I have a sweet tooth...

So I know I said I would be gone for a while, but I just can't help myself! I missed you guys! :) AND I got a new book! Now, books are my number one passion. I'll read just about anything (currently reading "The Hangman's Daughter" on my kindle...highly recommended!) and I never get rid of my books. I have amassed quite a large library of random reads (note: I'm looking for a library system for my books...if you know of something, pass it my way).

My number two passion would have to be sweets. Both of my grandmothers had a penchant for the refined sugar goodies and I guess it's genetic. If I could, I would live off of sweets and macaroni and cheese. And stinky cheese itself, but that's passion number 3 or 4...but I digress.

The other day, I was surfing around my favorite website (modcloth.com) and found something that combined my two favorite things: Cake Pops the book by Bakerella. I. Am. In. LOVE.

Cake Pops by Bakerella
Find it at Modcloth.com (or in your local bookstore)

Bakerella is fantastic and extremely talented. She has perfected the art of Cake Pops. What are cake pops, you ask? THEY ARE HEAVEN...on a stick. I'm going to give you just a little how-to, but only to entice you to purchase this book. Bakerella's directions are much better than mine.

So...here we go. Ingredients:

• Cake mix and subsequent ingredients OR an already made 9 x 13 sheet cake.
• One tub of frosting
• lollipop sticks
• Candy Coating (I used Kroger brand and it is DAMN good)
• Shortening 
• Egg Yolks
• Food Coloring
• Mini Marshmallows
• Wax paper

Start off by washing those hands. You'll be using them quite a lot today. Also, I suggest making this a 2 day project. Make the cake and let it cool. I'll let y'all figure it out on your own. You can read. 

Once the cake is cooled COMPLETELY, you can begin to crumble it into a large bowl. This takes a while. Set aside enough time to do it right. It needs to be crumbled very thoroughly. Here comes the healthy part. Add 3/4 of the tub of icing to your cake crumbles. Mix well. You want the icing to disappear into the cake. It will look like cookie dough. (but it's baked so sample without fear...not that fear has ever stopped me. It's a wonder I have never gotten salmonella.)

Mix it up!

I was going to start making the cake balls, but I had a boyfriend who was being a little needy ;) so I put the mixture in the fridge for a little while. This let it firm up a bit and made it a little easier to roll! 

Roll them and place them on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. I made mine about twice as big as they should have been, but I'm not sure if I would have been able to decorate them if they'd been smaller. Am going to try again soon and will let you know how it works out.

Now I put them in the fridge overnight. This whole process took a while and the mix got a little gooey so overnight was the only option. If you're doing this in the middle of the day, you can put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes and you should be fine.

Next you're going to shape them. I only bought one kind of candy coating so I had to get a little creative with the shapes. I didn't want to do ghosts and I had already planned on making the cute popcorn buckets. So I decided to go with some hearts I found in the book and also decided to make my own shape. With a hint of irony, I decided to make some in the shape of white shiny teeth. :) They turned out to be my favorite.

Anyway, shape them! Then stick them back in the freezer for a few minutes. While they're in there, melt the candy coating according to the directions. I chose to use the microwave. Here's where the shortening comes in handy. If the coating is too thick, you're going to need to thin it out and the shortening does just that. I should have done this. I think mine was too thick and it made everything more difficult. 

So, dip the lollipop stick in the candy coating and stick it in the dough and set it back on the baking sheet for a little while. You're going to need to put it back in the freezer for a few more. Now you should take the mini marshmallows and use a knife to make lines that make them look like little pieces of popcorn.

Teeth, Hearts and Rectangles...OH MY

Now you're going to dip them into the candy coating! Shake off the excess and stick it in some sort of holder. I poked holes in an old box and set them in there. Most places suggest a styrafoam block. That would have been nice, but I forgot to pick that up. You have to make what you have work, right?

I almost forgot, when you dip the rectangles, you're going to add some "popcorn" made out of marshmallows. You need to do this before the candy coating sets up completely. 

Now, Bakerella suggests using edible markers to decorate the pops. but those didn't work so well for me, so I googled "edible paint" and came up with a very simple recipe. You take an egg yolk and add a TON of food coloring to it. Mix it up and take a tiny paint brush and paint on whatever you'd like. I let the nanner baby paint one. Could have been a disaster, but it turned out pretty cute.

After they dry completely, you're ready to serve them. Here are my finished projects (not as perfect as Bakerella's but I'm pretty proud of my first attempt!):

And here are the nanners enjoying the yummy cake pops:

Nanner boy said I should have added
brown spots to the teeth to make them
look like they had cavities. He's funny.

Yeah. I gave him another one.
He's too cute. 

Now, I know some of you will notice the absence of a small, furry cutie. I try to keep her away from food. This time, however, she was preoccupied with a plastic bag.