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Quick Cake Pop Tutorial

March 15th, 2012

So when I shared Kristen’s guest post on how to make Cake Pops I got all excited and couldn’t wait to make some for Valentine’s Day.

Well, I like to put the PRO in procrastinator and so I waited until the verrrry last minute to make them. And when I went to review the tutorial to get an idea of how long it would take me to complete some pops for my friends and family, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time.

Time to put my thinking cap on. How could I cut the turnaround time for these pops in half? And then it hit me!

I present to you, the Quick Cake Pop Tutorial!

Ingredients:

Donut holes – without powder, preferably
2 bags of chocolate melts
Lollipop sticks
Cookie Sheet
Wax paper
Deep bowl (or tall, wide glass)
Sprinkles
Clear treat bags (you can find these with the lollipop sticks)
Yarn
Scissors

I also bought some oreo cookies to make some chocolate covered cookies. I use the left over chocolate to dip the oreos halfway :) Yum!

Directions:

In a small dish, melt a handful of chocolates in the microwave (30 second intervals, stirring in between). Take your lollipop sticks and dip them in the chocolate, then insert into the donut holes. Set them aside on a cookie tray covered with wax paper. Put your assembled donut holes and sticks in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. This is a crucial step! Freezing the pops will help adhere the sticks to the donut holes and make it MUCH easier to dip into the chocolate.

While your pops are in the freezer, take about half of a bag of chocolate and melt it in a deep bowl (or tall wide glass) via the microwave, same way you did before. Remove your pops from the freezer and like Kristen’s directions: dip, swirl, tap!

And instead of placing them in styrofoam to dry, I just plopped them down on the wax paper-covered cookie sheet!

After about every 5 pops, make sure you add sprinkles. Otherwise, the chocolate might dry and the sprinkles won’t stick.

Once the chocolate is completed hardened, place the pop in a treat bag and fasten with yarn – voila!

I was able to make about 50 pops in less than an hour! The pops with the white yarn were white donut holes. The pops with the red yarn were devil food cake donut holes … they were DELISH!

If you have green food coloring leftover from making Leprechaun Pie – it would be perfect to color white chocolate and make cake pops as a last minute dessert for St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy!

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Leprechaun Pies!

March 8th, 2012

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, so I thought I would bring back and oldie – but a goodie! – Leprechaun Pies! Today, I’ll be showing you how to repurpose empty baby food jars and make delicious Leprechaun Personal Pies!!

First thing you need to do is gather approximately 10 baby jars. Be sure to take off the label and run them through the dishwasher.

Next, you will need the following ingredients:

12 oz of White Chocolate Chips (or one bag)
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened (or one package)
1 tsp. Green Food Coloring
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 Cups Whipping Cream, Whipped Until Stiff
2 Graham Cracker Crusts (I was lazy and didn’t make my own!)
1 package Andes Mints (or check your bulk candy section in your grocer!)

Cooking Instructions (a little different from last time):

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine the white chocolate and 1/2 cup of the whipping cream. Microwave on high power, 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
With an electric mixer, beat the rest of the ingredients into the chocolate mixture until everything is evenly blended – adding just enough green food coloring to give it a nice green hue.
Pour the whipped chocolate/graham mixture into the jars until they are just about full and place one Andes mint into the center of the mix.
Secure the lids back on the jars and allow to chill in the refrigerator for about 4 hours or overnight.
To give these personal pies a little pizazz (I love alliteration), I created these toppers for the lids - and you can download them here for free! And they fit a 2″ paper punch perfectly!

And to give these little pies a bit more flare, I zig-zag stitched the tops to scraps of white fabric.

And then secured them to the tops of the jars with white yarn.

Cute, simple, and recycled! Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

If you download the toppers and make your own personal pies, please email me or leave a link of the pictures!

Until next time!

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Cake Pop Tutorial

January 30th, 2012

And I’m back! Well, not back into the full swing of things, but I’m back to posting :)

If you recall, I moved in November to a lovely townhome where I live with my boyfriend and another friend. Things have been great, but moving is SUCH a pain! Even though we have been here for almost 3 months, I feel like I haven’t even made a dent in actually getting things put away and situated. Which has resulted in the silence on the blogging end. But I’m optimistic for February! I promise you will be hearing from me at least once every week :)

Because of all the house stuff I’ve been sorting through, I still have not had an opportunity to create a tutorial for you. BUT – I did enlist the help of one of my lovely friends, and fellow JMU alumn – Kristen from Miss Prissy Paige!

