sweet inspiration & fun baking ideas

Today almost snuck up on me. I realized it just in time to reminisce and celebrate with you guys.

Oh and this is a pretty long post, but I had a hard time making it any shorter.

Four years ago today, on February 1, I posted something that changed my life and maybe even some of yours.

I posted these cupcake pops. I posted them the day after I posted these pink cake pops. And I had no idea then the impact they would have. Seriously, read the old posts. Pretty amusing.

While the pink cake pops were super cute and definitely different since they were cake on a stick, it was the cupcake pops that became crazy popular thanks to so many of you.  If it hadn’t been for your enthusiasm, I don’t know if I would have kept experimenting and creating craziness like the muppets cake pops for instance. It could have just ended right here with the cupcake pops. And, that would have been okay, too. They are still my and my mom’s favorite. I guess I have an attachment to them.

A little background history…  when I first made the pink cake pops, I was so excited by how they turned out. I wanted others to see them too because I thought they were so cute and I just knew they would make people smile. I was following the blog Cupcakes Takes the Cake (CTTC) at the time and I thought that if I could just make them look like a cupcake, they might feature them on their blog. So after I made the pink cake pop, I figured out a way to shape the cake balls with a cutter and dip them twice to make them look like a cupcake. Success! I couldn’t believe it. So I added my photos to the CTTC flickr group and crossed my fingers that they would pick them to feature on their site. And they did.

For me that was it. I wasn’t looking for anything more. Just to keep baking and making cute treats. And hopefully bring smiles to anyone that wanted to look at them.

But then, something crazy happened. A month or so after I posted the photos, I was invited to show Martha Stewart how I make them … on her show… like standing next to her. I thought I was being punked. I mean I had only been blogging for about four months when I received the invitation. And I hadn’t been baking much longer before that. Let’s just say I was petrified. But I did it anyway. You can watch the video here on her site. The link is on the sidebar. If you haven’t seen it before I think you’ll get a chuckle at what she calls them. Of course it wasn’t funny at the time. I think I managed to mask my shock pretty well. I know I told them we shouldn’t use chocolate cake on TV. Good times.

Lots of other fun things have happened since then, too.

• I started experimenting with designs and creating all kinds of cake pop themes.
• I visited the Pioneer Woman and we had a cake pop demo at the lodge. So fun. Love you Ree.
• I proposed to Melissa for Rich with cake pops. Miss you guys.
• Betty Crocker invited me to make cake pops for the cover of one of their magazines.
• I wrote a little book. You may have heard of it.
• I made cupcake pops with Blake Lively. Ummm… what is going on?
• You guys became Pop Stars.
• I made some cake pops for Disney’s website.
• I made a little kit and some cards, too.
• My cake pops were featured in magazines like People, Entertainment Weekly, Taste of Home, Family Circle, O, and more.
• I went on the Today Show. Kathie Lee shook the pop a bit too hard and got candy coating on her eyelashes. My stomach sunk. Mortified.
• The book has been printed in several languages throughout the world. Craziness.
• And there’s a couple more fun things coming that I can’t say just yet.

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But that’s not all that’s happened because of these tiny treats on a stick. So many other things have popped on the scene because you all fell in love with the cake pops I made. Your excitement and enthusiasm for cake pops are probably the biggest reason for their success and why they are now so popular. For example…

• Cake pops are sold in a certain world dominating coffee shop.
• Bakeries and cupcake shops now sell them in their lineup.
• Businesses have packaged sprinkles and such to market for them.
• Commercials and other kits appeared. Some even use my designs. Flattering, I guess one could say.
• Machines are now on the market to make them … albeit they don’t let you mix the frosting in or custom shape them.
• Other books have surfaced on the topic, too, which just reinforces how popular cake pops have become.

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But it’s not all that stuff that makes me shake my head in amazement. You guys have done so much with them on a personal level and have continued to inspire me along the way.

• So many of you have started home businesses selling cake pops.
• Or websites devoted to cake pops
• Or created rollers or stands or just about anything else you can think of to make or use with cake pops.
• I know many of you that make them just for fun. And make lots of them.
• Your emails and stories brighten my day every time I read them. There have been so many sweet ones too. Emails from all over the world. From places I’ve never even heard of. Some that made me cry and some that made me laugh. But all that made me feel so special to have played a little part in bringing smiles to your lives.
• Big hugs and congratulations to all of you, too!

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I think cake pops have definitely made their mark in the baking world, making life a little bit sweeter.

Actually, I think we need a National Cake Pop Day. Or an International Cake Pop Day. And today seems like a great choice to me. That’s it I’m proclaiming February 1, the Official Unofficial Cake Pop Day. Who’s with me?

I’d love for you to tell me if cake pops have meant anything special to you.

• Do you sell them? What’s your site?
• Have you made them on your blog? I’d love to see.
• Do you have a picture of yours on your facebook? Share a link.
• Do you follow my facebook page for cake pop inspiration?
• Do you have the book? Do you have a favorite design?
• Are you a Pop Star? Do you want to be?
• Have you started a business to help people make them?
• Maybe you’ve just eaten them before. Or have seen them at a bakery or wedding or party.
• Maybe someone has given them to you as a gift.
• And maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about? That’s okay, too.

