Christmas Cake Pops

Joe had a Club Christmas party over the past weekend and volunteered me to make a dessert for about 45 people. I figured making some cake pops would be the best bet because they're simple, one bite desserts, I could make a couple different flavors and I got a new stand for pops/cupcakes that I was dying to use!

These little guys came out really cute and I adore the stand! It also doubles as a cupcake stand by adding the larger separators - and it has a little carrying hook part for your fingers at the top as well, although I transported them in a tupperware then assembled them at the party.

Here were the selections:

Additionally, I had seen a recipe for these Oreo Snowmen. 

Knowing how much Joe likes Oreos I figured I'd make them as well. The problem though with these guys is that the sticks do not fit in between the Oreo cookies. So you therefore have to unscrew each one (hoping not to break them) then carve out a little place for the stick to rest, add some melting chocolate as "glue" and out the top of the cookie back on. All without breaking one side of the cookie. I broke about half a package of cookies trying to do this (which I saved for use in another dessert).

Thankfully before I threw in the towel, Joe stepped in and made them all work, and even put the hats and faces on them after I dipped them in the white chocolate - he seriously saved the day with these and it seems that they were quite popular that night as well. 

To recap: 

Oreos - separated and sealed with melting chocolate and a stick. Let set. 

Dip entire Cookie in white chocolate melts. Let set. 

Dip corner of cookie in a color for the hat, top with M&M candy (I used Mint flavored). Let set. 

Faces: You can do whatever here I used a combination of mini chocolate chips, an orange sprinkle (yes, I plucked out the orange ones from a container of rainbow) and then I used a food coloring marker for the mouth, although I'm sure you could use some melted chocolate as well. 

Cake Pop Love...

Valentines day is just a few days away, so I thought I'd do some sort of baking for the occasion... However, I wasn't really sure what to make...I had a box of Red Velvet cake in the cabinet so initially I thought that might be a good idea, but nothing was really jumping out at me. This is why I was so happy to get a phone call from my sister in law this thursday....

"I want to make cake pops this weekend. Have any time to supervise?" I can't tell you how excited I was. Seriously, ridiculously excited. Turns out she wanted to make some sweets for her man for valentine's day. Helping her completely satisfied my "need to make something valentine's related" and I knew I'd have a good time hanging out with her for the afternoon!

My sister in law G made a chocolate cake and headed down to my house. We went out to get some red and white melting candies and sprinkles for decorations. I'd never made cake pops with sprinkles before but always thought they looked so pretty. After a bit of a rocky start (sprinkles sliding off the cake pops and  cake pops falling off the sticks) we finally found a groove.

G was able to master these cake pops almost immediately. Although she says she's not much of a cook, I do know she's crazy talented when it comes to creative activities and designing. She dipped and decorated almost every single one of these cake pops (with the exception of the 5 or so I did, initially to show her how). They came out so insanely beautiful you'd think she'd done this 100 times over.

I had a great time and couldn't be happier with the results...

Enjoy the pictures!

Birthday Lady Bugs (GF)

My sister and I are extremely close despite our living 2000 miles apart. We talk frequently so we always know what's going on with each other - and we both like to cook so we like sharing good recipes when we come across them. When I discovered cake pops I told her how she HAD TO make them too! I figured since she's a professional artist, cake pops would be right up her ally as they combine both cooking and art! But alas, she's been eating Gluten free for about a year now, and therefore eating "boxed cake" was not an option.

Her birthday was the other week and as much as I wished I could spend it with her I couldn't. I decided I would surprise her with a tray of Gluten Free cake pops and ship them out in time for her birthday. Two weeks before, I asked her to send me a list of "things she liked" to which she replied: "i like hot baths, animals, the way fish move, clouds, poppies, miniature paintings, popcorn and wine (together), a car hot from the sun, the smell of a puppy, ladybugs, the color burnt orange, Smart Puffs, blackberries, saunas, bare feet, fruit trees, cheese, goats, farmers markets, pretty bowls and nice people."

Luckily I figured Lady Bugs was something I could tackle so I gave it a go. After several failed attempts (faces dripping off and extra parts that might chip off during shipping) I settled on a design that would ship the best without being destroyed.

