Fake and Bake

So lets ignore the long period between my first attempts and this current blog. Let's pretend I was saving the world or something. Well now I have returned. To bake.

So I will be tackling some tasty or cute or cool crafts/treats that I discover on other blogs. I think they can be intimidating for those novices like me. But why let that stop me? I figure this blog might help me overcome some of my fear of the artsy.

Super cute!
Photo from Bakerella's Blog

My first crafty attempt are these fabulous looking cupcake pops! They are on a blog called Bakerella and they look so tasty and easy enough to make. Right? Right?

Some of the comments on Bakerella's blog said they were tasty although they took a bit of work. Great. "Bit of work."That could mean anything.

Well I am going to test it out for you and let you know how hard they really are. And they better be yummy!

In order to ensure success with two small kids running under foot, I figured break the task up over a day or two. My best girl friends are all coming for a visit this weekend. What better way to celebrate their visit then cake pops!! Even better, the night before, the boys are going to a hockey game, so I will have an evening to try and chocolate coat these goodies.

So...

Day One: Baking and rolling. 
Easy right?

You have to take a regular cake mix of your choice. Good old Duncan Hines Chocolate fudge was kicking around in my cupboard. So I whipped it up, following the same regular instructions. I let it cool while I went off to pick everyone up from school and work. (Sidebar: I was off sick today with a nagging cough. So although not well enough to work and I was well enough to tackle several crafty projects laying around.)

Later at night, once the kids were sufficiently passed out (I was interrupted once by Owen asking to go to the bathroom which scared the crap out of me), I cut the cake in half and then into quarters. Somewhere on Bakerella's blog, she recommended taking two pieces of cake and rubbing them against each other to crumble them up. This worked well enough. But I found the top layer, the skin if you will, didn't crumble so well. Actually the more I tried, the more it became a mushy cake ball. So the bigger ones I just set aside. I am sure mushy cake balls will be put to good use later.

The blog recommends running it through a food processor to break it up more. Fine if you own one. And even if I did, it would make too much noise and wake the house up. So I just dug my hands in a crumbled it up as much as I could by hand. Took about five minutes.

Next you take cream cheese frosting and mix it in. She says you can use store brand or "make your own". La-la. I imagine that is said with a happy lilt. Like "Yeah! Finally the opportunity to try out the new cream cheese frosting recipe I have been dying to try. Yippee!" I do not have said home made recipe burning a hole in my apron (also don't own one of those). This is why these things are intimidating. Who are these magical people who not only have recipes but actually MAKE their own?

So No-Name frosting it is! Did I mention I am painfully cheap. Or as I like to call it, "really cheap". I figure it's all going to taste about the same in the end.

It took a good hand action to mix it all in. And I occasionally shot cake all over the counter trying to mix it all in. I then put my hand along the rim to make sure any fly aways were contained.
I only used half the cake. I figured it was better to start with only 30 pops instead of struggling through 75. So I used half the frosting can. But its never exact, right. So I am not quite sure the consistency was right. It was awfully wet. But there is no guidance as to whether this is correct or not. So lets see if it makes a difference. Or ends up ruining all the hard work so far. Fun.

So I rolled the balls up. I am never good at measurements or size. Or consistency. They are kind of all over the map. I guess this way I am sure to get some right! Didn't take too long to roll them up. It did end up being quite messy. But again is this because the consistency was wrong? I figured pop them in the fridge and hope they get good and firm.

So tomorrow I will be shaping them and dipping them. Then they will have time to harden before my BFF's show up. BFF's-Yes I am cool like that. LOL. Sigh.

I have yet to find the right kind of cutter for this. It needs to be quite small. I read on another blog that they got some at Michael's so I will try there. I already bought the chocolate in blue and brown (my favourite. Classic) and the lollipop sticks. Here's hoping the success continues.

Well I am calling this a success.


P.S. Oh and what do you think of the new name? Like the double entendre??