Cups and Cakes

Another busy weekend filled with sweets! First on the list was a double batch of Cupcake Pops for my friend Lindsey. Her parents are retiring this month and happen to be celebrating their 40th anniversary, as well. She originally wanted me to make cakes, but after I showed her Bakerella's handiwork, the pops were a done deal. I used red velvet cake mix with cream cheese frosting for the base and the Wilton candy melts for the dipping. Let me just say that my new Wilton Chocolate Pro Melting Pot is indispensable. I got lucky and had a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby, so the pot ended up being a "sweet" deal. I highly recommend investing in one if you are going to be doing a lot of pops or even for candy making at the holidays. It really makes the job so much easier!

Next up were some Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream. I originally was just going for yellow cake, but Matt spotted some ripe bananas that were on their way to the garbage and started reminiscing about his favorite cake from childhood. His mom used to make a banana cake with chocolate frosting and I must say it is delicious. I had a yellow cake mix on hand and did a little searching on the internet to come up with the following:

Banana Cake Mix Cake
adapted from Barbara Whiting
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. water
1/2 c. oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients and beat on low for 30 seconds. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake 18-21 minutes. Cool completely and frost with your favorite chocolate frosting.

I decided to use a chocolate buttercream for the frosting. Normally, I use cocoa powder, but today I thought I would give the melted chocolate a try. I think it improved the texture and the flavor had a deeper chocolate taste.

Chocolate Buttercream
1 c. butter, softened
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar until blended. Add vanilla and milk and beat for 4 minutes. Add chocolate and beat about 1 more minute, or until combined.

Easter Egg Cake Pops

After months of spying on Bakerella's site and drooling over her super-cute cake pops, I decided it was my turn. With Easter coming up, I thought I would give the Easter egg pops a try, and for the most part I was really happy with the way they turned out. Bakerella has detailed instructions on her site, so I won't rehash here, but I will share a couple tips in case you have a go at them.

1. Cake should be chilled until firm, but not frigid! The few I dipped when they were straight out of the freezer caused the candy coating to crack. I guess I could have pretended they were real eggs and appreciated the crack for what it was, but I'm too anal for that.

2. Make sure the candy coating meets the sucker stick and you see no cake. If you see cake, you may just have eggs that look like they are dripping cake, because the candy coating forces it to come out the bottom and ruin all your hard work.

The possibilities with these pops are truly endless, and that darn Bakerella just keeps cranking out one idea after the next. If you haven't ventured over to her site, now is the time!