Bunny Cake Pops and a Give Away

That guy on the left is giving the other guy the stink eye!

 I love to read other blogs and find things that I must absolutely have.  I mean when was the last time a blogger showed you something and you got it and you didn't like it?  Never that's when!  So when I was reading The Sweet Adventures of Sugar belle, I knew I so needed the little pixie dust shakers she showed.  I mean up until that point I had been using a pain brush and I was just all willy nilly shaking disco dust all over my house.  It was what I had, so I went with it.  So glad I got these. So is Hubby who is against glitter covering our house.  But what does he know.

  Anyway when I was finished ordering I thought, I would love to do a give away and wondered if Karen would like to host one.  And it was late at night, and I was tired so I sent her a quick email saying I had a blog and would she like to donate for a give away.  I forgot about it, and within a day or two she emailed me back.  Not only was she willing to host a give away, she visited my blog.  MY BLOG!!!! And she said she would send me something that would be cake pop related so that it would go with my blog.  People, she visited my blog! I know, I'm a dork.

Another great Target find.  I cannot wait till they come to Canada, they better be as good as the ones in the states.

  So what did the amazing Karen send me to give to you? Well you have to wait until the end of the post to see.  But I made my treats with the same things today, so you may guess it.  But if you do, don't tell, that would ruin the surprise!

So to get ready for Easter I thought I would make some cute bunny cake pops.  I also wanted to make some simple cake balls, because as much as I love my co workers, the balls are much faster.

To start I had Hubby make me a box cake mix, in chocolate, because really, chocolate is the best.  Hubby made it for me because I was working, and he did a good job.  Just don't tell him. Then the next night  I crumbled it up and mixed it with enough canned frosting to make it stick together.  Not too much or you will have trouble rolling and forming it.

It looks like dirt, but it's not.  You will have to trust me.

I got this super cute silicon pan at Target last spring when I was in Florida.  Can I just say it was the trip of a lifetime, and my Mom is the best for taking me and Pork Chop, and I want to go again.  Over and over again!  Okay sorry, off track there.  So I got this pan, and used my cake ball sized ice cream scoop to put some cake ball mixture into it, then pressed it down with my fingers.  The ice cream scoop was the perfect size.  I then froze them and rolled the rest into regular cake balls.

These are the regular cake balls, but I put spring sprinkles on them, so that totally makes them spring cake balls.  They also sort of look like boobs with weird nipple shields.  I cannot believe I just typed that, guess it's better than saying it out loud right?

 So after an hour or so in the freezer I took the pan out, and popped the bunny heads out and kept them in the fridge.  I worked 3 at a time and they held together well.

So cute right?  What if I made marshmallows in the mold and they would be like peeps, only better!

I sort of feel bad, but not really. They can't feel anything.

Once I was ready I melted white candy melts, and added paraffin crystals to make it thinner.  Then I dipped the lollipop stick into the melts, then stuck them into the bunny head.  And yes I know that sounds horrible, but remember it is cake, not a real bunny.   Then I dipped the whole thing and tapped off the extra candy melts.  I dragged the back of the cake pop on the side of the bowl to take off the extra drips then laid them on wax paper.  I let them dry while I dipped the regular cake balls.  Then I dipped them again so the cake ball mixture would not show through the candy melts.  This also covers any cracks that may happen.

Oh white candy melts, how I hate you!  Why won't you melt all nice like your chocolaty brother.

This is after only the first dip, you can see some of the brown showing through.  And that is not acceptable!

I then had to let them really dry, I put the fan on in the room.  Because if you want to decorate them they need to be dry.

By now I was getting tired, so I was just going to try making something cute.

When I was ready I took my Amereicolor food writing pens.  ( this may be a hint as to something I am giving away!)  And I started to draw, like a 4 year old.  As you will notice I have no artistic ability so I just did a few then gave up. It had been a long night, there was a play date going on, and a certain friend may have showered my floor with sprinkles.  So I did a few, took a crummy picture and called it a night.

I know.

I suck.

These are all I did, except I didn't show you the one where I tried to draw a bow on it and it looks like a really big blob of nothing.

I bet Pork Chop would have done a better job.

Okay, I know Pork Chop could have made these better.

So to give these away I would usually pack them in little cake pop bags and tie it with ribbon, and add a cute tag or something.  As it was they went in a plastic container and went to work with me the next day.

No one at work cared, they ate them and the regular balls like crazy.

Best part?

My friend saying "Oh my God!  I love your balls!!"  She said it really loudly and in front of other people sort of, and I just laughed and told her she had to think about what she said.  She blushed, and it made my day.  And yes, I am so a 12 year old boy, sue me!

That right there is an amazing prize!  Edible ink pens, lollipop sticks and sprinkles.

So now, on to the most generous give away from Karen's Cookies.  ( whom I have ordered from twice, and the shipping here to Canada is really reasonable, not like some places.)

