Cake Pops for Girls - Recipe for Cake Pops Shaped Like Lipstick, Purse, Nail Polish...

PREFACE: Before 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 Girly Girl Cake Pops.

INGREDIENTS/MATERIALS

• Basic Ingredients to Make Cake Pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE.) 
• For Girlie Girl Cake Pops coating, you will need White Almond Bark or Candy Melts and Red, Pink, Purple and Black Icing Dye or Red, Pink, Purple and Black Colored Candy Melts. 
• Sprinkles to give some depth to the cake pops and for the button on the flap of the purse cake pops. 
• White Fondant Surgar Sheets.
• Black Food Writer
• Aluminum Foil

A. DRAW ZEBRA DESIGN (OR WHATEVER DESIGN YOU'D LIKE TO COVER THE LIPSTICK WITH) ON WHITE SUGAR SHEET WITH EDIBLE MARKERS...SET ASIDE

B. DRAW PURSE FLAP AND HANDLE ONTO SUGAR SHEET AND CUT OUT...SET ASIDE

C. MAKE DOUGH INTO GIRLIE GIRL 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.

• To make the nail polish shape with a curved top, tap one side of the dough ball on the counter as you roll the dough. Roll, tap, roll, tap...this will create one flat surface while keeping the other side round. When the desired shape is achieved, set aside or put in freezer so shape sets. 
• To make the nail polish shape with a long flat top and short flat bottom, tap both ends of dough ball as you roll the dough. With one end on the counter, "smush" some of the dough towards the counter so that end becomes longer because more dough is compacted in that end. Keep rolling and tapping both ends and just shape the dough with your hands till desired shape is achieved. Set aside shape or put in freezer so shape sets. 
• To make the nail polish top shape, roll dough into ball and then into a "log". Tap one end on the counter to flatten it as you roll dough. When desired shape is achieved, set aside or put in freezer so shape sets.
• To make the lipstick shape, you'll have to roll some dough into three separate shapes that you'll use to build the lipstick shape on the cake pop stick. For base of lipstick, simply roll dough into a ball and then tap each end on the counter to flatten as you roll dough creating a "barrel" shape. For middle of lipstick, repeat same process for base of lipstick, except a smaller version. Use lipstick base to gauge. For top of lipstick, roll dough into ball and then into a "log" tapping one end on counter to flatten it. Place dough log on counter or cutting board and use a knife to slice one end at an angle creating the part of the lipstick you would smear on your lips. Set all parts of lipstick aside or put in freezer to set shape when desired shape is achieved.
• To make the purse shape, either use a rectangle shaped cookie cutter and cut shapes out of about 1 inch thick dough patties, or mold dough into a rectangle by rolling and tapping all four sides so they are flat (roll, tap, roll, tap...). When desired shape is achieved, set aside or put in freezer so shape sets.
• To make the heart shape, use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut shapes out of about 1 inch thick dough patties, or use knife to hand carve a heart shape out of about 1 inch thick dough patties. When desired shape is achieved, set aside or put in freezer so shape sets.
• To make the hand mirror shape, either mold the mirror shape by hand as you knead and roll the dough or cut shape out of inch thick dough patty.

D: CUT DECORATED SUGAR SHEET (FOR LIPSTICK CAKE POPS) INTO STRIPS
1. Measure Strips - Use middle "barrel" of lipstick dough shapes to measure the width and length of strips you will need to cut from previously decorated sugar sheet.

2. Cut Strips - You can use regular scissors to cut sugar sheets.

3. Remove Backing and Set Aside - Peel away clear backing of each strip and set on dry napkin.

E: 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 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 of the dough shape and remember, for the shapes that have more than one piece, to push it through the shape enough so a good inch and a half is exposed for the lipstick and nail polish shapes so you can add additional dough shapes on top. At this point, the multi-piece cake pops should only have their base piece on the stick. The last or top piece is added after you coat the base with chocolate. The lipstick should have both barrels on the stick but not the actually lipstick shape.

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. 

F: MELT/DYE COATING
1. Melt Coating for Nail Polish Base - 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. 

G: COAT NAIL POLISH SHAPED CAKE POPS
1. Dip Nail Polish Base into Warm Colored 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 Nail Polish Top Dough Shape - Push stick into bottom of nail polish top dough shape until it is positioned on top of the nail polish base just barely touching it or almost touching it. 

3. Freeze to Set - Put cake pop with coated base and uncoated top in freezer to set for a few minutes. I keep foam boards in the freezer so I can put the pops in the board and they can set upright (or more at a slant).

4. Dip Nail Polish Cake Pop into Warm Colored Coating (Black) To Coat Nail Polish Top - Dip cake pop into black coating just covering the nail polish top. Let excess drip off of the side and make sure not to hold upright while it's dripping so it doesn't get onto nail polish base.


5. Freeze to Set

H: COAT LIPSTICK SHAPED CAKE POPS AND ADD SUGAR SHEET STRIPS

1. Dip Cake Pops into Warm Coating - Once your coating is warm and smooth, you can start dipping the cake pops. Cover both of the dough shapes 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. Immediately Add Sugar Sheet Strip - Wrap sugar sheet strip around bottom "barrel" of lipstick cake pop.

3. Add Lipstick Top - Push stick into bottom of lipstick top dough shape until it is positioned on top of the lipstick base just barely touching it or almost touching it. 



5. Coat Lipstick Top With Colored Coating - Dip cake pop into colored coating just covering the lipstick top. Let excess drip off of the side and make sure not to hold upright while it's dripping so it doesn't get onto lipstick base.

6. Freeze To Set

I. PREPARE DECORATIONS FOR OTHER SHAPES

• For purse cake pops, remove clear backing from flaps previously drawn and cut from sugar sheet. Set on dry napkin. Have candy or sprinkles for flap button accessible.
• For heart cake pops, have sprinkles accessible.
• For mirror cake pops, cut out circles from aluminum foil and set aside. (Obviously the aluminum is not edible, but it adheres to the cake pop coating ever so slightly so it can be pealed off easily before consumption.

J: COAT AND DECORATE OTHER SHAPES
Follow directions to melt and dye the coating for your other cake pops then dip the shapes into the coating and sprinkle if you'd like or add sugar sheet flap and handle for purse (immediately after coating so it sticks). Freeze pops to set. Lastly, add button to the flap of the purse cake pops by putting a dab of cake pop coating to flap and placing sprinkle or candy over dab so it sticks. Freeze again to set.

K: ENJOY



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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.

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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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