Cupcake Cake Pops

Cake pops, cake pops, cake pops. If I'm being completely honest, every time I'd think about all the cute cake pops I'd see pop up on the internet, the thought of trying to make them myself intimidated me. I have a cake-pop/doughnut hole maker so making the pops itself would be simple enough, but the whole dipping and decorating part completely scared me so I stayed away. 

But more and more I'd see such cute creations and I decided there must be a way to do it without having the cake balls fall off the sticks or getting the chocolate to coat and dry smoothly. Thankfully I came across a great post by Homemaker Chic and it had all the answers I was looking for. Check it out, her tips made all the difference for me.

A few days ago I got a text from a friend asking if I could help her out by making some cupcakes or cake pops for her sons birthday less then a week away. I took this as a sign that I should face my fears and attempt to make some cute cake pops worthy of any birthday boy. 

The only requirements were that they'd be blue and chocolate. Dots and swirls on a cake pop would be simple, but I really wanted to push myself. So, I thought why not include everything she asked for in one! So here they are, chocolate cake balls covered in chocolate, made to look like cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles.

To make these I used brown and blue chocolate melts, some sprinkles, and modeling chocolate for the cherries. Prep your cake balls and chocolate melts as suggested by Homemaker Chic and your ready to decorate as follows.

Step by step pictorial:

1) Dip in chocolate and allow to dry.

2) Dip the top third in candy melts in your choice of frosting color and allow to dry as well.

3) Re dip top third in frosting and SLOWLY swirl as you lift it out.

4) Quickly add some sprinkles before it can dry.

5) Top with a modeling chocolate ball or pearl for the cherry on the top before the chocolate dries as well.

6) Step back and admire your cute little cake pop cupcake!

 Me thinks I like to make cake pops now and will be looking for excuses to make many more! I foresee some Christmas cake pops to gift in my near future.

Chocolate Covered Oreos (tutorial)

So this month I tried my hand at making these chocolate dipped Oreos. At first I had a hard time with it and than I realized it was just because I was over-complicating it (I blame it on being a perfectionist). Once I realized that, this project became very simple!

To make chocolate covered Oreos all you need is:

• Oreos
• Chocolate melts
• shortening
• fork
• wax paper/foil

Directions:

1) Melt your chocolate melts and about 2 tbs of shortening per bag (directions on bag)

2) put your Oreo into the melted chocolate, use your fork to make sure the entire cookie is covered (I usually need to scoop some extra chocolate to cover the top and sides)

3) Using your fork lift the cookie out of the chocolate and tap the fork gently on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. As you do this the chocolate will also naturally smooth itself out.

4) Place your covered cookie on some wax paper or foil to dry.

*if you wish to add sprinkles, add them before the chocolate dries

*if you want to drizzle a different color chocolate on your cookie to fancy it up wait until the chocolate dries before drizzling.

  

Simple right?! So you are probably wondering how I seemed to over complicate such a simple process. Well as you see in the photo above, the white chocolate on the top two cookies isn't very smooth, here's why. During my first attempt at making these cookies here are all the things I did wrong: dipping the cookies with my fingers, using a toothpick instead of a fork, shaking the dipped cookies instead of tapping, not tapping gently, dipping half of the cookie at a time, and using a knife to spread on the chocolate.

To make a long story short, none of those methods worked and I made a mess.

If you want to make these cute reindeer chocolate covered Oreos just add two Keebler Fudge Dipped Pretzels for antlers, a red M&M for a nose, and two dots of brown chocolate for eyes.

*Eyeball variations: roll tootsie rolls into balls or mini chocolate chips