Moscato Mom: Mom Blogger, Pensacola Blogger, Cake Pop Enthusiast: Moscato Mom
Because Mommy Needs a Time-Out Too
Yes, I realize that Halloween is 6 weeks away – but I’ve been itching to design some new Cake Pops using my Babycakes Cake Pop Maker, so I seized the opportunity! Here is a step by step for one of the easiest – and cutest – cake pops I have ever made!
Nothing says summer like Key Lime Pie. Growing up my favorite summertime memories always include fresh seafood (yay for growing up on the Gulf Coast) followed by a cool slice of Key Lime Pie.
When I was perusing Pinterest and saw a Pin for Key Lime Cupcakes from My Madison Bistro, I knew I had to give it a try.
Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups cake flour (for cake pops, use regular flour)
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cool unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 ½ tablespoons key lime juice
1 tablespoon key lime zest
1 drop green food coloring paste
¾ cup buttermilk
Icing:
1 stick cool unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon key lime zest
First of all, I had no idea there was such a thing as “cake flour” and it took us forever to even FIND the stuff. It is not by the flour – but over by the cake mixes. Go figure.
Also, cake flour works great for the cupcakes, but makes the cake pops a bit too fluffy to really stay on the sticks – which is why we used a piping bag with a huge round tip to put the icing on the top like we did the cupcakes, instead of dipping them like regular cake pops. Regardless, they taste AMAZING.
Oh, and My Madison Bistro said to sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt three times… I dont OWN a sifter, so I didnt do this part. I also dont own a mixer (hey, I am no chef – I am learning to cook here) so I just mixed everything by hand. I KNOW. My shoulder may never be the same.
Batter
Mix all dry ingredients first while your Tween daughter slaves over zesting the itsy bitsy key limes… do you know how much a tablespoon is of zest?!! (What? You are surprised we dont have a zester? Come on people) She did one, and then when she read on that she would need another whole tablespoon for the icing… well, thankfully she is a good sport.
Slowly mix in wet ingredients and mix well. In the original directions it says the batter will look curdled, however mine didnt… that could be because I was sans mixer….
Cake pops: Spoon batter into your Babycakes Cake Pop Maker and cook for about three and a half minutes – until batter is done but outside is not too brown. Fork onto a cookie sheet and run into the refrigerator for about an hour.
Cupcakes: Spoon batter into your Babycakes Cupcake Maker and cook about 6 minutes – also until center is cooked but outside is not too brown. It may take breaking into one for a taste test (bummer, right?) to make sure they are done all the way through. Fork onto a cookie sheet and run into the refrigerator for about an hour.
Icing
Again, this is probably much easier with a mixer-because mine was not “fluffy” at all, but like real icing, which we love. I also added WAY more powdered sugar to thicken it up. You cant have too much powdered sugar, right?…..RIGHT! Mix all of the ingredients until well blended and put into a large icing bag with a large round tip, and ice each cupcake or cake pop. Top with green sugar sprinkles or key lime zest (notice I used sprinkles… I think the Tween was icing her shoulder…) Put finished cakes and pops into the refrigerator to set (and because well… key lime is always better cold.)
ENJOY!
Photo Credit : http://www.bakerella.com/easter-basket-cupcakes/
This week I decided to make some Easter Basket Cupcakes to take to my Mom’s for an early Easter lunch. Inspired by the amazing Bakerella I found just the right ones I wanted to make! I decided to use the same recipe that I used for my St Patrick’s Day Cupcake Pops so they would be “healthier” and so I could show my Mom the #EqualSucralose that I have been using the last few weeks during my big weightloss.
Equal Sucralose is a non calorie sweetner that you can use instead of sugar! Cheaper than Splenda and much easier to use - I love the canister that it comes in – it measures cup for cup like sugar, but without the calories! You can find Equal Sucralose at participating Super Walmarts – check here to find one near you!
Though my cupcakes did not turn out NEAR as professional looking as Bakerella’s (I’ll blame not being able to find the right candies lol) I was still very happy with them, as was everyone else at lunch! Plus they tasted fantastic – and no one even knew I had not used real sugar in the batter – until I told them of course! You can see my entire Shopping Trip in this Google Plus Album.
Like I said, mine did not turn out near as nice as hers, but the girls thoroughly enjoyed making - and eating!! – them, and I loved knowing that even though they were nice and sweet and tasted just like normal cupcakes, they were not loaded with sugar like most cupcakes are since I used Equal Sucralose instead. Even Mom liked them!
Cupcake Ingredients:
Cupcake Toppings
Mix cupcake ingredients – except for the sprinkles – together in a large bowl and stir until smooth. When well blended, gently pour desired amount of candy sprinkles into mix and fold gently. (We used a LOT of sprinkles… I recommend NOT giving the 5 year old the tub of sprinkles to pour in.)
