Finger Food Recipe for Unique Pizza Slice Finger Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

• Bread
• Sliced Cheese
• Dipping Sauce
• Shredded Slaw
• Sliced Meat/Lunch Meat
• Pepperoni

The Time-Saving Tutorial: How to Make Perfect Cake Balls

INGREDIENTS

• Cake Mix - and ingredients to bake the cake.
• Candy Melts or Almond Bark - for cake ball coating
• Sprinkles or Decorations
• Shortening
• Cupcake Cups

1. MAKE A CAKE

Make a cake following the mix's instructions from start to finish.

2. CUT THE EDGES OFF

Once the cake has cooled, cut the edges off of the cake while cake is in pan. So basically cut out a cake within your cake. You're not going to use the edges.

3. CUT THE CAKE AND PUT SECTIONS INTO A LARGE BOWL

Cut cake into a few sections and put into large bowl (leaving the edges in the pan.)

4. MIX IN ICING

Mix 1/2 a jar of icing into the bowl of cake "mashing" contents together until you have dough.

5. FREEZE DOUGH

Freeze dough for 15 minutes.

6. ROLL DOUGH INTO BALLS

Roll dough into balls about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter.

7. FREEZE DOUGH BALLS

Freeze dough balls for 15 minutes.

8. MELT COATING FOR CAKE BALLS

• A. Put a couple handfulls of candy melts or almond bark into a microwave safe container. The disposable containers are best for conducting heat and preventing burning and their size is perfect for dipping.
• B. Heat container of candy melts or almond bark on 6 or 7 power for 30 seconds.
• C. Stir container of candy melts or almond bark and reheat for another 30 seconds.
• D. Repeat step C until your coating is almost completely melted. (2 or 3 - 30 second heatings followed by stirrings should be enough to move on to step E.)
• E. Add shortening to thin coating. Just like you would add a pat of butter while cooking, you need to add shortening in pats at a time until you get a feel for how much you need. Stir mixture of candy melts or almond bark and shortening.
• F. Heat for 30 seconds (still on 6 or 7 power).
• G. Stir coating and add more shortening if needed.
• H. Repeat step G until your consistency is adequate for dipping.

(Tasty Cake Pops on YouTube has the best video tutorial on heating candy melts for coating cake balls or cake pops. Her 7 part video series is below.)

9. PREPARE DIPPING STATION

Have cupcake cups sitting on a plate or baking rack as well as any sprinkles or topping you may want to use near your dipping station as you will need to almost immediately put the coated cake ball into the cupcake cup and decorate it.



10. COAT DOUGH BALLS

Use a skewer or lolli stick and insert it very gingerly and not very far into the dough balls before you dip each one so you can dip and spin the dough ball (very carefully so the ball doesn't come off of the stick) in the coating.

11. PUT CAKE BALL INTO CUPCAKE CUP

Hold the coated cake ball over the coating as it drips excess coating for a couple seconds then put coated cake ball into cupcake cup by holding the skewer, cake pop down over the cupcake cup and giving the skewer a little shimmy so the cake ball slides down the stick and right into the cup.

12. COVER HOLE WITH COATING

Cover skewer hole with coating by dipping your skewer into the coating and spooning out some coating then shaking it off of the skewer and into and over the skewer hole in your cake ball.

13. DECORATE

Shake or sprinkle toppings onto the cake ball immediately after filling the skewer hole with warm coating.

14. FREEZE TO SET

Once you've decorated 3 or 4 cake balls you want to get them into the freezer so they set perfectly.

15. PRESENT OR SERVE

Once you've completed your batch and they've all spent at least 10 minutes in the freezer you can move them to the refrigerator or prepare to serve or gift them.

How To Make Ice Cream Cake Pops with Waffle Cone Cake Pop Wraps

INGREDIENTS/MATERIALS

• Basic Ingredients to Make Cake Pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE.) 
• Almond Bark/Candy Melts/Icing Dye - For Ice Cream Cone Cake Pops coating, you will need whatever color almond bark or candy melts you would like the ice cream to be or white almond bark or candy melts and icing dye in the color(s) you want. 
• Sprinkles and Candies to decorate or for ice cream "toppings" 
• Index Cards - 3 in x 5 in, PLAIN NO LINES ON EITHER SIDE
• Color Printer 
• Hole Puncher

A. MAKE WAFFLE CONE CAKE POP WRAPS

1. Find a Waffle Cone Pattern Image - You can search internet images for a waffle cone pattern and save it to your computer for printing or use the image I used below:

2. Print Waffle Cone Image onto Index Cards - Load index cards into your color printer and print waffle cone image on both sides of cards. Be sure to adjust settings or properties for your printer to recognize the 3 in x 5 in size of the index cards. If your printer doesn't have this size as an option, 4 in x 6 in works just about the same.

