my heart behaves

Um, not likely!

But I did attempt to make the cake pops inspired by Bakerella this past weekend for a couple of holiday parties.

I’d say they are pretty labor intensive for a novice such as myself, but overall once you get the hang of it, it goes by really quickly. (I won’t even attempt to show you the first few I made. It was an embarrassment of sorts, to say the least.)

My take on candy-making? Read my suggestions below.

I used white cake mix and made cream cheese frosting from scratch. The combo was okay, but I will make them with chocolate cake next time. I had it my head that using chocolate cake AND the chocolate bark would be overwhelmingly, well, chocolate. But upon reflection, I don’t think it would be.

After you have mixed the cake and icing together, freeze your balls! I had left my out and they were not hard enough once I stuck them in the hot chocolate bark. Just pop them back in for as long as needed before you start the dipping process.

Speaking of the ole bark, I had never worked with it before before so I was not sure what to expect. The original plan was to buy white chocolate bark and use food coloring to make them red or green.

Once I added the color though, it turned the bark into a weird and unusable texture. Was this just me?! I still don’t know. I quickly realized I had to go with Plan B … the green and red sprinkles I randomly had in my pantry.

Also, everyone’s suggestions leaned towards microwaving a few pieces at a time, to prevent the bark from cooling too quickly. I stuck mine in for a couple of minutes, only to have them burn so badly my smoke alarm went off! I ended up using a double boiler, the old school way.

To give the pops their shape, I punched holes in an egg crate to allow them to chill as the bark dried.

In the end, they were a total hit. But be prepared! Once you make them, everyone will absolutely love them and quickly ask demand you make more … like my boss when he requested I bring more the following day and place some neatly on his desk before he arrives. I wouldn’t wait on that order …