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Showing posts with label decorate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decorate. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Cake Pops

Let's talk about those cake pops I made for Annie's birthday party! Yes, they took a while to make, but it was totally worth the effort because they were SO cute!! I received many compliments on the cake pops; the flavor and the aesthetics.

I didn't actually take pictures of the process of making them because it was so messy, but I can tell you how I did it. I got the recipe from a blog called Bakerella (what a great name for a blog, I might add). If you look around her site, you'll see that she's a baking genius and does wildly creative things with cake pops. I, however, just rolled my cake into balls and put them on lollipop sticks that I purchased from Michael's Craft store.

1. bake cake as directed. I bought a strawberry cake mix and followed the mixing and baking directions for a 13 x 9 pan.
2. after the cake cools, crumble in a large bowl. I used my trusty large spatula (from Pampered Chef) - it does every job in my kitchen.
3. mix in a can of frosting. I used pink vanilla frosting - the kind that comes with the sprinkles. In hind sight, I probably shouldn't have used the whole can as the cake pops were really sweet tasting. Next time I'll use a bit less and see how that turns out.
4. roll into balls and place on a baking sheet covered with wax paper.
5. freeze. I froze my cake balls for a couple of hours (RE: did steps 1-4 during nap time and finished my job after the kids went to bed that evening).
6. melt the candy melts (or you can use chocolate chips or almond bark).
7. put the lollipop stick in the cold cake ball and dip in the melted candy.
8. stick the cake pop into a styrofoam block and sprinkle.
9. refridgerate until ready to serve!

This is what the centerpiece looked like:


Let's ask Annie what she thought of the cake pops:




Good to the last lick:
What did Annie's favorite Auntie think to the cake pops?


General Consensus: Cake Pops Rock!!!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Gotta have a play space!

The great thing about having a split level house is that in the summer, we hang out downstairs where it's nice and cool and in the winter, we keep warm upstairs. With the very hot summer weather upon us, this morning Chloe and I were busy setting up her new play area in the bottom level of our house. Tuesday a friend and I took the girls (the one pictured with C on the four wheeler in the pic below) to IKEA to purchase a table, chairs and a rug for the new space and later that day, I very easily put them together. This morning, I had the chance to dig through my closet of teacher supplies (yes, I have a whole closet for this stuff - and it's full) to find fun books, whiteboards, markers, and the laminated alphabet to include in C's new area. While it's still under construction as we have to get rid of some "junk" we don't use anymore, I am very pleased with C's area of the family room. Once we get rid of the other stuff in that room, I'll be able to expand her play area to include more toys and books (and I'm also in the market for a play kitchen). Let me know if you have suggestions for storage!


The alphabet which I used command strips to adhere to the wall:


A picture of her rug where she can drive her car and tractor: