Welcome to the Cake Pop blog. I know I’m a day late… A thousand apologizes. This week I am demonstrating  how to make the Basic Cake Pop, using Bakerella’s recipe  found on page 15 of her Cake Pop book. If you read the previous entry on the basic cake ball, you will need everything I stated there. Including lollipop sticks, a Styrofoam block , Ploy bags and twist ties.

Strawberry Cake with Cheesecake flavored Cream Cheese frosting

First I bake my cake according to the box directions. This time I let it cool for half the day. I really wanted to make sure it was cooled all the way. I also decided to use my own frosting recipe. (I have included it at the bottom for you).  After crumbling my cake I added three large spoonfuls of my frosting. ( You will have plenty left over for another cake).  After putting my mixture together, I put it in the refrigerator  for 2 hours as Bakerella mentions in her book. I find this useful because it really helps with the handling of the cake.

After the mixture is cooled, I begin the rolling process. First I lay out my wax paper and get my handy dandy Cake Ball Scoop. You want your balls to be about 1 1/2 inch balls. (Also mentioned by Bakerella) I roll out all the cake mixture. I always get about 48 balls. Then I melt my Chocolate, I couldn’t find the right shade of pink she (Bakerella) used in her book. So I mixed some white chocolate and pink (strawberry flavored) chocolates and got this pink. I always dip my lollipop sticks in the chocolate before inserting them into the cake.  When I’m done with that, I put the Cake Pops back in the refrigerator for about 20-30 mins. You don’t want them to get to cold or your chocolate coating will crack.

When you are ready to dip them, Bakerella suggest you only take a few out at a time. I’m guessing because you don’t want the cake to get to soft and fall off the stick, when you try to dip it. I always work with about 5 Cake Pops at a time.

As I said in my previous post, I found these amazing bowls from Target that fits all 16 oz  (1 bag) of melting chocolate. Prefect for handling and dipping.

They don’t get hot when you microwave them either. Love IT!! Ok back on track….. After I dip them, I place them in the Styrofoam block to harden. I use to place them back in the refrigerator, but it was always such a pain to put the bags on afterwards. The condensation made the chocolate stick to the bags. After talking with Angie (Bakerella) she said she never puts them back in the refrigerator. So I Started making that my final step, after they were bagged, tied and labeled.

After I dipped them, I felt they were missing a little something. So I put the remaining chocolate in a decorating bottle and put some fancy designs on them. I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I have. Between making the Cake Pops and giving them out it has been a pleasure. Please feel free to email your questions and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Also leave a comment, if you wish, and no one wants to forget about WINNING the autographed, one of a kind, Cake Pop Book by Bakerella. Just head to the the contact me link, and put ENTER ME  in the suject line.

Cheesecake flavored Cream Cheese frosting

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 stick of butter

1 1/2 cup melted marshmallow

1 lb powered sugar

3/4 tsp cheesecake flavoring

Make sure cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. Mix cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Then add melted marshmallow all at once to smoothed mixture.Then add in Cheesecake flavoring (Optional, vanilla works just fine) Next slowly add in the powdered sugar.     Refrigerate when done

Leilani

I did it!!!!! If you have the beloved Cake Pops book by Bakerella, turn to page 11. If not, then follow along closely.
So I guess we will start with the basic recipe.
Bakerella recommends:
18.25-ounce box cake mix
9-by-13 inch cake pan
Large mixing bowl
16-ounce container ready-made frosting
Large metal spoon
Wax paper
2 baking sheets
Plastic wrap
32 ounce (2 pounds) candy coating
Deep,microwave-safe plastic bowl
Toothpicks
Resealable plastic bag or squeeze bottle (optional)

Now what I used was :

1 box off Red Velvet cake by Duncan Hines.

1 can of Cream Cheese ready-made frosting by Betty Crocker.

1 9×13 inch glass pan. Greased with shorting and lightly dusted with flour

2 16-ounce bag of hard candy coating. 1 green and 1 white

2 Cookie sheets

Wax paper

Toothpicks

1 deep dish microwave safe bowl. I got mine at Target and the outside never got hot.

1 Squeeze bottle

HOW IT WENT:

I baked the cake as directed on the box. I let it cool down for about 3 hours.  I had alot to do that day. It really only needs about an hour. Bakerella states in her book that she likes to rub the cakes together to crumble them. I on the other hand LOVE to use my food processor. It crumbles the cake up nice and fine in no time. I then put the crumbs in my Kitchen Aid and mix it up with my frosting. I use a large spoon to measure the frosting out. Start with a little. A wise person once told me you can always add more, but you can’t take it out. I use about 2 and 1/2 large scoops of frosting.  I use my dough hook and let it mix all together. Then when it’s mixed up . I take it and cover it with foil and put it in the freezer for up to 20 mins.