Crafty Gal Tip: Using Photoscape, from the print tab, set paper to "full" at "4 in x 6 in", and under print set-up, make size "4 in x 6 in", then under properties choose "photo printing", "borderless" and "matte photo paper". 

3. Punch Holes into Waffle Cone Index Cards - Once index cards have your pattern printed on them and they are dry, punch four holes into each card as they are shown in image below:

4. Put Aside to Dress Cake Pops - This is the final step of the entire process. Don't put the wraps onto cake pop sticks until cake pops are completely finished and right before you arrange them in a presentation for serving or gifting.

B: MAKE CAKE POP BATCH READY FOR DECORATING

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE THIS TUTORIAL, you need to perform steps 1-9 of my tutorial on making cake pops which are listed HERE. These steps will take you through making your cake pops and coating them so they are ready for decorating. Remember that the transition from step 9 of "How to Make Cake Pops" (which involves coating the cake pops) to the the rest of this tutorial, "How To Make Ice Cream Cake Pops with Waffle Cone Cake Pop Wraps" consists of only a matter of seconds as your cake pops must be decorated/sprinkled immediately after they are coated with warm candy coating and before the coating begins to dry. 

C: SPRINLE ICE CREAM CAKE POPSTo add sprinkles to cake pops, you have to be very quick. The coating cannot dry before you decorate or nothing will stick. Dry time begins the moment the pop is removed from the coating and is completely set in about 10 seconds.

Liberally pour or sprinkle with your fingers the sprinkles onto your freshly coated cake pop rotating the pop in one hand while you sprinkle with the other.

(To make some of cake pops appear to be topped with whipped cream and cherry or fruit or to be "glazed", you will need to decorate them twice. So you will sprinkle them, then set them in the freezer or refrigerator for a while, then you will decorate them again with icing writers and more sprinkles/candy. You can leave some unsprinkled at first and just add the second topping decorations to the plain coated ones, after they've been frozen/refrigerated, to break up the design a bit.)

D: SET CAKE POPS

When you are done decorating your cake pops with the first round of toppings, put the pop stick into the foam board (I put them in at a slant so the dough doesn't get too heavy and start to slide down the stick.) and let them set. Again, I have my foam board already in the freezer so when I put each pop into it, the cold air helps them set quicker and avoids dripping or moving of the ball. I like to keep the pops on the foam board in the freezer for 20 mins or until outside is hard and then remove them and place them on a foiled cookie sheet or place in large Ziplocks. Store cool but do not keep in freezer for long periods or the coating will crack and the dough will harden.

E: DECORATE SOME OF THE CAKE POPS A SECOND TIME OR THE ONES YOU DID NOT ALREADY SPRINKLE

Once they've set in the freezer/refrigerator and coating and/or sprinkles are in place you can top off some cake pops with additional decorations.Use Icing Writer in white to squeeze a dab of "cream" onto the top of a cake pop.You can then add sprinkles, or candies on top of the "cream" right away or after the cake pop has set in the freezer/refrigerator if the icing is too runny.

F: SET CAKE POPS

Put cake pops back into the freezer/refrigerator to set them before wrapping them with the waffle cone wraps. You want cake pops to be firm and dry before you handle them with the wraps.

G: WRAP CAKE POPS WITH WAFFLE CONE WRAPS

The image below, from left to right, demonstrates how to attach the waffle cone cake pop wraps to your cake pops sticks.

YOUR FEEDBACK/COMMENTS/QUESTIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOME HERE.

Lemon and Orange Orchard Cake Pops Recipe

PREFACEBefore you begin to follow this tutorial, you need make cake pop dough. Perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed with instructions below to create lemon and orange orchard cake pops.



INGREDIENTS/MATERIALS

• Basic Ingredients to Make Cake Pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE.) 
• For lemon and orange orchard cake pops coating, you will need White Almond Bark or Candy Melts and Brown/Tan, Yellow and Orange Icing Dye or Brown/Tan, Yellow and Orange Colored Candy Melts. 
• Sprinkles to give some depth to the cake pops. 
• Green Fondant Surgar Sheets. White sugar sheets will work too if you have a green food writer.

A. CUT OUT LEAVES FROM SUGAR SHEET...SET ASIDE
1. Sugar Sheets Can be Cut with Regular Scissors Just Like Paper. I didn't purchase sugar sheets for a while because the store display made it seem like you couldn't use them unless you bought this whole pattern making and cutting system. (I didn't have a green sheet when I began my orchard cake pops so I used a green FoodWriter on a white sugar sheet to draw and color leaves. I ended up at JoAnne's mid-project though so half of my leaves were cut from a green sugar sheet.)



