Return of the Cake Pop

Last week I had a cupcake project lined up for the upcoming Easter holiday. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out as planned and pretty soon I had 24 cupcakes that looked like a mini version of this disaster that had happened before. I'm starting to think that it's either the baking soda that I'm using, or my roommates are giants who stomp around and cause my cupcakes to deflate. Both are very plausible reasons.

Anyway, instead of throwing out a batch of cupcakes that looked terrible but tasted great, I was persuaded to turn them into cake pops.

Oh the dreaded cake pop.

The last time I made these, I had chocolate in my hair, a shake in my hand, and a crazy look in my eye.

Cake pops are not my most favourite thing to make. To be fair, I've only given them one try but that was enough for me to file the idea away and nervously laugh at trying it again.

Don't get me wrong. They're cute as a button. Looking up pics of other people's cake pops makes me want to try my own.

But then the horrible memories come flooding back.

The biggest problem I have is that it is So. Damn. Time. Consuming.

They're expensive, finicky, and take a huge set up too.

All for 5 minutes of a bite of cake.

Anyway....enough with my complaining.

This time around I used chocolate melts from Bulk Barn and I noticed that the chocolate cracked and oil oozed out of the crack. Not a cute look. They were easier to melt and work with though.

I spread out the work over a few days rather than trying to cram it all into one day which helps loads!

I also decided to add Nutella instead of buttercream icing to the cake crumbs which ups the yumminess factor but adds to the weight of each cake pop.

Although I don't like making them (and did I mention all the dishes I needed to wash?) they are definitely cute and can make for really cute designs. I'm going to keep working on them and trying to figure out a method that works best for me. When I do, I'll do an in depth tutorial called 'The Idiot's Guide to Cheap Easy and Cute Cake Pops'.

Happy Baking!

Spring Flowers!

I feel like a bear that just came out of hibernation.

The weather has been soooo unpredictable! Back in fall, people were saying that we were going to have one of the hardest winters ever. So obviously I went and bought a really warm (and expensive) coat and a really sturdy (and expensive) pair of waterproof boots.
And then winter didn't come.

But I'm not disappointed. As I might have mentioned before, I wasn't really built for winter. Not one hair on my head likes winter or snow or cold.

And then all of a sudden it became really warm and breezy and sunny and just DELICIOUS!

After a long time, I was able to try something new in terms of baking and decorating to celebrate the good weather.

I baked some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with a recipe I found in a cupcake book. I have to do a review on this book sometime soon.

I also watched a video on some pretty fondant flowers and was inspired to recreate the look. I gave it a try and it was pretty easy!! It took me a few tries to get the hang of it but the outcome is quite pretty.

If you want to try this and think the video is a little unclear, let me know and I'll do another post with step by step pictures and explanations.

I'm also really happy with how I photographed these. Obvious credits go to the sunlight but I like to think I had something to do with it too :)

Happy Baking!