don’t have to. In my opinion, it’s perfect to make for a birthday girl or boy when there isn’t a huge celebration, but cake is still in order. (Or in my situation, make it for myself and eat it later for breakfast.)

So I made my own birthday cake so what? It’s so cute that I don’t even care! It was a last minute decision made yesterday as I realized that even though I wasn’t having a big party this year, I still wanted some birthday cake. SO I started thinking…should I just make cookies instead? No….I definitely needed a cake. Would cupcakes do? No…I want to cut into something with layers. Luckily I remembered seeing a genius idea on Pintrest of baking cakes in a tin can…and that’s where this idea was born.

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It really is the most easy way to make a mini layer cake. Any non-coated tin can will do*, just make sure it’s clean and free of sharp edges. You can use any cake recipe you’d like, but I found a great one that is actually for 2 cupcakes. Instead of using muffin tins , I just poured all the batter into the can and it was just the right size.

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Like full size layer cakes, I sliced off the domed top and made three (even-ish) layers ready to be filled. I had some cinnamon cream cheese frosting left over from these which was perfect. The options for flavors, frostings and fillings are endless, which makes this recipe perfectly adaptable for the birthday girl/boy. I can’t wait to make various versions of this cake for every upcoming event. It was baked, cooled and frosted in an hour. Can’t beat that can ya?

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Oh- and I made you one more birthday treat, (remember when we used to bring in birthday treats to our classmates in school?) This one is also festive and full of sprinkles!

My first batch ever of homemade Marshmallows! These ones are extra special because they taste like birthday cake. Fluff, puffy, sticky, gooey birthday cake. The recipe is from an adorable new cookbook callled Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever. It is full of whimsical mallow recipes that I can’t wait to try more of (Salted Caramel Marshmallows anyone?) The photos are gorgeous, the recipes are creative, easy to follow, and perfect for the mallow-lover in all of us.

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Print
Mini Tin Can Birthday Cake
 
Ingredients
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ¼ heaping teaspoon of baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1½ tablespoons milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 15oz tin can with cooking spray and dust with flour, tapping to shake out any excess. cut out a round of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of the can.
  2. In a bowl, add egg white and sugar and whisk until combined. Add in vanilla and melted butter and stir until mixed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in milk. Pour batter into can.
  3. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely, then invert cake and slide it out of the can. Slice the top off to level it (perfect for taste testing,) slice it into layers, and frost as desired.
Notes
*Some tin cans contain a possibly toxic coating called BPA. Most Organic Brands don't use it in their cans so I recommend buying a few to reuse for this purpose. I also think cleaning and scrubbing out a regular can is fine- whatever you're comfortable with!

cake recipe adapted from: How Sweet It Is

Print
Mini Tin Can Birthday Cake, Birthday Cake Marshmallows and a Giveaway!
 
Ingredients
  • 4½ tsp of unflavored powdered gelatin
  • ½ cup cold water
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup, divided
  • ¼ cup water
  • ⅛ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup yellow cake mix
  • 2 tablespoons sprinkles
  • gel food coloring (optional)
  • coating: (1/4 cup corn starch and ⅜ cup powdered sugar combined)
Instructions
  1. Lightly coat an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. Whisk together the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl and let soften for 5 minutes
  3. Stir together the sugar, ¼ cup of the corn syrup, ¼ cup water and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the temperature reaches 240 F on a candy thermometer.
  4. Meanwhile, pour the remaining ¼ cup corn syrup into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Microwave gelatin on high until totally melted, about 30 seconeds. Pour into the mixer bowl, Set the mixer speed to low and keep it running.
  5. When the syrup is 240F, slowly pout it into the mixer bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes. Increase to medium-high and beat for 5 more minutes. Beat on the highest setting for 1-2 mins more and beat in the vanilla and food coloring if you're using. The finished marshmallow will be opaque, white, fluffy and tripled in volume. (don't overwhip the batter or it will make folding in the cake mix a huge mess.)
  6. Sift in about half the cake mix over the marshmallow batter. Use a spatula to gently fold it in and then sift and fold in the rest. Fold in the sprinkles.
  7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, using an offset spatula to smooth it into the corners. Sift the coating over the top, reserving some for later. Let it set for 6 hours in a cool dry place.
  8. Use a knife to loosen the marshmallow fro the edges of the pan. Invert the slab onto a coating-dusted work surface and dust it with more coating. Cut into pieces (scissors worked well for me,) and dip the sticky edges into more coating, patting off the excess.
Notes
In this recipe and in her whole book, Shauna highly recommends using a stand mixer to whip the batter. I still don't have one (wedding gift I hope...) so I managed without. It wasn't easy, but you can do it. I held on to the mixer with one hand while I stirred the syrup.

