Hawaiian Cake Pops

So the wonderful woman who ordered Mario Cake Pops ordered Hawaiian Cake Pops for this weekend!  She is keeping me busy but I am loving it!

 I saw this great blog post and was inspired by her pictures, but I wanted to "up" the ante a bit.  So I made a "stamen" from a licorice stick, made another "stamen" type thing from star sprinkles, and then made the other third sparkle with glitter.  Remember, I make cake pops to give folks a smile before they bite down and enjoy!  My cake is completely from scratch and so is the frosting.  This order was for 65 cake pops!  If I made only 5-6 cake pops for photographing, maybe mine would look a bit more perfect?  I am not sure.  :)

 These colors are so much fun!

 I've been working on different bases for my cake pops.  Last weekend I bought a 5 dollar cardboard "cake pop stand" from AC Moore and it was AWFUL.  I had to have help putting it together and it was terrible.  So I ordered two others from amazon, but I don't really want to let people use them if I am not 100% certain I am going to get them back.  So I bought a large Styrofoam block and covered it with a plastic white tablecloth.  I added some plastic hibiscus to this base to tie it into the Luau theme, and I have asked the customer for the base back, which can be re-purposed for in many different ways.

 I am still not loving the idea of using cookie or fondant cutters to shape cake pops - again, maybe if I'm only making 10.  You can see the indentations where I pushed the pop through the cutter.  It does help to dip the cutter in warm water, but it would also help if I smoothed them out some, too.  This was a 7+ hour creation, though, and I dare say I didn't have much stamina left toward the end.

 I still think they are awfully cute!

 The view from above.

65 Hawaiian Cake Pops!

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!