A Give Away!!! Cupcake Cake Pops they are easier than you think!



Sorry for the crappy picture, I need a better camera, or someone else to take pictures.

   You will have to forgive me, this is going to be a long post.  I had not originally intended it to be a give away, but it ended up this way.  So I wanted to share a how to about the great item I am giving away.

 But before all that, I have to share what my mom said about my blog.  We were in the car and I was telling her about my give away.  And she said "Oh I told so and so about your Blob."    Yeah she called it a blob. I wonder how many people she has told that to.  So I told her I had to post that one on the "blob"  She laughed, she's good that way.

  So without further ado, on with the "Blob."

  I love cake pops, but I like it more when they look like something.  You know, just a plain cake ball is good and all, but I want cute.  I need cute, and sprinkles and stuff.  So when I found this tool I was so happy.  I found this cake pop mold totally by mistake one day on line.  I ordered it and loved it.  Then just a few months later I ordered a few more. 

  I wanted to share these with you and then I thought I would love to give one away.  I had an extra one, but without the box.  So I thought, that would not be nice to give away without the box.  Then I thought again, if I asked the company to send me a pamphlet to go with the mold that would be almost as good. 

  So I sent an email off, after ordering the three new molds they have.  I just asked for a pamphlet and hoped they would not think me rude for asking.  Can I just tell you I almost cried with the wonderful reply I was given.  The owner was so kind and said please by all means let us send you a pamphlet, and in the new year we can send you some other items to give away!  I was so excited.  I did a little happy dance and got all these ideas for the new year and all the things I would be trying to make to do this huge give away. 

  Then it happened. Yesterday there was a box for me in the mail.  I opened it to find not just my stuff, but a whole bunch of stuff for a give away!  I got a new cupcake mold, and I got the whole set of four molds too!!! Seriously I was over the moon.  I could not believe it, I had just wanted a pamphlet.  And then I get this.

  So dear readers this leaves me with a little problem.  What to do?  So I decided I would still give away my mold that I do not have the box for, but I would also give away the boxed cupcake mold too!  I figure two winners are better than one.  And in the new year once I play with my molds a bit and can share them, I will give away the four piece set.  How does that sound? 

 So after my tutorial I will get you all started on my give away!

  Anyway I wanted to show you how to make them from start to finish.  My son has his yearly appointment at the children's hospital this week, so this is the perfect reason to make these.  We always bake and bring something.  I mean when you save my kids life, you are pretty much guaranteed treats for life.  Anyway, I asked my son what he wanted to make, and he said cake pops and I was thrilled.  Cake pops are my favorite to make so I was all for it.

  Here is a pic of the cookies he made last year, how cute is he.  The best part was him explaining to me what they were.  Just a parenting tip, just nod and smile, works every time!

He was so serious!



He said that was Super Mario, I can sort of see it.



 Anyway, to start you need to make your cake ball filling.  Use any cake recipe you want, then once baked and cooled, crumble it up and mix it with about half a can of frosting.  I will again tell you all, because you may be new, that I use cake mix and canned frosting.  The reason's  basically are, cost, I like the taste and it is easy.

  So once your mix is ready you are ready to make the cutest cake pops ever.  I reserve the right to say that about other things I make, I think many things are the cutest things ever.

 So, on the My Little Cupcake Blog they share a bunch of great ideas on how to decorate, and some really great tricks.  Can I tell you that the first time I made these I hated them.  ( I know I said I loved them, I mean I loved when they were done, but hated making them.)  And with one little tip from the blog I was hooked.  When I get to that part I will share that mind blowing tip.



  Once we are all set up I take out the bowl and get to work.  Don't worry about working fast or anything, warm filling can just go back in the fridge for a few moments.   I start with a bit of filling, usually I just grab some with my fingers, then I press some into each side of the cupcake mold. I over fill it and then squish the two sides together.  This forces all the extra filling out the sides and you just wipe it off and put that back in the bowl.  Then you open your mold, and carefully take out the shape.  I sort of do a finger on the top and bottom of the cupcake and pull it out.  If you have any problems there are some solutions and some reasons.


I sort of freaked out about the line in the middle, I was convinced I had made it wrong.  It all turned out perfectly in the end.  But if in doubt, feel free to eat one, just to make you feel better.


Reasons why your cake pop will not come out of your mold.

-the filling is too warm, so just put it in the fridge to chill for a bit longer
-your filling is too moist because you added too much icing, now if this happens I usually try to add more cake to the mix, or if that is not possible you will have to chill it much longer to get it to solidify. But if it is too soft it will be hard to dip later on. My rule of thumb when mixing cake balls is to crumble the whole cake, then add the icing by the table spoon and mix a bit, you will be surprised with how little you really need
-your mix is sticking to the mold, you can either spray the mold with cooking spray or sprinkle icing sugar inside ,both work, I prefer the icing sugar as I don't want the oily stuff on my cake pop

  Now if you are still having issues, let me know, I can try to help you out:)

  Anyway once you have all your shapes molded put them in the fridge covered for at least a few hours.  As I usually spread out my cake ball making to three days, I leave them over night.*

To decorate you will need the following:
-candy melts in whatever colours you want ( or like I sometimes do, white melts with candy colouring paste)
-lollipop sticks
-Styrofoam to stand your pops up in
-a lobster fork, or a corn on the cob holder ( I kid you not, this is the most amazing information from the makers blog)
-sprinkles ( because everything is better with sprinkles)
-mini M&M's, cinnamon hearts, or any sort of cherry looking candy
-cake pop bags and ribbon
-tweezers

  So to start you are going to dip the cupcake wrapper, you know, the bottom of the cupcake.  To do that you need to melt which ever chocolate or candy melt colour that you want.  I usually just do the milk chocolate.  I use the microwave and just go at 30 second intervals.

  Now you can just hold the cupcake by the top and try to dip it like that.  I found it hard to control and it was a pain to get the chocolate where I needed it. So the great tip the blog pointed out was to use a lobster fork.  By putting the fork into the top of the pop it gives you the ability to just dip the bottom of the cake ball.


The blog suggested using a lobster fork with the two points to grab on better, but this is what I had, and it works just great!



So I sort of dunk in the cupcake, and try to get the chocolate up to the frosting line, if it goes over no big deal.  Also I dropped a few in totally, no worries they will be fine.  Again if you are upset, just eat it, warm chocolate on a cake ball is amazing!

So then you take you lollipop stick and put it in the bottom and pull the lobster fork out the top. 

    Once you dip the bottom, take a lollipop stick and dip it into a little chocolate then push it into the bottom of the cake pop, push it half way in.  I found it would push out the lobster fork, leaving you with a perfect cupcake bottom.  And if your cup cake splits because you pushed the stick too far, just push it back together, it will be all good, I promise. The other thing I like about the lobster fork, it leaves a nice dent in the top to put the cherry sprinkle, and it won't fall off. Then I put them into Styrofoam to stand up while they dry and come back to room temperature. Repeat to dip all the cupcake bottoms.  I find that letting them come back to room temp really cuts down on any chocolate cracking.



Then I put them in the blocks to dry while I get the other stuff ready.  I made 78, I had 79 but you know, one fell into the chocolate and I was so upset I had to eat it.


  Once the bottoms are all done, melt your chosen colour for the icing part of the cupcake.

  I set myself up with a large bowl to hold my cake pop over while I drop my sprinkles on, so they can land somewhere.  I also have my tweezers and cherry candy's ready.


My decoration set up, sprinkles and a bowl to catch them in.




I work from left to right, it works for me.

