Cake Pops!!!!

I found this super-nifty and wildly creative recipe on the flog of Bakerella, who just makes the most adorable tasty-looking treats. I am telling you, this lady is incredibly talented! Just looking at her pictures is a feast for the eyes. Her sweets almost look too good to even eat! I looked all over the internet, and no one can seem to come to a concensus about who invented these delish snacks. It's not even on Wikipedia! I have wanted to try making these for some time now, and am so glad I did! Although my first try took 4 and a half hours, I am sure it will be faster in the future, now that I know what I am doing.



To make these tasty morsels, you follow the recipe for Cake Balls (courtesy of Bakerella), and just put a stick in the balls after you roll them, before they go in the freezer.
I have had the fantastic good fortune of discovering Karen Ann's Supplies, a Cake Decorating and Candy Supply Store. This place is awesome! They have all sorts of super-cool things, like lollipop sticks, candy coatings, fondant mix, tons of icing dyes and sprinkle assortments, pretty much anything a baker would need.
CAKE POPS
The first thing you do is bake a cake from a box; I used Duncan Hines' Strawberry Supreme Cake. After letting that cool down, you break it up and mix it with a can of frosting. I used Duncan Hines' Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting. I found it was just easier to mix by hand, although it was extremely messy!

After mixing together the cake and the frosting, I used my hands to roll little balls, about 1 inch in diameter. I sat them on wax paper on top of cookie sheets, and when they were all rolled, I stuck some lollipop sticks in them.


After that, I stuck all of the cookie sheets in the freezer for about 1 hour. When I took them out, the cake pops were nice and firm, perfect for dipping in chocolate. I melted 3 different bowls of candy coatings, one at a time, by putting them in the microwave for about 1 minute each. I used milk chocolate, white chocolate, and yellow (vanilla flavored). I dipped each lollipop in the melted coating, swirled them around, and used a spoon to completely cover them. Then I sprinkled them with different colors of sprinkles. After that, I placed each one back on the wax paper to dry, and let them sit on the cookie sheets in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I used a food marker to draw faces on some of them, and stuck them all in the styrofoam in a basket I had prepared (from materials from the dollar store) the previous day.


Next time, I think I would use some lettuce, or maybe some easter grass, or something like that to cover up the ugly styrofoam. I would also like to try dipping some of the cake pops in various toppings after covering them with melted chocolate, perhaps coconut or chopped almonds, or crushed up Heath bits.
I was a little skeptical that these pops would look cute, but not taste good, but boy was I wrong! They were delicious! My faves were the white chocolate covered ones, and I highly recommend using strawberry cake. I wish I had some more!
They got rave reviews from all who tried them, and the kids absolutely adored them, especially because it was something they had never seen before. I found the whole endeavor to be a complete success, and can't wait to try it again! Although it was time consuming, most of the time was spent waiting; waiting for the cake to bake, for the cake to cool, and for the cake balls to cool in the fridge. I am so proud of myself for accomplishing this recipe, for a long time I thought it looked too complicated or intricate for a novice baker such as myself. Now I know I can do it, and am very eager to undertake more new things, like cupcake decorating or fondant making/use! Whoa, lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Who do I think is going to be eating all of these goodies?!
Voila, the finished product!