Bride & Groom Cake Pops

It all started with a simple request - can you make cake pops for the girls (my nieces) to take to school for their birthday? Then it spiraled into a full-fledged mini-obsession.

I've make cake balls before - back in 2008. At that time, cake pops were not on anyone's radar and I stumbled on the recipe for cake balls on Allrecipes.com. It was simple enough: cake from a box mixed with frosting in a box and then rolled into balls and covered in chocolate. Like a chocolate-covered strawberry. However, while the cake balls looked pretty, one ball was all you needed to grow a new cavity. I've since stayed away from cake balls - until it reared it's pretty head in the form of a cake pop.

You can attribute the new cake pop fad to Bakerella, who's creativity has taken then to a whole new level. Check out her blog - you will be amazed at what you can do with chocolate and cake. I was struggling to figure out the best way to cut the sweetness and improve sanitation (I didn't want to roll the dough, even with gloved hands). I decided to invest my money in a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker. This contraption allows you to bake your cake perfectly (well, almost perfectly) into spheres - removing the need to add frosting to bind the cake together. Apparently, these are a great deal at Kohl's but I called every single one in Orange County and they were on backorder. As I was solicited to make cake pops for a engagement party, I ended up ordering the cake pop maker directly from the site. Including tax and shipping, I paid $35 for the machine.



The cake pop maker came with a handful of recipes - I tried two. The first was a red velvet cake that didn't really have much cocoa flavor. The batter was also very dry and not tasty at all. I also tried the basic vanilla cake - substituting the milk with buttermilk - and was satisfied with the results. The cake was moist and flavorful and definitely not as sweet.



Brides


Of the two, these were alot more easy to make. Simply dip the stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the cake pop. Throw it in the freezer for half an hour or so to secure the cake. Then, dip the frozen cake pop into the melted chocolate (I used Wilton Candy Melts). Tap the stick to allow excess chocolate to drip off. If you don't freeze your cake pops, this is where it will probably detach from your stick. I then piped a bunch of swirls on the side using the same melted white chocolate and then sprinkled white non-pareils over it. Keep a pastry brush handy - the non-pareils like to stick to the entire cake pop so you will need the brush to get off the excess. I used pink candied pearls to make the necklace.



Grooms:


These were more challenging to make. I had to dip the front panel in white chocolate first, freeze it, then dip each side into the dark chocolate in the shape of a V.



I used red hearts for the bowtie and small candy pearls for the buttons. The melted white chocolate served as my glue to hold the candies in place.



I had a alot of fun making them and I hope everyone will have just as much fun eating them. This was a good trial run for the chicken cake pops I will be making for my nieces in two weeks.