I read about them on blogs. I see them in magazines. In photos. I've eaten one at a party. I have been drooling over them for MONTHS. Finally, I jumped on the bandwagon and set aside some time to try them out this past weekend. My busy schedule does not allow me to craft nearly as much as I would like this year, so I had to plan accordingly. Little did I know, I would need way more time than I had scheduled. No worries, we still had quite a few quality pops produced by the end of our cooking experience.
When I saw THIS amazing machine in the Kohl's ad, I knew I had to own it. After all, I recognized it would save me a lot of time, since I am lacking in that department often. All of the blogs show how to make cake pops the "traditional way" and I had a feeling that this would be more of a hot mess than a pretty sucker to look at. I like to be crafty, but I LOVE simplicity.
Now Enter...the Cake Pop Maker! TA DA!!
This little guy is fabulous. For $24.99, you, too can own this lovely machine. With your special purchase, you'll also receive a bonus...not only does it make cake pops, but it can also make DONUT HOLES! :) Google "Cake pop Maker" and you will see a link for a site that sells this exact machine. With the click of a button, in five days, I was the proud owner of the one and only purple cake pop making machine. I had to walk by that thing for two weeks just waiting to tear it open. Finally, the day arrived.
Okay. Now there are some tricks to learn and I'm going to provide you with some of them right off of the bat.
First: read the directions. I mean
all of them. They are important. You should follow them. For the most part, they are right on. So that means you have to clean/wash it out before you use it.
After this little guy warms up and is preheated, you can put cake batter mix inside. I just used a Pillsbury cake mix from the box. There are recipes included on lots of blogs and in the directions. I mixed it up in my handy dandy Kitchen Aid mixer while I waited for the machine to warm up.
At first, I was using a measuring spoon to measure the droplets and place into the machine. That became messy and it was too big. I then switched to a regular spoon. I filled it about half way into each little section. That seemed to work better. If you overfill the circles, they spill over the top and it's kind of a mess and you have now ruined two or three potential cake pops.
Luckily for my kids, I had SEVERAL screw-ups, so they were able to taste test about 8 of them. They kept asking for more. LOL
After all of the holes are filled, in about 3 minutes, you'll have your first batch of pops. The bottoms will be darker than the tops, and that's normal. (Read directions, they will confirm this.) I popped them out w/ a spoon b/c that was easier than the little fork thing that comes w/ the machine. Before I took them out, I would test them w/ a toothpick and make sure it was clean in the middle. Sweet. In no time at all, we had lots of cake pops...over 50 of them, actually.
I let them cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes.
Next, after they cool, you'll need some of these...in any color you want.
I used the chocolate/cocoa flavored ones first. I also used some pink. I had some sprinkles on hand already, but picked up some turtle crunch sprinkles from JoAnn's and some white sprinkles as well. Good stuff. The turtle crunch as been a BIG hit so far, by the way.
I placed a lot of the cake pops into a bowl and popped them in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden. This worked well.
The next step involves melting a small amt. of candy in the micro. Then, dip a sucker stick into the chocolate and place it into a cake pop. Do this with as many as you can fit on a cookie sheet and into your freezer. Let them sit in there for about 10 more minutes or so.
Toward the end of their time in the freezer, melt a larger amount of candy and get ready to start dipping. Having the cake pops frozen on the stick really helps when you get to this step b/c they won't fall off of the stick. I used a spoon, dipped some, and used one of my little candy paint brushes to get enough candy on there. Some were thickly covered while others were just right. It takes some practice. Next time, I am going to get a fondue pot and dip into that.
After you dip it, pour on some sprinkles or a topping of your choice. Then place in the sucker holder which comes w/ the cake pop machine. Let dry for about 10 minutes and voila! You have wonderful, lovely cake pop suckers!
My kids loved them. My friends loved them. Other adults loved them. They are a hit! Give them as gifts. Give them as thank yous or birthday treats. Give them as an alternative to a huge piece of cake. Decorate them however you want. When you look at a variety of blogs, you will see some people are SUPEr creative. (see below...who's this overachiever?)
The best part? You can eat them and be merry. And your sweet tooth will thank you for it.
Now, the only thing I would add to this How-to blog is telling you how long this took me with children helping...3 1/2 hours. Yes...a long time. Longer than I envisioned. However, it was fun and we learned a lot. (Well, some of us learned...others of us ate a plethora of cake pops.) I bet you can tell which ones the kids helped with.
Things I'd like to try next time:
-finding a way to cover the pops with LESS melted candy, yet still cover them.
-looking for more recipes for dipping/candy melts
-trying a new kind of cake. I used vanilla this time...maybe red velvet?
-making donut holes. I know my hubby would like that too...almost as much as he loves the cake pops.
