Chocolate Covered Goodness!

Sometimes it seems surreal, but almost a decade ago, I met my absolute best friend. We weren't exactly friends at first, but one fateful weekend in our old sorority house, when everyone else had gone home for a break, Gen and I had no choice but to bond. Since then we've done practically everything together. (You know, except for the fact that she has a husband and a kid now, but that's besides the point.) 

Anyway, two weeks ago I got to celebrate Gen's 27th birthday with her. How better to do so than with an epic cake and some new Jessica Simpson shoes! If you don't know me, I LOVE shoes! Evan thinks I have a problem. Maybe I do, but I love the fact that Gen and I wear the same size! 

Nicole, Gen and me in our FAB shoes!
We all love shoes and share excellent taste,
if I do say so myself! :) 

While putting on our dancing shoes and hitting up our favorite places in Buckhead was fun, the cake definitely deserves a mention! I usually try to surprise people, but I pretty much run everything by Gen, so why should this time be any different? I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She said "chocolate with strawberries. Nothing too fancy."

You really want me to do something simple? I didn't think so! I took her idea and I ran with it.

I knew I wanted to do something with strawberries in the middle and I knew I wanted to layer it a little. Kinda like a trifle, but not really. I started with the basic chocolate cake (2 of them actually) and baked them in the awesome 9x square pans my mom just bought me (thanks mom!). After they cooled, I sliced them and put a thin layer of cream cheese icing on the first layer. Then I put a layer of strawberries on top of that.

A note about the strawberries: I cut them up, sprinkled them with sugar and let them sit for a while. When I say I sprinkled them, that is a lie...I actually poured sugar on them, but I suggest just sprinkling because pouring lead to a massive mess later.

After the strawberries I added a layer of homemade cream cheese-based whipped cream. This stuff was AMAZING! I can't even pretend to be humble about this. It was a total success. You blend the cream cheese and sugar together with my secret ingredient: 2 teaspoons of ALMOND EXTRACT. My Nana is probably fussing at me from Heaven because she believed religiously in vanilla extract and would NEVER have put cream cheese in her whipped cream, but let me tell you...this was a whole new ball game, Nana...you would have been proud. Whip in the heavy whipping cream until it makes a stiff peak. Layer that on top of the strawberries. Add another layer of cake, icing, strawberries and whipped cream. One more layer of cake and you're finished with the inside of the cake.

Stick it in the freezer for a minute while you mix the fondant. I set some aside once it was mixed and left it white. Then I mixed up the color for the rest of it. I was trying to make red, but unfortunately I mixed pink in there instead. Fortunately it ended up looking really pretty so I decided not to freak out about it. Later. I did freak a little at the time and my hands were stained pink for quite some time.

With the leftover white fondant, I did something that most people would call...obsessive. I rolled it all into little tiny balls to look like pearls. :) Pearls make everything classier!

Once the cake was cooled and delicious looking, I covered it with the same cream cheese icing and then rolled out the fondant and placed it over top. Then I stuck it back in the freezer. For good measure. And to solidify its perfection.

While that was going on, I decided to cover some strawberries in chocolate and drizzle with white chocolate on top. Then I did that on the cake too. Top it off with the strawberries and add the pearls at the bottom and voila! You've got a masterpiece for your mouth. Delicious!

Happy Birthday, bestie! So happy we've been friends for so long! You're the best!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Ok, last cake pop/ball post for a while, I promise. But how could I resist making these for the awesome superbowl party hosted by my dear friends, Ben and Phyllis?! Y'all should definitely try to make these yummy Oreo truffle footballs! SO delicious! so cute!

Bakerella inspired me once again!
Visit Bakerella.com

Now, I have to admit that it took me quite a while to get the dipping process down with these little guys. But other than that, they were so fun!

The main ingredients!
How can you go wrong with Oreos
and cream cheese?!

 So, let's talk ingredients:

• Oreo Cookies (don't get double stuft ones though)
• Cream Cheese 8oz
• Chocolate candy coating
• White Icing (we'll talk about this later)

Bakerella said for us to crush up the oreos, filling and all, and put them in a big bowl with the softened cream cheese. She suggested using a food processor. I don't have one of those, but the boyfriend had a magic bullet. man this thing is awesome! Anyway, I crushed up the oreos, filling and all and did what Bakerella said. It was already delicious!