2. Remember to Remove the Plastic Backing After you Cut Out Your Leaves and before you start to melt your cake pop coating so they are prepped and ready to stick on your cake pops right after dipping.



3. Then Aside on a dry paper towel.



B. MAKE DOUGH INTO TERRACOTTA POT SHAPES

1. Roll Half of Your Dough into Pot Shapes... - Scoop out a small handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands, rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed. As you knead the dough from hand to hand, start to roll it into a ball and then into a "log". You'll have to work at it a bit to get the terracotta pot shape but as your dough gets packed into a ball/log begin to pound one end on your counter top or palm of  your end at the same time pressing more dough to that same end so you're achieving the pot shape with the top end wider than the bottom. Then roll it out a tad and repeat until you've got a perfect little pot. 


...and Half into Fruit Shapes. - Scoop out a small handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands, rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed. As you knead the dough from hand to hand, start to roll it into a ball. Roll out round cake balls until the rest of your dough is in shapes. You can roll out some small dough balls to mix into your orchard design. It's best to not have all the fruit the same size. 


2. Freeze to Set - Place your shapes onto an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet and keep in the freezer for about 20 minutes. (Put each shape into the freezer after it's made so the dough can set while you are molding the rest of the dough.) 


B: MAKE CAKE BALLS INTO CAKE POPS
1. Prepare your Work Space - 

• Foam Board in Freezer - You will need your foam board close or in your freezer. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one cake pop in the foam to dry/set all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so your space will need to be arranged for efficiency. 
• Dough Balls Near Microwave
• Aluminum Foil Covering Countertops - I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough balls on a pan next to my microwave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I coat and sprinkle/decorate the cake balls. 

Crafty Gal Tip: Skewers Instead of Lollis...I use barbeque skewers for sticks. They are long so I break them in half or start by using scissors to cut them in the middle and then break them on the cut. Lolli sticks work just fine, but they are a bit larger in diameter which makes a larger hole in the cake ball when inserted and ultimately the risk of the cake ball sliding down the stick once they become heavier with the chocolate coating is larger too.

2. Secure Terracotta Dough Shapes to Sticks - In order to help your dough shapes stay on the sticks, you need to first dunk the sticks into melted almond bark or candy melts (melting instructions in next step) about 1/2 an inch and then put the melted chocolate end of the stick straight into your dough shapes. Push the stick, coated-end into the bottom or less-wide side of the terracotta pot shape and remember to push it through the pot enough so a good inch and a half is exposed so you can add the fruit shapes. Best that make your entire batch of terracotta pot dough shapes into pops, followed by another short vacation in the freezer with sticks in place, and then begin coating them with melted almond bark or candy melts.

Crafty Gal Tip: Why I Prefer the Microwave to Heat Cake Pop Coating and How to Avoid Burning When Melting and Bubbles or Bleeding from your Final Design...Because I work with different colors and flavors of almond bark/candy coating for one batch of cake balls, I prefer using the microwave over a double boiler/melting pot so I can use multiple microwave safe containers instead of all the scraping, cleaning and reheating that goes along with the one-pot-process. If you have tried and failed with the microwave before, please read on (and view the YouTube tutorial by TastyCakePops). I feel your frustration. I've lived it. I think I've come out on the other side though. 

C: MELT/DYE COATING
1. Melt Coating for Terracotta Pots - So you have your dough pops ready for dipping... Grab a few squares of your white almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I've trial/error'd every type of container, mug, bowl, etc. you can think of and it's the small ZipLock containers that are perfect in size as well as conducting and distributing the heat from the microwave evenly so your coating doesn't burn when melting. Fill the container about halfway with candy melts or a couple squares of almond bark and microwave on half power for 30 seconds. Stir contents though not much melting has begun. Microwave in 30 second intervals while stirring in between until melting has taken over about half of the bark/melts. 

2. Thin Coating with Vegetable Shortening - DON'T BE CRAZY AND SKIP THIS STEP. If you forgot to get shortening, go to the grocery now and save yourself a couple hairs that you would be pulling out of your head should you proceed without it. Add shortening by the tablespoon, stirring then microwaving in 30 second intervals. You may need to add bark/melts to attain a consistency adequate for flawless coating and have enough in your container to be able to dip and engulf the cake ball. 



(Tasty Cake Pops on YouTube has the best video tutorial on heating candy melts for coating cake balls or cake pops. Her 7 part video series is below.)

3. Dye Coating - In between heating and thinning your cake pop coating you may need to add food color or icing dye if you are not using colored candy melts. To color white almond bark or candy melts, you want to add food dye the same way you add the shortening, in intervals and in between heatings, stirring until the desired result is achieved. 

