They are (relatively) easy, SO STINKING CUTE, and (reasonably) inexpensive.
They are easy in the sense that it is a baked box cake, crumbled and mixed with canned frosting. Then shaped into balls, chilled, put on a stick and dipped in chocolate. You really could leave them just like that (that would be called a cake ball) but it is more fun not too (most of the time)!
Now cuteness, there is no denying that! They really are adorable. I've heard about 10 times since I've been making them "Ohhh, it is too cute to eat". Then the people eat it and want the recipe :)
It really is reasonably inexpensive. Box cake is usually less than a dollar, as is canned frosting. The sticks are the second most expensive part if you're just doing the plain ones. At JoAnn's you can get 25 for $4.99 and then use a coupon to cut that in half. At the Decorette shop in Portland, OR I got 100 sticks for $1.25 :-) The chocolate is the most expensive part. I've tried the bulk section at Winco melting chips, the expensive "professional" brand from the Decorette, and Almond Bark I bought at Bi-Mart. I've tried the Wilton brand too. They also sell another variation at WalMart. Really the only place I have no found it is Safeway type grocery stores.
When you do the decorated ones it can get a bit more expensive to get all the candies and sometimes certain candies can be hard to find. For example, when I was looking to make Thanksgiving Turkey cakepops I STRUGGLED to find light colored coffee bean size candy that could be the face. I even headed to the Sweet Factory at the mall and did end up getting chocolate covered coffee beans there...and then having to make a last minute realization that my black Americolor Gourmet Writer would not be able to write on it since it was the same color. So plan B became using white non-perennials and then drawing black dots on them. They did turn out cute!!
I had two wonderful helpers for this project in the form of one of my favorite friend's Sabrina and my wonderful Mom! We made a TON of cakepops. Really, it was too much and we would have survived with one batch but for some reason I had it in my head we needed a double batch. 3 hours later we had 27 turkey cakepops and over 50 sprinkled cakepops. It was a fun way to spend the day before Thanksgiving...with two of my favorite ladies!
*Make sure to scroll all the way down for a peak at a Christmas project...
And finally, the pictures :)
I pre-sorted out the colors we needed.
The stations were ready!
GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!
He looks a bit worried!
My wonderful helpers!
Well really, they did a majority of the work. I manned the microwave and sprinkles.
I LOVE this picture. Yes, this is of me. But I still love it. Something about all the colors...
Thanksgiving words.
The haul...One box for each of us!
The line up.
Yummy!!!
and a sneak peak at an idea I'm playing with for Christmas...
Gingerbread men :)
I used a Gingerbread Man Silicone mold that I got at JoAnn's (though I couldn't find a link to it on JoAnn's so this link is from another site). I wanted to see if it would work...and it needs a bit of tweaking but I think I'll try it!! There would be NO way I could make this shape by hand. And think of it...they are guaranteed to have hearts around Valentines, shamrocks around St. Patty's...the possibilities are endless!!
I've bought those light colored chocolate covered coffee beans at the Hallmark store, of all places. Coffee shops are also a good place to look. One of those things that you see everywhere, but you're never be able to find when you actually need it. Not that you need them now; I think your variation looks good too!
ReplyDeleteHow in the WORLD did I not think of a coffee shop! grrr...now I will know :) Thanks Robyn, have a great Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteThese came out super cute. Great job.
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