My friend, Laura, The Cooking Photographer, asked me to do be a guest host on her blog for a post on pie crust and I hope you’ll go check it out! I even made an instructional video and you can see the post here: http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2010/09/perfect-pie-crust.html
Enjoy!
Veronica
**Update 5/12/11: If you are here looking for answers to cake pop questions, please check my Cake Pops FAQ and Troubleshooting Guide before leaving a comment. I also have a recipe for making cake pops or balls with leftover or broken cake here, a recipe for Vegan Dark Chocolate Cake Pops, and a recipe for Cupcake Bites (cake balls that look like little cupcakes–the easier version of cake balls). For my full pops index, click here.**
These pops are essentially cake truffles on a stick and are very simple to prepare: Bake a cake, mush it up with frosting, roll it into balls, insert a stick, and dip it in chocolate! These things really are a hit with kids because they are so fun, but adults seem to enjoy the delicious truffle-like confections equally well.
Want to make some? Here are step-by-step instructions, complete with videos.
Cake Pops
Makes 40-50 pops
Printable Recipe
What you will need:
1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you will not need all of it)
or 1/3-3/4 cup homemade frosting (I use my Cream Cheese Wedding Frosting)
1 (24 oz) package of almond bark/candy coating (white or chocolate)
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
3″x4″ cello bags
Curling ribbon
Bake the cake mix according to package directions. Once it’s cool, crumble the cake into a large bowl. I prefer to process mine in the food processor to fine crumbs. Place in a large bowl and stir in half of the frosting container or 1/3 cup of your homemade frosting. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined and thick like a truffle center. Mix in additional frosting if necessary. You just want enough to get the crumbs to stick together when you roll them into balls. Do not add so much that the mixture becomes soft and mushy!
Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. I usually do this step the day before and then dip them the following day. Do not freeze them before dipping or it may cause the chocolate to crack after they are dipped.
Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the flat end of the cake balls. (Bakerella says to insert a little less than halfway, but I go more than halfway b/c I imagine they stay put a little better when dipping.)
The cake balls will have a flat bottom from resting on the cookie sheet. Insert the stick into this end so the top will be round.
Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Immediately cover with sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set, then insert in a styrofoam block to harden.
You want the chocolate to come over the platform you created when inserting the chocolate-dipped stick, but you don’t have to cover it all the way to the stick.
Tap off the excess chocolate.
Add sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set.
I wrap my styrofoam board in plastic wrap to keep it clean so I can reuse it.
See the two hiding in the corner?
I ran out of sticks so I just made these two into cake truffles. To do this, drop one ball at a time into the chocolate and lift out with a fork, tapping off the excess chocolate. Place on wax paper to set.
This video illustrates the dipping process. Forgive my PJ’s–I made these first thing in the morning. OK, it was afternoon. I’m lazy on Saturdays. And every other day. Once the chocolate has set, put a cello bag over the top and tie the neck with some curling string and tie into a bow or curl.
I found these at Wal-Mart in the cake decorating section near the wedding supplies
Recipe Source: based on Bakerella’s recipe & instructions
*Update 1/19/12: I have disabled comments on this post, since there are over 400 and many of them are the same questions asked and answered over and over again. If you have a question, please refer to the FAQ. Thank you!*
I don’t like pumpkin pie. But I do like turtles. And now that I’ve made this, I know that I love turtles enough to make me like pumpkin pie if their elements are a part of it.
As for all normal humans (you know, the ones who already like pumpkin pie), they will like this pie too. It was a huge hit at my husband’s potluck at work. It is sweet & creamy–more like a cream pie than your usual custard filling, but still with the pumpkin flavor (made more palatable enhanced by the caramel & pecans).
This is a very simple recipe, so of course I had to make it difficult and fussy by making my own caramel sauce and graham cracker crust. I wouldn’t make my own breadcrumbs for a meatloaf , but I’ve spent up to an hour making huge amounts of frosting that requires boiling sugar & corn syrup, beating egg yolks to death…etc, etc, ad nausium.
I think I have a problem.
If you have similar problems, you can watch my step-by-step video at the end and prepare your own caramel sauce as well.
This year I told Dennis and everyone else that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was a cake made by him. He took on the challenge enthusiastically. Keeping his skill level in mind (the first and last cake he baked was ten years ago), I came up with this cake for him to prepare which uses a box mix and Cool Whip for the frosting. Watch the video to see what we all thought of it!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
If the video doesn’t play for you, you can click here to watch it on Myspace.
Easy Coconut Layer Cake
This cake has a filling that soaks in while it chills in the refrigerator for three days, making it super moist!
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
Cake
1 white cake mix
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup vegetable
¼ cup water
4 egg whites
Filling
¾ cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup coconut milk
½ cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Frosting
16 oz Cool Whip
1-2 cups toasted coconut (sweetened, shredded)
Beat cake ingredients on low for two minutes, scraping sides of bowl. Pour into two 8 inch round cake pans that have been greased and floured and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sit pans on wire racks for ten minutes, then invert and allow to cool completely, about an hour.
Prepare filling while cake cools. Stir together sugar, sour cream, milk, and coconut in a bowl until well blended.
Cut each cake layer in half to make four layers total. Place one layer on a cake plate and spread ¼ of the filling (about ½ cup) over it. Repeat with additional layers, putting the last ¼ of the filling on the very top. (At this point, Dennis poked straws, cut to the height of the cake, through the layers to keep them from shifting). The filling will leak out between the layers so once you’ve got them all stacked and the filling in place, spread the extra that leaked out all around the edges of the layers so that the filling will keep the sides moist and soak in there as well.
Place in a cake box or container and refrigerate for 24 hours to let the filling soak in somewhat.. Frost with Cool whip on day two and on day three, sprinkle with the toasted coconut just prior to serving.
It took me a while to get around to it, but I finally finished editing all the footage of me making that baby shower cake last month. It’s more entertaining than educational, but you might pick up a few tricks!
My husband shot this video while I made the last two of fifteen pies for a wedding.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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