Princess Castle, Cookies & Cake Pops

I was asked to do a cake for a friends little girl, turning three, and I suggested a castle cake.  I found one that I really liked here and set about working out sizes and recipes etc.  I decided on three different varieties of mud cake - chocolate, white chocolate and caramel.  I baked two trial cakes, just to make sure the recipes would work in the size tins that I had - I sent these of to work with my hubby as I didn't need two yummy cakes staring at me everytime I went to the kitchen.

I ended up using a 10" round tin on the bottom layer; a 6" round tin for the middle and a stack of two 7.5cm cakes for the top.  Although it's a little (LOT) more pink than I intended it to be; and it's a little (LOT) wonky, especially in some places; I'm pretty happy with my attempt overall.  I've decided that professional cake decorators can truly charge any price they wish......it's sooooooo hard for us humble Mum's to replicate their artwork!!  They really are so very talented at what they can do with some cake and some icing LOL.

Of course, it wouldn't be a princess party without the addition of some Princess cake pops.  My first attempts worked really well (they have the gold crowns) and then I decided that since I had a ton of pink icing, I would make the crowns pink.  I think they look good either way.

Princess Cake Pops

I also tried my hand at some Sugar Cookies.  These are a basic cookie dough that is cut to shape and then decorated with royal icing.  I was happy with my trial batch and then I got a little impatient with the batch for the party and ended up with air bubbles.  They still went down a treat though.  I don't think anyone really noticed the bubbles!

Snowmen

Ironically, it was quite warm while I was making these.  True to form though, it turned bitterly cold again within a week!

Snowman Cake Pops

I used dark chocolate piped onto baking paper for the arms.  I also used dark chocolate piped over the top of a mini m&m for the hat.  I'm not overly fussed on the hat because I can just see it falling right off and, of course, the arms would be quite brittle too.  If I was making them for family, I would probably add the hat; but if I was making them for someone else, I think I would leave the hat and the arms off as well.  I think they look cute without them.....but they do look cute with them as well :oP

Chickens, Roosters, Pigs and Bears!

I decided to tackle chickens again because I wasn't overly happy with my first attempt and I would like to avoid using fondant "accessories" where possible!

This time I molded the cake into the shape I thought best resembled a chicken and then added features after they'd been dipped.  This process ended up being quite easy.  The added bonus is that there are less parts to fall off during packaging and transportation.

Chicken Cake Pops

The roosters were quite similar but with an added peak (or mohawk) at the top.

Rooster Cake Pops

I think the pigs can do with a little more fine tuning as I would like the nose section to be a bit less subtle.  I did dust them over with some pink lustre dust but I will experiment a little more with them.

Pig Cake Pops

And finally, the bears.  My two darling boys tell me they are dogs so perhaps there is a little more work required on these too??  I'm thinking some textured "fur" might just do the trick!

Bear Cake Pops

I've also discovered that it is quite easy to just use dark cooking chocolate for the eyes, rather than trying to dye the melts to a suitable black colour.  It's also easier to dot them on using a skewer or toothpick, rather than trying to pipe them on (which is why my bears (dogs!) eyes look a little funny!

Soccer Balls

A friend of mine asked me a little while ago if I could do some soccer ball cake pops for her daughters last soccer game.  I accepted the challenge but I almost changed my mind quite a few times.  Firstly, I didn't realise that a soccer ball is made up of pentagons *and* hexagons.  I did a few test subjects and quickly found out that if my cake balls weren't perfectly shaped then there was no way the soccer design was going to work on them.  After cutting out a total of 198 pentagons from black fondant by hand (!!), this was the result:

Soccer Ball Cake Pops

Phew!!  From now on if anyone wants soccer balls I am seriously charging $3 per pop!!  They look great though, right??