First Birthday Party for Wesley | Cake Ball Cupcakes & Dome Cake

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When trying to come up with a theme for Wesley’s first birthday, I considered what he loved. It didn’t take too long to settle on balls. He absolutely loves to play with balls. From shaking to rolling to throwing, he has always been attracted to them. After looking at party themes at Party City, I really liked the simplicity of the One-derful Boy’s 1st Birthday Party so I decided to make him a 3-D ball cake and cake ball cupcakes in primary colors.

But as you may notice in this picture, things don’t always go as planned.

Rather than try to create a ball shape with glass mixing bowls, I purchased the sports ball pan from Wilton at my local Michael’s. I wanted to be sure it was perfectly round and I loved that the size was smaller and required only one cake mix. Perfect for my little guy. I decided to make a lemon cake for something a bit different.
Unfortunately I had issues with the temperature in my double oven. When I went to check on my cake, I realized it was still jiggly when it should have been done. What was going on? I was able to preheat my lower oven and move it there to finish baking. When I took them out, they were definitely done but the integrity of the cake was compromised.  After cooling for 10 minutes,  I flipped them over onto a wire rack to cool but one cracked in the middle, making it impossible to consider for a 3-D cake. I could have made another one but by this time it was getting late and I had already made my cake balls and my cupcakes were now baking in the oven.

I was tired so I improvised. Instead of a 3-D ball cake, I made a cool dome cake. It was simple to frost and line with alternative colors of red, blue and yellow m&m chocolate candies. And while I know that Wes is a bit young for such a candy, I never planned to let him use this cake as his smash cake anyway so it was a great option.

Of course Wes was immediately attracted to the bright colors and couldn’t resist trying to snag the candy as we snapped pictures. It was definitely a hit and the cake tasted great!

To make the cake ball cupcakes is rather simple. Just use your favorite cake pop recipe, either from cookies or cake as your base.

After dipping them in Wilton candy coating, I immediately put a chocolate candy on top. To make it even more fun, I used alternating cupcake liners, sprinkles and candies so yellow, red and blue were represented on each cupcake.

Watch for my upcoming post for more details on Wesley’s birthday including party decorations and the birthday boy enjoying his first cupcake!

If you are having problems with your own oven  like me, consider our sponsor  Appliances Online where you can find plenty of appliances to fit your needs! In honor of Wesley’s birthday, they have generously offered up a $50 Amazon gift card to one of my lucky readers!

Disclosure: Party and cake supplies were purchased by myself while the giveaway was sponsored by Appliances Online. I have received a small gift for my time to share this giveaway with my readers. All thoughts remain my own.