More Cakepops!

The end-of-the-year school picnic is tonight and the occasion called for CAKEPOPS!

A collection of pops - some inspired by those at Bakerella, some I made up myself.

These went much better than the apples - mostly because I used better ingredients (Black Magic Cake and DeDe Wilson's Fudge Frosting from A Field Guide to Cupcakes) and Wilton Candy Melts, which are not as fancy as the Valrhona white chocolate, but they're much easier to work with.

Play Ball!

I used a food coloring pen for the laces - if I had more time/gumption,
I'd do them with royal icing

Cupcakes!

Bakerella has instructions for how to make these

Hello Kitty!

Max asked how she can be called "Hello" Kitty when she doesn't even have a mouth?

While you ponder that, you can see how to make these here

Have a nice day!

Teacups!

How cute are these?

I wish I had taken pictures of the steps to make these, but there they are. Feel free to email me if anything is confusing:

1. Line a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon with plastic wrap, with enough for a 3" or so overhang
2. Fill the spoon with Cakepop mush level with the top
3. Drape the excess plastic wrap over the top of the spoon
4. Gently press into the plastic wrap with a film can or small spice bottle with a diameter smaller than the tablespoon to make an impression.
5. Remove the plastic wrap and pop out the molded Cakepop mush. Freeze for 15-20 minutes.
6. Put the stick in the pop and dip in colored Candy Melts just as for other Cakepops.
7. When the candy is set, fill the teacup with chocolate candy melt to make the "tea" (use a pastry bag)
8. Decorate around the rim with Candy Melts - use a pastry bag with just a teeny snip or a #1 round tip.
9. To make the handle, pipe a small "c" shape on waxed paper and let it set, attach to the cup with Candy Melt.
10. Voila - teatime!

I've been thinking about teapots too, and have a couple of ideas....

"One lump or two?"


Cakepop Parade!

Don't Mess with Maxo

They boy's been working on a report on Texas for most of the semester. The child's now an expert on the Lone Star state. Did you know there was a Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco? He can tell you all about it....

I had some time to kill at the Ferry Building on Tuesday and while poking around at Sur La Table I found a Texas-shaped cookie cutter. What are the odds? It was in there with the cowboy boots and cactus. We'd been thinking about making chili for him to bring to class to go with his written and oral reports for Open House - but a Texas-shaped treat would be even better. I was thinking cookies, but the fellow at Sur La Table suggested cornbread - a great idea and much easier than rolling & cutting cookies.

I think the baking goddesses sent me that cutter, because when I got home I discovered that Open House was the NEXT DAY not the NEXT WEEK as I'd thought. Luckily, I had the ingredients for a batch of cornbread on hand and my newly-acquired cutter ready to go.

They were a big hit in class - and now I'm set for any other Texas-themed events that may come along. Maybe I'll have a party for the premier of the big-screen version of Dallas :)

These are your cupcakes....

These are your cupcakes on drugs....

Any questions?

See, what happened was - I was making cupcakes. Lemon cupcakes. Lemon cupcakes for the teachers at the boy's school. That same night I was also making cornbread and finishing up the cake pops and well... there was a lot going on in the kitchen and I grabbed the pancake mix instead of the flour. It can happen to anyone, right?

Especially when you keep you flour and pancake mix in identical containers

See what I mean?

Luckily, Maxo noticed what I was doing 1/2 way into the recipe - so it wasn't ALL pancake mix, but there was enough extra leavening in the batter that some of the cupcakes 'sploded.

But the ones that didn't were DELISH! Super light and tasty. Max thinks were onto something with this and wants to experiment with more flour-to-pancake mix ratios. Maybe topped with maple-flavored frosting and bacon sprinkles?

I'd been practicing the flowers that we'll be making in Wilton Course 2 - and oh are they pretty and fun to make! I topped each of the intact cupcakes with a single blossom and made a garden of treats.

Flower roll call:

Pansy

Daisy

Chrysanthemum

Rosebud

Daffodil

Apple Blossom

Primrose

Violet

Cakepops!!

I've been dying to make Bakerella's Cakepops since I first discovered her blog. They are the cutest things ever. I knew my next baking opportunity was the teacher appreciation lunch at Max's school, so I decided that my maiden voyage into the world of cakepoppery would be apples. I definitely learned a thing or two in the process.

What you do is take cake, mush it up with your fingers or a food processor, then mix it with frosting into a moldable paste. I used the leftover 1/2 layer of cake from when I made the Fairfax Theater and some of the frosting I use in the Wilton classes. I put the frozen cake in the food processor to crumble it, but in retrospect I'd have let it thaw first and used my hands. I also think I added too much frosting. But hey, you live and learn.



I rolled the mush into balls, and froze them for about 1/2 an hour. To make the apple shape, I rolled the bottom half into a cone shape.

Then I put the small end of the cone on the cookie sheet and pressed down with my fingers and the handle of a wooden spoon - this gave me a tapered look to the apples, a flat bottom and a pretty good approximation of the top of an apple. These went back into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.



While the pops were freezing, I melted white chocolate. I had a 7oz bar of Valrhona white chocolate that my friend Deborah had given me (she does their PR - it pays to have friends in high places) I dipped the tip of the lollipop sticks in the melted chocolate and then stuck them in the pops. Then back to the freezer.

I added pretty much a whole tub of Wilton No-Taste Red food coloring to get it to the right shade. In retrospect, I would have used Red Candy Melts. Because the chocolate was kind of thick, I thinned it out with Paramount Crystals. These are waxy "flakes" that makes chocolate thinner and more elastic. I use it when I want to get a nice "splatter" effect on cakes and cookies.


It took a while to get the hang of dipping the pops in the chocolate, but I was able to get a smooth-ish surface after a while.

I chilled the pops again for a couple of days, and then added the leaves and stems. The leaves are fondant (more leftovers from the Fairfax Theater project) cut with a leaf-shaped cutter, and the stems are pieces of these fancy French chocolate twigs (thanks again Deborah!)



I wanted to bag them into lollipop bags - but the bags were a very tight fit, so I sliced each of the bags down the side and overlapped two over the pop -voila!

And I just knew those 100 6" x 6" foam squares I got from Freecycle would come in handy!

This was a super fun project - I think I may make some more for the end of school picnic next week - stay tuned!

Clownin' Around

Due to some scheduling conflicts, Melinda has a private class tonight. We had a great time chit-chatting and learning new tricks - and she made this adorable clown cake, with one clown for each of her kids - I have a feeling they're going to ask her to cut it right down the middle and give each of them half!

Now That Really Frosts My Cupcake!

I mean, really - it does. It's an easy white chocolate buttercream and quite yummy. I usually don't care for powdered sugar-based frostings, I find them to sweet and cloying, but this one has a smooth texture and luscious mouthfeel due to the addition of melted white chocolate.

If you've got access to luxurious white chocolate bars by all means use them, but this works just as well with chips. The finished frosting gets quite white, even with the addition of real butter, so you can color it and achieve bright, true hues.

White Chocolate Buttercream (courtesy of Baker's Chocolate)

6 oz white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup cream or milk
1 cup cold unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar

Microwave the white chocolate and the cream/milk in a large microwaveable bowl on high for 1-1/2 minutes. Stir 1/2 way through cooking time. Stir until white chocolate is completely melted. Cool 30 minutes or until room temperature.

Beat butter and sugar gradually into the cooled white chocolate mixture with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.

Makes 3 to 3-1/2 cups

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