That bake-off I entered in. Remember? The one from Valentine's Day? Yeah that one. Well, I lost. Sad-face I know. Prizes went to individuals that came in first and second place. I, however came in third. Darn! So close!
Next order of business...
My nonstop baking kind of came to a complete halt. I haven't baked in about two weeks. That's a long time. Just ask the people that benefit from my experiments. They've had to find snacks elsewhere. I apologize. The last lap of my baking marathon consisted of: cake pops, PB & C bars (yes, C), and raspberry thumbprint cookies.
Since I have 3 recipes to share with you, I will break them up and post them as separate entries. That's just way too many things to post all together.
Let's recap with recipe #1
Chocolate Cake Pops
I baked one batch of chocolate cake. Then through magic transformed them into this ...
Okay, they didn't magically turn into cake disguised as a lollipop. It was a lot of time ... and giggling. You read that right, I said giggling.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
1 batch of cake
8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
Lollipop sticks
2-3 bags milk chocolate candy melts
1 bag pink chocolate candy melts
- Begin by baking one batch of cake. Chocolate, vanilla, red velvet ... from a box, made from scratch, whatever your heart desires.
- Let the cake cool completely.
- In a large bowl, break apart the cake. Some say to do this in a food processor. I think doing this step by hand works perfectly fine. You want to break it down into fine crumbs. You can use a fork to make sure it has broken down and that there aren't big chunks hiding in the mix.
- Next, add the cream cheese. I prefer to add the cream cheese in segments, making sure it is completely mixed in before adding more (you shouldn't see any chunks of cc). This step can also be done by hand. [Now this is where the giggling comes into play. Adding soft cream cheese to cake crumbs just feels funny. It's quite squishy, so I giggled the whole time. Yup, I have the mind of a 5 year old.] You know you have added enough cc, when you are able to form a ball that holds shape. Now you may use some of the cc or you may use the whole 8oz, it all depends on the consistency of the cake.
- Once you have reached the right consistency, you want to refrigerate the mixture until it is firm.
- Now that you've waited, you can begin shaping your cake pops. Don't make them too big or they'll be too heavy for the stick.
- Place your cake balls on a baking sheet and refrigerate. It is important that they remain firm especially when you're about the dip them.
- In the mean time, melt the chocolate candy melts (over a double boiler or in the microwave)
- When your chocolate is ready, you're ready to dip your cake pops.
- Dip part of your lollipop stick into the chocolate then take that end and gently push it into your cake pop. This step helps your cake pop stick.
- Once the stick is in place, dip your pop into the chocolate has covered it.
- Now how do you store these cake pops? Well there are several ways to do this. You can line a baking sheet with wax paper and place your cake pops upside down (stick up in the air) until the chocolate hardens. Or you can buy a block of foam and stick your cake pops in there (like seen in my picture). That's up to you.
- Do not put the chocolate dipped cake pops in the fridge to harden. The chocolate will do that on it's own in room temperature.
- In my lazy attempt to decorate these cake pops, I melted pink chocolate candy melts and drizzled it over the already hardened milk chocolate candy shell.
It's simple to do in spite of my lengthy list of instructions. Just keep in mind that this is not quick to conjure up. It involves a lot of time. Waiting for the cake to cool, waiting for the cake to firm up, waiting for the chocolate to harden. Yup just lots of waiting. So set aside an afternoon and you'll be good to go.
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