Sunday, October 23, 2011

Little Shop of Cake Pop Horrors & Meeting Bakerella


Yay, I finally get to tell you about my little Halloween project.  I was invited to Foodbuzz headquarters to bring Halloween themed cake pops for a little contest with Bakerella.  How could I pass up an opportunity like that?

After I said yes, I quickly realized I had never made cake pops before and panic starting setting in. Not only was I a pop newbie, but the "Queen of Cake Pops" would be judging me.  I spent a couple hours on her site reading all her tips.  I realized there just might be a little bit more to these cute pops than I thought.

My first batch fell off the sticks when I went to dip them, oops.  Second batch, I had issues getting the melts the right consistency.  I guess it's true that the third time is a charm, because these ones I felt were worthy of setting before the "Queen of Cake Pops".

I was joined by some fellow Bay Area bloggers and got to see their wonderful creations, Eat, Live, Run, Bonnibella, and Eat, Drink and Just Be!  All fantastic writers and fellow pop stars too.  The Federated Media staff made some amazing ones too.


"Three Blind Mice, the Queen cut off their tails with a Bloody Butcher Knife."


My secret weapon for these came from Sarah-Jane of Silicone Moulds, I won a giveaway she was having a couple of weeks ago.  This mould worked perfectly for my evil intentions.  Pack a small amount of the cake pop mixture into the mice and refrigerate until hard, and then turn the mould inside out to release.  Thank you again for the moulds, cookbook and thermometer you sent, I have a few other ideas for using them.


"This is what happens when you criticize your wife's meatloaf."  


The knives are pretty scary, huh?  They are made from miniature Swedish fish and cut to the shape of a knife and sprayed with Duff's silver food color spray and the handle is painted with black gel paste food color using a small brush.  I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of these left to use, they kept disappearing off my counter.  To make inserting the knife easier after dipping the cake ball in the candy coating, use a lollipop stick and poke a 1/2" deep hole into the uncoated cake ball where you would like the knife to go.

I used Red Velvet Cake and cream cheese icing on the inside of the darker colored ones.  I found it works better if you use white cake for the lighter color candy melts, so I used a vanilla-orange cake inside of the white ones.  All you do is add enough frosting to the cake to moisten it and so that it loosely sticks together, then you can shape it from there.

I used Wilton candy melts, thinned with a little bit of vegetable oil to get a smoother coating.


My friend Jennifer suggested I make Devils, I think these ended up looking a bit angelic though.

These were molded by hand, sugar google eyes were added on after the coating was set and additional melted candy coating was piped on.  For adding extra shape to the pops, make a round ball then take little bits of the cake mixture and add it on where you want projection.


"I thought the sign said Barber, not Butcher!"

Start with a round cake ball, dip it in white candy coating and let firm up.  Melt pink candy coating and place in a piping bag, draw a circle around the middle top third and then fill in messily with the pink.  When dry, glue on eyes, mouth (confetti sprinkle) and small candy nose.  Food color markers were used for the veins, but I wasn't having much luck with the markers.  Angie gave me a good tip I will try next time, I think I was pressing too hard.

How to glue:  Use a toothpick and dip it in melted candy coating and add it to the back of whatever you want to attach and hold it in place for a few seconds.

For piping:  I used a disposable piping bag and cut the smallest amount possible off the end.


"Happy Hellraising!"

Start with a round pop and break angel hair pasta noodles into 1/4" lengths and insert into face of pop. Dip whole thing in white candy melts.  Once set, attach eyes (sprinkles), draw face with black food color marker and spray with Duff silver food color spray and hopefully scare all the kids on the block.

To display the my winning (hint, hint) cake pops, cut a piece of styrofoam to fit snugly into a container, cut a rough shape of black fabric and tuck it inside to cover the foam.  All you have to do is put the cake pops in and you have a really cute display.  The count's coffin was purchased at the craft store too.


The FMer's winning cake pops, are these too cute for words or what?  They were all so cute, I bet it was a hard decision for Angie to make.

Angie, her Mom, the other bloggers and FM staff were so delightful, I just want to say thank you to them for the experience.  

Enjoy,

Gina

39 comments:

  1. Whoah...look at these cake pop horrors, they look AH-MAZING, Gina! My favorites are the butchered mice tails, the hellraisers and the pink, two-headed "thing". Now I know why you've been so engrossed in creating these little monsters...they really are adorable! I bet Bakerella learnt a few tricks from you too, oh Spookie Queen :-).

