There’s nothing like a child’s birthday party to bring laughter, joy and MORE crumbs and chaos to your life. And that was our day last Saturday, when we celebrated the 2nd birthday of my sweet Zoe – born 9 days after her cousin, Jonah, those two are like twins to be around!
Because I needed something else to do (NOT), I was brainstorming ideas for her party and decided on making cake pops that I’d seen recently in Parents magazine. My sister-in-law had something similar at her wedding reception and they were called cake balls. You can also find many variations on this cake-covered-in-candy-coating-idea on Bakerella. They didn’t look too intimidating and so I jumped in…head first!
You make your favorite recipe for a two layer cake, whether it be from a box or from scratch…doesn’t matter. Chocolate, red velvet, strawberry…that doesn’t matter either.
Choose what you like, bake it in a 9 x 13 pan. Remove from oven and let cool until warm. Dump it from the pan into a very large bowl. Here’s your chance to release some tension…grab the closest kitchen utensil and turn that beautiful cake into crumbs.
Next you’ll need cake’s best friend…FROSTING. This also can be store bought or home made – you choose – no one will know unless you tell them. You want to start by adding half a container of frosting to the crumbs, stir to combine. Now you may need to add more, you need a stick-together-consistency, so add as much frosting as it takes to get it so you can form it into a ball.
You can measure out the cake however you like, a cookie scoop would work great BUT since I didn’t have one (hint, hint to anyone looking to buy me a birthday present) I used the 2 Tablespoon coffee measure that I found in my utensil drawer.
Next you want to place your perfectly shaped cake balls onto waxed paper and put them in the freezer for a few hours. If you are making these into cake pops, then insert a lollipop stick about an hour and a half into the freezing process.
The next step is to coat them in a candy coating. You can use almond bark or candy melts. I used the candy melts and choose chocolate and lavender (which were vanilla flavored).
REMOVE THE CAKE FROM THE FREEZER ABOUT 30 -45 MINUTES BEFORE YOU WANT TO DIP IT.
Did you notice that last sentence was capitalized? I wanted to get your attention and tell you to REMOVE THE CAKE FROM THE FREEZER ABOUT 30-45 MINUTES BEFORE YOU WANT TO DIP IT.
An important step that I learned a little too late.
After dipping my first 8 or so, I noticed the coating was beginning to crack and then I realized that it wasn’t made to cover the superfrozen cake – it was made to cover the been-out-of-the-freezer-for-a-while cake. So that’s why I’m tellin’ ya – REMOVE THE CAKE FROM THE FREEZER ABOUT 30 – 45 MINUTES BEFORE YOU WANT TO DIP IT or you’ll be patching the candy coating like I was!
You dip the pops/balls and wipe off the excess coating and place on waxed paper to set. You can garnish with sprinkles or anything else at this point before the candy sets.
You will want to store this in the fridge, but set out at least 15-20 minutes before serving. The inside is that wonderful moist cake, the outside smooth candy coating. Someone that enjoyed these this past weekend said “These are almost a confection!” They are definitely different and SO GOOD!
I decided to use Crayola Crayons as a theme for this party. So I rubber banded them to the sticks of the cake pops.
The decorations were kept pretty simple – a bunch of balloons. The tray of cake pops/balls was placed in the middle of the table to catch your eye.
The kids at the party all received a Crayola doodle book and a box of crayons (both of which I picked up at Target).
The Birthday Girl
Kids at the party ready to devour their cake!
Coleslaw-topped Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwiches
Hot Dogs
Pasta Salad
Chips
Garlic Dip w/Pretzel Chips
A Relish Tray
And a fresh peach pie!!! Because for some reason, I can never make just one dessert!
It was pretty simple and everyone had a good time. I’ll be sharing some of the recipes from this menu soon, including the recipe that I used to make the chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting for the cake pops.
