Cake Pops - Takes 2, 3, 4 and 5!

Among the requests we got after that first batch of cake pops (see previous blog post about those) was to do a WEDDING! We had to make 80 cake pops in 4 varieties, I believe it was -- and we were still doing them "the old way" where we baked cakes, mushed them into balls and then decorated -- so it took a few hours to do that many. But we did it -- and they came out great!

We had perfected the process a bit by this point -- the balls were smaller, and we'd learned to use big styrafoam pieces as "stands" for letting the decorated pops cool/set. We could work a lot faster this way. However, everything really improved for the better when I happened past this incredible gadget in Bed, Bath & Beyond:

This nifty machine can cook the cake pop balls from scratch in just 5-6 minutes (depends if it's yellow or chocolate cake, or awesome SIL's invention of brownie pops instead of chocolate cake) -- so no more baking a cake, cooling a cake, reconstituting a cake into balls with frosting, refrigerating, and THEN decorating. It's much faster, the balls are perfectly sized every time and structurally sound, AND I think these taste much better than the reconstituted-from-cake version.

 

Without further ado, here is a gallery of my cake pop creations to date -- they include a pastel colored baby shower (with cute ribbon stand), my first attempt at cupcake pops using Reese's cups for the base (these were adorable but not too stable, may have to try Bakerella's approach next if I were making these for more than immediate consumption and cute pictures), Valentine's, Halloween and Christmas pops, and a groovy assortment I made just for fun/practice.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the fun times & inspiration, Erika! 

Here's to many more cake pops and the corresponding celebrations!

Cake Pops "Take 1" & a "Growth Mindset"

I can't remember when I first saw cake pops or wanted to make them -- I think it was on the cover of a groovy baking book I passed in a store or perhaps on a baking blog -- but for a long time I wanted to try. One day, my awesome sister-in-law (SIL) and I decided to give it a go. We bought a book and some supplies at Michaels, did some googling for tips, and dove in. And the result was....that we had fun and learned a lot, but the cake pops were far from those you'd see on the cover of a book. This is where the "growth mindset" comes in. We didn't give up -- my next blog will be "Cake Pops - Take 2" -- we've gotten good, it just took a few rounds of practice and learning from experience.

This is such an important lesson for me to remember; so often I try something new, especially when "crafting," and expect to do perfectly the first time -- I'm facing this struggle right now with both my attempts to paint and sew; I'm a total novice and need to just try things, practice and not care if they're "bad," but that's hard for me to do.

However, like anything in life, most new skills take learning/lessons and practice. So I am trying to remember that and adopt a "growth mindset" that I can learn and get better at anything new if I'm willing to try, mess up a few times, and keep at it! Must remember and re-read this when my next painting and sewing projects turn out less beautifully in real life than the visions I have in my mind's eye. And I'm hoping to chronicle more of my crafting attempts and successes on this blog -- and I'm sure I'll get better at blogging along the way too :)

So, on to cake pops...

Here is our very first every batch of cake pops -- they are the size of caramel apples -- too big to eat off a stick and very hard to coat as well because they get heavy!

Now a bit about how we *used* to make cake pops (before we'd learned from experience and tried a few methods a few different times)...

Everything I read initially said to make a cake, then let it cool, mush it up into a million crumbs, add some frosting to "glue" it back together, roll into balls, insert lollypop sticks with a bit of melted chocolate, refrigerate then coat with melted chocolate or other candy melts and decorate, and then refrigerate AGAIN one last time for good measure (and to be sure the shell and decorations firm up enough). In case it's not obvious, that is LABOR INTENSIVE, my friends!

Here's how it all went the first time:

Bake yellow and chocolate cakes. Check.

Cut up and let cool. Check.

Crumble into a million pieces and add frosting. Check.

Roll into cake balls. Check.

Insert sticks with a dab of melted chocolate, refrigerate. Check.

Decorate and refrigerate again. Check.

And voila, cake pops!

Pretty cute, right?! We were certainly proud of ourselves at the end -- though they took HOURS to make and they were... fragile! Again, the balls being the size of apples (and from reconsituted cake) made for all sorts of problems in making (and eating) them. But, even though they weren't book-cover-good yet, we had a blast, still loved the outcome and were determined to learn how to make them better/cuter/faster. Plus, when people saw these, they started asking us to make them for parties -- so we knew had to get both better and more efficient at it. Stay tuned for our progress in Cake Pops - Take 2!