Kristen and I met many moons ago in a General Education Science class (boring!), and came to find out that we share the same affinity for DIY and design! I recently started following her blog and pinterest boards and saw that she was pretty awesome at making cake pops – and I was in the market to make some for a baby shower. So she is here today to share her tutorial on cake pops – enjoy!

________

Hi there! So nice to meet you! I’m Kristen {Miss Prissy Paige} and I write a little blog about DIY, sweets, decorating and of course baking! I was thrilled when Jordan asked me to write a tutorial on cake pops. I’ve made them a few times and definitely have had my ups and downs with them. Hopefully some of these tips will help make your adventure a big success!

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (and required ingredients)
1 tub of icing
Sprinkles
2 bags of chocolate melts (you can find these at any craft store in the cake decorating area)
Lollipop sticks (you can find these at any craft store in the cake decorating area)
Styrofoam
Jelly roll pan
Deep bowl
Extra spoons
Toothpicks
Jelly roll pan (or any deep dish)

Directions:

Bake your cake according to the package. I make a 13×9 pan and it will make about 35-40 cake pops, depending on your size. HINT: Bake the cake the day before you want to do the cake pops. Then it can cool completely.

Once cooled, crumble the cake using a food processor. You want the consistency of bread crumbs.

After crumbled, slowly start adding your icing to the cake crumbles. HINT: I add about 2 spoonfuls at a time. Too much and the cake will be gooey. Too little and your ball wouldn’t hold. Once added, start working it into the cake crumbles. It should begin to stick together and start to look like dough.

HINT: Make sure the cake is COMPLETELY cool. If not, it will end up in a gooey mess. Trust me on this.

Once the crumbles start to resemble dough, you’re ready to roll. HINT: This will get messy. If your hands are clean, you’re doing it wrong. I take about a spoonful scrape it off with my fingers, and then I start rolling. Once I get it to the size I like, I lay it down on a cookie sheet. Keep doing this until you have rolled the entire dough. If you notice at the bottom that your cake crumbles aren’t sticking together, add a little more icing. HINT: I use about ½ to ¾ a tub of icing once its all said and done.

Stick in the freezer to cool while you clean up. I keep them in the freezer for about an hour before I start dipping. Set up your station in the meantime. I like to use several types of sprinkles, so I pour a little out into small bowls. HINT: Here’s where the jelly roll pan or deep dish will come in handy. When you’re ready to decorate, do it over this dish and then you won’t have sprinkles ALL over the kitchen counter and floor. It keeps the mess contained. Again, trust me.

Decorating:

Take your chocolate melts and pour about half the bag into a microwave safe bowl. HINT: Find a deep bowl; you want to be able to completely submerge your cake pop into the chocolate. You may need less or more, depending on the size of your ball.

Start melting your chocolate, SLOWY. I’m talking 40% power and checking every 30 seconds or so. HINT: It only takes a second to go from perfectly melted to burned, and if you get to burned, there’s no coming back. And keep it away from water. Melted chocolate + water = BAD.

Once melted, stir really well. The chocolate should be thin. HINT: If needed, you can add some vegetable oil to thin out the chocolate. Pour a little in and stir really well.

You’re ready to start dipping. Take a deep breath, pull out the balls from the freezer and get ready. I like to dip the tip of my lollipop stick into the chocolate and then insert it about halfway into my cake ball. I think it adds a little extra security. Once the ball is attached, dip the ENTIRE cake pop into your melted chocolate, being careful to check that it is all covered. Slowly pull the cake pop out and tap and swirl any excess chocolate back into the bowl. Turn right side up and start decorating. HINT: The chocolate will cool quickly, hence why its important to be prepared. Once decorated, pop the cake pop into your Styrofoam to cool completely.

Continue this process until you need to add more chocolate. Again, watch those melts in the microwave!

