Cake Pops 101 and Star Wars Pops

May the Baking Force be with you!

  Hey all this is a post I did for a lovely blogger at Whisked together and thought I would post the full tutorial here since it was my first time working with edible images on cake balls.  They turned out okay, not thrilled, but you know they were cute.

 So here is my cake ball 101 and Star Wars cake balls.

I had Hubby make my cake because I was working.

So I always start the same way, with a cake and a plan.  I use a box mix and canned frosting usually.  My reasoning is that it is easiest and most cost effective.  And I figure I am crumbling it all up so you know, why not.  But you feel free to use whatever kind of cake and frosting you like.  For this I am using a chocolate cake and frosting.

I also usually do my cake balls over a few days. I do this because I am usually making a large amount and I never have a day just for baking.  I work too much don't you know; well at least that is what I tell hubby.

My baking goes like this.

Day 1- bake your cake

Day 2-mix and shape your cake balls, and leave in the fridge

Day 3-decorate your cake balls

Makes it so easy for me to do a little each day, but you will figure out what works for you.

Here is the mix, see how it is like a dough now, that is because I was careful not to add too much icing.

So to start bake your cake and let it cool completely, if you are in a rush just pop the pan in the fridge or freezer.  Once cooled you crumble it up.  Bakerella does it by hand from what I can tell, but I am lazy.  So I crumble it up into my kitchen aid then with the flat paddle just finish crumbling it up.  Then I add frosting by the spoon full until it all comes together.  If you add too much you risk the mix being too soft, and this will cause problems when you try to shape and dip the balls later.

I used a spoon for the first one so my hands would be clean enough to use the camera.  For the rest I just used my hand to scoop out some dough into the fondant cutter I used.

Once you have your mix ready you can shape it however you like.  Traditionally you want a ball of some sort.  I use all different sizes of ice cream scoops, from my tiny itty bitty TSP one, to my large 2 TBSP one.  Just depends on what you want to make.  For the Star Wars cake pops I actually used another technique.  I am sure I am not the first to do this, but I figured it out by myself and thought I was smart.  Feel free to think I am smart too if you like.

Make sure you press it down to make it full and as even as possible.

Then just push the shape out, it should not be too hard to push it out.

So I always work on wax or parchment paper.  I put the cookie cutter I want to use down then fill it with cake ball mix.  I press it down to make it flat then lift the cutter up.  Then I put the shape on a flat pan or cookie sheet covered in wax paper and put it in the fridge for a few hours or the freezer for about 20 minutes.

This is how I put them in the freezer. If they are going to be in there any longer than an hour I wrap the pan in plastic wrap to stop them from drying out.

While the cake balls are cooling get your stuff together.  You will need something to dip your cake balls in and then whatever else you want to decorate them with.  When I do just normal cake balls, I use my favorite chocolate candy melts and either sprinkles or a different color chocolate to drizzle over them.  For these Star wars ones, it will be different but the same.

I set up my dipping station, lots of wax paper gets used in my house.

When dipping a cake ball, I use the candy dipping tools I got at Micheal's, you can use a fork or spoon or whatever feels right. Also only take a few cake balls out of the fridge at a time so they do not get too soft.  Then dip your cake ball, tap off the extra chocolate and put it on a sheet of wax or parchment paper to dry.  Then decorate, if you are using sprinkles I suggest putting them on as you dip the cake balls.

Always dip the stick in melted chocolate that gives it something to stick to the cake pop filling.

If you are doing pops you can do this a few ways.  To have self standing pops, dip the stick you are using in the melts, then put it into the cake ball, dip the ball and set it on the wax paper to dry with the stick facing up.

If you are doing traditional pops, instead of standing the ball up, stand it up with the stick in Styrofoam or a block of some sort.

When you dip, try not to move the pop around too much or bits of it break off making the chocolate all chunky.

For these flat shape pops I just dip the cake pop on the stick, drag some of the chocolate off the back and then just lay it on the wax paper to harden.  I usually leave then for at least 30 minutes, this allows them to come back up to room temperature.  And as they do they may crack.  I am not sure if it is because of the chocolate being hot, or the middles being too cold, or what.  I just know that I end up double dipping mine to cover the cracks, it's easier than trying to figure out why I cannot get a good crack free coating in one go.

