Low calorie cake!

Now when I say low calorie, I really mean bite size. But what's the difference, right? Bite size desserts have much fewer calories than actual slices of cake or cupcakes; therefore, these treats are low calorie! Such is my justification for loving these adorable, portable desserts.


CAKE POPS!

Pineapple, Strawberry, and
Chocolate Caramel cake pops

 I'm still learning the art of making these, as you can tell from my pictures. For professional cake pops and instructions on how to make them, check out Bakerella's blog. She is the EXPERT on cake pops! In fact, she has a book that I just bought full of cake pop projects and tips. You can get this awesome little book at Target among other stores.


Practice run-- lady bug and bumble bee
cake pops for my neices birthday



Cake pops are great because you can use ANY flavor of boxed cake mix and just follow the box instructions! I've used yellow cake mix (with pineapple juice instead of water), Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge, and strawberry. Mix and match canned frosting with your cake flavors. My favorite is the Duncan Hines chocolate with Duncan Hines homestyle caramel frosting. I always get my full dose of calories with that flavor because it's impossible to eat just one!



Attaching the wings was tricky!



I won't even give you all the instructions for making cake pops, so you have to go check out Bakerella's blog. Her instructions are flawless. I will only add that if you use Wilton brand candy melts, expect to use some Crisco to thin out your melted candy before you start dipping. (P.S. Butter is not the same as Crisco! I ruined a whole bag of candy melts trying to thin them with butter.) Finally, don't dip frozen cake balls. They'll expand as they thaw, and the result is an awful crack in your pretty, decorated cake pop.




Cake pops for my friend's
green and purple baby shower.



These would be so great to make with kids. Kids can crumble and mix the cake and frosting and will love decorating the cake pops. Mom, you do the hard part of dipping -- it's pretty tricky!

Have fun! And check back for more yummy recipes!



The cause of my cupcake obsession...

It's this cupcake that sparked my now-full-blown-obsession with baking cupcakes and cake pops. The cupcake even tickled the part of my brain that likes sewing. In the past two weeks, I've bought cupake tins, a carrier, new food coloring, a sewing machine, fabric, ribbons, etc.!

My cupcake isn't as beautiful as the one at the incredible Tidymom's blog, but I'm learning! I can't imagine that hers was much more delicious than mine! You can check out all the ingredients and instructions at Tidymom's blog. I will only add that coring cupcakes is much easier than I expected-- I just used a sharp paring knife. And cream of tarter is your friend if you're trying to get your whipping cream fluffy!

Here are some pictures of my Chocolate cupcake filled with strawberry whipped cream topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting. I made these for a friend's baby shower. The frosting was a bit stiff since I had refrigerated it overnight, so the cupcakes ended up looking like they were topped with a pile of poop. Appropriate, I guess, since baby-to-be will be doing lots of that. Note to self: let the frosting get to room temp before decorating.