Cake Pop Greatest Hits

Here's a collection of cake pops we have done over the past year.  Take a look, most are pretty easy to figure out how to do. If you've never made cake pops before be sure to check out Cake Pops 101.

 MINIONS!!! These were out first cake pops. Dip the bottom in blue, then flip an dip the top in yellow chocolate.  The eyes are made out of candy necklaces. Sprinkles for the hair

Lions are next up. These were first found on Bakerella. The home to the first cake pops. She also has a fantastic cake pop book if you want more.  It's found at Target and other stores. 

We also made Domos. These used strawberry belts cut, white frosting for the teeth and black frosting for the eyes.

For the owls you will need a rectangle shaped cake pop, heart sprinkles, flower sprinkles, a candy necklace and chocolate chips.  The chips go on the cake pop before u dip them.

The turtles were pretty easy to make.  However the key for these cake pops are to make sure the ball is not too flat. It needs to be tall enough for the stick to hold.

Lower the body (not on a stick) first. Then put the lollipop stick then. Let it dry, then flip it over and dunk the ball into the chocolate.

Quickly add 1/2 and M&M and 1/2 a Mike-and-ike for the legs.  Go back with an edible pen and put a face on the M&M.

Chicks! These should use yellow melting chocolate. We tried our dyes for the first time--the color isn't as strong.

The arms and nose are little chocolate chips.  They're found next to the sprinkles in stores.  The feet are flower sprinkles and the eyes are black frosting.

This is perfect for spring time.

For a baby shower we made a bunch of little babies.  White chocolate, and immediately add the nose by using a toothpick and spoon.  Also add the candy necklace for the pacifier.

For the bows we used pink chocolate, melted it, put it in a ziplock bag, cut off a tip, and made them on wax paper.  They break easily.  The cheeks were a red edible pen that we rubbed in by hand.  The rest of the face is black frosting.

So these are some of our major hits over the past year.  Good luck trying to make your own.  Be on the look-out for our new tutorials.

Cake Pops 101

If you are reading this post, you must be interested in becoming a cake pop yoda. If you are already a yoda, then you then are in the company of fellow jedi masters and want to see creative twists on the already delicious classic. But for now... we start with the basics.

What is a cake ball?  It all starts with a box. A box of cake.  It is then transformed from a box, leave the cardboard, and shaped into various forms.  Finally resulting in a ball of cake. How may you ask, can all this be accomplished? Baking. 

Let us start at the very beginning... a very good place to start.  

Although all of the shape transformations that can occur might be complicated, the beginning is very simple.  Bake a cake. Let it cool.  Not only is this simple.  But an average cake box runs about $1.50.  Clearly, we are off to a good start. 

The next step is to let the cake cool and then progress to Aubree's crumbling secrets. 

Cut the cake into four section.  Remove two sections of the cake from the pan and have a large bowl ready.

Rub the sections against one another until the appear like cake crumbles.  The crumbs will be fine and fluffy. Sometimes you might find chunks of egg or cake, just remove them.

The end result should look like the photo. (The book in the corner is by Bakerella.  It's another fantastic resource for cake pops.)

Frosting is next on the list. Take the frosting and add large tablespoons at a time.  Mix in with the crumbs.

Be careful! Don't add too much.  You don't want too much frosting because it will make the later steps too hard.

The finer the crumbs, the less frosting is required.
The moister the cake, the lesser the frosting required.

Usually we use 1/4 - 1/2 of a store bought tub.

Even if you want to make some crazy shape, because believe us you might want to one day, the first step is to roll the dough into balls.

There's two options: freeze for 15 minutes or refrigerate for a few hours.

The goal is to make the ball firm so they can be dipped into melted chocolate and not fall apart.

Freezing for too long is a bad thing as well, so stay near the 15 min. mark.

CHOCOLATE TIME!!!!

We microwave the chocolate, there's always the option to use a double broiler.

Take 1-2 pkg and microwave for 30 second increments.  Take your time with this!

We have overcooked chocolate so many times and it makes your life a living nightmare.  Trust us!

Thin melted chocolate is key for easy dipping.