Also- make sure your candy thermometer is "calibrated" check this by seeing what temp it shows for boiling water. I realized mine measures at 205F instead of 212- so I only cooked the sugar to 233F. Get me? Overheat the sugar and you'll end up with a hard candy-like mess!

Recipe from: Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever.

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Comments

  4. Very creative making this little cake for your birthday. In that picture you would never know it was that little! I have way too many cookbooks, but I am sure that the lucky winner will get a lot of great use out of this book. Homemade marshmallows are awesome! Have a great day.

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  11. I love the idea of a personal birthday cake! Also, I never ‘got’ the idea of homemade marshmallows, until I had one….omg. Will be trying these

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  12. Soo cuute!! I tried making marshmallows once … yea … epic fail! Haha! Definitely going to try the cake in a tin can tho! =)

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  13. Those vanilla cakes are so cute and they look like they’d be delish too. Definitely will try this one out!

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  16. I have been intrigued lately by marshmallow making! Adorable cake too! I have been wanting to try the canned cake thing!

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  17. I love making marshmallows over the holidays!! add a bit of peppermint extract and then dip in chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes :)) pure joy in a puffy cloud that you can eat! but the birthday cake ones… oh gosh!! will have to make soon!!

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  18. That cake is adorable, happy birthday! And I would love nothing more than to own that book. Salted caramel marshmallows?? Heck yes!

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  19. This is such a great idea, and it produces a cute cake to boot! I wouldn’t mind gobbeling all of that up by myself ;)

    And the marshmallows look fantastic! Who doesn’t like birthday cake batter flavored things?

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  23. This looks like so much fun. My son is on a gluten free diet and this is such a great idea for individual cakes for him. Thanks for the wonderful idea!

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  24. Love the idea for making marshmallows and the cake is very cute! But I would be hesitant to cook things in a tin can. They are coated with BPA, which would transfer into your food if you heated food in the can. Just some food for thought. You don’t want to be ingesting hormone mimics if you don’t have to! :-) http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola

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  25. That cake is great! I am not a big fan of throwing big parties for myself, so the idea of a personal birthday cake is perfect!

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  30. Thanks Sara- I’m going to re-edit the post and make sure everyone knows not to use the coated cans. The one I used wasn’t coated. :)

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  32. What a great idea! My daughters birthday is coming up and I can just envision a “mini cake” decorating party! How fun fer each of her guests to decorate their own little cake :) Not to mention she is WILD about marshmallows!!

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  34. oh my goodness! this is soo cute! my sister’s bday is coming up soon and i’d love to surprise her at work with one of these!! thanks for the tips!!

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  39. I run a cooking class and we are having a ‘sweet treats’ session starting in a few weeks, the tin can cakes with be perfect for the kids to make and decorate! Thanks so much for the great recipes, I am making the birthday cake marshmellows tonight!

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  42. Love the Bday cake, perfect timing too..trying to figure out what to make for my sister-in-law this coming tuesday…Really enjoy your website, Keep up the good work!!

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  44. Love the mini cake…and perfect timing too…have a birthday coming up on tuesday and this will totally work…love your site…keep up the good work!!!

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  53. I can’t believe I’m just now finding out you can bake things in cans!! I just made brown bread and it was delish and fun to make. :)

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  55. Hmmmm … my birthday isn’t until November. Think anyone will notice if I start making myself mini birthday cakes in March … :)

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  57. I just discovered your website just a few months ago. It rocks !!! I have made your frosted sugar cookies awesome for valentines day and gave them away for gifts everybody loved them. I have also made your coconut cookies with the sea salt Carmel they were perfect. I look forward to your new ideas every week. Can’t wait for more!

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  58. What a great idea, I love it! Having your birthday cake all to yourself is definitely the way to go :) It looks adorable and I’m sure it tastes amazing! I love the little candle :) Great giveaway too, salted caramel marshmallows sound AH-MAZING!!

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  60. Totally forgot about tin can baking – thanks for the reminder and the precious bd cake you made for YOU. Way to go…

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  64. This mini cake is such a great idea! My co-workers birthday is tomorrow and she’ll be getting this mini cake all to herself. She won’t even have to feel guilty about indulging! Thanks!

