Easy Halloween Cake Pops

I think they turned out kind of cute, that little witch on the bucket, she is all "don't you eat those, they are poison!"  Or something like that.

 Right now I am going to pretend that everything is back to normal.  It's not, we are still not sure what is happening with our car.  We are on the fence as to what would be better, will they fix it, will they write it off?  I just don't know, what I do know is that no matter what happens, we are going to be in for some serious payments of some sort.  Sigh.

My cake crumbler thingy, my new bowl is so big I have to hold it, it won't rest across it like my other bowl.

 So to try and get back to life I decided to make some cake pops.  Because nothing says "everything is okay!"  Like cake pops.

  Am I right?  

Hubby made those for me, are you impressed?

  Well fine, maybe not, but at least it is full of sugar, and that always makes me feel better.

  So I promised Pork Chop cake pops for his hockey team, but as the last week was just up in the air, I just got to it.  I decided to use all the fun new things I have gotten in the last few months, because there will be no new fun things for a while.  

See how big this bowl is?  That right there, is two full cakes.  So exciting! 

  I also wanted to make some treats for the neighbour that helped Hubby by offering him a chair from his home when he was in the accident.  I also wanted to make a small treat for our new neighbours.  We have been in our home for almost 10 years, so we have seen many people come and go. And the home that now has our new neighbours was home to the nicest lady and her son, we are going to miss them so much.  But our new neighbours, they are so sweet and they have the cutest dog.  So we are thrilled.

My cake pop mold, and my Halloween nails.

I used an ice cream scoop to try and keep my hands clean.

And there you go, perfect cake pops.

  Anyway back to cake pops.  I have been really lazy as of late.  When I make cake pops I have just been doing the ones where they stand up, not the ones that you put in a display.  Only because they take a bit longer and I am lazy.  Well this time, I went all out.  

  I know, don't expect it all the time.

 So to start I needed lots of these pops, so I got Hubby to make me two cakes.  I also asked him not to use my new mixer, I so wanted to be the first one to use it.  He was all "are you serious?"  And I was all "it's our anniversary week, you have to do what I say!"  And he did, but he grumbled about it, like I was killing him, having to use a hand blender.

I don't really know why I thought this needed a picture, but you know, there are my balls.  (Tee Hee)

See those are my awesome cake pop stands, they each hold 30 cake pops.  And they were made just for me as the sticks I use are not the same as the ones most use apparently.

  So I started by using the cake crumbler that I got in that cute Bakerella kit and crumbled both cakes into my new mixing bowl.  Can you believe it?  Two cakes fit, and I was so excited, no more doing two batches, only one for me now! So once it was crumbled I added just a bit of icing, I find that too much and it's just too soft to work with.

Here is Hubby getting Pork Chop set up to play on my computer.  Because when I asked him if he wanted to help make cake pops, this is how he was going to help.

By making faces at me when I was telling him to smile.  He was all "Bite Me!"  Or maybe I just read that somewhere.

  I wanted these cake pops to be big, because it means less work really.  So I used the mold from My Little Cupcake.  I love the ease of these molds and the size is really generous.  So I used my mold and out of the two cakes got 50 cake balls, I might have gotten a few more, but Hubby might have over baked the cakes a smidgen and I had to take a few toasty edges off.

This is the set up for the second dip and sprinkles.  Coffee filters are great for catching sprinkles and not having them bounce all over the place.  Some still ended up on the floor, don't ask me how.

  Now I usually do cake pops over a few days, but since I was in a rush I had to do these in one night.  So I put the cake pops in the freezer and got to setting up to dip them.  I was so excited to use my new cake pop stands.  I got these a month ago, from KC Bakes.  The company is located in Pennsylvania in the states.  Which just so happens to be where my Mom was going to be going to golf and shop with my Dad.  I had wanted one for a while, but shipping to Canada is crazy and I could not afford it.  The stands are solid wood, so they are very heavy, that is why it cost so much.  Anyway she agreed to drop them with my mom so I could save shipping.  I could not believe how sweet that was.  Anyway they are amazing.  Before this I was using Styrofoam and that stuff is a pain.  These stands are just amazing!

I really love these sprinkles.

But then I love these even more.  And if I had time I would have put some eye balls on them.  But I was too lazy.

  So I melted my candy melts and then working about 4 pops at a time, I dipped the candy stick into the melts, then into the pop.  I then dipped the whole pop and tapped off the extra.  Then into the stand to set.  Now usually my cake pops crack like crazy.  So I plan to dip them twice.  But these ones didn't crack, not a one of them!  So I think it may be due to the low amount of frosting and the short amount of chill time.  Whatever.  

I put the bags on when they are in the stand then they are easy to tie up this way too.

Ta Da!

  So then I got my sprinkles out and a coffee filter.  I then dipped them again, sprinkled them with sprinkles and rolled them around in front of a fan until the chocolate was set enough to make sure the sprinkles did not just drip off.

  Once that was done, I wrapped them in bags and tied them with ribbon.  

See this was all about $5 at the dollar store.

I used 4 or 5 in each bucket.

Just smoosh them in there.

  I just sent them in a box to hockey for Pork Chop and Hubby to hand out.  Hubby hates handing them out, I do too.  I also feel bad when there is not enough.  I mean I send enough for the team and a few extra, it's the brothers and sisters that always want too.  And I cannot afford to make double for all of them.  So he feels bad, but the team is first, and the coaches and if there is extra then the brothers and sisters can have them.  Pork Chop almost always never takes one, but he did actually eat one cake pop.  I know, crazy right?

And this is the garland, I just sort of stuck it in there.

 For the neighbours I wanted to make a small gift, so I hit the dollar store.  I got two little tin buckets, and I wanted some flower foam, but there wasn't any.  So I got some sponges and some glittery garland.  I may have also got some chocolate, but that was for me, not the gift.

  When I was ready, I took the sponges and stuffed them into the bucket to fill it.  Then I planned to just push the pops into them, but the sponges were really thick so I used a skewer to make holes then put the pops in.  Then I sort of wrapped the garland around them to fill it in.  I think they turned out cute.  I also brought some into work, and they were all like "Finally!"  Because they have not had many treats, but now we are back to "normal" they will get their yummies.

  I am going to get started on treats for Pork Chops party soon, I can bake and freeze the sugar cookies and the marshmallows can be made and dipped in chocolate a week or so before, they last perfectly.  So the only real last minute thing will be cake pops and cupcakes.  I refuse the make a cake, well maybe a little one, but not a big one.  

  So there you go, we are getting somewhat back to normal.

All done, and there were six in each bucket, more than enough really, because I wanted to eat the rest.