Adventures In Cake Pops

Fully armed with Bakerella’s book, class notes from my cousin Lisa (thanks, Cousin!) and a hefty bag of supplies from the craft store, I took the plunge into Cake Pop making last week. Friends and fellow cooks, let me assure you, this is a happy, happy place.

There are many online resources, such as Bakerella (www.bakerella.com ), who are far better equipped at tutoring you on the technical aspects of cake pop construction, flavor profiles and decorating potential than moiself. I would, however, like to share a couple of pictures and a few pieces of wisdom I picked up along the way:

1) True confession, the craft store is not my natural habitat. There, I’ve said it. I just don’t have the talent or skills needed to conquer the craft store. The lone exception is the cake/candy making/decorating aisle. When I go to my local craft store for such supplies, I made a hard left as soon as I clear the cash register and make a beeline for “my” aisle. I gather my necessary items and take myself directly to the register as expeditiously as possible. I only tell you this so if you, too, aren’t familiar with such inventory, beware of glitter Styrofoam. Seriously, it’s lurking out there and I never saw it coming. Obviously, on this visit, I had to deviate from my normal craft store route to pick up a piece of Styrofoam in which to stick the completed cake pops. I was unwrapping my Styrofoam as I was walking from my family into my kitchen, when I pulled back the plastic outer wrap there was a veritable blizzard of glitter on my family room floor, on me, on my kitchen floor, everywhere…seriously, it was like this stuff had wings. My point, and I did have one before I started rambling, is cake pop making will go a lot faster if you don’t have to take a time out to Swiffer two rooms (and yourself) before you commence impaling and dipping the cake balls.

2)Definitely take the expert advice that suggests making your cake, then the cake balls in advance. I let mine chill in the refrigerator over night, thus they were well set and I was rested & ready to dip. We were ready for each other.

3)One container of white cake sparkles didn’t go nearly as far as I thought it would. Load up on supplies; you’ll want to be generous with your cake pop flair.

4)Confetti sprinkles (labeled for ice cream in my grocery store) are too big and too heavy for cake pops; keep the scale of the cake pop in mind when choosing decor.

5)Sadly, it is, in fact, possible to have too much candy coating. I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Take heed the expert advice that suggests you patiently allow the excess coating to return to the bowl. Trust me; your patience will be rewarded.

6)Don’t get carried away and get so wrapped up dipping your cake pops that you completely forget you are supposed to even have Styrofoam (as noted in item #1) and end up with two cake pops that appear to have little cake pop flat top haircuts because you had to stand them on their heads on wax paper while you retrieved the evil glitter Styrofoam (two mistakes I’ve vowed not to repeat.)

All of this said, check out these pictures. At the risk of sounding immodest, how cute are these?! I decided for the sake of simplicity (and by simplicity, I mean my sanity), I would use just one color candy melts for this round, but I have more options at the ready for round two.





Come on, take the plunge, the frosting is fine!