Banana Chocolate Cake Pops

T begged me to  make cake pops for his birthday.  I planned on making cupcakes, but who am I to deny the birthday boy?  We went through the cabinets and he picked out banana cake mix.  I decided to use chocolate frosting with it, and they were super good.

I also noticed that the banana cake was more moist than the other cakes I've made for cake pops, so I only had to use 1/2 a container of frosting instead of most of the can.

Ingredients:
1 box banana cake mix, made according to package directions
1/2 can of chocolate fudge frosting
2 pounds milk chocolate candy melts
lollipop sticks

-crumble the cake and mix with frosting
-refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, then roll into balls
-dip end of lollipop stick in melted chocolate, then insert halfway through ball
-freeze balls 20-30 minutes
-dip in chocolate and serve when ready

Halloween Cake Pops!

So I was supposed to go to Lady's Halloween party on Saturday.  Lady is my best friend from college, and she only lives 45 minutes away from me.  I made Halloween cake pops on Friday afternoon, and went crazy because my new 9x13 pan burnt my first cake.  So I ran back to the store and bought 2 more boxes of Devils Food cake mix just in case.  The second time I baked the cake, I ended up taking it out of the oven 13 minutes early.  This new pan is killing me, and I couldn't find my usual cake pops pan.  Thankfully, the cake was done and not burnt.  So here's my cake pops tutorial.

1. Bake the cake of your choice.  If it's a light-colored cake, remove the ends and any brown parts.  This doesn't matter with dark cakes.

2. Crumble cake into a bowl until you have uniform small crumbs.  Add frosting and mix together until cake and frosting mix holds together well.  You will use about 3/4 of a container of frosting.

3. Melt some chocolate in the color you are going to cover your cake pops with.  I chose orange.  Dip your lollipop sticks in the chocolate so the tip of one end is covered.

4. Make a ball out of the cake and frosting mix.  Insert the chocolate covered stick halfway into the ball.

5. Once you have a bunch of pops made, stick them in the freezer for about 30 minutes, until they are firm but not frozen.

6. Melt more chocolate and dip each of the pops.  Tap off excess chocolate, and stick into a foam block to dry.  You need about 2 bags of candy wafers for every cake you crumble.

7. Once pops are dry, you can decorate with edible markers or use more chocolate as glue for big sprinkles or other decorations.  I was planning on making them jack-o-lantern pops, but my black edible marker crapped out after the first one I did and the other colors didn't look right.  So they're plain orange.

I don't know where everyone who reads this lives, but we had a freak snowstorm in New York on Saturday.  It was treacherous out and we got 9" of snow where I live.  Needless to say, I did not make it to my party, so I have 30 cake pops sitting around in my house.

This is the photo I took from my bedroom on Saturday afternoon of the tree bent so far that the branches were touching the ground, blocking me from even leaving my house.  Thankfully, when some of the snow melted on Sunday, the branches rose back up to where they're supposed to be, although there were a lot of downed trees and power outages in my area.

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you liked the cake pops tutorial and my cat on a fence pumpkin!

French Vanilla Cake Pops

Goober turned 1 on Friday and we had his party Saturday afternoon.  It was a small party, with family and a few close friends.  I think T and Princess got more presents than Goober did, but that's okay because everyone was happy.  Anyway, I made an awesome chocolate cake and also some french vanilla cake pops, which were awesome!

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 box french vanilla cake mix (I chose Betty Crocker, but you can choose any brand, or make it from scratch)

Frosting:
7 extra-large egg whites
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 bag cake pop (or lollipop) sticks, at least 6" tall
2 bags melting chocolate, in your favorite color (I chose vanilla flavored light blue chocolate)
floral foam or styrofoam block

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350

-Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Add batter to a 9"x13" pan or a large round cake pan (mine is a 13" round).  Bake 30 mins or until light brown on top.
-Let cake cool 10-15 minutes.  Using a dull knife, scrape all the brown off the top.  Cut around the cake edges and remove.  Flip the cake onto a plate and scrape the brown off the bottom, so all your cake is a uniform white color.

-Crumble the cake into a large bowl.

-In a large heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water, whisk together egg whites and sugar until sugar is melted and mixture reaches 140 degrees, 7 to 10 minutes.  Transfer mixture to the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on high until stiff peaks form, 12 to 15 minutes. Add cream of tartar and beat for one minute more.  Reduce speed to medium and add butter, a few pieces at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract; beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Transfer to refrigerator; chill for 15 minutes .

-Mix frosting into cake crumbs a big spoonful at a time until the cake and frosting mixture is really moist and can be rolled into balls and hold together.  You will not use all the frosting (I mixed the rest with the cake scraps and let the kids eat it).  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

-Cover a tray that will fit into your freezer with waxed paper.   Roll cake mixture into uniform balls (mine were about 1 1/2"  in diameter), then put a stick in them, about 3/4 of the way through each ball.  Lay them on the waxed paper and freeze 20-30 minutes.

-While the pops are in the freezer, pour melting chocolate into a heatproof bowl over simmering water like you did for the frosting.  Stir constantly until melted.  I usually turn off the burner once the chocolate is melted and it stays warm for a while.

-Take the pops out of the freezer and dip them in chocolate so all the cake is covered.  I use a big spoon to help drizzle chocolate over the part near the stick.  Shake off excess chocolate so the pop is evenly coated.  If the cake slides off the stick, you need to freeze it longer.  Stick pops into the styrofoam until the chocolate is set.  Refrigerate finished pops until 1-2 hours before serving.