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  66. That’s an amazingly creative cake! Happy Birthday to you :)

    Please don’t consider this comment for the giveaway… I’m not eligible

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  67. I am new to your blog and loving everything about it. Great photos, love the stories and best of all great recipes! Can’t wait to make the mini Birthday cake.

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  73. I was trying to think of something creative and cute to make for my daughter to take to school for her birthday treat and now I found it! I am going to make those yummy looking marshmallows!! Thank you and Happy Birthday!

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  76. I cannot wait to make this cake!! I also love the idea of making my own marshmallows, unfortunatly it intimidates the heck out of me. But perhaps these are the ones to try!

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  77. I just discovered your blog and I’m an instant fan! I’ve made marshmallows before but BIRTHDAY CAKE MARSHMALLOWS! I have a friend who would LOVE this book, great giveaway and great blog!

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  78. What an adorable cake! I kept a couple tin cans awhile back just for this reason but I have yet to actually make a mini cake… I think I will have to soon!

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  79. I love the idea of a single serve cake. I hope you had a fantabulous birthday! I can’t wait to try the marshmallows, the only change I would make would be to coat them in dark chocolate…mmmmmmmmmm

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  82. LOVE the tin can cake – perfect for a “half-birthday” treat!! Now to try making marshmallows……:)

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  83. This is a GREAT idea! I’ve heard of baking cakes in tins, but have never actually seen it done. Thanks for the recipe!

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  84. Oh, my, homemade marshmallows sound awesome, especially those salted caramel ones! Love the tin can cake idea. So cute! Thanks.

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  85. I have always wanted to make homemade marshmallows but have always been a little intimated!! And birthday cake marshmallows…ahh to die for! Happy Happy Birthday!

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  91. Happy Birthday! I love your cakes, so many possibilities for those! The cookbook sounds like one I NEED to own, after all… marshmallows are my favorite food group :)

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  92. How clever are you?! I’ve never thought to bake a cake in a can!! I’ve seen so many recipes for homemade marshmallows, and I’ve been a little hesitant to make it, but yours look so fun!!

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  93. Happy Birthday! Sharing is overrated – on your birthday you deserve the whole cake. I’d love to win the book and make marshmallows for my daughter. Finally I could make something she’d really like to eat!

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  96. Happy Birthday! I just ordered this book. I am a marshmallow junkie! I have spoiled my fam with homemade mallows. There’s no going back to store bought. I am posting chocolate covered strawberry “peeps” this week (if I can keep them long enough to snap a pic). One batch has already disappeared. Curious.

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  97. I don’t need to be entered in the giveaway, I reviewed that cookbook too!
    I just wanted to say I LOVE your little birthday cake! I love that recipe for 2 cupcakes, and this is a great idea!

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  98. What a great little cake! Perfect for the people who want a “little bit”. Portable to take just about anywhere. The possibilities are endless! I would like to to enter for the marshmallow book. The grandkids would have fun making them with me. They love marshmallows.

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  100. Well happy birthday to you! I love anything portion controlled and I’ve made cakes in jars (mostly gooey and meant to be eaten with a spoon) but a can is a great idea and a layered cake is adorable.

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  103. Happy Birthday. I think next year we should celebrate our birthdays together and you should totally cook. Lol. I love the cake and I adore the marshmallows. Pure genius.

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  107. Oh. My gosh. The more I visit your blog, the more convinced I am that you are pure genius. I LOVE marshmallows, and these are the cutest I’ve seen. Thanks for the ideas!

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  114. great idea somtimes you just want a little cake and this is it . Would love to have a new book and what fun a marshmallow one would be. Happy Birthday to you also

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  115. Last week I didn’t have a mini cake tin and I asked my boyfriend if he thought I could use a tin can. He gave me such a firm NO that I didn’t even question it. …Now this!

    Thank you Baker Chick for confirming my belief!

    I’m off to the kitchen!

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  116. What a fantastic idea…a mini cake…I can’t wait to make this with my two Grandchildren Julia and Trey. When I visit I do a project with them and I think
    this will be a wonderful introduction to baking for them…and fun too and the
    best part they can eat the project…I usually do a paper craft project. Thanks
    for the great idea.

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  118. I have to say … what is old is new again! When I was a kid, ‘last century’, :) my mom, who lived through the 1st Depression, used to make Boston brown bread in a tin can. The best part about it was that it came out with those ridges from the can and she used them as a cutting guide. Boston brown bread is really good with cream cheese.