D: COAT TERRACOTTA POT SHAPED CAKE POPS

1. Dip cake pops into warm coating - Once your coating is warm and smooth, you can start dipping the cake pops. Cover the dough shape entirely with the coating, then let excess drip by holding the pop sideways or ball down. Tapping the stick on the side of the melting container while spinning it slowly helps remove excess coating so your coating finish is flawless in texture. 


2. Add Sugar Sheet Leaves - Position sugar sheet leaves on top of pots (or fruit) immediately after coating.

E: SET TERRACOTTA SHAPED CAKE POPS

When you are done decorating your cake pop, put the pop stick into the foam board (I put them in at a slant so the dough doesn't get too heavy and start to slide down the stick.) and let them set. Again, I have my foam board already in the freezer so when I put each pop into it, the cold air helps them set quicker and avoids dripping or moving of the ball. I like to keep the pops on the foam board in the freezer for 20 mins or until outside is hard and then remove them and place them on a foiled cookie sheet or place in large Ziplocks. Store cool but do not keep in freezer for long periods or the coating will crack and the dough will harden.

F: ADD LEMON AND ORANGE SHAPED DOUGH BALLS TO TERRACOTTA POT CAKE POPS

Now that you have pots for your orange and lemon plants, you're ready to grow some fruit. So dip the end of sticks into some melted coating and add your dough balls to the end (doubling-up on some with the small dough balls). 

It may be a good idea to let your pops set a little while again in the freezer before coating the orange and lemon shapes.

G: COAT AND DECORATE FRUIT SHAPES

Follow directions to melt and dye the coating for your cake pops (C.) then dip the fruit shapes into the coating (D.) and sprinkle if you'd like. Pour sprinkles over freshly dipped cake pops and freeze immediately.




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Campfire Smores Cake Pops Recipe - The Beginner's Dream Theme

 Campfire Smores Cake Pops - Quick and Easy for Beginners 

  

Preface: Before you begin to follow this tutorial, you need to perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed with instructions below to create cute Campfire Smores cake pops.. First say that 3 times, fast!

Ingredients/Material: 

• Basic ingredients to make cake pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE.) 
• For Campfire Smores cake pops coating, you will need both white and brown/chocolate almond bark or candy melts and brown/tan icing dye or brown/peanut butter candy melts. By the perfect accident I nabbed marshmallow flavored candy melts from JoAnn's Fabric, a"limited edition". Of course I used them for the marshmallow shaped cake pop coating.
• Sprinkles to give some depth to the cake pops. I used Glitter Gold Cupcake Gems by Cake Mate to "roast" the marshmallow cake pops and liven up the graham cracker cake pops and chocolate sprinkles on top of the chocolate square cake pops.

STEP1: MAKE DOUGH INTO CAMPFIRE SHAPES

• Roll dough into Campfire Shapes - Scoop out a small handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands, rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed. As you knead the dough from hand to hand, start to roll it into a log, but not a skinny log...more like a log/ball. At the same time pound the ends of the log ball on to your foil covered work space/counter top to flatten the ends like a marshmallow. Roll, pound, roll, pound...the dough will start to take the form of a marshmallow. For grahams and chocolate shaped pops, form by hand basically the same way keeping in mind the width being about 1/2 inch so the skewer or lolli stick can be inserted and balance the dough shapes.2. Freeze to set - Put each campfire shape into the freezer after it's made so the dough can set more while you are molding the rest of the dough.

Crafty Gal Tip: It doesn't hurt to roll some of your dough into cake balls instead of shapes. They nicely break up the design presentation.

STEP 2: MAKE DOUGH SHAPES INTO POPS

• Prepare your work space - You will need your foam board close or in your freezer. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one cake ball pop in the foam to dry/set all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so your space will need to be arranged for efficiency. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough balls on a pan next to my mircrowave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I coat and sprinkle/decorate the cake balls. Because I work with different colors and flavors of almond bark/candy coating in one batch of cake balls, I prefer using the microwave over a double boiler/melting pot so I can use multiple microwave safe containers instead of all the scraping, cleaning and reheating that goes along with the one-pot-process. If you have tried and failed with the microwave before, please read on. I feel your frustration. I've lived it. I think I've come out on the other side though. I use barbeque skewers for sticks. They are long so I break them in half or start by using scissors to cut them in the middle and then break them on the cut. Lolli sticks work just fine, but they are a bit larger in diameter which makes a larger hole in the cake ball when inserted and ultimately the risk of the cake ball sliding down the stick once they become heavier with the chocolate coating is larger too.
• Secure dough shapes to sticks - In order to help your dough shapes stay on the sticks, you need to first dunk the sticks into melted almond bark or candy melts (melting instructions in next step) about 1/2 an inch and then put the melted chocolate end of the stick straight into your dough shapes. Best that you repeat this for your entire batch, followed by another short vacation in the freezer with sticks in place, and then begin coating them with melted almond bark or candy melts.

