Archive for the ‘pops’ Category

Hostess Cupcake balls (and pops!)

04/15/2011 by Lara • 2 Comments

Recipe: SugarDerby's Homemade Hostess Cupcake Cake Balls
Total time: 3 hours
Ease: Intermediate
Unusual ingredients: cake mix, frosting, marshmallow fluff, sprinkles

I was approached by my good friend Anne Ruthmann to make some cake pops for her open studio. I’m always thankful for an opportunity to bake things that I can give away (so I don’t end up eating them all!) and I jumped at the chance to get a little fancy with these pops.

I happened across SugarDerby’s guide to making miniature Hostess Cupcakes, and hilarity ensued.

I am endlessly thankful for my husband’s help in the kitchen. As I started to lose my mind rolling and creating little holes in the cake, he jumped in with an excellent suggestion – how about we turn half the cake mix into pops, and the other half into the balls with filling? Fine idea. And he also helped quite a bit creating the ‘toupees’ for the filled ones! (more…)

Cake pops

03/12/2011 by Lara • Comment

Recipe: Bakerella's Cake Pops
Total time: 2 relaxed days, or 1 very busy day
Ease: Beginner
Unusual ingredients: candy melts, lollipop sticks

I absolutely loved making these cake pops. They were surprisingly easy, though I did make them over the course of a couple of days. Bakerella’s instructions are incredibly easy to follow (and I love her writing style).

On the first day, I baked two cakes, knowing I wanted to make two batches of these for my coworkers. I baked one dark chocolate cake from a mix, and one vanilla cake from a mix. I put them in the fridge overnight to chill out.

On the second day, I cut the cakes in half, as I realized I could freeze half of each to make more at a later date. The halves I had left, I crumbled into bowls (one for each flavor) and popped open the frosting.

I began forming the vanilla cake pops first, and I definitely used too much frosting (I used half of the can). The balls became hard to form as they kept sticking to my hands, and they didn’t develop smooth edges. I used about 1/3 of the can for the chocolate pops and that appears to be the magic formula!

I planted those on parchment-lined cookie sheets and stuck them in the fridge while I melted the candy melts. I purchased red and yellow candy melts so they’d help me remember which cake pop was which flavor! When I made cake pops again a few days later, I used chocolate melts – they taste MUCH better to me than the candy, so I recommend trying that out!

I melted the candy using the microwave – 30 second increments on High, stirring in between. Be careful as you stir – mine developed some air bubbles after I stirred too much with one batch.

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