Penguin Cakes

Penguins have been on my mind for while, perhaps because we saw those lovable Antarctic birds at the zoo earlier in January.  This week my daughter's kindergarten class did a penguin craft as well as some penguin-themed coloring pages.  Seeing them in her classroom spurred me to continue that theme at home and finally produce something I have been contemplating for a couple of weeks: Penguin cakes! 

To make these penguins, I could have used almost any chocolate cake or brownie mix.  Unfortunately, were out of eggs, so I was pleased to find a vegan recipe with great reviews---chocolate Zucchini Brownies from the Allrecipes website.    If you've never gone eggless before, it's wonderful to try baking this way.  You can eat the batter free from any worries about food poisoning.  And this batter was GOOD!

Don't have an oval-shaped cake pan?  Grab some cupcake liners and make cupcake-sized birds in that case.  Just pop cupcake liners into a loaf pan and arrange them to form ovals of batter.  The foil lined liners would be ideal, but a double layer of paper cups also works, as you can see.

Mini muffin liners in a mini loaf pan (with batter)

Standard cupcake liners in a standard loaf pan (baked)

Waxed paper cutouts protect
the wings & head.

Remove the waxed paper
to see the contrast.

Supplies and Ingredients Used:

• Baking pans (loaf and/or egg-shaped)
• Baking liners (miniature or cupcake size)
• Chocolate brownie or cake batter
• Chocolate (or white) frosting
• Unsweetened coconut flakes, optional
• Walnuts and/or pecans (for eyes and feet)
• Carrot slices (for beaks)

Note: We had whipped chocolate frosting on hand and used that, but a darker chocolate frosting would have been better for color contrast.  Next time I might use white frosting instead of or in addition to the flaked coconut.

 Additional Resources: 
I also found the perfect penguin worksheet to accompany today's delightful treat --Penguin Pie at What the Teacher Wants.  I get excited when teachers make learning such a pleasure; I want to show my kids that learning is fun!

Penguin cakes and party dresses go well together, don't they?

Linking to AP Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia