Simple Pops

These were supposed to be simple.  These were NOT simple.  At the end of my decorating session I was definitely questioning my abilities.  Am I being too critical?  Too much of a perfectionist??  All I know is that piping chocolate is hard.  There has to be something I am missing.  Getting that darn chocolate into my baking paper piping bag and on to the pops was a task of epic proportions!

Looking at the photos today, however, I think they look alright.  I am not a big fan of sprinkles so I may not eat any of them, but they look.........ok.

I’m off to do a little more websurfing to see what I can find to help me along on this journey!  Oh, and I may need to sample just one cake pop to make sure they still taste ok today :oP

Pigs, Roosters and Sundaes

So, my second batch of cake pops was a bit hit and miss.

I decided to make the cake from scratch and used the Donna Hay Basic Melt and Mix Vanilla Cake.  This recipe has become a favourite for our birthday cakes, cause it’s so yummy.  I then made a cream cheese icing to put through the mix.

I think I may add a bit less frosting next time.  I’m also not too sure about storing the cake pops, especially those that need to go in the fridge.  To begin with, my cake “dough” was too cold from being in the fridge overnight and when I coated them in the melts, they cracked :o(  The first step was then to leave some “dough” out to come up to room temp a bit before coating them, and this seemed to work.

Then I ended up with a few air bubbles on the coated balls.  Air bubbles are not good as they eventually pop exposing the cake ball beneath, which then does it’s best to escape from the coating.  I assume again that this was because the cake balls had been refrigerated as I did not have this problem with the first batch.

I made the parts for the pig and roosters a couple of days ago and set them aside to give them time to set.  The biggest difference between the Witon-style pops and the Bakerella-style pops is that Wilton tend to use a lot of fondant icing to make all the various bits and pieces, while Bakerella uses ready-made candies.  The drama for us living in Australia is that we don’t have the range of candies that they do in the US (sigh).  Obviously though, using the candies would be a quicker and easier solution as you don’t have to go through the drama of making the bits yourself.  I’ll be doing a bit of net surfing in the next couple of days to see what I can find online.

The rooster and pigs seemed pretty straight forward as you dip the pops and leave them to set and then add the various elements using melted melts (!) for the glue.  Unfortunately my fondant parts were a little on the thick side and, for the roosters, I didn’t have an actual size or shape reference (as Patrick had eaten the last of the previous batch of cake pops).  I think the pigs look reasonable but the roosters are a little scarey!  Oh and I made red beaks and then had to make orange ones.......and then ended up using the red ones!!

I then decided to have a go at making some cupcake bites.  I shaped the balls into something that resembled a cupcake and then returned them to the fridge to firm again.  I dipped the base of the cupcake into pink melts (I still found a spoon the easiest way of dipping).  I put them back into the fridge and then tried to dip the tops in white melts.  Yes, I said “tried”.  Oh my gosh, what a drama.  Let’s just say that I’ll be investing in some cotton chocolate making gloves if I want to try these again in the future.  The base melted while I was trying to hold onto it to dip the tops; and then the darn things wouldn’t stand up once I had dipped them.  I even practiced standing them up before I dipped them only to watch them outsmart me in the end.  And they look a bit more like a sundae than a cupcake :o)

First Try at Cake Pops

I’ve made my first batch of cake pops and I’m very excited!  I won’t go into the step-by-step details because other people have already taken the time to do this and their instructions are fantastic (Check out http://www.bakerella.com/ and/or http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/07/cake-pop-recipe.html).

My very first two ended up looking like this, hahahaha!!!

but after a couple of tweaks, they ended up looking more like this

Making the cake balls

So, I used the Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake baked in a 20cm square tin at 160 degrees for about 35 minutes.  I added about half the can of Betty Crocker Creamy Deluxe Vanilla Frosting.  You can tell when there is enough frosting added as the mix will hold together quite nicely and you can roll some test balls to see if they’re smooth enough.

I used gloves while doing the cake mixing part to save putting my hands all through it; and hands really do work the best for mixing the icing into the cake crumbs.

I used a level tablespoon of mixture to form each ball and this made about 45 balls in total (minus one or two that the two-year old ate!).

You can make them up to the ball stage and then put them in the fridge in an air-tight container until you have the time and/or patience to decorate them.  Plus it will help to set the stick in place if they’re a bit cold too.

Although the packet cake and frosting gave great results, I still think they tend to have that “packety” taste, so I will definitely make the next batch from scratch.

Someone suggested cutting off the sides of the cake, so you’re using only the moist centre parts, I can see the theory behind this and will test it out next time.  I don’t think the top and bottom of the cake will be a drama, just the very outside edges.

Coating the cake balls

The brand of Candy Melts I used were CK Products (just because that’s what I bought at the time) and it took about 280g to do the single coating on my 45-ish pops.  You would possibly say about 300g of melts per batch and that way you’ll be safe.

The reason my first ones were so terrible is that the melts were too thick and I’d forgotten to buy the vegetable shortening to thin the mix down.  I used a small amount of Copha.  I guess, about a teaspoon or one and a half teaspoons added to the total amount of melts.

Also, if you happen to live in a cool climate, like Orange, it’s best to melt them over a pot of simmering water.  This keeps the mixture pliable for longer and it’s much easier to just turn the stove back on, rather than having to keep putting them back in the microwave.

Some instructions say to dip the whole ball into the melts to coat them.  I used a spoon to pour the melts over the ball while I was turning and tapping it at the same time. I could just see me ending up with entire cake pops off the sticks and in the melts otherwise!

I found the coating set quite quickly once on the pop.  I will have to test this out again when I make something a little more elaborate.

I have to say my biggest drama for my first batch was finding some styrofoam to put the pops in once decorated so they could set.  Who would have thought that a chunk of styrofoam would have been so hard to find??  I will have to order some off the net before my next attempt.  Although the timber block that my hubby drilled tiny holes in for me worked exceptionally well.

And here is the cake I made for my birthday.

It’s the Donna Hay Rainbow Layer Cake and I don’t think I did too bad with my layers (especially since the bottom cake was cooked in a slightly larger tin and I didn't level the tops!)