And that is how they look once dipped.

So once they are all dipped I let them dry, if you are doing regular cake balls, you don't need to double dip really.  I will used another colour of chocolate and drizzle it over to hide the cracks.  And with regular round cake pops, same thing as these I double dip usually.

And this is how they look as they are drying, some of them are cracking, as as you can see one fell off it's stick.  I always make extra for this very reason.

See the crack, you are going to cover it in chocolate then the image.

While the cake pops are drying I get my decorations all set up.  Depending on what you plan to do you get it all set. This was my first time making cake pops with pictures on them.  As I was going to cover them I did not need to double dip to cover the cracks.  So I started by getting Hubby to put some pictures together for me.  Since our computer at home is broken he just got them printed out on regular paper.  Then we scanned them on my edible printer and printed them out.  If I was smart I would have cut them out and put them all on one page to save the icing paper.  But I am not smart and do not think of these things until after the fact.  

This is the icing sheet, you can see part of the fondant cutter.  It is just like a paper cutter, just cooler.

To start I cut out my pictures, I have a fondant cutter from Wilton, I never used it before, but it worked great.  You just have to push on the blade a bit, but it was much faster than trying to cut it all out with scissors.  Then I put them in a baggy so they would not dry out.  The paper dries out so fast!

I keep them in a baggy so they don't dry out.

As this was my first time doing this I was not sure if I should use melted chocolate or maybe corn syrup to attach the image.  I tried the melted chocolate and it worked great.  It also made it easy to fill in all the cracks with chocolate.  So I just used a pastry brush and brushed on the chocolate then stuck on the image. You need to make sure your hands are clean  and dry, as you need to press the image out to make it stick and wet hands will tear the paper.

I used the left over chocolate to brush on and stick the pictures to.

So once the images were all on, I went back and painted the rest of the pop and dipped it in white decorating sugar.  This allowed me to cover all the rest of the cracks and sparkle up the pops.

Don't worry too much about the edged, they will be covered in sugar later.

It is hard to see but there is coarse white sugar all over the sides and back of the pops.

When I was all done I put them in little sucker bags and tied them with ribbon.  I also curled the ribbon.  Something I never do when just giving my treats to friends.  This was for a party so that is why I got all fancy don't you know.

And here they are all wrapped up and ready to go.  I do not put them in the fridge as they will get condensation on them and make the pictures bleed.

So have fun, and remember there are so many ideas on line, just google for what you want and chances are you will find something.  And if you want to do images but not buy a printer you can usually get them at your local bakery by the sheet.  I think my printer has been one of the funnest things ever.  Also my kid loves to eat the paper I don't use, so you know there is that too.

Hope this has given some of you some ideas and maybe even the push to try it out yourself.

Iced Coffee, Pioneer Woman Style

This is the jug I keep in the fridge to just use as I like, it is nice and thin so it doesn't take up too much space.  It also was the last one in the store and it was missing the lid, so I got a discount and used one I had.

  So I never ever liked coffee.  It's just something I couldn't get into.  I sort of dislike all hot drinks, I mean sure I would drink a hot chocolate now and then, but I didn't really enjoy it.  I tried to get into tea, I mean I bought a butt load of it and even got a tea press in Disney.  But to no avail, I could not drink the hot stuff.  I sort of get this flushed sick feeling drinking hot things, so I must be weird or something.  I blame my parents, who else can I blame really?

  Then one day it all changed. Sort of.

  Hubby and I had taken Pork Chop to the Beach ( or is it Beaches now? Darn Toronto changes things so much)  Anyway we were there and it was getting late and Hubby was so tired, I said I would drive the 40 minutes or so home but I needed some caffeine.  Now I had to give up any sort of pop before my gastric bypass and to this day I still do not drink it, so I gave in and went into Starbucks.  I asked for something with coffee, no sugar and lots of caffeine, oh and it had to be cold and not carbonated.  The sweet lady suggested an iced coffee.  And I was hooked ever since.  Ask Hubby,  now both Pork Chop and I beg to go to Tim Horton's.  Pork Chop could eat his weight in chocolate Tim bits, which I guess should make me mad since he won't eat my baking usually.  Anyway, I was addicted.

