Move over Dora the Explorer, Hoot and Hootabelle are so hot right now!

Anyone who has a child under the age of five would be able to tell you who Hoot and Hootabelle are. For the nonparents who are reading, let me put it into perspective for you, Hoot and Hootabelle to kids is the equivalent of One Direction to a teenage girl! The kids are obsessed with these talking owls and there is merchandise everywhere to prove it. I would go as far as to say that Hoot and Hootabelle is the new Dora the Explorer (I know, big claim).

I was first introduced to Hoot and Hootabelle by my little niece Livy who absolutely adores Hoot and owls in general. Her impersonation of an owl is particularly cute – "hoot, hoot"!

This weekend, I had a Hoot and Hootabelle cupcake order for a 1^st birthday party for a set of beautiful twins. When I accepted the order, I thought it would be a particularly easy bake job. But as expected, I know very little, and was in fact very wrong. I had to make Hoot and Hootabelle stencils and make each topper by hand. It was a time costly affair, but the end result was pretty darn cute.

I made the stencils out of cardboard and had to individually hand cut each shape out of fondant and stick each layer of fondant on top of each other. As you can see, the Hoot and Hootabelle characters are quite intricate (something I clearly did not considered). Nevertheless, it was all worth it - HOOT HOOT!