I started with Cherrybrook Kitchen's Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate cake mix I also discovered that Pillsbury Chocolate Frosting is also gluten free and bonus: So were the Wilton Melting Chocolates (which I read on a number of places online)!

Next I began coating them in red candy coating. After they were cooled, I dipped the "faces" in chocolate and used a pastry bag to make a line for "wings". I used some extra eyes I made for the Pigs and some Heart-Shaped sprinkles for the mouths.

And finally, All packed up with tissue paper in tupperware (there was a lot more tissue paper that went on top) taped it up packed it up and off it went.

And I received a photo after they arrived, and all things considering they arrived almost 100% in tact. My sister was thrilled about this gift and has even stashed some in the freezer, she claims, she'll be enjoying them for months. Somehow I doubt that - $5 says they'll be gone before valentines day!

Angry Birds Pig Cake Pops

For Christmas this year my business partner surprised me with a book I've been secretly wanting for the past year: Cake Pops by Bakarella

I've been reading Her Site since I began researching cake pops...She's incredible! Her ideas are as smart as they are stunning. Her use of candy and decorations is amazing. And now I own this book!! I now declared this year "the year of cake pops" as I plan on baking my way through this book or at the very least, using it for some serious inspiration to create my own designs.

Knowing how addicted we've all become to the game - Angry Birds - I thought I'd make a Green Pig Pop. Here's how it went:

 

The inside was following the basic recipe previously mentioned, I used Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Icing. I used Wilton melting candies for the outside coating. In order to make the right color green for the pigs, I had to combine green AND yellow candy melts:

I dipped the pops in my custom green candy mixture and laid them down on a parchment lined cookie tray. After racking my brain trying to figure out what type of candy I could use to make the right features I decided that nothing pre-made would work. I decided I'd have to custom make the features myself if I wanted them to resemble the character. In order to make the right "pig parts" I lined another tray with parchment and with melted candy in a disposable pastry bag and began pouring shapes for the snouts, eyes & ears: 

After the pops (and Parts) have cooled, using the remainder of the melted green candy for "glue" I began adhering the parts to the pops. The result of which is this:

I am in love with this method, and in love with the result. They were almost too cute to eat! (Almost.)

Cake Pops Take 1

The very first time I had a cake pop was about a year ago. This lovely girl I play Derby with, made some, and handed them out at practice one night as a way to promote her cake pop side business - pure genius! Before this moment I had never even heard of cake pops let alone eaten one. It was amazing! To this day it is still the best cake pop I have ever had.

I had to find out how to make them. The following week I began googling recipes for cake pops. If you do this you'll come up with a huge variety of recipes. Since I just wanted to see if this was something I could even conquer, I decided to pick the easiest recipe I could find. It went like this:

1 box of cake mix (any brand)
1/2-1 can of ready to use Icing (any brand)

Choose complementary flavors. For example: Chocolate cake + Chocolate Icing or Carrot cake + Cream Cheese Icing.

In fact Veronica's Cornucpoia was the blog I stumbled upon with the best directions and where I learned how to make cake pops. Thank you Veronica!!!

I made my first few standing up in styrofoam like Veronica suggests, but found it quite difficult. After about 10 (failed) attempts, I decided I'd lay my pops on a baking pan lined with a sheet of parchment. This ended up being the best decision ever. It also makes it much easier when it comes to decorating! Plus, you can always hide the ugly (flat) side by serving the pops in a mini cupcake liner.

Below are images of my second round of cake pops, I made these over 4th of July weekend as we had quite a few parties to go to, and I could bring them with us where ever we went - needless to say, they were a big hit...

Vanilla Cake (dyed pink), Vanilla Icing coated with Vanilla Candy coating:

Carrot Cake, Cream Cheese Icing with Vanilla Candy coating (White & Orange):

Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Candy coating:

Like I said, these cake pops were a huge hit. I think I made everyone I knew have some that weekend. But after spending what turned into DAYS making these, I give my friend a ton of credit starting a cake pop business. It is a ton of effort. Something I don't plan on doing myself, that's for sure. But every once in awhile, when I have some time to kill...Instead of knitting (my usual go-to hobby), I like to make little desserts that look just as good as they taste.