The Great Cake Pop Experiment!

I figured out this Sunday that Martha Stewart won’t be calling me up to do a demo for her show.  I tried those crafty fantastic looking Cake Pops and it took me about 3 hours to make twelve……I am no Bakerella !  (Check out all of her cute ideas!  Martha Stewart DID invite her to be on her show.)  Below is my attempt to have the best looking AND best selling items at the school fall bake sale.  Those other moms can eat my cake crumbs!!  Kidding…..but not really.

Basic Cake Pop Recipe

You will need:

·        Cake mix ( any flavor)

·        Eggs, oil, butter (depending on what kind of cake mix you buy)

·        Can of frosting

·        Candy melts or white chocolate (for this recipe I used white, but you can use all sorts of colors).

·        Decorator frosting ( I just purchased a black and red tube)

·        A narrow decorating tip

·        Wax paper

·        Plastic spoons or forks

1.     Make a 13×9 cake by following the instructions on the box. Let it cool.

2.     Crumble the cake by taking out a chunk of cake and lightly breaking it up with your hands.  This was much easier than I thought it would be…..sort of like playing in fluffy sand.

3.     Add in ¾ to 1 can of frosting.  Some recipes you find will say just a cup of frosting but I found that 1 cup wasn’t quite enough to make them stay together when you jab something into them.  Stir the frosting and crumbs all together.  Throw the crumby dough into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

4.   You may need a glass of wine here.  It is around this time you realize that this might take awhile.

   

5.    Now it is time to make the balls of cake.  Smooosh some of the dough together and then roll it into the ball.  Make sure the ball is fairly firm.  Then, stick a plastic fork into the top of each cake ball. (You can also do a sucker stick instead.) Pop them into the refrigerator for another 15 minutes.  Start melting your candy melts.  Don’t OVERHEAT your melts like I did.  I had to start over.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

6.     When your pops are chilled swirl and dip each pop into your melts or chocolate. (I’m going to suggest that you use candy melts as they melt a bit thinner than chocolate.  Unfortunately, white chocolate was all that was available to me here.) 

7.  Once you’ve got an even coating on the cake pop, place the stick onto a sheet of waxed paper to chill.  You can also stick them into a Styrofoam block so they don’t harden with a flat back.  OR you can put covered ball into a spoon if you are making eyeballs like I did.  (I thought the kiddos would get a kick out of eating eyeballs off of a fork or spoon.)  Decorate each pop as desired with your tube frosting.

Your cake pops are now ready!!!  Here’s the real deal though.  This project isn’t exactly for the beginning baker and I am not one to do crafty recipes that consume a large amount of my time unless they turn out fabulous.   Were mine fabulous?  Not so much.  The kids thought they were ookey spooky cool though, and they are pretty tasty.  I am going to go back online and through more cook books.  I have yet to find the perfect Halloween treat for school bake sale.  Just two days to go.  My celebrity status at the elementary is hanging in the balance here people.  Wish me luck!