STEP 3: MELT CANDY MELTS/ALMOND BARK

• Melt coating for marshmallow shaped pops - So you have your dough pops ready for dipping... Grab a few squares of your white almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I've trial/error'd every type of container, mug, bowl, etc. you can think of and it's the small ZipLock containers that are perfect in size as well as conducting and distributing the heat from the microwave evenly so your coating doesn't burn when melting. Fill the container about halfway with candy melts or a couple squares of almond bark and microwave on half power for 30 seconds. Stir contents though not much melting has begun. Microwave in 30 second intervals while stirring in between until melting has taken over about half of the bark/melts. 
• Thin coating with vegetable shortening - DON'T BE CRAZY AND SKIP THIS STEP. If you forgot to get shortening, go to the grocery now and save yourself a couple hairs that you would be pulling out of your head should you proceed without it. Add shortening by the tablespoon, stirring then microwaving in 30 second intervals. You may need to add bark/melts to attain a consistency adequate for flawless coating and have enough in your container to be able to dip and engulf the cake ball. "Tasty Cake Pops" on YouTube rocked this procedure in her tutorial. I suggest you watch it if the process isn't quite coming together in text.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku4DD3inero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQc29pmavY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuxovCIddcQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_iVqNweWZ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDmPdEwgxno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJV3YVARQTE

STEP 4: ICE/COAT CAKE POPS

• Dip cake pops into warm coating - Once your coating is warm and smooth, you can start dipping the cake pops. Cover the dough shape entirely with the coating, then let excess drip by holding the pop sideways or ball down. Tapping the stick on the side of the melting container while spinning it slowly helps remove excess coating so your coating finish is flawless in texture. If you are going to add sprinkles or decorations you have to be very quick. The coating cannot dry before you decorate or nothing will stick. Dry time begins the moment the pop is removed from the coating and is completely set in about 10 seconds.

STEP 5: SPRINKLE MARSHMALLOW CAKE POPS FOR "ROASTED LOOK"

• Pour a mound of gold sprinkles onto a sheet of aluminum foil and dip cake pops, immediately from being covered with warm coating into the mound so just the flat end of the cake pop is covered. 

STEP 6: SET CAKE POPS
When you are done decorating your cake pop, put the pop stick into the foam board (I put them in at a slant so the dough doesn't get too heavy and start to slide down the stick.) and let them set. Again, I have my foam board already in the freezer so when I put each pop into it, the cold air helps them set quicker and avoids dripping or moving of the ball. I like to keep the pops on the foam board in the freezer for 20 mins or until outside is hard and then remove them and place them on a foiled cookie sheet or place in large Ziplocks. Store cool but do not keep in freezer for long periods or the coating will crack and the dough will harden.

STEP 7: COATING/DECORATING FOR GRAHAM AND CHOCOLATE CAKE POPS

• Once you've completed your marshmallow cake pops, you'll want to repeat the process (Steps 3 and 4) for the other shapes which require different colors of coating. Chocolate square cake pops can be coating simply by using brown/chocolate almond bard or candy melts. No adjustments need to be made to the process described above. The graham shaped cake pops coating can also be as simply if you can find tan and/or peanut butter candy melts. If not icing dye will do just find by slowly mixing a bead of color on the end of a toothpick into your melting/thinning process and in between heatings until you get desired shade. Sprinkling graham and chocolate cake pops can be done the same way by dipping into a mound of sprinkles (same gold for grahams and chocolate for chocolate) or by actually sprinkling with your fingers or out of the bottle over the coated pops.

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Perfect Cupcake Cake Pops - The Cake Pops Everyone Wants to Master

 The Cupcakes are my favorite cake pop design!

PREFACE/VERY IMPORTANT: Before you begin to follow this tutorial, you need to perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake ball pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed with instructions below to create cute cupcake cake pops. First say that 3 times, fast!

Ingredients/Materials for Creating Cupcake Shape and Decorating:

• Basic ingredients to make cake ball pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE. For the cupcake cake pops coating, you will need both white AND chocolate/brown almond bark or white AND chocolate/brown candy melts.)
• Small flower-shaped cookie cutter.
• White icing for decorating gel (Comes in a tube and can be purchased online at www.foodservicedirect.com or just click HERE.
• Sprinkles
• Some kind of small, round candy to simulate cherry/candy on top of cupcake. (Candy buttons on top of my cupcake pops.)

