Cake Pops!

This is probably going to be the first of many other food related blog posts of mine, mostly those little things you discover when your trying out a new recipe. This one comes from another blog, An American Cupcake in London. If you love sweets and especially cupcakes this is a wonderful blog to follow.

Now I tried the Oreo Cake Pops that can be found on that blog. Let me tell you, they are so yummy. Displayed above are the end results of what I achieved for the ones I made for Easter dinner at my mothers pot luck. Forgive the display, as it turns out, had to improvised Cake pop holders. This worked pretty well. I have mentally noted that I do need some sort of holder if I'm going to keep making these wonderful treats.

Crumbled Yellow Cake Mix

Cake pops, have really easy instructions. Make a cake, let it cool, crumble it, slowly add in icing of choice (Oreo Icing for these ones), Freeze for a bit, stuff in stick, freeze over night, then dip in melted chocolate and decorate right after dipping. Then you can greatly enjoy your yummy treat on a stick.

Now for the things you should probably know that aren't really covered in the instructions. When you add the icing, really add it small bit by small bit at a time. If you rush it, you risk adding too much icing which causes issues with it sticking to your stick. the very first time I just added half the tub of icing and as a result, as my cake pops where getting dipped I needed to spoon the melted chocolate on time because I found my sticks turning inside the pop. Made life more complicated. My second attempt went over better plus the Cake pop's where not as sugary.

Home made sticks

Sticks. Now, as the blog says you should buy actual lollypop sticks. I don't know if it was the fact that I'm in Canada, or what it was but I could not find lollypop sticks in my area. So for my first attempt I made some. Now, it may not have been the best idea but it worked. These where made out of kabob sticks. I cut off the pointy stabby end and cut them in half. Now I found that it wasn't the easiest task and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have no other choice. Mainly because I found that the ends that where cut off seemed to want to split apart, thus risking little bits of stick in you cake pops. Also these are a lot thinner then your typical lolly pop stick and if you make the mistake of making the cake bit too big of a ball the stick will punch right on through. So my second go, I used Popsicle sticks. Worked AMAZING. Made dipping worlds easier and where pretty darn easy to hold on to. Could be a great thing if you have little kids trying to munch on them.

Now another little discovery I made my second go at making these. Deep freeze 'em. I mean it. The first time I used my fridge freezer, which apparently isn't kept quite cold enough. When I stuck them in the deep freeze over night I had a much easier time finishing them then when I froze them in the fridge freezer overnight. Also, while dipping them and if you have a rather warm place (my apartment is rather warm..), keep them some where cool (Like in the fridge freezer or maybe even the fridge it's self, or if your deep freeze is close just leave some there) so that the chocolate sets faster. The main reason for this is if you don't have a holder for them, you can set them on their side or if you do have a holder you don't end up with dripping pops. Trust me, it's not a lot of fun having one dipped and then realizing you can't set it down yet with out thoroughly ruining your cake pop you just decorated.

Size is a key thing too. When making the little balls, I use a heaping teaspoon and a bit. This is because the first time I made it I used a ice cream scoop, over filled. This made really big cake pops. Still awesome and tasty but they where kinda heavy on the sticks. (Another addition to the sticks busting through the cake pop.) Bigger is not always better. If you want to try and make really big cake pops, I suggest a very fat stick.

Food colouring in white chocolate
makes for fun pops.

When you first make them, I suggest using milk chocolate for dipping. Mainly because it seems to melt the best in the microwave. ( Chipits in the bowl, 30 seconds mix and repeat until it's no longer solid. Good to go for dipping.) White Chocolate, while fun to add colour to the cake pop, doesn't seem to melt as well in the microwave. There may be some secret to melting white chocolate that I have yet to figure out or found. If you know this trick, please let me know. My white chocolate cake pops always come out thicker and fatter then my milk chocolate ones. Even if they are prettier to look at.

Also make sure you decorate right after dipping, other wise whatever your sprinkling on them won't stick, at all.

Hope this was insightful. Feel free to comment about your own Cake pop making adventures below!