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  119. This is total awesomeness!!! Just what I need to keep my husband happy with a cake but at the same time help him watch his sugar for diabetes. LOVE IT!!!!!!

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  123. This is awesome! My friend is getting married next year and it’s a very small wedding (10 people) – I’m going to suggest that she let me make these instead of buying a wedding cake!

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  124. What a fun idea. My mom used to make me my own lemon meringue pie by baking the crust in the microwave in a grab it bowl lid. Just the right size..I will try the cake out haveing never learned to “bake” in my microwave

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  125. This is such a sweet idea. This is a great way to make somebody in your life feel very special. I can’t wait to try it!

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  127. I’ve always wanted to make my own marshmallows. Who knew there were so many flavors to fill a cookbook!

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  135. Happy Birthday!! I’m so glad you made yourself a cake – everyone does indeed deserve a little for their birthday. And congrats on making the top 9! That is a fantastic birthday surprise!

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  140. I love these little cakes…..would be great for my daughters 6th “Fairy Birthday Party” !!! She’s going to love making them with me!!!! Thank you!

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  142. Those marshmallows are too cute! I think if you add sprinkles to anything it’s an instant favorite!

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  143. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at marshmallows! They look easy enough but completely hard at the same time!

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  144. Yum! I’ve never yet made marshmallows but that book looks like a great way to start! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  146. I’m gluten free, dairy free (celiac) and would love to try some different marshmallow recipes! Pick me!!

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  152. How fun! This may be a dumb question, but how do you know if the can has a toxic substance coating it? Are we just talking a soup can from the pantry? Or is there one I should purchase somewhere?

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  153. How fun! These remind me of cakes my mother made when I was little. They were a heavier cake without icing =( These are FABULOUS! I am always craving cake with icing, but don’t make it because I would eat the whole thing myself! Thanks for sharing, Now I can have my cake AND eat it too =)

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  155. These are the perfect size for my granddaughters birthday cakes! Then we can actually have a finger free cake to cut!

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  156. Hey Baker chick :)
    My name is Zuleima and im not a very good and experienced baker but your recipes always come out so good i love them.

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  158. With my 7 grand children birthday cakes get expensive so the can cake and the marshmallows are gonna be the best money saver ever…Thanks for posting

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  159. This is a splendid alternative to a cupcake! I am saving this recipe for a very special occassion (or cake craving emergency). Thank you!!!!

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  160. I just booked our group camping trip (15 to 20 families) for this summer, and flavoured marshmallows for the fire are a GREAT idea… it’s hard coming up with ways to keep my status as one of the cooler moms, but this will guarantee it.

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  161. I LOVE THIS…I AM GOING CAMPING AND THIS WILL BE A WONDERFUL WAY TO TREAT THE KIDS TO THEIR OWN DESSERT!!! WHAT FUN AND NO PANS TO CLEAN UP

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  163. Hey Jenna- after doing some research- the chemical (called BPA) is found on many cans, but most Organic brands don’t use it. I used a can of Organic Beans that I don’t think used it. I’d do your own research and see…I think that if the can is washed out well either way it’s Ok- but that’s just me :)

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  165. What a coincidence! I just made a batch of tin can cakes and shipped them off to my out of state children. Of course I saved a few for home. Looking forward to trying your recipe. Hope your birthday was fun!

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  166. I love that you put in yellow cake mix into the marshmallows! What a great idea! Great post and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!!

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  167. It’s so great to have recipes with small portions. And, I noticed that you have a lot of recipes with vanilla paste, I too, am a huge fan of the stuff.

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  170. Those marshmallows are gorgeous! They’d be a great treat all by themselves. :)
    Julieintheskywithdiamonds(at)verizon(dot)net

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  173. That cake is adorable! I love that it’s the perfect size for the birthday boy or girl! And the marshmallows are adorable. Can’t wait to try! Thanks for sharing.

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  174. Those birthday cake marshmallows made me weep with joy! Then I saw the book and I swooned a bit! My little guy can’t eat regular marshmallows b/c they have artificial colors (insane yes?) so I LOVE making homemade ones for him. We can make all sorts of flavors and they’e so much yummier than the bagged ones! :D

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  176. So happy to find these recipes!! It’s my Aunt’s birthday this week and this will be the perfect size cake for her. I will try the marshmallows for an added treat! Thanks so much for sharing!!

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  178. How freakin cute is this? Im sorry Im so late to your birthday buuuut Happy Birthday! This is the perfect cake for a celebration – I always just give away all the leftovers anyway. ;)

    Reply

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