STEP 1: MAKE DOUGH INTO CUPCAKES

• Roll dough into logs - You should scoop out a handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands, rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed and doesn't separate or crack when you use the cutter to shape it. As you are "kneeding" the dough from hand to hand, start to roll it into a log, but not a skinny log...more like a log/ball (photo). The logs need to be wide enough so when you place the cookie cutter on them, it doesn't go OVER them like a ring on a finger, It needs to cut THROUGH the dough with excess left around the edges of the cutter. The logs also need to be long enough so dough spills over the top, once the cutter hits your cutting surface, to create the "muffin-top" effect. I prefer to cut each log with the cookie cutter right after I have rolled it instead of kneeding all of the dough into several logs and then cutting each. My though process is, I'm going to have left over dough either way and will have to repeat the kneeding/cutting process either way.
• Cut logs with flower cookie cutter - Standing the dough log upright on your cutting surface, place your flower cookie cutter at the top and press it down/into the dough. About halfway to the bottom of the log, you will need to tactfully hold the cutter at the sides or at the very edges of it while working it down as to not mess up the dough that spills out of the top. You don't want to make your own dents into the muffin-top with your fingers. After you've pushed the cutter to the bottom of the log, a little more tact is needed to remove the dough from the cutter without ruining the shape. Remove the excess dough from around the cutter and pick up the dough by the sides of the cutter. Carefully and slowly push the dough from the bottom end (not muffin-to end) working the dough out. I have to loosen the dough from the cutter by pushing the dough, with my index finger, little by little, around the circumference of the base of the cupcake shaped dough until it easily slides out.
• NOTE: There is a quicker way to make your dough into cupcake shapes but I find the aesthetic result is not AS perfect, but still cute. If you roll your dough into individual log/balls making sure their width is a bit longer than the width of your cookie cutter, you can press the cutter into each log/ball as they sit on a cutting surface and before the cutter reaches the bottom of the log/ball, pull off the cutter. The pressure of pushing down on the cutter will shape the "cup" of the cupcake perfectly while moving the excess dough to the bottom of the log. The excess dough at the bottom of the log that you did not cut through should look like a muffin-top and your cupcake will be sitting muffin-top down.
• Freeze to set - Put each cupcake into the freezer after it's cut out so the cake can set more while you are cutting the others.

Crafty Gal Tip: It doesn't hurt to roll some of your dough into cake balls instead of shapes. They nicely break up the design presentation.

STEP 2: PREPARE CAKE POP COATING FOR FIRST LAYER

• Arrange your work space so it is functional as related to the process - Before you continue working with your cake shapes, take a minute to make sure you are READY to proceed....IMPORTANT: IMMEDIATELY after you prepare your dipping chocolate so it is the right color and temperature, you will be working with it to make the pops and coat the cake. Your work space needs to be clean and efficient. It is best to put your foam board in the freezer and put your pops in it, one-by-one, after you coat each. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one pop at a time, all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so the "flow" of your space is vital to your final product. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough shapes on a pan covered with aluminum foil next to my microwave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I may sprinkle/decorate the pops right after they are coated.
• Melt chocolate - Grab a few squares of your brown/chocolate, almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I use a recycled Duncan Hines icing jar. Put your chocolate in the microwave and start heating it, checking and stirring every 15-30 seconds, until consistency is smooth. I have to set my microwave at power 6, otherwise, burn baby burn! And overheated chocolate is not salvageable. You may need to STIR in a little water, condensed milk or Crisco (canned) in between heatings, to make the chocolate thin enough to enclave the dough shapes easily.
• PROMPTLY move forward to instructions for C. Make Cupcake Dough Shapes into Pops and Coat with First Layer.

STEP 3: MAKE CUPCAKE DOUGH SHAPES INTO POPS AND COAT WITH FIRST LAYER

• Use skewers/lolli sticks to make dough shapes into cake pops - Grab a stick and dip it about 1/4 inch into the melted chocolate. Take a cake shape and while nestling it in one hand, carefully/slowly slide your skewer/lolli stick about halfway into the cupcake through the bottom of the "cup".
• Coat cake pops with melted chocolate - Immediately after you've made a cupcake into a pop, dip the cupcake into the melted chocolate so it coats the cupcake right up to where it meets the stick. You'll find yourself tipping the container of chocolate at somewhat of a 45% angle while maneuvering the cupcake around slowly and carefully so it gets covered evenly. Do not double dip. Let excess drip off as you hold the pop upside down or on its side over the container of chocolate. You may cautiously tap the stick on the side of the container to aid in getting excess coating to drip off.
• Freeze coated cake pops to set - Back in the freezer Cupcake...Place each coated pop in the foam board in the freezer to set while you work on coating the other pops.

