Cake Popping

I am not a cake decorator type of person.  If a cake or cupcake gets icing that looks half-way nice I'm happy!  Every once in awhile I try something a little more ambitious and I'm always disappointed with my efforts.  I feel like it looks like child's work!  So I don't do fancy cakes/cupcakes.  Since Sierra's second birthday my mom has purchased a beautiful artistic custom cake from a fancy bakery in town.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this year will be Sierra's first birthday party that includes friends.  There will be three little girls coming and I figured that two cakes would be a too much (since there will also be a "family" party) but you can't have a birthday party without cake....so cake pops "popped" into my mind. (hah I'm so funny!).  We had them for Sawyer's birthday and a friend of ours makes them so I figured they would be perfect for this occasion.  However, it didn't work out for my friend to make them for me this time around. 

I decided to try my hand at them.  At first I was just going to make coloured ones that resembled lolly pops because Sierra's party is somewhat candy themed.  I made the mistake of asking her about it and she staunchly refused that option and requested demanded princess cake pops.  Google is a wonderful thing and I came up with a plan, purchased the supplies and off I went.

First step:  Bake a cake from a mix.  Easy enough.  Cake has a funny smell though.  I think it's the PAM spray I used on the pan.

Second step:  Mix icing into crumbled cake.  I have Trevor scrape the entire tub into the bowl and I proceed to mix the cake into a sticky mess.  Funny smell still apparent.  The cake seems to taste okay.

Third step: Form cake balls.  Cake is too sticky.  The balls are not holding their shape.  I put the mixture in the fridge for thirty minutes and the consistency is a bit better.  I just can't get the 'off' smell out of my nose.  I make the balls anyway. They are not holding their shape very well.

Forth step: I finally can't get ignore the smell.  Since I thought it was my PAM spray I wonder if it was the oil used in the cake.  Sure enough.  My oil has gone rancid.  Gross.

Fifth step:  Dump the entire cake into the garbage.

Sixth step:  Go back to step one with a new cake mix!

Insert new step between one and two:  phone the cake pop making expert about the icing/cake ratio.

Repeat steps one through three minus the funny smell and with the balls successfully holding their shape.

I'll spare you the tedium of the next bunch of steps but they included melting chocolate, dipping the balls, rolling the in sprinkles, applying hats, lots of muttering, and finally ending with princess cake pops. 

I'm not sure I'll do this again.

Trevor assisted me.  He cut the sugar cone ice cream cones to make appropriate hat sizes.  He also painted on the faces.

This is probably the best one.

Below is the family.  Don't look too close please!