Love Pops

Remember yesterday's cake scraps? Today I'm sharing what I did with them. I will come clean right now! Cake pops are not in my wheelhouse and I will never be a professional cake pop maker. I also underestimated how much work they would be. 

That being said-   I like how they turned out and more important, Anna thinks they're "AMAZING!!" & "You're the best Mom anyone could ask for." And that sounds like a huge win in my books.

There are many amazing recipes / techniques online and I read a bunch, here's my how to do list for you.

- crumble cake in a bowl, be sure there are no large pieces

- add icing and mix together, I added about 3/4 - 1 cup. You want the consistency to be dough like so that you can roll the mixture into balls

- place mixture in fridge to cool for at least an hour.

- roll your cake mixture into balls, place back into the fridge to cool. I left mine over night, you could also add them to the freezer to cool them faster and save time, just be sure not to freeze them. The balls need to be chilled or the stick won't stay in place and the chocolate will be less likely to stick. *I know this from personal experience, you cant skip the cooling step.

- Melt your chocolate, this can be done in the microwave in small increments with plenty of stirring or in a double boiler.  I melted mine in a double boiler (glass bowl over a pot with about 1" of boiling water. Bowl can not touch water.)

- Time to make your cake pops. Take a stick and dip the end into the chocolate, press the stick into a ball. Take your cake pop and roll it into the chocolate to cover,  be sure chocolate gets all the way to the stick. Hold the cake pop over the bowl and turn the pop to have the excess chocolate roll off. (Don't stress if the chocolate keeps dripping off for what feels like an eternity, I think that's normal)

- Hold your pop over the topping bowl and sprinkle it with the desired candies

- Place your cake pop down on a piece of parchment paper and continue sticking, dipping and sprinkling.

- Place cake pops in fridge to cool until chocolate is hard

- Enjoy all your hard work!

*I chose to place the cake pop ball down instead of upright because I did not have a foam brick to stick them into and also because I found that they dripped too much if I held them upright. I know there is a way to make them not do that but I wasn't interested in figuring it out. The cake pops look great regardless and Anna thinks they're the best things ever so like I said earlier- that's a success in my books.

Cupid loves Valentine Treats!

 It's Valentine's Day this Sunday and I am all about love, pink & red, arrows, hearts & chocolate! I have a bunch of valentine themed posts for this week to get you in the mood. Or to give you an excuse to bake cake and eat chocolate. ♥

Cupid's Cake Stacks

You will need:

Sheet Cake (any flavor will do)

Icing

Sprinkles

Cupid's arrow is optional (bought at Party City)

Bake cake as directed in a sheet pan, let cool completely.

 Cut apart your cake using a heart shaped cutter. 

Add icing to a heart, stack another heart. Ice the top heart.

Add sprinkles.

Enjoy.

* keep your cake scraps for cake pops... which we'll talk about later this week ♥

Here is another heart I created, this one is only single layer. 

Create this look by simply adding icing gel in dots around your heart cake. Then take a toothpick and drag it through each dot in a downwards motion to create the hearts. Easy Peasy.

Did you miss last years Valentine cakes? Check them out here.

Valentine Cakes that says "I Love You"

I made these little goodies for a party I hosted at work two Saturdays ago and they were a huge hit! In fact I felt a little famous when everyone rushed me to take a photo of the cakes all set out on a heart tray. The theme of the party- "For the Love of" and I got to make and decorate for Valentine's Day so I was pretty much blissed out. In case you missed it- I LOVE Valentine's Day. I also love cake. And whip cream. And Strawberries. Needless to say- these are delicious! 

You Had Me At Chocolate

Chocolate Cake Mix

Whip Cream

Strawberries

Heart Donut Pan 

Make the batter as directed, cook until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

Fill the donut hole with whip and top with a strawberry.

Easy peasy. 

Get a napkin & Devour! 

*a regular muffin/cupcake pan would also work, just fill 1/4 -1/2 full. Cook until toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Dig a small hole in center of cupcake and add whip & strawberry.

These are much the same but for this chocolate treat I used a mini heart cake/muffin pan I found at Dollorama for $3 and made sandwiches. For my little party I topped the cake with strawberries instead of the chocolate kisses seen here and it was obviously delicious. 

Love Sandwich

Chocolate Cake Mix

Whip Cream

Chocolate Kisses (or strawberries)

Heart cake/muffin Pan (purchased at Dollarama)

Make the batter as directed, cook until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

Cut each cake in half, add whip to bottom cake and replace top portion, effectively making a whip cream sandwich. Mmmmm. Top cake with more whip and add your chocolate kiss.

Get two napkins and devour.

*a regular cupcake/muffin pan can also be used here. Same directions as above. 

Lemon Cream Raspberry Cake

At the beginning of August we went out to a local farm and picked raspberries. Row after row as far as you could see. It is really quite beautiful. Cory & I love raspberries and we love to go out and pick but the thing about picking your own is that they do not keep for very long so they need to be used as soon as possible. 

Enter excuse to make cake!

I knew I wanted to make a layered cake and have cream cheese icing and then I thought about the Starbucks' lemon raspberry loaf and knew I had to have lemon in my cake. I made a quick stop at the grocery store and then straight home to get my bake on!

They best part about this cake (other than the delicious factor) is that it is soooo easy!

You need:

1 box vanilla cake mix 

2 round pans

fresh raspberries (other berries would also be perfectly delicious too)

Cream Cheese Icing (recipe here)

zest from one lemon

  

Directions:

- make cake according to directions in two round pans, cool completely

- make icing according to recipe, add the lemon zest into the icing after half of the icing sugar has been used. Blend to combine, add the rest of the icing sugar. For a stronger lemon taste, add in a small amount to the fresh squeezed juice. Tip: If you add too much and your icing is watery- add more icing sugar

- cut each cake in half and set aside until ready to layer

- lay one piece of cake onto your cake stand or plate, top with icing, add berries (20-30)

- repeat until the last piece of cake is put into place

- ice the top and then add a cluster of berries to the top

- step back & admire your mad skills

- cut cake

- eat cake

- Enjoy! 

Eat Cake... just because

I love a beautiful cake stand and this one is my excuse to bake cake.

I bought a carrot cake mix (the fancy one with real carrots & raisins) and got to work. Cake mixes make lives better. I made it in 2 round pans so I could stack them with icing in between the layers.

For the cream cheese icing:

1 brick of softened cream cheese

2-3 Tbsp softened butter or margarine

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups icing sugar (you can use less if you like but 4 seems to be just the right amount)

Mix cream cheese and margarine until smooth, add in vanilla, add in icing sugar slowly and beat until combined and creamy.

Lick off beaters.

Ice Cake!

For the topping:

Peel a carrot, then using the peeler, peel entire carrot to get these slivers. 

Toss carrots in brown sugar and cinnamon. Toast in oven or frying pan until they dry up and get a bit crunchy. Do not over cook as I did but if you do- simply pick out the ones that are salvageable and toss the rest. Let cool and add to cake top.

Add raisins.

Sprinkle cinnamon & brown sugar over cake top.

Take photo to share on Instagram so all your friends can be jealous.

Eat cake!

Next day: eat cake for breakfast and feel not one ounce of guilt! Carrots are good for you!