Cake Pops: Fail

In many ways, Bakerella (www.bakerella.com) is my hero. Her baking creations are so cute, I can't help but gush over them. Yesterday, I decided to give cake pops a go for myself. The plan was to use red and yellow candy melts to make little pumpkin cake pops for halloween. As I gathered all of the ingredients, I was feeling quite proud of myself for thinking up a such a cute idea. It went against almost everything I believe in to buy that boxed cake mix and can of frosting, but visions of miniature pumpkins on lollipop sticks danced in my head.

Once home I baked the cake, no problem there, and let it cool. When it came time to add the frosting, I just couldn't bring myself to add the entire can, so half the can went in, and everything looked just fine. Unfortunately, the cake balls kept crumbling off the sticks - I think for lack of frosting. I quickly decided to forgo the sticks -- Bakerella's cake balls are just as cute anyway. I heated the candy melts into a color that resembled orange, and began dipping. I was amazed at how much candy coating each ball took, and how long it took me to dip them. In the end I had about six dipped cake balls (which then very magically stayed on their sticks).

Not as cute as Bakerella's by far! The real downer -- they were so sickeningly sweet! Cake + Frosting + Candy Coating = TOO MUCH SUGAR!

The upside is that I discovered a great new way to get my cake fix. Cameron doesn't like desert, so I never eat it, and every once in a while I just get these cravings. Anyway I took the undipped cake balls, which tasted pretty good, and froze them. I tried one today, and it was delicious straight from the freezer - like a cupcake, only smaller. I will definitely be making these again.

Lesson: Somethings are too good to be true, and Bakerella's cute cake pops are one of them.