Spoon swirled mixture into your Babycakes Mini Cupcake Maker and let cook six to seven minutes or until cooked all the way through. Make sure to test the first one – you do not want a raw middle!
Place cupcakes onto a cookie sheet. Let cupcakes cool completely – overnight if possible. Tint vanilla icing to desired “green-ness” and apply generously to the top of the cupcake. Remember all of your candies have to stick into this stuff, so don’t hold back.
Next insert your “basket handles” and hold for a few seconds until icing begins to set around it. This was the hardest part for me – getting the handles to actually stay standing up. I was considering Super Glue when they finally began to stand up on their own. We quickly added the rest of the candies – the gummy ones worked best – and shoved the entire cookie sheet into the freezer to let everything set up.
We had an absolute BLAST with these and will make them again next year I am sure! I will however shop a couple different places to find the right candies, as all joking aside – I do think they would have turned out better with bigger bunnies and “real” rope candy - but the Twizzlers sure were yummy!!
Last week when I decided to make Easter Cake Pops I hit up the internet and found tons of cute ideas – my favorite being these little “sheep” cake pops. I already had the pearl sprinkles so I thought this would be a fun way to use them up. These were not near as simple as the Easter Bunny Cake Pops but they still turned out very cute.
Ingredients:
Mix your Funfetti Cake Mix as directed on the box. Spoon one teaspoon into each spot in your Babycakes Cake Pop Maker. Let cook four minutes. Use Babycakes fork to put onto a cookie sheet and put into the freezer for one hour.
Melt three or four candy melts and dip the ends of your sticks into the melt and into the cake pop. Set upside down on a cookies sheet and put back into the freezer for another hour. You should then have a cookie sheet that looks like this -
Melt the remainder of your candy melts and gently dip your cake pop into the melts coating the entire cake pop. Immediately set into cake pop stand (I use large pieces of styrofoam that I poke holes in with a screwdriver – cheap and easy) Place the jellybean in place for the head and hold a new seconds to secure. Then gently begin putting sprinkles on and kind of “tapping” them into the candy melt to gently secure them. Do this slowly to make sure the weight of the “wool” does not slide off the other side.
Like I said this took a bit of practice and a bit of time but was fun nonetheless. Each “sheep” takes about 5 minutes to complete applying the “wool.” Once you are happy with the wool, place back into your cake pop stand and let set for at least 20 minutes.
Once the candy has completely set and the pearls are secure you can use a dab of candy melts to apply the pink heart “nose” and chocolate ship “ears” (eyes!?) to the jelly bean. Then put them together in their own little “herd.”
These were the most difficult of the Easter Cake Pops that we made, but they were also the favorite at the party. We also made them with different colored candy melts which were cute – we had some yellow sheep!
Yesterday while playing on StumbleUpon I ran across this awesome recipe for Mini Chocolate Cake Donuts that just totally flung a craving on me. I have been wanting something chocolatey for a few days, so this seemed perfect. I planned on making them in the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker of course – making donut “holes” but with the same recipe. The only ingredient I was missing was the Cocoa, so I headed up to Winn Dixie and planned to make them for dessert.
Then, Mike came home with a box of crack Thin Mints. My chocolate craving went from just chocolate to a chocolate-mint craving… but the only “mint” I had was Peppermint Schnapps in the liquor cabinet and I was not about to go to the store a second time for just one ingredient… SO – the result? Quite possibly the BEST tasting Cake Pops I have ever made.
Ingredients:
It is probably best to mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet ingredients in the other and then mix together – but I didnt do that. I just threw everything in together which made for about 20 minutes worth of stirring to try to beat the lumps out of the batter. I didnt get them all – which turned out to be ok – but just sayin.
Once your batter is mixed spoon one teaspoon into each cup in your Babycakes Cake Pop Maker and cook for four minutes. I was highly impressed at how well these puffed up and made perfect little balls – much like how well Pillsbury Funfetti (my favorite cake pop batter) does. Pop your little yummy bites out onto a cookie sheet and let cool. You can choose then whether to stick them on sticks or just have “cake balls” – we actually did both.
This recipe yields SIXTY cake pops…
Ingredients:
The icing takes some time and patience – and sometimes adjusting – to get just right. The measurements above are very close to what we used, however to get the desired consistency you can add as much powdered sugar as you want. Obviously the less powdered sugar the thinner the icing is – and the more you taste the Schnapps. Using a piping bag you can pipe stripes on to your St Patrick’s Cake Cake Pops or use a spoon to drizzle it on. Either way they taste absolutely beyond fantastic.
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