This is all you need, notice the blue card Pork Chop made for Hubby.  There was nothing for me, but you know he still likes me right?

  So this was in the fall, and I was loving it and thinking of ways to make it cheaper at home.  I bought instant coffee and it was gross, I tried the cappuccino powder that you just add water to,and it was gross.  I was paying a lot for my Tim's addiction.  So I did what every other sane woman does, I googled it.  And I came across this!  I knew it was fate. Pioneer woman has some great stuff, trust me.

I just use the whole can of coffee at one time, this is a 4 quart container I think, and I got it just for my coffee.

  At this time it was about to be the holidays, and Hubby was all ready to get me something amazing and I was cutting off every idea he had.  He even went so far as to send me all these links to single serve coffee makers that made iced coffee.  But they were the pod ones and I hated the idea of having to buy the pods. I had been looking for a cheap brewing coffee pot, as we had given ours away as we had only used it once in our marriage up to that point.  Hubby even picked one out, and as with all things I told him no, I had better plans!  Because I always have to ruin his fun.

I think this looks so gross, but figured my post would not be complete without it; and the back ground of my super messy counter.

 So I read what Rea had written, went out and got a large container that I could use just for this, one for my fridge to keep my stuff in and a can of Tim Horton's coffee.  I got home and set to work, I even weighed out my coffee like Rea, as she uses good stuff and I just got what I knew.

So this sits on my counter for 24 hours, in that time the tutor was in my home.  Wonder what he thought it was.

  So I panicked because she said to let it set for at least 8 hours, which to me meant 8 hours only.  And I work and don't have time to time this stuff.  So I did what I could, mixed it up before bed and the next day after work strained it out.  Now I am not sure if it was done too long or what, but I found the taste different than the one at the store.  I need an insider to tell me how they do it! 

Another shot of my messy counter, but this is how I do it, a large strainer and a bowl.

I line the strainer with paper towel, I end up having to switch it out twice while I strain it all.

  Anyway, after some fiddling I found if I added some water to it then the ice and cream and sweetener it would be perfect!  So there you go, I had it all set. I find now that I use the whole can in the 4 quart bin filled with cold water.  Then I leave it, for about 24 hours.  While I strain it I add about 50-75% more water and it is almost perfect!

I know, gross if you don't know what it is.

I put it in a measuring cup then add about 50-75% more water then put it into the container. 

 I still admit to hitting Tim Horton's when we are out and about, and I have to be very clear that they not add any flavor syrup, that stuff causes me to get very sick and have "issues" if you know what I mean.  If you don't then google "affects of sugar alcohols on bowels"  and then just imagine it way worse because I have had gastric by pass.  The people at Tim's give you the look when you ask like 5 times if they put the syrup in, but a few times they have and I have not realized until I have taken a good long drink, then spent the next hour or so in pain.

Way cheaper than Tim's, but not as convenient when you are not home, if you know what I mean. And I just realized there is a Mcdonalds iced coffee in this picture too.  I had to have something to drink while I made my own.

  So there you have it, how I am amazing, became addicted to iced coffee ( which I am not supposed to have too much caffeine after my bypass, bad bad me) and managed to ruin Hubbies Christmas gift idea, again, and saved some money.  I know, it's amazing right?  And now I will get back to what I know, baking and sugar and stuff.

Review of Red Velvet Cake Mix

I was so excited when I saw this in the store I took a picture right away!

  So you all know how much I love me a cake mix right?  It makes making treats so much faster, and I prefer it when I am making cake balls, or cupcake for kids.  So when we were in Wal mart a few weeks back and I saw a red velvet and cream cheese box mix I had to try it.

  Now I did it because I wanted to review it here and I wanted a reason to try it out.  I will  tell you that as with most box mixes it was okay, but really pricey if you think about it.

  So anyway I got it, and then read the box that said it only may 12 cupcakes, and I wanted to give them at work so I have to cut down just the tiniest bit to get myself an extra mini one to taste.