Leave a comment or a link and let’s share.

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I ordered some cookie molds a while back. Like two years back I think. And this weekend I finally used them. I didn’t use them to imprint the cookie dough though. I used them to mold fondant to decorate the cookies instead.

I ordered the cookie molds from House on the Hill. Most of their molds are replicas of carvings from historic molds. They have some mold replicas from carvings as far back as the 1600s. Be careful if you visit their site. You’ll be mesmerized by all of the beautiful designs.

The molds are traditionally used for Springerle cookies (you can see examples on their site) which I’ve also been wanting to make. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I settled on decorating sugar cookies with the molds.

I used Bake at 350’s sugar cookie recipe after trying her cookies last year at Georgia Pellegrini’s Girl Hunter Weekend. The recipe is pretty perfect.

It’s soft and firm enough to decorate on with royal icing and the recipe has two great pluses. 1 – You can use cold butter which is great for me because I always forget to set it out. and 2 – you can bake with it right after rolling. No need to chill first. Yay!

Oh and one more thing – it tastes great. Thanks Bridget!

After the cookies are baked and cooled, it was time to get to getting.

I got some fondant out and rose gel food coloring.

You can mix your fondant in any color you like. Then work with a small amount at a time for each molded shape and leave the rest wrapped up tightly in plastic wrap. Press it into the mold or roll it smoothly over the mold using a fondant roller.

Holding the overflow/excess, gently remove the fondant shape from the mold revealing a beautiful design.

Then you can use a cookie cutter to trim the design to match your cookies. Luckily the heart mold was similar in shape to a heart cookie cutter I had on hand.

Handy.

Just repeat until you have enough molded shapes for your cookies.

This is the Amo Te Heart mold. But there are bunches more you can choose from.

Apply a thin layer of frosting to the sugar cookie and then place the molded fondant on top.
Gently press onto the surface and along the edge to attach.

Look at all that detail. Crazy!

Pretty cookies and pretty easy, too.

In addition to all the mold designs available, they also come in different shapes.

I used this round one to mold cupcake tops.

Wowzers.

Same process as above. Roll or press the fondant into the mold and then gently remove. It’s helpful to have a fair amount extend past the shape so you have something to hold onto. That will make it easier to release the fondant from the mold. Start on the outside and work all the way around so you don’t pull too much in one direction.

Now this mold was also similar in size to some graduated circle cutters I had on hand. Cutters I have used before to cover cupcakes in fondant. The mold has a border but the inside border is just the right size for the cutter, so I just removed the excess and used the inside section for the cupcake. Apply a little frosting to the center of the cupcake and gently press down the sides.

Voila. Fondant rose covered cupcakes.

Spectacular.

When I ordered the heart and rose molds, I also ordered this amazing roller.

But that will have to be for another day.

Hope you try this is was lots of fun. And try different molds and themes. There are so many.

And, If you want to use either of these molds to make the cupcakes and cookies here, here’s what I used.

Amo Te Heart shaped mold
Heart-shaped Cookie Cutter
Sugar Cookie Recipe from Bake at 350

Double Rose Mold
Graduated Circle Cutters
Cupcake Recipe from Martha Stewart

Rose Gel Icing color from chefmaster
Satin Ice Fondant
Fondant Roller

Have fun!

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Want some heathy cookies?

Nope, that’s not a typo.

Healthy would be nice, but ……

These are all Heath.

I bought this bag of milk chocolaty toffee bits the other day.

Then I made the mistake and opened the bag to nibble on them.

You know, just for a taste.

Then I didn’t stop nibbling on them.

Every time I did something in the kitchen, I would pinch a few bits.

So I made myself bake something with them tonight before all my bits were bitten.

Toffee bits and a few basics are all you need for these cookies.

Fluffiness.

Dark brown sugar.

Yumminess.

Butter and peanut butter. Yes and yes.

Creamed.

Eggs and vanilla.

Or eyebrows… depending on which way I flip the photo. : )

After mixed, throw in the bits.

Roll and dip them in more toffee bits.

Then bite.

Easy!

And if you want to make them a little sweeter. Maybe for your sweetie.

Just bake them in a heart shaped silicone pan.

It just adds a little bit of love.

Heathy Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cup (8 oz bag) Heath Toffee Bits

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small bowl, mix flour, soda and salt using a wire whisk and set aside.
• In another bowl, cream butter, dark brown sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
• Stir in toffee bits, reserving some to dip tops of cookies.
• Roll cookie dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. Chill for a few minutes to make it easier to roll or use a small cookie scoop.
• Dip tops of cookies in bits and place on parchment paper covered baking sheet.
• Bake about 10 minutes.
• Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.
• Makes about 30 2-inch cookies.
• Note: I only had almost a cup left of bits to use for these cookies, but I would use the whole bag and possibly even two for these cookies.

Enjoy every little bit!

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I was in the mood to make some red velvet cupcakes this weekend. Red velvet cake is so pretty on it’s own, you really don’t need to do much to decorate it. A luscious cream cheese frosting works just fine most of the time.