STEP 4: PREPARE COATING FOR SECOND LAYER

• Melt white almond bark or white candy melts - Repeat instructions from B2 but with white bark or candy melts while incorporating next step of adding color...
• Add icing dye/food coloring to chocolate - Adding your color can be tricky. You have to wait until the chocolate is melted so you can smoothly integrate the coloring and achieve an even shade. Then, you have to heat the chocolate again to make up for the liquid coloring which more than likely cooled your chocolate a bit. I used pink food coloring gel and stirred it in until I got the color I wanted for my cupcake top.

STEP 5: DIP CAKE POPS INTO SECOND LAYER COATING AND DECORATE

The second layer of coating is to cover the muffin-top of the cupcake so it looks like frosting. Just as you did in step 3, repeat. Except when you dip the cupcake into your colored coating, you will only cover the muffin-top. 

Make sure the muffin-top is engulfed with the colored coating and then pull the pop out of the coating just when the color reaches where the muffin-top turns into the "cup" or base of the cupcake. 

Hold the pop, muffin-top straight down while the excess drips off but before the coating is dry and hard add sprinkles. 

Put in foam board, in freezer to set. Again, to break up my presentation design,  I skipped the sprinkles on the coating of some of my cupcakes but added them later to the "cream" of the cupcake. 

Add "cream" to your cupcakes by using white icing gel and applying it, in a swirl, starting from the dead center of the muffin-top until you have a dime-size circle at the top of your cupcake. 

For the cupcakes you spared from sprinkles in their coating, add some now to the white icing or "cream" of the cupcake. Top off your cupcakes with a Red Hot or other small candy embellishment. Freeze to set.

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Scotty Dog and Bones Cake Pops Recipe

PREFACE/VERY IMPORTANT: Before we even begin to talk Scotties and Milk Bones, you need to perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake ball pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed to my instructions for creating Scotty dog and bone cake pops.

Ingredients/Materials: 

• Basic ingredients to make cake ball pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE)
• White almond bark or candy melts

• Icing dye or food coloring in black and brown
• Confetti style (flat, circular) sprinkles (specifically white ones if you want your Scotties to have eyes) 
• Yellow sprinkles (the ones that are long not round)
• Icing for writing gel in white and brown

• Black Foodwriter edible marker (Optional for eyes...Can use dyed coating from Scotties instead)
• Red icing for writing (not gel)
• Scotty dog and bone small cookie cutters (I got cutters used for this project at Hobby Lobby. They are called "mini cutters" and are made by Sunny Side Up Baking Essentials. You can purchase my Scotty dog and bone ones in a pack of 6 online HERE). 

A. Make Dough into Dogs and Bones

Prepare your station with a cutting board or pan covered with wax paper or foil. You should scoop out a handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed and doesn't separate or crack when you use the cutters to shape it. Place the mound of dough on your foil or wax paper and pound it like a patty with the palm of your hand only a few times so the inside of your Patty is about 3/4 - 1 inch in thickness. Use your cookie cutters to create the dog and bone shapes one shape at a time or as many as you want from each Patty. Put each shape into the freezer after it's cut out so the cake can set more while you are cutting the others. It also doesn't hurt to roll some of your dough into cake balls instead of shapes. I think they nicely break up the design when in presentation.

STEP 1: PREPARE CAKE POP COATING

• Arrange Your Work Space so it is Functional - Before you continue working with your cake shapes, take a minute to make sure you are READY to proceed...IMPORTANT: IMMEDIATELY after you've prepared your dipping chocolate so it is the right color and temperature, you will be working with it to make the pops and coat the cake so you will need to make sure your work space is clean and efficient. Keep your foam board close to your dipping station or in your freezer. It is best to put your foam board in the freezer and put your pops in it, one-by-one, after you've coated each. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one pop at a time, all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so the "flow" of your space is vital to your result. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough shapes on a pan covered with aluminum foil next to my microwave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I may sprinkle/deco the pops after I dip them. 
• Melt Chocolate - Grab a few squares of your white almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I use an old Duncan Hines icing jar. It's plastic and deep like a mug which is perfect for dipping...OR use a large coffee mug. Put your chocolate in the microwave and start heating checking periodically and stirring until consistency is smooth. I have to set my microwave at power 6 or 7, otherwise, burn baby burn! It is easy to overheat the chocolate and then it is not salvageable. You must check and stir every 15-30 seconds. You may need to STIR in a little water, condensed milk or Crisco (not oil but the spread that comes in a can) in between heatings, to make the chocolate thin enough to enclave the balls easily...Careful here though. If you feel you DO need to thin the chocolate, add your choice of thinner little by little, stirring and heating in increments. Your mixture will reach it's temperature perfect for dipping and if you are under or over by a few seconds, it won't be easy to work with or you won't be able to work with it at all. If you are a first timer, hang in there. I've thrown lots of burnt or runny or clumpy chocolate. 
• Add Icing Dye/Food Color to Chocolate - Adding your color can be tricky as well. You have to wait until the chocolate is melted so you can smoothly integrate the coloring and achieve an even shade, then you have to heat the chocolate some more to make up for the liquid coloring which more than likely made your chocolate cool a bit. I used icing dye in black, dropping pea size servings into the chocolate and stirring until my coating was black, not grey. 
• PROMPTLY Move Forward to Step 2.

