Halloween - Dirt Cupcakes

For this Halloween, my brother went to a party with some of his friends so I offered to bake him a batch of cupcakes, but not just any cupcakes... I wanted to make something a little more... fitting for the season. Halloween comes but once a year and I love getting to change things up!

These cupcakes are super easy to make. I followed the instructions on a box of chocolate cake mix and made 24 cupcakes. You have to let them cool fully before decorating or else the frosting melts. I actually didn't have any chocolate frosting on me so I improvised and used Nutella, which is even better in my opinion! I think it's not as sweet as canned frosting (and with the candy toppings/decoration, the sweetness from the frosting wasn't missed at all), but you can use whatever chocolate frosting you like.

I frosted each cupcake with Nutella. Then, I arranged a gummy worm and a few milk chocolate "rocks" (which can be found in most candy stores like Sweet Factory) on top. As a finishing touch to make it really look like dirt, I covered the exposed Nutella with crushed cookie crumbs. I used about half a package of Anna's Chocolate Mint Thins, but crushed Oreos or any chocolate wafer would work too. I just love the look of the crumbs on top of the worms because it gives the impression that the worms just crawled out of the "dirt." How gruesome! >:P

[As a side note, I actually experimented a little. At first, I covered the frosted cupcake with the cookie crumbs and then placed the worms and rocks on top, but I found that decorations didn't quite stick as well.]

But that's it! See! Isn't that easy? My brother says his friends got a kick out of the cupcakes and said they were really "creative." I gave some of the extras to my friends and they enjoyed them too. Next Halloween, why don't you impress your friends and family with a plate of delicious Dirt Cupcakes? For not a lot of work, you can easily put a smile on someone's face. :)

ElecTRONica Meet-up @ California Adventure

Greetings, Programs!

Last week, I was able to attend the ElecTRONica Meet-up at California Adventure! It was another one of those... send-in-an-email-and-cross-your-fingers-as-you-hope-to-be-selected type of dealios. And thanks to the lovely people at Disney Blogs and my friend for posting about it on Facebook, I was able to get on the guest list! Yay! I love free and unexpected things! <3

I was allowed to bring one guest so I brought none other than my mommy. It was her birthday after all! And what's better than going to California Adventure for free on your birthday? (Well... except maybe going to Disneyland :P)

We were free to roam about the park before the event started so we went on a few of the rides and caught the A-MAY-ZING World of Color water show. The Bellagio ain't got nothing on World of Color, baby! I was a bit sad that we weren't able to see the show from the front, but even from the side, the show was spectacular! You can always count on Disney to never disappoint!

After World of Color, the regular patrons made their way to the trams, but the special guests with blue wristbands got to make their way to see "Power Surge," the opening dance performance for the ElecTRONica Meet-up.

Once the "portal opened," we were free to explore the TRON-themed Hollywood Pictures Backlot.

Just look at the gateway! Anyone who's seen Tron should *recognize* it. (Eh? Eh? Get it? Haha! I'm lame, I know! :P) It's a giant Recognizer from Space Paranoids! I thought it was so creative. It talks and even scans around with a search light.

Inside, there was a live DJ mixing the latest hits and a giant area for dancing. Not to mention, there was an "End of Line Club," where you can purchase a "Glowito" (a mojito with a glowing ice cube), a "Digitini" (martini), and beer. It was like an outdoor clubbing event!

Glowito

On the Backlot stage, there were more dance performances as well as a show put on by Laserman.

Further in the Backlot, you can enter a replica of Flynn's Arcade and even play some old school games. Outside the arcade was the modern game area, where guests could play the new Tron: Legacy game on Wii and Xbox.

Inside Flynn's

There was even a display of some of the props and concept art from the new movie, TRON: Legacy.

Before leaving, I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the CALIFORNIA sign. It's so rare to see so few people in front of it so I didn't want to let my chance slip.

At home, I snapped a quick pic of the stuff I got from ElecTRONica. On the far left was the map for the Backlot and program of events. The Identity Disc was originally intended to be a gift for my brother, but I wanted to keep it for myself. xP The two glowing cubes are the ice cubes found in the Glowito, while the two coins on the bottom right are special Flynn's Arcade tokens for the meet-up. In the middle, you can see the Disney Blogs pins we received and on the far right is the map to California Adventure.

 
As a person new to the world of TRON, I had a blast! You, too, can experience ElecTRONica! It happens every weekend (Friday-Sunday) until April and will run every night during the weeks of the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's holiday. TRON: Legacy comes out December 17 and I have a feeling it'll promote the same cult-like following as the original 1982 TRON movie.

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