Cake Pops

My kids received this wonderful book from our cousin Abbey this Christmas:

Ever since then, my kids have been pouring over the book, picking out their favorites, begging me to make some. Well, an opportunity finally presented itself, and for Audrie’s tenth birthday party, we decided to take the plunge.

Now, I have a confession to make. Every time I embark on a confectionary venture, I have these thoughts that I’m going to be fantastic at [insert pastry challenge here], and be forced to start a business because of my extraordinary talents. I don’t know why I think my creativity will translate into food, but I do, and about five minutes into my endeavors, I have to face reality and my little pipe dream fades away.

Knowing this bit of information about myself, I decided to try one of the easier looking cake pop designs:

Audrie decided she wanted blue and white cupcakes, so we gathered our supplies, and got to work. After getting through the brunt work of baking the cake, mixing in the icing, and forming cake balls, I was feeling okay. Once we reached the point of shaping the cake balls into cupcakes, I realized my cookie cutter was a little big for the job, but it didn’t deter those dreams of confection perfection from creeping in.

When the first round of dipping began, I was surprised to find that it didn’t end in disaster. I began the second round of dipping with all the confidence in the world, and watched as it slowly waned with each successive pop. I also witnessed in the eyes of my children, the disappearing aspirations of one day having pops in the shapes of robots, or owls, or even balls.

It was at that point that I decided that cute shaped cake pops are overrated, and cake blobs should be all the rage these days.

Though they didn’t look like little cupcakes on a stick, they tasted fantastic, and were more popular than the actual cupcakes. [renewed confidence]

If it takes the rest of my life, which it very well might, I will one day master the art of the cake pop.

xo

nessa dee