  I take one pop at a time, dip the top of it making sure to cover it all the way to meet with the bottom chocolate colour.  Then I let it drip back into the bowl a bit.  Now if the coating is dark enough for you, go ahead and sprinkle on your sprinkles and put the cherry candy right on top.  Make sure to let the chocolate dry a little bit so the sprinkles do not drip off.  Then you can place it back in the Styrofoam to dry.  If you are using a colour that you feel is too light and you can see the cake pop filling through it, just double dip them.  Not a big deal.

Just dip the pop in the chocolate and move it around to make sure you cover it all so no cake ball is showing.



Let the chocolate drip off, if it is too thin dip it again.



Add your sprinkles, I went plain, I should have done fancy ones.



Then add your cherry candy with tweezers, there should be a  dent where the lobster for was.





  Once you are done, let them fully dry and pack them up in cake pop bags and tie with whatever ribbon you like.  And I must thank Hubby for the action shots, I was really not going to get anything good one handed.

I put the bags on the pops while they are in the stand, that works for me, then tie and you are all done.

  I really hope you give these a try, even if you don't have the mold, but for less than $6 I really think it will pay for itself again and again.

*My three day cake ball making goes like this, since I work full time , and part time and still want to talk to my kid and Hubby now and then:
Day 1-Bake cake ( I know genius right?)
Day 2-Crumble and mix filling and shape cake pops, then refrigerate
Day 3- Dip, decorate and package your pops

  It really is not too bad that way, I mean I love it, but I don't want to spend a whole day making them if I can help it.  Obviously the longest day is day 3, but you know it's better than doing all in one day.  At least to me.

  Okay so now on to the give away.  I have two molds to give away, the first place winner will get one cupcake mold in a pretty box, and the second place winner will get the mold without the box but with a pamphlet.

 To enter just do one or all of the following, each one will get you an entry.  Make sure to include the answer to this hard skill testing question (8+12=?) and ensure you have your email attached so I can reach you, or make sure to check back to see when I announce the winner.  You will have 48 hours to get back to me or I choose another winner.

-Just leave me a comment here letting me know how you would decorate your cupcake, would it be purple with pink and green sprinkles?  Or something crazy?  Just let me know.

-Follow me here on my blog, I would love to have more followers and it will ensure you get the updates when I do my next give away in the new year.

-Visit my facebook fan page, you can follow if you like, or not.  Totally up to you. It will let you also see when I post something new.  Or have deep profound thoughts that I need to share. ( Profound thoughts may not actually be profound.) Just come back and let me know you visited it. I will have to trust you on this one.

-visit My Little Cupcake and take a look, come back and let me know you did, and what you would make with one of the new molds that just came out.


My Rules and what not, as this is my first give away I hope I cover everything.

  So you have four chances to enter, please leave a separate comment for each item, so that I can count them all.  You must answer the skill testing question in each comment. (8 +12=?) Please leave a way for me to contact you, or be prepared to check back and see if you won.  I will give 48 hours to get back to me before I move on to the next winner.  All winners are responsible for any duty that you may have to pay.

  This is open to international readers, so United States, Canada ( except Quebec, sorry) and around the world!  Also if you are related to me, I don't think you can legally win, but if you are related, you can borrow mine okay.

  I will leave the contest open until December 17 at 5pm Toronto Time.  Comments will probably not be posted right away as I moderate them, so as long as they hit my email before 5pm I will accept and post them.  I will use Random.org to draw the two winners, first and second place.  I will announce the winners soon after and contact them and they will have 48 hours from that time to contact me so I can ship them out.  I don't think they will get to you before Christmas, but you never know:) If I am not contacted within the 48 hours I will again use Random.org to do another drawing.

  I want to thanks My Little Cupcake Pop who went above and beyond and sent me the mold for this when all I wanted was a pamphlet.  So they supplied one mold, and there was no compensation on their part.  I just love their stuff.  I also supplied one mold, just because I really want people to try this out.

 And if you got to the end of this I really appreciate it and I hope to see you again soon!