Cream Cheese and Oreo crumbles all mixed up

Then I molded them into balls and stuck them in the freezer. Unfortunately, I left them in there too long and they were kinda frozen.

Time to shape them! I struggled with this one because I am a bit of a perfectionist and it was much more difficult than I had anticipated. Overall, I think they turned out ok, though! 

Pre-coated footballs! 

Melting the candy coating was pretty easy, but figuring out how to properly dip them was not. I tried just holding them by the points but that ended disasterously for me, the footballs and my poor boyfriend. Sorry for yelling. And for being a bitch. Oops. 

Eventually, I figured out that using a fork was the best solution because it allowed the excess to drip off quite nicely. I only discovered this about halfway through the lot of them and ergo, only half of them were up to my standards. But oh well...can't be perfect all the time. I guess. 

This is what they looked like after
all the dipping. :) 

Now we come to the part that made me so freaking mad that I cannot even explain! Apparently I used the wrong kind of icing because these little stupid lines did not stay on very well and they were a big old pain to put on there in the first place. Anyway, I don't know what kind of icing I need to use but I'm assuming it's going to be royal icing or something like that that is a little more liquid and would dry a little harder. I drew my crappy lines on my footballs, cursed a little, and hurried on my way to my good friends' house where these were a pretty big hit, I believe! 

The picture didn't really reflect how cute they were, but
they weren't perfect either. What mattered was what was
on the inside though. And that was delicious!

On an additional note, Evan debuted his new beer yesterday! He brewed a batch (or whatever you call it) for my friend, Ben, a few weeks ago. The boys both showed excellent patience and waited until Superbowl Sunday to try it for the first time! It, too, was a big hit! It was great! I think he said it was a Belgian Whit, but I'm not really sure. I know it had corriander, orange peels and half barley and half wheat. Now, don't ask me what any of that means, but I know I liked the way it tasted! And I'm fairly sure that Evan and Ben both really enjoyed the beer. And the Crown Royal. And the Captain Morgan. And the Jaager...and maybe the Tylenol this morning? :) Haha...

Happy Superbowl Sunday (and Hangover Monday for some of you!) 

How you like them apples?

Ah, cake pops. My new obsession. Not going to go into a whole lot of detail since I've already given a good run-down of how to make these.

"I take em to my teacher, Shew?"
(my name changes between Shew,
MaShewwy, ShaSho or Shewwy.
Pretty cute, in my opinion!)

Nanner mom and dad have to go to nanner baby's preschool open house and all the parents have been asked to bring a few tasty treats. Ever the non-conformists, we all came to the conclusion that cake pops would be the perfect antidote to the typical bake sale goodies. Our next dilemma? Figuring out what shape to make them in. Nanner boy (10 years old but with the soul of a 30 year old and Julia Childs' cooking skills. Love this kid) and I flipped through the awesome book (visit Bakerella.com and get inspired) and discussed the pros and cons of each one. I thought the puppies would be good. Nanner mom wanted something to do with the school. After a good 30 minute ride home from school, we finally decided on the apples. An apple for the teacher I suppose.

All in all, it was pretty fun. We went with funfetti cake and vanilla frosting. Again, I made them too big, but they worked. We also used red candy coating and stuck 1/3 of a pretzel stick into the top. After they dried a bit, I used a toothpick dipped in the candy coating to attach these absolutely adorable sprinkles that look like eyeballs. So cute! Then I used my egg yolk edible paint to make eyelashes and smiles. They ended up super cute if I do say so myself.

Pre-smiles. Kinda creepy.
Nanner baby said, "MaShewwy...dey're wooking at me wif
deir eyes." translations: "Ma Shelly...they're looking at me
with their eyes." 

Smiley Apples on a stick.
These aren't good for you though.

"I can have one now, ShaSho? Fanks"

They were a hit with the Nanners. Let's hope they're the hit of the open house. Is it sad that I like to out-do people I've never even met? Whatever. Everyone gets competetive sometimes. My competitiveness tastes good though! haha!

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.