Remember when Charlotte the Great and I made Cake Pops? Oh, was it treacherous! It took us all day, and they were nowhere near the pretty of those on covers of books. I threw in the towel and called it good. I’d experienced cake pops, and they weren’t for me until 175 Best Babycakes Cake Pops Maker Recipes arrived at my doorstep. Suddenly the world of cake pops seemed more my style…no gobs of frosting added to a cake crumbled to smithereens! No messy hands and the texture being too much! True to life cake balls made from scratch and delicious.
This book has changed everything. The recipes are super easy. So much, I find myself wanting to try them all. I can’t believe how few ingredients each recipe requires, and the instructions are simple. It’s not just cake. It’s Brownie Pops, Beignets, Red Velvet Cake Pops, Jalapeno Cheese Pocket Bread, Peach Cobbler Balls, Apple Pie Donuts, Lemon Blueberry Ebelskivers, and Buffalo Chicken Balls. There are even gluten-free and vegan sections, so even those with special dietary needs can celebrate!
Welcome Spring Cake Pops
Excerpted from 175 Best Cake Pops Recipes by Kathy Moore and Roxanne Wyss © 2012 Robert Rose Inc. www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Makes 1 centerpiece
Welcome spring in grand style. Whatever the event — a shower, a garden party, Easter dinner — this centerpiece of cheerful bluebirds will set the scene for spring
1 bag each, candy melts in blue, green and dark chocolate
3 cake pops (any flavor) 3
6 yellow-candy-and-chocolate-covered sunflower seeds
Paramount Crystals or shortening
3 white jelly beans
Toasted flaked coconutMaterials
3 cake pop sticks
1 pastry bag or squeeze bottle, fitted with a fine tip
1 fine paintbrush
1 small decorative flowerpot (about 2 inches/5 cm in diameter)
Styrofoam block (at least 2 inches/5 cm cubed)
Green paper shred
12 inches green tulle (about 6 inches/15 cm
30 cm wide), cut into 4-inch (10 cm) lengths
- Melt 1/4 cup (60 mL) blue candy melts and use to attach sticks to 2 cake pops. Freeze cake pops for at least 15 minutes to set. Reserve the remaining candy melts. Repeat with 2 tbsp (30 mL) green candy melts, attaching a stick to the remaining cake pop.
- Add 1/2 cup (125 mL) blue candy melts to those left in the cup and melt until smooth. Coat one of the cake pops secured with blue candy melts. Immediately hold the stick horizontally so that the melted liquid flows down to one spot on the cake pop to create the tail. Stick a sunflower seed on the front of the cake pop to make a beak. Stick two seeds on the bottom to make feet. Set in a cake pop stand to dry. Repeat with second blue cake pop.
- Reheat blue candy melts, adding more as needed. Use the pastry bag to pipe wings on the sides of the birds. Set in the stand to dry.
- Melt 2 tbsp (30 mL) chocolate candy melts, using Paramount Crystals or shortening to thin them. Use the paintbrush to paint dots for eyes. Set in the stand to dry.
- Add 1/2 cup (125 mL) green candy melts to those left in the cup and melt until smooth. Coat the remaining cake pop. Immediately nestle jelly beans on top for the eggs, then pile coconut around the jelly beans to make a nest. Set in the stand to dry.
- Measure the dimensions of the flowerpot and trim the Styrofoam to fit snugly and be about 1 inch (2.5 cm) shorter than the pot. Place Styrofoam in the pot and cover with paper shred.
- Tie a length of tulle in a knot around each cake pop stick. Slide knots up to just below cake pops. Push the cake pop sticks into the Styrofoam, arranging the birds behind and slightly higher than the nest.
Tip: For yellow birds, substitute yellow candy melts for blue. Use orange-candy-and-chocolate-covered sunflower seeds for the beak and feet.
Tip: When you’re coating cake pops, the candy melts need to be deep enough that you can dip the cake pops straight down into the melts. If you’re only dipping a few cake pops, there will be some candy melts left over, but they can be melted again and used another time.
We have been having so much fun. My favorite so far has been the French Toast Donuts. My husband loves the Buttermilk donut recipe, and the kiddos are crazy about the chocolate donuts recipe. We’re talking donut holes of deliciousness!
There’s also plenty of guidance and ideas on using the machine (we just bought a babycakes donut maker because we loved the recipes so much!) Everything in this book is easy to follow and easy to create. There are a few photos and lots of step-by-step pictures for those, like me, who are more visual.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free, hoping that I would mention them on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this per the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”.