But since Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, I wanted to do something simple and fun for the occasion.

So I made some cute cupid’s arrows to adorn them.

To make these love struck cupcakes, you just need to insert a 6-inch lollipop stick through the top part of the cupcake papers.

You can use a toothpick to pierce through the paper on each side to make it easier to push the stick through. Hold the paper on each side as you push the stick through so the paper doesn’t separate from the cupcake.

Then you can cut out sweet little hearts to attach to each end.

Actually, cut out the hearts ahead of time so you’re prepared.

Attach the small heart to one end with a small piece of tape and cut two slits through the larger heart to allow the stick to slide through.

Cut along the white lines on the larger heart for a more feathery look. I decided not to because I thought they looked cleaner this way.

Here’s a pdf if you want to download the ones I made. There’s a pink and a red version of the hearts in the pdf.

Or if you are more prepared, you can look for two different size heart paper punches and some pink or red heavyweight paper and save a lot of cutting time.

Obviously, I wasn’t prepared.

But in a pinch, these hearts work great, too.

To decorate the cupcakes, I used an Ateco Tip #807 to swirl on a mountain of creamy cream cheese frosting.

Yum.

And then I sprinkled a few of these tee-niny heart sprinkles right on top.

Perty!

But if you want to make them even easier, you can simply insert the arrow straight down through the frosting and into the cake below.

You can turn them into bleeding heart cupcakes, too. So easy!

Just attach a few hearts sprinkles upside down onto the frosting.

I used jumbo, regular and miniature heart sprinkles.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 oz. red food coloring

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line trays with cupcake papers.
• Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.
• Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together with another wire whisk.
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
• Pour into cupcake pans and drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
• Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Makes 24 cupcakes

Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups confectioners’ sugar

• Sift sugar and set aside.
• Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.
• Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.
• And frost away.

Either way you want to decorate, enjoy!

oh… and eat your heart out.

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A cake with a little ganache.

Or maybe a little too much.

Nope. Not possible. Not sure there’s such a thing as too much ganache.

I like to eat it by the spoonful, but by the cakefull is even better.

The cake inside is chocolate. And actually the recipe for the chocolate cake in this post is not the actual cake in these pictures.

Why? Well, while it looks nice enough, it just wasn’t satisfied. So I made a few changes and made a better version the same day that I didn’t have time to decorate.

Instead, I’ve just been eating it straight up.

I like the simple look of the decorated one though.

High contrast.

The cake is frosted in buttercream first.

But for the middle layer of frosting, I tucked away a few of these inside.

Buttercream, speckled with miniature chocolate chips for kicks.

Perty!

Then the rest of the cake gets covered in plain white buttercream.

Easy enough.

Then comes the best part.

A reason to lick my spoon.

You’ll want the ganache to set up and thicken before you pour any on the cake.

Thicker, like this.

Oh my! Start pouring in the center, but be careful not to go too fast.

Ideally, you wouldn’t want too much to go over the sides and puddle around the cake.

Yeah, like this.

Okay, I got a little excited.

Ganache does that to me.

Now for the recipe of the second chocolate cake I made. The better one.

That said, I welcome any of your chocolate cake suggestions. I’m looking for the best homemade chocolate cake ever. Got one? Know of one? Care to share? This one’s good! But I’m not done searching.

What fun would that be anyway.

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Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting …and a good amount of ganache!

Chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

Buttercream Frosting:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar
4-8 Tablespoons milk

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels, if desired

Chocolate Ganache:
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. Then place parchment paper cut to size on the bottom of each pan and grease paper. Dust pans with cocoa.
• Sift dry ingredients together and place in a large mixing bowl.
• Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat for a couple of minutes until combined.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add hot water and mix together.
• Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 28-30 minutes. Batter will be very liquid.
• Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the frosting:

• Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth.
• Add vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the powdered sugar in several additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
• Add milk a tablespoon at a time and mix together until you achieve a smooth consistency.
• Note: If you want your frosting whiter without using shortening, add a little white icing color to tint.

For the ganache:

• Heat cream and butter in a saucepan until melted and remove before it starts to boil.
• Place chocolate morsels in a small bowl and pour cream on top. Let sit for a few seconds and whisk by hand until completely incorporated and smooth.
• Let cool until thick and pourable.
• The ganache can take a bit to thicken. You can make it before the buttercream, to save time. Just use a wire whisk to stir it every few minutes and keep it smooth

To assemble: trim tops off of cake layers with a long serrated knife so they have a nice, flat top. Place one layer bottom side up on cake stand. Mix about 2/3 cup morsels with about 1 cup of the frosting. Spread frosting on top of bottom layer. Place second layer on top. It helps to have a crumb coat on the outside of your cake first. Simply apply a thin coat of frosting to the entire cake to catch andy excess crumbs. Then place cake in freezer for a few minutes to firm up frosting and cover the entire cake again with a thick layer of buttercream. This will help you keep all those crumbs from getting caught in your pretty work. Slowly, pour ganache over center of cake. Pour just enough to start dripping down the sides.

Enjoy!

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