Adventures in the Kitchen

I have an unhealthy obsession with dessert shows – Cupcake Wars, Ace of Cakes, Amazing Wedding Cakes, Food Network Challenge, and any other Food Network special that focuses on dessert! A few months ago, I was so enthralled that I ended up purchasing 2 dessert cookbooks online. When they arrived I did the whole, “Why did you buy these? You’re never going to use them – they’re going to sit on a shelf and collect dust” thing. I made the decision that day that I WAS going to use them. So I left them sitting on my kitchen table…and they sat there…and they sat there…and they sat there (turns out cookbooks make great coasters).

My mom’s birthday was last Friday so I decided it was finally time to use my cookbooks. My bite size dessert cookbook had a cake pop recipe. It looked to be about the simplest one, so I picked it (plus, the Bakerella blog is one of my faves). Of course, I had none of the ingredients/materials needed but after a trip to Kroger, I was ready to roll! Want to make Cake Pops?

You’ll need:

•  1 box of cake mix
• 1 (12 oz) jar of frosting
• 2 packages of candy melts
• I like the Wilson brand
• Plus - they have lots of colors!
• 48 sucker sticks
• Sprinkles or other decorating materials

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Bake the cake according to the package instructions. Let it cool completely. Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Here comes the fun part! 

1. Mix ¾ the can of frosting into the cake until the mixture is a consistency that’s easily shaped. Dig in and mix it up with your hands until the you can get the mixture to roll into a large ball 
2. Roll tablespoon size amounts of cake mixture into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Let chill 2-4 hours (or overnight if you have extra time) 

I should let you all know that I am a disaster in the kitchen (probably 1 of the reasons I don’t cook/bake often – I hate doing dishes!). I’m pretty sure I used every pot/pan/bowl I own (which isn’t hard – I don’t have that many!).

Back to the recipe….

            3. Follow the instructions to melt the candies

            4.   Dip one end of the sucker stick into the candy coating; insert this end into a cake ball

            5. Dip the cake ball in the candy coating and swirl to coat (Kim’s helpful hint – get a large spoonful of                      the candy coating and roll the cake ball in the spoon for a smooth & consistent candy coating) 

            6.  Very quickly after dipping the cake ball, coat with sprinkles

I found some candy packages and wrapped the pops so that they would last longer...not that they did. We devoured them :) The end result was totally worth the mess! Now I have 1 page in my book marked complete…only 99 other desserts to try!