Cupcake Cake Pops

 I have seen lots of these cupcake cake pops online, but this was my first time making them. They weren't any harder then making regular cake pops, just required a couple extra steps. I think they were originally done by Bakerella here. To make them a little bit more fun I used striped paper straws instead of lollipop sticks. You can follow the steps below to learn how to make them.

Wedding Craft Party

One of my friends is getting married in just a few weeks and we gathered a bunch of the girls together to help her assemble some of her DIY wedding projects. We assembled her centerpieces; which are branches she found in a tree grove with tiny yellow silk flowers glued onto them. Those turned out really great, however I forgot to get a picture of them. The other project wasn't such a success; however we are going to give it another go. We attempted to make a doily lamp that can be found here at More Design Please. I think where we went wrong was using Mod Podge instead of wall paper glue like the tutorial said to. We thought it would be the same thing, but when I popped the balloon the doilies all stuck to the balloon. We still had a great time hanging out and crafting together. We had grapefruit mojitos, you can get the recipe below or here. I made chocolate covered oreos, strawberry whoopie pies, cake pops, and popcorn. 

Graduation Cap Cake Pops

I needed to come up with a cute cake idea for a graduation party for my Sister-in-law and Father-in-law; who both just graduated with their Master's degree! When I saw these graduation cake pops on Bakerella's site I knew I had to try making them! The real work behind these was trying to track down all of the supplies and candy to make them. You'll need the following:

• Candy melts, in your desired color (found in baking isle at craft store)
• lollipop sticks (baking isle at craft store)
• Square candy mold (baking isle at craft store)
• candy cup mold (baking isle at craft store)
• mini M&M's
• Airhead xtremes, cut into strips for the tassels (found at specialty candy store; Sweeties)
• cake mix
• frosting

Prepare your cake according to the directions on the box or recipe, let cool and crumble into fine pieces in a large bowl. Stir in about 1 cup of frosting until cake is sticking together. I usually don't use the whole container. Roll cake into small balls that will fit into your candy cup molds and refrigerate until chilled.

Microwave your candy melts following the direction on the bag and pour into a plastic squeeze bottle. Squeeze a small amount into each square mold and tap the container on the counter to make sure they are even. Place in the freezer to set.

Now squeeze some of the candy melts into each of the candy cup molds and push the cake balls down into the melted candy. Try to make sure the cake balls are level with the top of the tray.

Next squeeze the candy melts over top of the cake balls and push the lollipop sticks in. Place in the freezer for about 5 minutes to set.

Remove the squares from the freezer and pop out of the molds by pushing up from the bottom of the tray. Use and small amount of the candy melts to attach the squares to the tops of the cake pops once they have set. Then you can use the candy melts to also fasten the candy tassels and M&M's

Red Velvet Cake Pops

I made a lot of cake pops yesterday, but I decided to make them the way I originally learned how instead of using my new Baby Cake Cake Pop Maker. I still need to try some new recipes with the cake pop maker. I made red velvet cake because these cake pops where for two different graduation parties with the maroon school color. I also made some graduation cap cake pops that I'll be posting. If you've never made cake pops before here's how to make these:

Ingredients:

• Red Velvet cake mix or from scratch recipe
• 1 cup of store bought cream cheese frosting or 1 cup of homemade cream cheese frosting
• White chocolate candy coating or Almond bark (baking isle of grocery store)
• 2 tablespoons of shortening
• chocolate jimmy sprinkles
• 50-60 lollipop sticks
• piece of Styrofoam 

Directions:

Bake the cake in a 9x13 pan following the directions on the box or in your own recipe. Let the cake cool. Once it has cooled crumble the cake into fine little pieces in a large bowl. Next mix in about 1 cup of your cream cheese frosting until the cake is moist and sticking together. Next you can begin rolling lots of cake balls! You should get about 50 cake pops, but it depends on the size you roll the balls into. Once I had all of my balls rolled I put them into airtight containers and in the refrigerator. I finished the second half of the process the next day and left mine in the refrigerator overnight. However, you only need to leave them in the refrigerator until they are chilled or in the freezer if you're in a hurry. This will help the lollipop sticks stand up straight in the cake balls.
Now melt half of your almond bark or candy coating and 1 tablespoon of shortening in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir and then continue to melt for 15 second intervals until smooth. I added the shortening because otherwise the almond bark can be really thick and it makes it more of a challenge to cover the cake pops. The shortening helps to keep the white chocolate smooth and thin.
I made my cake pops in batches because I didn't have enough Styrofoam to hold all of my cake pops while they cooled. Take some of your cake balls out of the refrigerator or freezer and dip the end of the lollipop sticks into the melted white chocolate and then halfway into the cake balls. Now place them into the freezer to set for about 5 minutes. This will help keep the cake balls on the stick when covering in the white chocolate.
Once they have set dip the cake pops into the melted white chocolate and spoon it over top to cover all sides. Tap any excess melted chocolate off, decorate with the jimmy sprinkles while still wet, and stick into the styrofoam to set. Repeat this process until all of the cake pops are done. Melt the second half of the almond bark and shortening when needed. As the almond bark sets you can place the cake pops in an airtight container and store at room temperate or in the refrigerator if you like to eat them cold.

Cake Pops

Cake Pops with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

 

Make your favorite white cake recipe and cookie dough recipe (without eggs). Roll the cookie dough into small balls. Spoon about 1 Tablespoon or less of the cake batter into each hole of the Babycake cake pop maker once it is preheated. Then take the small balls of cookie dough and press them down into the batter. Close the lid and wait about 5 minutes while they cook.

 After about five minutes they should be done, however the tops will be lighter in color then the bottoms of the cake balls. Remove them from the cake pop maker using the prongs that are included, and let them cool.

 Once they have cooled dip the sticks into some of the melted chocolate (I used Almond Bark, you can find it in the baking isle at most grocery stores) and stick into the center of each cake ball. Next place them into the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes to let them set. This helps them from falling off the stick when covering with the chocolate.

 Once they are covered with the chocolate place them in the holding tray (also included with the cake pop maker) to dry. They can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for about 3 days.

Using the Babycakes cake pop maker machine makes the cake pops a little different then how cake pops are typically made. You do not mix frosting into the cake. This makes they cake pops not as sweet and more light and fluffy then dense. They turned out pretty good, I am going to experiment some more with different recipes to use for the batter.

Easter Cake Pops

I love all of these adorable Easter cake pops by Bakerella. Learn how to make the cute little sheep here.