Cake Pops!

I found a recipe for Cake Pops at Bakerella. Of course the ones she makes are super cute and creative. I thought they would be so much fun to experiment with. What's better than cake balls covered in chocolate?

I used her traditional recipe- red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I used a boxed cake mix since it was my first try, but I did make the icing from scratch. It's nearly impossible to find pre-made icing that doesn't have all of the chemicals in it (partially hydrogenated oils...yuck!). I know the boxed mix probably has that stuff in it too, so ideally I will use a scratch recipe next time. The icing was super easy to make- cream cheese and butter, plus powdered sugar and vanilla. Or if you're me, low fat cream cheese and organic butter, plus powdered sugar and organic vanilla.

I used the melting chips you can find at Hobby Lobby for dipping, and I experimented with a star shape on some of them. Here's how they came out:



They look pretty good here. The sprinkles were easy and fun. I learned not to push the stick all the way to the other side of the ball- halfway in is better. Otherwise there will be a hole in the top (see picture on right). The balls should be frozen for awhile so they are easier to dip. Make sure to have enough chocolate in the double boiler when you're dipping.

And mistakes taste delicious!



Here's what the inside looks like...and what they look like when they fall. Again, they taste just as good, but you can't wrap them up all cute.

So since I had all these extra cake pops/balls, I decided to take them to Jess' surprise birthday party on Saturday. It really was a great surprise.




We had dinner at Blue Goose Cantina. The food was excellent, great tortillas and margaritas. Then we went back to Jess and Bonnie's house and hung out and played one of her birthday gifts: Loaded Questions the Adult Version. It was hilarious and we stayed up way too late- at least for someone who had to work today. But it was worth it!

Happy Birthday Jess!