During the time the cake is in the freezer I get the rolling area ready. I lay out the wax paper on the table and set up any candy I plan to use. Then I get the toothpicks and napkins ready.  I used my new favorite toy. Its from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It’s a plastic cookie scoop with a silicon backing.  When you scoop the cake you just press on the back and it pops right out I love it!!!

After I rolled all the balls out.( Man it took along time. I just popped a movie and the laptop and worked away. ) I put both trays in the freezer and let them sit for 15 more mins. In the meantime I melted my candy coating. I also add shorting to the candy to thin it out a little bit.  Now let me tell you, the first few balls I tried to dip were a pain in the a**.   I followed Bakerella instructions when she said drop the ball into the bowl and cover with candy coating.  Every time I picked up the darn balls it wouldn’t slide off the spoon well and I kept ending up with balls with half the candy coating whipped off . And when I tried to just pour if off the spoon way to much candy coating would come with it. Then I tried to use a toothpick to draw a line around the Cake Ball, so when the candy coating dried it wouldn’t be stuck to a ton of Chocolate when I tried to lift it off. That didn’t work as well as I planned either. So finally I figured out that once I pulled the spoon out  of the candy coating with the Cake Ball , if I touched the tip of the spoon to the wax paper and lightly shook  it back and forth. The Cake Ball would slide off perfectly. Yea! Thank you for reading along and hope this helped you. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at Leilani@cakepops.org.

Also Don’t forget to enter for your chance to Win and autographed copy of The Cake Pops book By Angie herself. Go to the Contact me page and put Enter Me in the subject line. Good Luck

Leilani

Tags : cake ball

Well no surprise here, I went to the book signing when Angie with Bakerella came to town. Also I’m very late in posting my experience and pictures. On the day that the Cake Pops book was released I was banging down Barns and Noble’s front door to buy it. After a few weeks of drooling over it and studying every page, I found out she was doing a book tour and planned to be in Beaverton Oregon at the Washington Square Williams and Sonoma store. So that day I high tailed it over there with my book in hand about an hour early. I soon realized her impact on not only me but many others. I was number 17 in line. Woohoo! I thought to myself as I waited with my book. ” I’m getting it signed. So exciting” Then I found that in order to meet Angie and have my book signed I had to purchase the book from William and Sonoma’s store. Oh well, my amazing husband said I could buy another so I did! And when it was my turn to get my book signed, she signed both! Angie was extremely nice, sweet, and a very approachable person. She answered a few questions I had. Which has helped me with my Cake Pops. And now I have a signed book to give to you!

Tags : cake pops

It’s finally here! I have gone through every page of Bakerella’s new Cake Pops book and it is amazing! I have already learned so many new techniques from this book. It is packed with 47 of her best cake pops starting with the basic cake ball to much more advanced pops like the adorable Frosty the Snow Man. With how much I have learned from this book I have decided to start with page 1 and make every single one of these amazing cake pops. Every week I will be going through the book in order and showing you how our cake pops turned out. We all are going to learn some great new techniques and encourage you to follow along as I set out to perfect my skills. If you are interested in making cake pops and don’t know where to start you can pick up the book here. You will be amazed at how simple they are to make, Bakerella has made this book so easy to follow and I know you will enjoy it as much as we do! At the end of 47 weeks (Thats how many recipes there are)  I will be raffling off an autographed copy of the now famous Cake Pops book by Bakerella. All you have to do is click the Contact Me link on the right hand side of the page, In the subject line put “ENTER ME”. Be sure to check in weekly and leave a comment on how you feel I did or what worked and didn’t work for you. Also if you haven’t picked up this book I highlty suggest you do, Amazon has a great deal on it here.

Tags : cake pops

We have been thinking of ways to deliver better content for all our viewers and would love to hear any feedback you might have. When you search “Cake Pops” what are you looking for? Below is a poll with a few ideas we came up with. If you think of something different please leave a comment or send us a message HERE. Even if you are a first time visitor to our site, please cast your vote. Thanks!

Tags : cake pops

May 18th, 2010

This was our first true weekend of making money with Cake Pops. Praises to God for all the business He sent our way. We originally had two orders on the calendar, a little girls cupcake on a stick party and a little boys batman party. Thursday afternoon we got a call for an order of cheesecake pops and an order for 2 dozen softball look-a-likes, both for that Friday night. Yes, less then 24 hours, but what do you do when you are trying to start a business?? You just say yes. Business is business, right?

Needless to say I ran home from work that Thursday and made four cakes. Two chocolate fudge and two birthday confetti cakes. I called my partner in crime Kate and begged her to make a cheesecake that night. After all four of my cakes cooled, I got to work mixing the frosting. After sticking the cake/frosting mixture in the frig to cool, I realized I didn’t have enough candy coating, sticks, and cake boxes for the two new orders. I then packed the girls in the car and headed to Deco Supply. Like always Rosie had all the supplies we needed to get the jobs complete. We worked until about midnight finishing  up the cupcake Cake Pops. We also made up the softball Cake Pops, this way all I had to do Friday was dip them in the candy coating and place the softball threads on.