They look cute on the box, but there is no way there is enough icing to decorate them all like that.

  So making the batter was as easy as any other cake mix, it turned out to be a runny batter like any other.  They baked up nicely and looked fine.  But the icing, oh that was another story.

This was the stuff in the box, why they put two pouches of icing instead of one large one I don't know.  That is why I don't work for a cake mix company I would be all "no, only one bag, make it bigger!" Then I would get fired.

  So the icing says it is "cream cheese flavored" which should have clued me in at first, but it didn't.  So I was going to pipe the icing on to at least make the cupcakes look nice, but then once I put the icing into a bowl it became clear this would not work.  The icing was runny and looks gross, and there was no real cream cheese flavor to me.  So I had to fix it, I added a bunch of icing sugar to thicken and bulk it up, a little milk as I put too much sugar, then some vanilla bean paste to try to give it a better flavor.  It was okay, I mean it was way better than before.

I would tell you what this looks like, but you already know, yuck!

  To decorate I had barely enough to do a nice swirl, so if I were to use it again I would add even more icing sugar and milk to bulk it up.  As it was I then I decorated them with some simple red sanding sugar and that was it.

 I tasted  my mini and it was okay, nothing amazing, and I can tell you that is was just as airy  as any other cake mix.

These are seriously not going to be a go to for me, but hey at least you know it's there if you ever need it.

  So what I liked about this, not much really. Other than it was a box mix.

 What I disliked, well let me list the things:
-the icing was bland and watery, had to be fixed, and not enough to give a good layer of frosting
-the cost, figuring I had to put in stuff to fix the icing and that you only get 12 cupcakes, this was not worth it at the $3.50 I think I paid
-the taste, it was just okay, nothing spectacular

 So over all I give this box mix a fail, which stinks.  I mean if it was just the cake mix alone, that I could work with, perfect for cake balls.  But the addition of the "cream cheese flavored" icing really took it down a few notches.  So I would skip this, if you live in the states I think they have a red velvet cake mix, and then you can just make your own icing just as easily.

  Oh well, no one at work really got to try them either as they were for a person who was leaving and she just took them home without sharing.  So I didn't get any other opinions.  And I refuse to make these again, so there you go, not a score with me.

 And just so you know I love cake box mix, a lot, this one was just not worth it to me.
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Chocolate Mint Brownies

Not a great picture, not that you should be surprised.  But I wanted to show you how thick the brownie layer is and show the other layers too.

  Oh man, these are good, and I can say that because since the moment I saw them on Glorious Treats, I knew they would be.

  Now this is my third or fourth time making them, and I have to tell you I get better and better at them.  The first time I made them I was sure, 100% sure Hubby was going to love them.  Well as usual the piece I saved for him turned hard and had to be tossed out, he didn't even look at it twice.  I don't know what gives but he loves chocolate mint.  So does Pork Chop, he is always asking for "minty bubble chocolate" which are those little round Areo mint ball things.  If you are in the states I don't think you get Areo, which sort of makes me happy, you get like 1000 other things we can only dream of, so there you go, you still win.

  Anyway, back to the brownies, they are good.  And I kept telling people, "they are made from scratch!"  Because no matter how good my box mix things are, I still get flack from some people, I will not mention who, but they know who they are!  And I will not waste my time trying to explain that if you crack an egg, it still counts as home made.

  So I love this recipe because you don't need many ingredients.  I also hate this recipe because there are three layers that you have to make.  So you know, it works out to be a bit of work, but it is so worth it.

I learned the hard way that you need to spray the pan with cooking spray or brush it with butter or the paper will keep popping out.

  The first time I made these I made the one recipe, in the 8x8 pan.  There were hardly enough to go around, meaning I only got to eat a few then share the rest.  The second time I tried doing them in a mini muffin pan, they were great, but they took forever.  You had to spray the pan, bake them, pry them out, then ice them twice, too much work.  So this time I wanted a bunch and I did 4 times the recipe.  I love that we have bulk barn here, we get our chocolate for baking for so little.  So that is what I did, I doubled the batches and put them each in a 9x13 pan.  So this made them thicker and oh my word, so rich!

