Cake Pops, perhaps a first and last

Can you stand one more cake ball post? This time I made cake pops. Bakerella and others do a beyond fabulous job on these. All those who excel will be happy to know that they need not worry about any competition from me.

I made chocolate cake balls with chocolate frosting in them. I dipped the ends of the popsicle sticks into melted chocolate before inserting them in the balls. I covered the balls in the same melted white chocolate before inserting them into a block of Styrofoam.

Uh oh....I didn't have enough Styrofoam to hold 47 cake pops.

Looking around for a substitute holder, hubby and I found nothing suitable so I went to Michaels to buy two more blocks. Styrofoam, for the purpose it was serving, is not cheap. I spent $8 on those blocks, plus whatever I paid for the original one last week.

One pound of chocolate melts didn't look like it was going to completely cover all the balls, so the last dozen got a half dip and were treated to very tiny red, white and blue round sprinkles. There is probably a technical trade name for them, but I am sure you are clever enough to get what I mean.

A few cake balls didn't hold up to being inverted on the sticks. One fell apart before decorating, two others had the nerve to wait until they were decorated. And let me tell you about my decorating disaster. I had half pound bags of red and dark blue chocolate melts from the cake and candy supply store. I melted a small amount of each in two squeeze bottles I have used for this purpose for years. My intention was to make star like designs, some red stripes with a small blue star or blue dots and other fun designs on the cake pops.

The colored chocolates were melted in the microwave, the same way I've done them for years, on a low setting. I stepped out of the kitchen to check for a minute and came back to smell something odd. The bottle with the red melts had split its seam near the bottom. It wasn't a bad mess to clean up. The melted chocolate and plastic had congealed into a sinister looking blob.

* sigh *

I melted more of the red in a measuring cup and used the tip of the spoon to drip red chocolate over blue squiggles.

Flavor-wise, they were a hit. Since many members of my extended family don't bake at all, they were unreasonably impressed with them. Bless their hearts. The 8 and 5 year olds loved them. I think I have attained celebrity status among those three kids, at least in the dessert department.

If I ever make these on a stick again, it will be only a few at a time for the kids. I didn't think to cover the Styrofoam with plastic or wax paper so I have blocks with dripped chocolate on them. Do I pick it off, shave a layer, or pitch it and say never again? I guess my mood will decide that later today.

In another post or two, I will talk about two super simple things I made for the gathering we had last night. No cooking was involved, just a can opener, scissors, a colander, bowl and spoon. That is my kind of cooking!