Here's the trick: Start with 30 seconds. It will look like the chocolate has not melted.... but it has. Stir and wait for a bit. Heck, put the chocolate up against the walls of the bowl if it's warm.

There are a few tells of overheated chocolate. It's warm to the touch (when melted correctly it doesn't give off its own heat). The chocolate will appear shiny. If it starts to get ripples then its overheated.  Another indicator is that the chocolate is thick.  Continuing to heat the chocolate will not make it better.

Prevent overheating at all costs!!!!!!

If you do overheat it, let just say it happened... then you do have some options.  

1. Start all over. Just kidding

2. Add small amounts of oil and stir. (It helps make it thinner.)

3. Buy a mix specifically for overheated chocolate

4. Have a timeturner.  

So the chocolate is ready, the cake balls are firm, it's time to dip.

For cake balls, just dump the ball into the chocolate and have fun.

For cake pops, place 1/2 inch of the stick into the chocolate and then straight into the pop.

Then place the entire cake ball into the chocolate.

Some of the chocolate will drip off... use Ashley's move: slowly tap the stick on the side of the bowl and twist the stick around.

At this point your done! Yey!  You survived.

Storage info:  Let the cake pops dry at room temperature.  If you want to be a trickster then add candies, frosting and sprinkles in order to get the desired look.

Cake pops should be stored in the refrigerator or in a air-tight container.

Total amount 1 box makes: approx. 36

Total cost: under $8

Be on the look-out for our tutorials on the cake pops featured in this post.

Mocktails

Most mixed drinks with an umbrella are from bars or fancy restaurants.  They are expensive, hard to make, and not safe/legal for children.  Luckily, we have found a non-alcohol alternative that is still fun to create and refreshing.  It is, a Mocktail.  And even better, the ingredients are common, few, and cheap.

Step 1. The ingredients- there are 3.  As is our style, this drink is not only delicious but also cheap and simple.  All you need is some OJ, maraschino cherries, and then either tonic or club soda.  You can buy any at your neighborhood grocery store and come home prepared to be your own wannabe bartender.

Step 2: Start by pouring in the tonic/club soda.  We made both, but as you can see there isn't much of a difference.  They taste almost the same too so its all up to you.  Pour in the tonic (amount depends on cup size.  For these larger cups, you use a little less than half of a bottle).







Step 3: Add the OJ!
Next you'll pour in the orange juice.  There isn't an exact amount for this either, but it should be about 2:1.  Twice as much OJ as tonic.

Step 4: Add some color.
The last step is to add the cherries.  Begin by pouring some of the cherry juice into the glass.  It will sink to the bottom and give this mocktail it's sunset-like colors.  Add in about 1/4 cup but its mostly just by eye.  You can also do it to taste.  Lastly, pick out a cherry and throw it in (optional).  Either way, its gonna taste great!

For a little more fun, you can add umbrellas and a straw to give you that real Mocktail feel.  Bottoms up!

Churros

Churros, churros, churrros. Probably one of the best things about amusement parks by far. Of course recreating that great taste is no easy feat, even Del Taco has tried and its kind of hit or miss.  So we found this recipe online here and had a go at our own.

All you need is a package of puff pastry sheets, butter, cinnamon and sugar.  Where to find the puff pastry sheets? In the frozen dessert section-- we originally looked in Ralph's and found them for $6.99. Disappointed with the price we headed to Target and found success, only $4.67.  This yields about 36 churros so ... about 13 cents a churro.

Let the frozen sheets defrost and then cut them into 1in strips and then in half length wise. We used a pizza cutter, it's super easy.

Place on either a baking sheet with slightly greased parchment paper or we used stoneware by itself. (note the picture has wax paper but don't use wax paper.  It's not meant to be baked in the oven and will smoke)

Bake for 10 minutes at 450F and then dip in 1/4 cup of melted butter, quickly followed by a mix of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

Churros

1 pkg puff pastry sheet (1 sheet makes 18 churros)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Defrost puff pastry sheet. Cut into 1 inch strips width wise, then cut length wise in half.
Place lightly greased parchment paper on a baking sheet or use stoneware.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450F.
Dip into melted butter.
Dip into mix of sugar and cinnamon immediately after.
Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes or until dry.

All Things Rainbow & Mini

This post is about all things rainbow and mini.  While on pinterest we found the recipe for a mini cake found here.  So naturally we wanted to find a cheap/easy way to make it.  What started out making a can cake quickly turned into a swirl of colors and ended with some mini cupcakes.

For the Can Cake aka the Mini Cake you will need a can, like the type that has corn or beans in it and a white cake mix.

Make the cake mix according to the box.  Divide the batter evenly into 4 bowls.  The number just depends on how many colors u want.  We did four and added a few drops to pick the exact colors.

For the can: cut out the bottom and the top.  Make sure to rinse the can. Otherwise corn/bean flavored cake might happen--unless you like that, then go for it! 

Place the can on a baking sheet and preheat oven to 350.

Here comes the fun part.  Scoop in about 1 tablespoon of batter of the colors.

Make sure to not fill the can over halfway.  Actually its probably more like 1/3 of the can.  We filled it too high and had a major disaster... the cake didn't cook all the way through. So be careful!!!

Bake for 13-17 minutes.  Our average was 15-17 minutes depending on how high the batter level is.  Make sure it cooks all the way through.  Let sit for a few minutes.

To remove the cake, once it was completely cool, we flipped over the can and slightly push the cake out.

When this cake works out it is totally cute and fun. However the most important thing we can say is, don't fill the batter too high. The box will make about 5-6 cakes. Total cost: $3.

After making a couple of cakes we decided to use our mini cupcake pan for some rainbow cupcakes.  These are super easy to make. We cranked out 48 in 20 minutes.

In order to create the rainbow we scooped about a teaspoon of batter.  Fill about 2/3 of the cup. Bake for about 9 minutes and viola! Mini rainbow cupcakes.

Recipe for Can Cake aka the Mini Cake

Preheat oven to 350F

Prepare can:

• Cut out top and bottom of can
• Wrap tin foil on bottom of can
• Place on baking sheet     

Mix cake following the recipe.
Separate evenly into 4 bowls.
Add food coloring.

Add batter until 1/3 can is filled.
Bake 13- 17 minutes.
Let cool. Flip can upside down. Remove tin foil and slowly push cake out.

Bananas a la Mode

This recipe costs less than $.50 for the main course. A la Mode it's more like $1.50 tops. Did we mention it takes less than 5 minutes to make and less than 30 seconds to eat?  It's rich, but light enough that you don't feel guilty after.  This quick dessert was created from a moment of inspiration by Aubree and her friend Nina.  After spending all day in the kitchen making other food, they wanted to make a dessert with bananas. They found this recipe from Eating Well, tried it with some variations, and found it to be delicious and nutritious.

Start by cutting a peeled banana in half length wise and in thirds width wise.  The recipe calls for two bananas. 

Next melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Add 3 tablespoons brown sugar and mix.













Lay bananas on butter/sugar mix by placing the cut side up. Heat for 20 seconds.

Add 1/4 cup orange juice.  For a thicker sauce add slightly less than 1/4 cup.  Sprinkle a couple dashes of cinnamon across the entire pan.  Let sit for 45 seconds.  









Flip bananas.  Baste bananas with sauce from within pan.  Continue this for approximately 1 minute or until the liquid thickens.






Remove from heat and plate with ice cream.  Drizzle the sauce over the ice cream to create banana greatness in every bite.  Beware how quick, easy, and conveniently simple the ingredients are, for this might be your favorite Friday night snack.

Bananas a la Mode

2 Bananas

1/2 Tablespoon Butter

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

Dash Cinnamon

Vanilla Ice Cream

Cut bananas lengthwise

Melt butter in nonstick pan on medium heat

Add brown sugar to butter

Lay bananas on butter/sugar mix placing the cut side up. Heat for 20 seconds

Add orange juice to pan.  Sprinkle thin layer of cinnamon on bananas.  Let sit for 45 seconds.

Flip bananas.  Baste bananas with sauce from within pan for 1 minute or until sauce thickens.

Remove from heat and plate with vanilla ice cream. 

Drizzle sauce over ice cream.