Friday, August 23, 2013

Cake Pop Stand and Salted Caramel and Chocolate Cake Pops

Well, time is flying by for us. I can't believe I'm going on semester four out of five! Wahoo!!! Before school starts though, we have an accounting party tomorrow for the faculty and PhD students and their families. It's a potluck and I gave them the option of honey lime chicken enchiladas or cake pops. Guess what they picked? :)

 My hubby made me this beautiful cake pop stand out of Corian. I LOVE IT!!! Can you say nonporous, sturdy, easy to clean, elegant, and perfect? (not to mention heavy) He will also be making me some that will hold cake pops as I decorate them. This one is for transportation and display. We thought about selling this little beauty, but it is rather heavy, and would probably be fairly expensive as Corian is expensive...but for the serious cake popper, this is awesome!!! I'm still contemplating whether I want an ogee edging, handles, and possibly putting on some vinyl for beautification (not that it needs it - love it Jar!). Anybody know the market for something like this?
 On another note...I got an awesome salted caramel frosting recipe I found on pinterest that you can find here. It is heavenly in a chocolate cake pop with a little of the extra salted caramel, drizzled chocolate, and toasted almonds on top! It's my new absolute favorite cake pop combination. And though the frosting is probably too thin for decorating a cake with anything but a layer of frosting, it was perfect for these little concoctions. The cake pop held together beautifully...much better than the chocolate with chocolate frosting ones I also did (which you can see below).
 I also decided to make red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I really enjoy these ones too. Very nice flavor...just not my fave since good old salted caramel frosting came around.

 And of course, I couldn't make cake pops and not create some little animals from them. I just can't resist!
 All of these little guys are chocolate with chocolate frosting. I figure the little kids will be happiest with that flavor combo (or lack of combo). The hedgehog eyes are just pearls. I wrote with edible marker on them with my markers that I LOVE! I bought them at least four months ago and used a number of times with great results. For the turtles, I mixed some various colors of melts (red, white, and chocolate) and dipped some pretzel stick pieces in it. Then after I covered the cake pop in green, I set it on top of four of the pretzels and then stuck in one more for the head while it was still wet.
 I got the cute little eyes for my birdies from a cake and candy store I have fallen in love with since we moved to Pittsburgh. It's called Sugar and Spice and it's located in West Mifflin. For as long as we're here, this will be my only candy supply store from now on! They carry Merck's chocolate (which kicks Wilton's backside any day of the week). On top of that, just about everything they sell is way cheaper than Michael's or even Wal-Mart. If you're in the area, check them out! We gotta keep local family owned, small businesses in business! Love the service too. Those gals know everything!

 The ladybug has junior mint heads and the rest is just edible marker again. Did I mention i love those?


I also decided to try a new technique out that I found a while back and thought looked fun. It's so easy! Wet on wet candy melts. This is by far the easiest way to decorate a cake pop that still looks awesome.

Whew, I'm cake popped out! Well, I'm done for another month and a half until the next birthday, anyway. Gotta come up with something new for a little two-year old. Hmmm......

3 Comments from you:

Jilly Bean said...

Sweet stand. Go Jar! And the cake pops look great. I'd wonder how you have time to make them, but I imagine it's a serious creative outlet for you, thus a necessity! Nice work!

Anonymous said...

I can barley make a ball!! I think cake pops are SO hard! I hate the coating. I just can't believe you can make all these cool shapes and have Any hair left in your head. They are so cute. And AMAZING~!!

Melinda Ford said...

Awww...thanks! The first couple times are the most difficult as it isn't easy to know what the cake pop mix should look like and how it should feel. It should feel kind of like play dough. :)That's one of the hardest parts because if it's either too moist or too dry the candy coating will make the cake pop fall off the stick! Once you have that part down, it's much easier to make the shapes and put on the candy coating. You should keep trying!