Cake Pops

Do I just post my recipe and pretend not to notice the lack of blog posts here or do I explain that I've been MIA due to working nearly full-time (between two different school districts)? Hmmm.... you decide.

I will apologize for my lack of participation in my own blog. So many people I bump into comment on how much they miss my blog recipes and posts! That is so nice- I had no idea that people actually followed this and checked in regularly. I assumed that they just said that they did when they really didn't.

At least this awesome recipe will make up for lost time, right? Many of you foodies know who Bakerella is, as well as her Cake Pops. I have been dying to make them and finally had the perfect opportunity to try them out! My coworker, Angela, is getting married and I was asked to make the cake for her shower. The shower was hosted at a public restaurant, so instead of baking a big cumbersome cake or trying to transport 30 cupcakes (although I could achieve this easily with the cupcake carrier my mom gave me for Christmas! Love it!), I decided to try my hand at the Cake Pops.

Boy am I glad I did. They are as simple as this:

1. Make a cake.
2. Make a batch of frosting. Heck, buy a batch of frosting.
3. Crumble cake into a bowl.
4. Add frosting.
5. Mix thoroughly.
6. Roll dough into balls.
7. Stab balls with a stick.
8. Dunk in melted candy or chocolate.
9. Eat.

Any flavor cake and any flavor frosting will work. For the shower, I made one tray that contained Red Velvet cake mixed with Cream Cheese frosting and another tray that was just plain white cake with white frosting. (White cake, by the way, does not turn out crisp white like you would think it would. I forgot that the edges and top of white cake turns brown once it is baked, so the white wasn't a nice sharp white, but I'm probably the only one that noticed.).

Here are some pictures from the Cake Pops that I made:  (you can find Bakerella's instructions here.

This is my white cake crumbled in the bowl.  Just use your hands!  You don't even need equipment, although I wore gloves as I crumbled and blended the frosting in just because it's very messy and I think it's gross to serve cake that could have been under my fingernails to others.  But that's just me.

This is what the cake looks like after you've mixed in the frosting.  I thought I took a picture of the blob of frosting sitting in the crumbled cake, but apparently I didn't.  There wasn't anything spectacular looking about it; it just looked like a blob of frosting sitting on top of a cake crumbled into a bowl!

The cake balls are very easy to roll.  I did put the dough into the fridge to set up a little bit before rolling, but that's not necessary.  I noticed it gave the edges a smoother finish if the dough was a bit chilled.

After rolling the balls, I froze them to keep them fresh.  This works well for time management so that I could do the baking and rolling on one day and the actual dipping a different day.  It wouldn't be that bad to do it all in one day, but you have to allow time for the cake to cool completely before crumbling.

I dipped the lollipop sticks in some of the melted candy (I used the kind I get at my cake shop, but you can use Wilton Candy Melts or even chocolate or almond bark) and then inserted the stick into the cake ball.  I put them in the fridge so the candy could harden.   I also found that cold cake balls dip in the candy coating better, too.    (This is my Red Velvet batch!)

I don't have a picture of the actual dipping process because I was in a hurry while doing it and I had cake balls crumbling in the melted candy, which was causing me to panic.  However, I quickly learned that the trick is to dip cold cake balls.  I put the balls (with sticks) into the freezer for about half an hour and then went back to them for dipping.  It worked perfectly.  The room temperature cake balls were too soft and crumbled under the weight of the candy coating, so be sure to chill them.

After dipping (and tapping) each cake pop, place on a piece of wax paper and allow to set up.  I placed the finished pops into mini cupcake papers just because I thought it made them look more finished.  I also used a fork to drizzle some melted candy over the hardened cake pops, to add a little dimension and help cover up any flaws!

Didn't they turn out pretty?