Football Cake Pops

The saga of the cake pops continues.  This time, I got fancy and made some to look like footballs.  They are blobby footballs, but still footballs.  I hope they make the perfect treat for the Superbowl tomorrow.

To make these, I shaped the cake into a ball like normal but then pinched the ends to give them a more football-like shape.  (For instructions on how to make cake pops, see this post).

In order to not get a chocolate foot, my husband rigged up a cardboard drying stand.  Basically, it's a skinny cardboard box with holes punched in it.  This allowed the pops to dry standing up and helped retain the cake shape.  Most of them held up, some did not.

Finally, I used icing to draw lines on the footballs.  This particular icing suggested heating it in the microwave.  I suggest not doing this; it made it way too runny and I had to wait for it to cool off.

That's it!  I made red velvet cake this time and used cream cheese frosting.  Yum!

Easy Brownie Sundae

This isn't really a recipe, it's just a super simple way to fake a warm brownie sundae when you have a serious dessert craving.  All you need is a Betty Crocker Warm Delights Mini and some ice cream. 

Make the cake as directed on the box.  It takes about 30 sec to heat in the microwave and then you let it cool.

Scoop it into a bowl.  It will not come out pretty but who cares?  You're about to eat it.

Now scoop some ice cream on top.  DONE!  I used coffee ice cream but definitely follow your heart.  You could even go nuts with some whipped cream or well, nuts.

Chocolate Mug Cake

Last night I got a craving for chocolate cake and decided to try making one of those mug cakes.  I used this recipe from Instructables.

Image from Instructables Page

Overall, good for a cake baked in a mug.  I didn't have any chocolate chips so I scooped some Nutella on top.  The inside was a little dry so I can see how some chocolate chips mixed in would have been tasty.

Has anyone else ever made one of these?  What recipes have you liked?

IC#47 Part Two: A Chocolate Turkey

As I mentioned yesterday, my Iron Craft Project was not complete yet.  We worked long into the night, but it is now complete.  I present you with a giant cake pop turkey.

The idea went something like this. "We should make cake pops." "We should make them for Thanksgiving." "Let's make a giant cake pop shaped like a turkey."  Conclusion: my husband and I are weird.

This was our first time making cake pops, but I knew the basic concept.  We started by baking two different cakes, chocolate and vanilla (for dark and light meat).

Next, we dived in and started crumbling the cake up.  I went straight in with my hands.  Once it was crumbled, I added in about 2/3 a can of frosting and worked it into a nice dough.

For the body of the turkey, I just took the entire blob of vanilla and molded it into a turkey shape.  For the drumsticks and wings, I molded smaller shapes and stuck sticks in them.  It was a little weird putting sticks in the wings but it will make it slightly easier to eat.

Now it was time for chocolate.  We used bakers chocolate.  I've heard people mention using those candy melts as well, but I don't have the experience to compare.  For the drumsticks and wings, I was able to dip it in and roll around.  Since the appendages were pretty heavy, I used a spoon to help pour chocolate over and cover it.

For the body, I just poured a bowl of melted chocolate over the top and used a spoon to help spread it around.  Be sure to do this on a non-stick surface and not your final serving platter.  The chocolate really pools at the bottom so later you will trim the excess and move it.

Once the chocolate has set (the fridge really speeds this up), you are ready to assemble your turkey.  To move the body, find a partner.  My husband lifter the entire silpat we were using and slowly peeled one edge down.  I then put a spatula under that end and we slowly moved it onto the plate. We were out of chocolate so I used frosting to attach the limbs.  Just blob a bunch on there and press the pieces on.  I recommend using a utensil to push them on because your fingers will melt into the chocolate.

To finish, we cleaned up the edges where the frosting was and added little marshmallows to the ends of the drumsticks.  Done!

IC#47-A Sneak Preview

Our Iron Craft Challenge for this week was to make something for the table.  I'm making something to serve at Thanksgiving and didn't want to make it until this afternoon.  Therefore, you'll just have to wait awhile to see the end result.  For now, a little photo preview.

Iron Craft Challenge #15- Peeps!

This week, we were challenged to make something using Peeps as part of the Iron Craft Challenge.  This meant using the actual peeps themselves, not just making something peep related.  I didn't really want to have peeps sitting around my house as permanent Easter decor (sorry little guys), so I went the edible route.  In honor of my bird-inspired craft business, here are some peeps dressed up to look like another species.

"Well Mr. Peep, we certainly look sophisticated." "We sure do Mrs. Peep, do you think we pass as goldfinches?"

I used melted chocolate to "paint" on the coloring of another bird species, the American goldfinch.  I used chocolate chips and toothpicks as my materials, but I'm sure you could get more fancy-schmancy with it.  Although the female does not get as bright yellow as the male, I like to think that this is a mating pair.  They are shown here sitting on a cheerios nest.

Moments after this photo was taken, the cheerios nest was consumed.  As of the writing of this blog, the birds were still alive.

Fiesta!

Pinata Picture Source

Last night we had a fiesta-themed birthday party for me.  Complete with tacos and pinata (poor little pinata).  Friends, food, fun.

With no where to hang him, we used a paint roller extension pole, held by my husband.

My sweetie pie husband continued the trend of animal birthday cakes and made me a sea otter cake.

The sea otter is holding a shell and swimming through a rocky cove.

 My friend Kim gave me a fantastic bird business card holder.  It will be perfect for my upcoming show!!

And finally, in keeping with this theme, here is an etsy treasury inspired by the event.  And special bonus, every item on here was posted by the EtsyBloggers Team.  Enjoy!

Mocha Cupcakes

Last night, I baked some mocha cupcakes for a party.  They were pretty tasty, so I wanted to share with you.

 

 I used a basic chocolate cake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  This cook book has never steered me wrong and I highly recommend it.  I thought about posting the recipe here, but just click on the link :)  These cupcakes take about 15min to bake.

One thing I will add is that I scooped the batter into cupcake pans using a cookie scoop to dish out the batter.  We recently bought one of these using a wedding gift card and it is AMAZING.  You can scoop cookies, muffins, cupcakes.  Anything.  One scoop is the perfect size for mini-muffins.

I then iced the cupcakes with coffee icing.  This was the tricky step.  I used this recipe from Paula Deen for coffee buttercream frosting.  I imagined big, fluffy frosting.  It turned out rather thin, more like that glazey frosting that you see on sugar cookies.  I added more and more powdered sugar before finally accepting fate and using what I had.  But, it turned out rather good!  I just dipped the cupcakes into the frosting and they ended up with a pretty, light-brown glaze.  (although after some man-handling, they don't look quite as pretty in the picture below-consequences of a potluck I suppose)

Plus, I got to use my dessert tower.  Oh yeah.