Friday, I opened at Starbucks, I came straight home to pick up all my supplies and head to Kate’s to finish the remaining Cake Pops. At Kate’s house we were able to dip all the softballs before I had to leave and pick up my daughters from daycare. On my way back to Kate’s house I delivered the cupcake Cake Pops, then I packed the girls up again and headed back to Kate’s.  With Kate’s Great knowledge of cake decorating she was able to draw the threads of the softball on each pop. With two orders under our belt we got right to work on the Cheesecake Pops. At this point my adrenaline is pumping so hard I thought I might faint. It was then I remembered I needed some water. After my nice cold glass of water, I turned to my daughters and thanked them for being so good. I then explained to them, mommy really needed to get these Cake Pops done so they could go to college some day.

I started to panic when we began the Cheesecake Pops, the cheesecake was very soft and I was afraid it wouldn’t stick to the lollipop sticks. We couldn’t get them to roll into a ball shape. At this point it’s about 2:30pm and these are suppose to be ready by 5pm. So I start thinking out loud, asking myself how we can save these????? Then it hits me, Freeze um’ Leilani. That’s just what we did, we jabbed lolliopop sticks in them, and froze them. After about 3o-45 min We started right in on the Cheesecakes, freezing them totally worked. Thank you Lord! We started dipping them right away then applied the final touches, box them up and jump in the car to do a home delivery. By this time my loving husband had picked up our two little girls, and I feel like I might black out. Oh yeah, I still have not eaten a thing.

The next day is Saturday and we have one order to fill. Batman. We decide to make the Cake Pops yellow round balls with little black batman symbols in the middle. Super cute. I’m a wife and a mom and there is such a thing as laundry, I couldn’t get to them until about 3pm. So at three I finally got to roll out the Cake Pops and dip them. About 6pm I packed everything up and headed to Kate’s house to apply the batman symbols. She is a very creative person. We were up til about midnight finishing all the little important details. I got up at  9am the next day to deliver the batman Cake Pops and head to church. After church I told my husband I have a date with the couch and slept for five hours. All that craziness, but we made it and had fun most of the way. Everyone loved all the Cake Pops so I feel like mission accomplished.

THINGS I LEARNED
Freezing cheesecake really helps.
Less is more when it comes to frosting.
Start with dark chocolate when trying to make black candy coating
Its much easier to use tweezers when removing candy melts design from wax paper. The body heat from your hands melt them… Who knew..??

Tags : batman cake pops

Any new business can be frustrating to start out, mine was no exception. Trying to find all the little decorating cut outs, cookie cutters, and every other accessory not only felt impossible but very expensive. Going to Micheal’s or Joann’s almost broke the bank, quite literally . After chatting with a very wise friend, she asked if I had heard of a store called Deco Supply. So like any good friend would do, I Googled it. To my surprise I found a very friendly and welcoming staff. The store managers name is Rose, and like me she also started her business based on her love for baking and decorating. This store provides everything I need, from ingredient for make frosting to supplies for boxing up and shipping cakes. She has earned four stars for customer service and great pricing. If she doesn’t have it in stock she will order it for you. Now, wow that’s amazing. If you need to find this store or have questions, please call.

DECO SUPPLY STORE LLC
www.decosupply.net
12680 Southwest Farmington Road
BEAVERTON, OR 97005
(503) 646-1014

As I was thinking about the cake pops I was going to make next, I realized there was a process to these kinds of things. Whether you are going to place an order or try your hand at making these lovely, moist , delicious, and I’m pretty sure sinful desserts, You need to know three things about your Cake Pop first.

First: What type of cake flavor and frosting mixture you want. Not only are there many different types of cake mix boxes out there, but you can always add flavor to a homemade cake. Always make sure to pick a frosting that will complement your cake.

Second: This step might be the most important step there is. Picking the theme of your cake pops.  Are you going to create or purchase them for a birthday, holiday, fundraiser, or just to show your love to that special someone that really enjoys Cake Pops.

Lastly, but certainly not least. There is the little matter concerning  the color of your cake pop. You’ve thought about eating them, you know they will taste wonderful, you either stood in the grocery aisle for what seemed like hours picking out your cake and frosting, or came ready to order a bouquet of flower cake pops for your mom on mothers day. Now when your brain feels like it might explode you have to pick colors! Do the questions ever end?!

Well my friend this is the fun part! You can pick from ANY color you can think of! Tie dye cake pops, pastel cake pops, dark black, brown, purple, etc. the list goes on. You think it , and it can be made. I hope this helps on your cake pop or cake ball journey. I know I’ll sleep better tonight.

Tags : cake pops