Brunna's Baking: Pop Goes The.... Cake?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I am back from Argentina!

I had the time of my life there and learned a lot from the conferences. We didn't win any prizes, but we did make a lot of friends and learned a load of useful life lessons (: I hope I get a chance to go back next year!

Unfortunately, as soon as I got back from my week of fun, I got sick =( I toughed it out on Monday and Tuesday and got caught up on all my school work. But on Wednesday I caved in and stayed home sleeping, and when I went to doctor on Thursday I found out that I have strep throat =O So I slept it out yesterday too.

And today I feel just like Hercules!!! ... In that scene when Hades takes away all his god powers and he can barely walk.... Yup, I love meds (NOT).

But anyways, enough complaining. It's time for me to return to you, my lovely blog readers (:

Today's post is all about cake pops!

Now what is that, you ask? Well, just to be short, it's a delicious mouthful of cake, in lollipop format*

Yes, it is. A beautiful, little convenient bite of cake. Icing included (;

But how do we make this delicious fun-sized cake? Easy! I'll teach you how in 6 easy steps! Crumble, Ice, Stick, Cover, Sprinkle, and Enjoy =)

Step One: Crumble

Now this part is what makes cake pops so convenient. They're made out of cake crumbs. So you can just use the pieces of cake leftover from when you carve or even out a cake. Or you can just bake a whole cake and crumble down the whole thing. I like sticking it in the Kitchen Aide for a while and just taking the crumbs out.. Like this:

Step Two: Ice

The next step is taking some icing and mixing it well into the crumbs. You want there to be enough icing so that all the crumbs stick together and work almost like playdoh. It's going to end up looking like a big blob of cake.

Then, using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, make little balls out of the cake blob and put them on a cookie sheet. But make sure to cover the cookie sheet with wax paper or aluminum foil first!

Step Three: Stick

Once you have all your little chocolate balls, refrigerate them for about 15 minutes so they keep their ball shape. During these 15 minutes, melt some chocolate. Because once you take the balls out, you're going to dip the sticks into the chocolate, about three fourths of the length of the cake balls. Then ever so gently insert the sticks into the balls,

And now you have pops! Place them back into the fridge until the chocolate is hardened.

Step Four: Cover

Once the chocolate on the stick is hard and the stick doesn't come out of place, you can take them out again. Again, you're going to need melted chocolate to dip the pops in. Now here's a commonly made mistake, do NOT dip the pop straight into the chocolate, or else the chocolate will get all cakey and it'll be icky to work with. So get a spoon and just use that to spread the chocolate on the pop. Use the spoon to even it out nicely.

Isn't it purty?

Step Five: Sprinkle

Now, as soon as you're done dipping the pop in chocolate, you need to sprinkle it, or else the chocolate will get hard and it won't stick. I think sprinkling is pretty self-explanatory? Just get a spoon and pour sprinkle all over the pop (:

And once you're done sprinkling, just set it somewhere (in upright position) to let the pop dry. I like floral foam personally. I cover it up with aluminum foil so the green stuff doesn't make a mess. Then I just leave it there drying for a while until the chocolate is hard.