I should have used a bigger bowl, it was so full I had to stir it so slowly.

  So I will give you the recipe for one 9x13 pan, you can half it for an 8x8, but that will hardly be enough once you taste them.  Glorious Treats made hers look so good, mine kept having the topping fall off.  Also this requires Andes mints, which I love, and I had bought these baking ones in the states a while back, and they are perfect, but you can just as easily cut up the regular ones, which is what I will have to do now that I am out.  I just had a light bulb moment, what if you put a layer of whole Andes mints in the brownies, like half the batter, lay out a layer of mints, then the rest of the batter.  I think I know what I have to make soon!

  Anyway here is the recipe, that I used for the full 9x13 pan.

I sort of wanted to eat it just like this, yum!

Chocolate Mint Brownies
Adapted from Glorious Treats

-1 cup butter
-8 oz Dark chocolate, I used 6oz un sweetened and 2oz semi sweet
-2 1/2 cups sugar
-2 TSP vanilla
-4 large eggs
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 TSP salt

 Heat your oven to 325 and prepare your pan by spraying it with cooking spray then lining it with parchment that over hangs the pan so you can lift it out.

Since the brownies are nice and cool and the icing is too, you can take your time and get a nice even layer of icing.  You can also put more food colouring and make it a darker green.

  Using a double boiler, or like I did, a bowl over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter.  Once melted add the vanilla then the sugar.  Mix until all together then add one egg at a time and mix until fully incorporated, it takes a lot of arm work, and stupid me should have used my mixer.  Once the eggs are all in, mix in the flour and salt and beat until well mixed.  Pour into the pan and level off then bake for about 25 minutes, use a tooth pick near the center to see if it comes out almost clean, then take out and cool fully. I just let it sit out for about 20 minutes then put it in the fridge as I did not have time to waste, and I wanted to eat some sooner rather than later.

My last bag of these, so sad they don't sell them here in Canada.

Mint Layer

-6 TBSP butter
-2 cups icing sugar
-2 TBSP milk
-1 TSP mint extract
-green food colouring if you like

  So just mix this all together, it is just like a butter cream icing, and if you don't want to colour it you don't have to.

  So once it is all mixed, spread it over the cooled brownies in a even layer, then put the brownies in the fridge to set while you clean up and make the topping.

See nice and even, it doesn't have to be smooth as you are going to cover it all in chocolate.

Chocolate Layer

-6 oz Semi sweet chocolate
-2 TBSP butter
-half a bag of Andes mint pieces or chop up about a cup of the whole mints

So this is basically a ganache, which is chocolate and cream, but since we are using butter which is just cream that has been beaten it sets differently.

Using a double boiler melt the chocolate and butter and mix until smooth.  Then working quickly spread it over the cooled iced brownies and spread even, then sprinkle with mint pieces.  Refrigerate until set and cut and serve. When spreading this I did half the pan at a time as the heat of the chocolate started to melt the icing layer.

Now it just looks like a pile of chocolate and stuff, which really isn't a bad thing, but wait until you cut into it, you will pass out at how yummy it is.

  Now I think this recipe was thicker in the brownie so they stayed fresh a good week and a half in an air tight container, and they are sweet so a normal person can only eat a bit before they get sick.  Me, one brownie and I was a goner.  So good!

This was my set up until I realized it was still too cold and my pizza wheel would not work, just to give you an idea at how big that is, my wheel is about 6 inches across, it is huge, but looks small here.

  Some tips on cutting the brownies, since you used parchment paper you can just lift the whole thing out of the pan and peal the paper back. Then depending on how cold the brownies are you can either use a large pizza wheel or a large knife.  I did not let them warm up at all so the chocolate on top cracked a lot and the pizza wheel was not strong enough to cut through.  If you let them come back to room temperature you shouldn't have those problems.  These are seriously one of my most favorite things to make, so good!

I tried to cut them nice and small so you could eat like 6 and not feel like a pig.  It didn't work, I still felt like a pig.

Seriously look at those layers!  And the brownie was so soft, almost like a fudge.  I think I am in love!

I'm linking up here! and Here!