To store, I keep them in the Styrofoam in my fridge. They will keep for about 3 or 4 days in the fridge.

I hope this tutorial helped. And trust me when I say this, practice makes perfect. Don’t get discouraged if your first few aren’t perfect, they will still taste as good and your family & friends will be so impressed!

If you run into a question I didn’t cover here, feel free to e-mail me at missprissypaige@gmail.com and I’ll try to help. And to see some of my work, visit my cake pops here.

Happy Popping!

______________

Thanks so much Kristen! Isn’t she great!! Now I’m ready for some cake pops :)

I’m planning on posting again this week – a new Atkins friendly recipe! I just came across Tofu noodles, only 3g of carbs per serving!! I can’t wait to try them! Until next time!!

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cake pop recipe, cake pop tutorial, cake pops, miss prissy paige

Fierce Feather Earrings – A Tutorial

September 20th, 2011

Happy Tuesday, my friends! Today I am going to show you how to make a FIERCE pair of feather earrings, like these!

Supplies:

4 feathers – 2 medium length, 2 short length
4 seed beads
2 large silver beads
2 hook ear-wires
2 eye pins
2 cord tip terminators (mine were a medium size)
flat nose pliers
wire wrapping or round nose pliers (not shown)
side cutting pliers (not shown)

Step 1: Place your small feather face down on your work area and then the larger feather on top, also face down. Line up their stem edges and place in the terminator.

Step 2: Using your flat nose pliers, firmly close the terminator around the stems of the feather. Be sure to secure it tightly. Repeat with second set of feathers and terminator.

Step 3: Slide one seed bead onto an eye pin, followed by your silver bead, and another seed bead.

Step 4: Now we want to create a loop on the other side of the eye pin. To do so, bend the eye pin wire at top seed beat to a 90 degree angle.

Step 5: Trim the tail of the eye pin to about 1/4″ long with your side cutting pliers. Then, using your wire wrapping (or round nose) pliers create a second loop on the end of the eye pin.

Step 6: Take the open end of the eye pin that you just created, slip it onto the end loop of your ear-wires, and shut the loop with your wire wrapping pliers. Then use your wire wrapping pliers to slightly open the other loop of the eye pin, slip on the feathers, shut the loop, and your done!

These feathers come in all sorts of FIERCE colors, I’m totally digging these magenta ones.

Or how about these colors?

Like them? Lucky for you they’re available in my Etsy shop for just $5! Get em while they’re hot – or should I say FIERCE!

See you all soon!

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The Irene Wreath – A Tutorial

September 1st, 2011

Last weekend, I came home to find that hurricane Irene had taken my wreath. Bummer.

I’m sort of a wreath freak, and I didn’t last 3 days before it drove me insane and I made a new one. I really like this one because it has a summer feel to it with a vintage vibe.

I’ve made a handful of wreaths before, like this one for Steeler’s season (so glad football is back!).

Or this one for Halloween – I can’t wait to bust this one out!

My Irene Wreath was really simple to make, and cost less than $5! Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make your own. And check out these clearance aisle fabrics I picked up at Joann’s yesterday – SO excited to make some new tops!

Moving along, you’ll need a 14″ straw wreath, a 3″ wide x 144″ long strip of fabric (I sewed together 4 strips of 32″ long fabric), 2 sheets of 3 coordinating felt colors (6 total), and sewing pins that match your felt (or will blend well).

First, you want to anchor the end of fabric to your wreath. I angled mine slightly and secured it with 3 pins.

Wrap your fabric around your wreath until it is totally covered. Secure with pins.

Next, using some paper, cut out 2 different sized leaf templates, and 3 flower templates. I completely freehanded these. Use these to cut out your felt flowers and leaves.

I used the brown for the leaves, and the cream and tan for the flowers.

Next, we’re going to make the flowers. First, fold your flower petal in half.

Fold in half again, and you get this:

The top will look like this:

Now, pin to your wreath.

Repeat these steps to assemble your flower.

Again, I just assembled these randomly, rearranging until I was satisfied. Add some leaves and you’re done!

Isn’t she purty :)

Tonight I’m gonna start playing around with the new fabrics I picked up yesterday. I’m so excited to have some new duds for the holiday weekend! See you all next week!