Sweets

Remember this post? I have always wanted to learn to make cakes and such. The problem is I am great at mustering up an idea, but the execution is not always up to par. I am learning by trial and error, so it is definitely a process.

This past week, three of my closest friends had birthdays. Amy, Kristen and Mindy had birthdays within 3 days of one another. As luck would have it, they were all coming to Gator Growl with me. I wanted to do something special for them, and I had just the perfect idea.....CAKE POPS! These are the cutest things ever, and you can make them into anything you can dream up. I decided to go with cupcake pops, because they are super cute.

The recipe is simple. Just use this recipe for cake balls, shape them however you would like them, add the stick and candy coating, and any additional details you would like.

Cake Balls: Pick a cake mix, any cake mix. I chose red velvet.
Bake as directed. Cool completely.
Crumble the cake into a bowl. Add one "can" of your icing of choice.
Mix really well. It is much easier to use your hands instead of a spoon.
Roll into quarter size balls and place on a cookie sheet. (You may choose to refrigerate before doing this.)
Once rolled, chill in freezer for 20 minutes.
Melt candy coating and dip until your little heart is content!
Very EASY!

This was my finished product:

I made one can for each of them. Now I am trying to come up with some for the Florida/Georgia game. Oh the ideas I have!

As if these weren't ambitious enough, I made a cake for Kristen for her birthday get-together. I have the best friends. They always let me try out something new on them. This cake was my first attempt at homemade buttercream icing. Everything else I have done has been with fondant.

She is an AVID Seminole fan, so I made her a Seminole Spear cake. The design was hand-carved from my homemade pound cake recipe. I then made and colored the icing. Spreading the icing was an entirely different beast than fondant. IT IS A PAIN!!! And I am way too much of a perfectionist. But....here it is.


She LOVED it so that is what counts. And I gained some much needed experience for my next project.

The biggest problem I have is that I have no tools that are common to baking and decorating cakes. If I ever make a business out of it, I should name it "Primitive Creations" because I do things the hard way....PRIMITIVE! I have asked for some tools for Christmas so we will see if Santa delivers.