Karen sent me a whole set of Amerecolor food writer pens, the best ones out there!  And some cake pop sticks and some super cute spring sprinkles.  Do you know how hard it is going to be for me to send those sprinkles away, because I don't even have them? Well do you?  Well I may cry a little at the post office, just saying.

So here are your rules and the rest, and yes I know it is a wordy bunch of rules, but from what I have read to do a contest in Canada there must be a skill testing question, and you know, I don't want to be sued over a blog contest okay.  ***7+7+?*** this is the skill testing question!

There are a four ways you can enter, the first is to just leave a comment with the answer to the skill testing question, 7+7=?

For additional entries: Please leave a separate comment letting me know what you did with the answer to the skill testing question for each one.

-visit Karen's shop and tell me what you like best in the shop
-become a follower of my blog and let me know, and if you are already a follower let me know
-become a fan of my face book page and let me know, and if you already are, again just let me know


Other info:
This is open to international readers, Canadian (except Quebec, sorry) and USA readers.  Prize was supplied by the amazing Karen at Karen's Cookies.  I am not being compensated in any way, but I love her stuff!  The contest will close on March 12, 2012 at 12 noon Toronto time.  As  I have to approve all comments any comment that hits my mail box before noon will still be published and counted, even if I cannot publish them until after the time. The winner will be chosen on March 13, 2012, and will be listed on this blog and will have 48 hours to get in contact with me.  So please leave me a way to contact you when you comment. If the winner does not contact me within the 48 hours I will choose another winner.  All winners will be chosen by Random.org. Any entries that do not have the answer to the skill testing question will not qualify.  So I will count all qualifying entries starting at the top and working down.  The winner will be responsible for any duty that they may incur when the item is shipped to them.  The value of the prize is approximately $30 US.  Good luck all.
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Chocolate Mustache Suckers

This is Pork Chop, who would love to have face hair if it was made out of chocolate.

Well before I get started I have to state the obvious. This is not a baking post per say.  I mean I used the microwave and all, but that was it.  No egg cracking, no flour sniffing Pork Chop and no butter.  ( If you have not read my blog before, that is totally going to be the weirdest sentence you have ever read.)  

  But when I saw this mold in Micheal's, I knew I needed it.  I actually needed it when Pork Chop turned 6 and I had a Super Mario party.  I mean I cut out 30 felt mustaches that no even played with and only one kid took home.  Now if they had been chocolate, that would have been awesome.  Way to drop the ball Wilton!

  Anyway this is going to be a picture heavy post, because for some reason I felt the need to document every little step.  Because putting candy melts in a mold is hard to figure out.  I know, I stink at blogging some times.

  So without further ado, the most amazing tutorial ever, on how to put candy melts in a mold.  And then have the people you give them to have no idea what they even are.  Sigh.

This is the mold, I know without this picture, the post would not work.

Man, sometimes I just don't get it.  I think, this is going to be so cute and easy and no trouble at all.  Then I start and realize I'm an idiot.  It wouldn't be so bad if I did one thing at a time, but I usually have like three things going.  And this time one of those things was making chocolate suckers.

I was at Michael's, and I have to say I have been really good about not going in there for a long time.  I may have an issue with having coupons and not using them.  And I may walk around the store to find something, anything I can use it on.  This last time, I found two things, one of them being the mold.  So I really had to have it, and for the $3 something I got it.

So I thought how fun this would be for Pork Chops hockey team.  I was all, they are going to think they are the coolest things ever! I will be the coolest Mom!

Then they burst my bubble, they thought they were hockey sticks.  D'oh!

Anyway they were easy, if time consuming, to make.  I made about 35 and it took me all night.  But only because I was also making donuts, diner and sewing at the same time.  I would make a batch, put them in the freezer and forget about them. So if you actually paid attention and stuff, it would be pretty fast I bet.


So I just melted chocolate candy melts and put them into squeeze bottles.  This way I could keep the bottles in a pot of water on the stove to keep them fluid.

I had an issue with the sticks falling out, not sure why, so I had to sort of prop it up on a cookie sheet, which worked.  I would fill the molds, tap them to settle the candy melts then put the stick in and roll it to cover it.  Then into the freezer.  It probably only took like 5 minutes to harden, but I didn't get back to them until later.

And this is how I had to set it up because the stupid lollipop stick kept falling out.

When they were set I would pop them out, and put them in a wax paper lined cookie sheet in the fridge. Once they were all done I wrapped them in cheap sandwich bags and tied them with a ribbon.

This is the pan I kept in the fridge to hold the finished pops until I was all done.

And this is Pork Chop, who obviously thinks he is Miley Cyrus with that hand gesture.  

So even if the kids thought they were hockey sticks, I was still the cool hockey mom.  Or at least in my head I am cool.

  And I am really getting somewhere with my sewing project so I have to start sharing that soon, because I am cool, and you all have no choice but to pretend I am too.

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