Nope, not me. My good friend Ross will be bringing her second little princess out in a few weeks . Ross was born with a sweet tooth but was under strict "sweets diet" in her childhood days because her mom was super taking care of her teeth (She really has nice teeth by the way so good job Tita Lita!)
Anyways, she likes cake pops, so these cute, pretty, pink cake pops were made as souvenirs for the mini baby shower my colleagues, bosses and I had for her this morning :) Thanks and good job to us all! As we have seen this morning, the surprise brought her to tears! (Awwww!)
Lolli-cakes, cake pops, cake balls, cake truffles or whatever you want to call it, is starting a craze. I've been really curious and eager to make them since I came across Bakerella and features from Cupcakes Take The Cake , only to find out that my cousins in the US have been making cake pops for quite sometime now. Way to go Kuya Aljan and Ate Eileen!
I am in no way able to give a history of it but I can tell you that my first few attempts failed. I thought it was so easy to make, but it wasn't. Talk about Disaster and Drama. My cousin said to just keep practicing. so I did.
I have used as guide the basic recipes from Bakerella, The Kitchn and sought help from the super detailed photos, troubleshooting, plus a video tutorial on how to dip cake pops from Veronica's Cornucopia. I was able to surpass the cake pop dilemma because of them. Thank you!
To make about 3 to 4 dozens, you need a cake baked in a 13 X 9 pan or two 8" round pans. If you have all the time in the world, you can bake from scratch. Bless your heart.
You can definitely use store-bought box mix, or grab a ready made cake.
In my case, I combined my left over cupcakes. I have been inspired by Chichajo's mission to resurrect left overs in any way possible, give them justice and honor in their new form. I've been trying to do so in left over dishes and now I have applied her wisdom to left over cakes and cupcakes by making these cake pops. You see, sometimes I crave for cakes or cupcakes, bake dozens of 'em (for cupcakes), eat them everyday for consecutive days and realize that I and my fellows here can't finish them off anymore. The little boy has his own share of eating them but me thinks he can't have sweets overdose!
So I had 15 pieces leftover chocolate cupcakes (9) and red velvet cupcakes (6)
- crumble them in a stainless steel bowl and set aside. My left overs amounted to just about half of the original basic recipe.
For the chocolate melt, I found chocolate bars easier to use so i used approx 500 grams of white chocolate bar, chopped and melted (double boiler) and I added about 1/4 teaspoon of red food color to make it pink. Pretty sprinkles c/o the ever reliable Manna Ingredients and the Cocoa Pantry.
When I saw the results of this latest attempt, I had a feeling of triumph as it's giving better texture, the chocolate hardens and there was no "falling off" happening. Cheers to that! :)
Here are some things I learned from blogs, watching tutorials on cake pops and my own disasters:
To make presentable cake pops, one must have patience and energy to go back and forth the fridge and working table. Prayer is very powerful.
If helper is available. By all means, let them help. Thank you Gemma and Abi. They designed their own cake pops but I have no permission to post it here :P
Best to use bars and melt them in a double boiler. I have tried to melt it in low heat in the microwave but it doesn't work well for me.
Whisk the melted chocolate a few times to release heat before dipping your cake balls.
Take out 2 or 3 pops at a time because in our kind of weather, the cake balls tend to soften fast, ergo the chocolate will not harden and the ball will fall off the lollipop stick (I am speaking from experience)
You need fast working hands when putting sprinkles as the chocolate melt dries fast because of cold cake ball.
Now with all these in place, I am looking forward to make another batch. The little boy is turning 4 next week and maybe I can give it a go if time permits! :)
Happy weekend everyone! :)