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  2. WOW! WOW! Gina!! These are awesome and I love all your creations and you're so lucky to meet Bakerella. I'm so jealous... hahaa...

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  3. So neat you got to meet Bakerella! And also those cake pops look wonderful!

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  4. You won!!!!!!!! That's so cool! I mean what a huuuuuuuuge compliment to be picked by the queen of cake pops! Awesome Gina!

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  5. Just found your site from Eat, Live, Run. These are the cutest cake pops! Love them - nice job!

    Leslie www.herviewfromhome.com

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  6. Congratulations!!!!!! You deserve it Gina.
    I remember I think it was last year you were wondering about going to FoodBuzz; look at you now; you are a Pro.
    Rita

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  7. you are one very lucky girl my friend! Sounds like an awesome experience you had and the pops look great. Such detail and creativity all around,
    Take care...

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  8. Those are fantastic!! What a great experience for you. I am in awe of your rookie pop results!!

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  9. So creative! They really are fantastic. I'd never been able to make the knives because I'd eat all the Swedish Fishies! :)

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  10. I love the Monsters Inc ones! So cute! :D

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  11. Wow! Congrats on being asked out there and having that experience. I thought your pops were absolutely perfect. Dudette would have gone nuts over every one. I've never made them either!

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  12. What an incredible job! I think you have inspired me to try cake pop decorating, but nothing as talented as what you can do naturally. I never thought to be creative with cake pops but I especially like the little Swedish fish knives! The mice are awesome. SO creative I love it!

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  13. Hi Gina, It was fantastic meeting you too. It's also great to see your beautiful cake pops individually in these pictures because you have put so much creative work in every single one of them.
    Looking forward to seeing you in the festival. Till soon.

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  14. These are so cute! They'd be perfect for a Halloween party :)

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  15. Im still a cakepop virgin! I am giving cheesecake lollipops a whirl though this week!

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  16. You rock, Gina! Love your creepy creations, they are so.adorable! How fun to meet the queen of cake pops!

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  17. Gina,
    Your cake pops are so scary, so cute! Third time was a chxrm! All these cake pops, and you got to meet Bakerella, too.

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  18. Wow!! All of these are just amazing! I could only wish for them to turn out so well! Congrats and awesome job!

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  19. Thanks everyone, I hope all you pop virgins are ready to give them a whirl. They are so much fun to make.

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  20. I’m just speechless. This post is great! And your cake pops are too cute! So very creative. 3 blind mice with their tails chopped off? How did you came up with that!

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  21. You're so talented! I love the little Hellraiser guys an the knives! So amazing :) Buzzed!

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  22. How cute are these?! GO YOU! That is amazing...love the cake pops. I think you did great! :-)

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  23. These are all utterly delightful! Color me impressed with your creations. I suddenly feel devoid of imagination - which is why I like to come here!

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  24. Gina your cake pops are just too cute! It sounds like all in all it was a great experience for you, glad to hear. I wonder if Thanksgiving or Christmas cake pops or in the Queen's future? :)
    The little mice are so cute. Congrats on winning them. I love Sarah-Jane's moulds and use them all the time.

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  25. Gina - sounds like you had a great time! Your cake pops are SO cute and extremely cleaver. We are at 40,000 feet right now over Denver and just wish I had one to eat since we had a three hour delay. Hope you are doing well. BTW - great photo with you and bakerella.

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  26. Gina.. I'm so jealous. Hehehe.. kidding. What a wonderful project and you got to meet Angie, the queen of cake pop. Funny and scary cake pops.. Makes me want to really try to make them. Looking great there too. Hugs, Jo

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  27. Sounds like you had fun! Have a great weekend!

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  28. Gina you did such a wonderful job on these! They look fantastic!! What a fun event to be involved in, congrats!

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  29. Nice job with your cake pops! I'm sure meeting Bakerella was absolutely awesome too!

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  30. What an amazing event to be part of, and making all these adorable cake pops!
    Congratulations, Gina!
    Two awesome, and talented ladies...way to go!!!

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  31. Wow! Great work and congrats on being part of a wonderful event!

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  32. You are SO creative!! Great job :-) kate @kateiscooking

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  33. What a fun experience for you...they are all so creative and certainly worthy of the "Queen of Cake Pops"! Amazing job Gina :)

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  34. Wow, you have created a coven of scary cake pops! How fun that you were invited to do this and meet the "Queen of Cake Pops"!

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