Flower Cake Pops

I have been itching to use up the leftover flower cake balls that have been stored in my freezer ever since I made the Hawaiian Cake Pops.  I keep looking online for ideas, and dreaming about what to make.  Along came the Labor Day holiday, and I used the whole day to make cake pops!  After my frustrating attempt at Hello Kitty I have really wanted to redeem myself.  I have been researching different techniques and tips and ideas, and they turned out okay, but still not what I was hoping for.

 So, Bakerella, the inventor of the Cake Pop, recommends this brand of candy melts. 

 Here they are - ready to be melted in the microwave!  Bakerella says that she never has to add a thinning agent and melts them on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring each time.  Yeah, whatever.  I still had to thin mine - I might as well go back to the cheap kind you can get from craft stores. 

 These flowers are so cute! 

 I love these candy coated sunflower seeds - the colors are so natural. 

 Getting the colored sugar all lined up and ready.

 This is a little trick I've used before but forgotten.  It's from Bakerella.

 I thought these super cute tiny tweezers from Target would help me, but they didn't.

 The colors of these melts were pretty and vibrant, but still not perfect.

 Done dipping the flower pops, getting ready to do the spheres.

 I added some chocolate - yummers!

 I would rather do sphere cake pops any day of the week.  They are low-maintenance (relatively anyway) and I just love that about them.

 I made some flowers with the sunflower seeds on the tops of some of the cake pop spheres.

 Here I am using the corn syrup to "paint" a design on the pop.

 Sprinkling the sugar.

 And voila!

 A mixture of vibrant, beautiful cake pops.

 They still didn't turn out the way I envisioned in my mind, and I still want to conquer this difficult hobby/business that I enjoy so much.

I will keep trying when I get free time like this lovely Labor Day Holiday!

Rainbow Cake Pops

So, I like to bake.  A lot.  Often and many.  But I have a day job, too.  I actually hold a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education.  And I am very, very passionate about my job.  Currently, I work for NCaeyc (North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children).  But only for a few more days.  It's very sad, because I love my job, but I have a wonderful opportunity waiting for me that I will begin on June 4th!

Through my work at NCaeyc I have met the most wonderful people, including our Association President, Eva.  She's someone who I've admired from afar for many years, and I couldn't be more fortunate to have met her, worked with her, and now count her among my friends.

We had a Board of Director's meeting last weekend, and when I offered to bring something to contribute to the lunch potluck, she asked for cake pops.  It was kind of a joke - she sees my blog and my Facebook page and I think once I had Lorie (my amazing boss at NCaeyc) sneak Eva a cake pop into a BoD meeting several months ago.

Since all of my stuff was still out (sprawled all over our dining room table) and I am so inspired by Pinterest, I decided that SURE I would LOVE to make cake pops for Eva.

If you're living under a rock, you probably haven't heard about the constitutional amendment that passed in North Carolina earlier this month.  It is incredibly devastating and heart-wrenching, and Eva and I both worked hard to fight it.  In her honor, I made rainbow cake pops, but honestly, I don't think they turned out quite the way I was hoping.  (Do they ever?)

Cake pops are HARD work.  I do NOT charge enough for them, I am sure of that (and these were free) but I really, really enjoy the process.  I hope to continue to get better at making them smooth, with no cracks, as I continue to develop my skills.

 I guess I have this rainbow backwards, don't I?

 I made these at night and left before 7:00 AM so I really didn't have any great light to use for photographing these, so I am really disappointed in the photo results.

Per usual, these photograph so much nicer when they are upside down!