Cake Pops!

A while ago, okay, over a year ago... I'm such a slacker... I blogged about cake pops. I raved about these little treats on a stick and vowed to make them myself, then promptly neglected to inform my faithful reader(s?) that I did, in fact, make them. And not just once since then, but three times did I try my hand at these and as with anything new, all three had successes as well as things to learn from.

Cake pop trial 1: Crab feast cake pops.

So, I had a theme, and after finding small squeeze bottles, I also had an idea for the decoration of the pops. CRABS, of course!!

I found an image online, printed out a sheet of properly scaled crabs, and used a squeeze bottle to pipe little crabs on the waxed paper taped over my templates.

Then I shaped my mini cupcakes and prepared to dip and decorate.

And voila! (if only it had been that easy) cute little cake pops with crabs on the top!

And the lessons I learned from these cake pops? The sticks were way too long and those, combined with the heavy cake on top, made them bend precariously as they were transported, and resting before consumption...

I also learned that allowing them to harden in the freezer made them sweat when they cooled off and the red and brown bottoms rubbed off on the white tops as they came to room temperature. Which brings us to...

Cake Pop Trial 2: Birthday cake pops

In June we celebrated Chris's Masters from Rutgers, Steph's b-day, my B-day, and Father's Day all in one shot. So I figured it was a good excuse to make more cake pops! This time I simplified the design and instead of shaping mini cupcakes, I just rolled the cake out and used a flower shaped cookie cutter to make these.

They were much easier then the multi-colored (meaning twice dipped) cupcakes from before, and the flower shape with an M&M center was decoration enough for me to be happy with them. This time around I learned that even the fridge is too cold, they still sweat, but the candy hardens fairly quickly at room temperature. They also have to be thoroughly frozen (like overnight) before they're dipped in the melted candy or they fall off the stick. Wrapping them with the cellophane and ribbon made them easy to transport and the shorter, 6" sticks was better at supporting the weight of the cake.

Cake Pop Trial #3: Cheesecake Pops

Not long after the birthday cake pops we had a church BBQ competition and I figured it'd be another good cake pop occasion, but this time I wanted to try cheesecake. Just simple balls shaped with a cookie dough scoop, then dipped in chocolate and rolled in crunchy topping.

They were cute, and yummy, but lasted about 3 seconds in the 90+ degree weather before they became cheesecake shooters in those cellophane bags.

Next to try? Star shaped cake pops for the 4th of July!

Breakfast foods

Besides coffee, which I drink all morning now that I'm home most days (although I have switched to half-caff so Chris doesn't have to pry me off the ceiling when he gets home) I've never been big on breakfast. I love food and generally enjoy eating, but I just don't really care for eggs, and sweet things like syrup, donuts, or danish make me a little ill. Trust me, I try every once in a while, like Friday afternoon when mom and I stopped at an Amish stand on the way home from Lancaster. If you had smelled those fresh cider donuts, you would have done it too.

In high school I used to skip breakfast alltogether. I'm sure part of it was a teenage girl's crazy way of cutting down on calories, but it was also because I just wasn't a fan of the options. I have since learned how unhealthy it is to skip meals and I try not to do that anymore, but there are still mornings when I think I could just be happy with my good ol' cup o' joe.

I know exactly where I get it from. A perfect example of the apple not falling far from the tree; my dad is exactly the same way. Whether it's because there's an actual gene that rejects syrup and scrambled eggs or if it's because I grew up enjoying breakfast with him when there was leftover lasagna or coconut custard pie, who can tell? But to this day I still count those as some of my favorite breakfast foods, although any cake or pie will do and pizza will take the place of mom's lasagna in a pinch.

So the morning after I turned 30 years old I thought, who says I have to act like a grownup? And I cut myself a healthy slice of leftover birthday cake to have with my first cup of coffee. And it was good!