Cake Pop Extravaganza!!!

Well, this week was my last week at my job, and next week I start a new job!  (We're talking DAY job here - not the cupcake thing.)  My supervisor's daughter had requested more of "Miss Jenna's cakepops" having deemed Starbucks' cake pops "gross," and I also wanted to bake one last batch of something for my coworkers, so I thought this would be a perfect goodbye gesture.  I also had an amazingly large quantity of frozen cake balls in the freezer after the Mexican Chocolate Pudding Filled Cupcake Disaster of 2011.  (LOL)


My amazing friend and baking partner Marlo agreed to come over and hang out with me and make some cake pops of her own. We had to do it on a weeknight after she'd finished report cards but that was no problem.  I recently joined www.mycakeschool.com and watched a fantastic video about making cake pops that gave me a lot of great ideas.

First, mix in 4 tablespoons of vegetable shortening with 1 regular bag of Wilton candy melts, to help get the very thin consistency you want for cake pops.  Second, if you have a warming tray, keep your bowls on it to keep the candy coating nice and warm and thin.  Third, dip the sticks into the chocolate and then push halfway into the ball, and leave on the tray.  Here are some pictures:

I was inspired to make abstract cake pops that aren't "faces" or "objects" which tend to take a lot of extra supplies, time and patience.  I found some pictures online to help inspire me, and Marlo and I set to work.  We made a ton!  We had so many cake balls and not enough sticks, too!

Some obviously turned out better than others of course!  We had decided to make a flower design on the cake balls with no sicks, but it just turned into a huge mess.

First, I think the candy coating was too thick for the balls.  Second, it was too thick for the piping tip I had set up, and it made this huge mess.  It was too runny for the plastic baggie I tried next, but we got it to work.  They are so ugly!  But they were made with lots of love and fun.