STEP 2: MAKE CAKE SHAPES INTO POPS AND COAT
You are about to realize the importance of your work station set-up. Your chocolate is warm and creamy and ready for it's first dip...but the first dip comes from dipping your skewer/lolli stick, not your cake shape.

•  Use Skewers/Lolli Sticks to Make Dough Shapes into Cake Pops - Grab a stick and dip it about 1/4 inch into the melted chocolate. Take a cake shape and while nestling it in one hand, carefully/slowly slide your skewer/lolli stick into it being cautious of pushing the stick too far where the cake risks sliding DOWN the stick after coated in chocolate, and also being leery of not pushing it in far enough where your cake could fall OFF the stick after coated. I don't mean to speak like it's a crap-chute and you definitely get the hang of it with practice. 
• Coat Cake Pops with Melted Chocolate - Immediately after you've made a shape into a pop, dip the cake end of the pop into the coating so the chocolate enclaves the shape right up until where it meets the stick. You'll find yourself tipping the container of chocolate at somewhat of a 45% angle while maneuvering the cake shape around slowly and carefully so it gets covered evenly. Do not double dip. If you've made your coating correctly, one dip should cover the entire cake shape and the excess should drip off easily as you hold the pop upside down or on its side over the container. You may cautiously tap the stick on the end of the container to ensure all excess coating drips off. 
• Add Deco if Needed - If you've decided to make your Scotties have eyes like the photo, now is the time to place one white confetti sprinkle where the eye would be while the chocolate is soft on the cake pop. 
• Freeze Coated Cake Pops to Set - Back in the freezer boys...place each coated, eyed, Scotties in foam board in freezer to set while you work on the rest but you don't want to leave them freezing after you've finished coating and eyeing the dogs. Transfer them to the refrigerator to avoid bubbles or cracks in the coating. 

STEP 3: REPEAT STEPS 1 AND 2 for BONE SHAPED DOUGH
The only adjustments you will be making when you repeat B and C for your bones, will occur at B3 where you will replace black dye for icing with brown, adding smaller amounts at a time so you can achieve the beige Milk Bone shade, and C3 which you will skip entirely.

STEP 4: EMBELLISH SCOTTY DOG SHAPED CAKE POPS
Your dog shaped cake pops should be nice and cool after setting in the fridge so let's get a pretty plaid sweater on them.

• Draw Sweater onto Scotty Dog's Body - Use your red icing writer to outline a sweater onto the dog's body. Then, with the same writer, color in the sweater but be conservative because the icing has to stay put, not slide off. It helped me to squeeze some icing in the middle of the sweater and use a toothpick to spread it out thinly.
• Place Yellow Sprinkles onto Scotty Dog's Sweater in a Plaid Pattern - Using tweezers, yes TWEEZERS, gently grab one yellow sprinkle at a time and place it onto the red icing of the sweater.
  (This part is the most time consuming, although as with almost every other step of making/decorating cake pops, it begins to be a piece of "cake" after you've decorated your 3rd or so pop.) The plaid pattern is easiest accomplished by placing the sprinkles in 3 rows of Vs, with the Vs of alternating rows upside down...like so:
  /\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/
  /\/\/\/\
  You will be placing the rows right on top of each other so there will be no spaces like the figure above and the Vs from one row will connect with the Vs on the next row so the 3 rows of connected Vs will look just like plaid print.
• Add Black Dot to Eye of Scotty - If you chose to give your Scotties a white confetti sprinkle for an eye, complete it by making a black dot on the sprinkle with your Foodwriter edible marker or dot the white sprinkle a toothpick dipped in your batch of melted, black, chocolate coating.
• Freeze to Set Completed Cake Pops - After deco is complete, always set pops in the freezer, then transfer to refrigerator.

STEP 5: EMBELLISH BONE SHAPED CAKE POPS
No bullets necessary for this. Simply use your white and/or brown gel icing writers to outline the bones and squeeze out 3 linear dots in the middle of the bones. Freeze to set. Then refrigerate.

FINALLY, ENJOY!

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