Monday 8 April 2013

Let's Pop Into It!

This week I had my first cooking/baking attempt of my independent project! I was looking for something fun and seemingly simple, and I came across the idea of doing Cake Pops. I referenced a lot of different recipes and Youtube videos before beginning. I have to admit, I was super excited to start this baking project since the end result seemed so cute! A lot of websites threw out great ideas for decorating that I was so stoked to try! Here are the ingredients I used:


-Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix
-Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
-Cadbury Milk Chocolate
-White Chocolate Bunny (Easter leftovers!)
-Sprinkles (and other decorations)
-Food Colouring
and then of course, the tricky to find lollipop sticks!

The steps needed to complete this recipe were not tricky, however I did hit a few bumps in the road...


My first big mistake was not letting the cake cool down enough. Before you can form the cake pop balls, you have to bake the cake and let it cool. I only waited about 40min before I started making the balls, causing them to be too moist and quite crumbly. Something important I learned about cake pops from this trial was that; how far you push the lollipop sticks in will affect its outcome. Too far in (more than 2/3) and it will just break in half. Not far enough in, and the cake pop will just slide off the stick when you're dipping.  My next little 'oopsie' was not buying enough chocolate! I only bought 1 bar of the milk chocolate, so I was only able to coat half of the cake balls I had formed. The dunking went pretty well (only two cake balls broke during round 1!). The trick to not losing the cake pop in the chocolate (it falling off the stick) is not twist it, but just simply dunk straight in and then straight out.


I had a lot of fun with this recipe! Decorating was a lot of fun, and seeing the outcome was really cool for me. However! It was a LOT of work and can cause a lot of frustration at times. I would not suggest this recipe if you're short for time or if your house is infested with teenagers (if it is- all your hard work will disappear in one gulp!).



I will share some pictures of my experiment, and if you want to try some cake pops as well, I will add a couple links at the bottom for video tutorials I found helpful.

But first! Strange, but interesting facts I learnt during this experiment!

1. Adding water to your melted chocolate will NOT making it more running, it will throw off some sort of a chemical balance cause it to clump into a paste (and waste $5 worth of chocolate)

2. Do not attempt to flush melted chocolate down the toilet as an easy fix to get rid of it. Just..no.



Hope you found this funny and helpful! Feel free to post your thoughts in the comment box below, and if you try Cake Pops, please send me a picture of your tasty snacks and share your trials with me! :)

Divas Can Cook- Cake Pops
Bakerella- Cake Pops


5 comments:

  1. Melina,
    Great job on the cake pops. I love that you are recording your mistakes, as well as successes. It is a great help to know to make sure they are cool enough before forming the pops. I also appreciate knowing just the right amount to push the stick in.

    I especially appreciate the strange, but interesting facts you learned. I am glad I won't have to learn those first hand.

    And now for the successes! Your cake pops are beautiful! So professional looking. Thanks again for sharing!

    Denise Krebs
    @mrsdkrebs

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  2. Mélina,

    Your own words, "funny and helpful," capture the voice of this post. Sharing your mistakes is not only helpful because readers can avoid them in their baking, but also it creates credibility by revealing your process in an authentic way. Your mistakes (and your response to them) show your humanity and make you relatable to your audience. Who wouldn't want to learn from such a funny and helpful teacher as you?

    Thanks for including your ingredients, photos, and video resources. Keep on learning and logging!

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  3. Melinda,
    Your cake pops look beautiful. It sounds like cake pops aren’t as easy as they look.

    I appreciate that you mentioned all the downsides to making these pops. It’s helpful to know that things have to be a certain way, in order for it to work out properly. All the little tips are helpful so that if I wanted to make them I could follow yours.

    This post was helpful because now I don’t have to make the mistakes that you do. :)

    Thanks for your helpful sharing. Great job!

    Taylor

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  4. Hey thanks for showing me how to make cake pops. I'm not much of a baker but its cool to see how they're made. It's great that you posted your mistakes, they made me smile and taught me something in the process.

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  5. Great job! I love that you mentioned how far to push the lollipop sticks. Do you freeze the cake balls before dipping them? I think that would help keep them from breaking in the chocolate. Also, I like your sense of humor. Your blog was funny and easy to read.

    ReplyDelete