Cake Pops, yumMm

I've been hearing, and seeing, soo much about 'Cake Pops' lately, so I decided to give it a try...

At first I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought the "cake pop" maker by Babycakes, included in the kit are short and long lollipop sticks, cake picker, and recipe book with great recipes for cake balls, donut holes, icings and glazes! I ended up making just white cake balls, but I added a little bit of nutmeg and pumpkin spice to accent the lovely Fall season :) I made the basic glaze, often used on donut holes and I also bought Wilton candy melts, along with some sprinkles for decorating! Using the cake maker made the process extremely effortless! The most difficult part about it, is decorating with the candy melts at the end. They turned out good, but I wasn't extremely impressed.

Upon posting about my recent purchase of the cake maker on Facebook, I had a friend tell me a super simple way to make the cake balls without a maker, so I decided to give that a try! I must say this way is much tastier and less expensive since you don't have to buy the cake maker product. So to make the cake balls this way, you simply choose a cake mix of your choice, bake it as directed on the box, let it cool completely. Then you begin to crumble up the cake and mix in one spoon full of softened icing at a time. You will use at least half of a container of icing, but not all of it. Stop adding the icing once you are able to easily form a ball with the mixture. Continue to do this with the entire mixture, placing each ball on baking sheet. Once you're done with that, place the baking pan, with balls, in the fridge to cool for about an hour. I've heard some people do it for as little as 25 minutes and some do it as long as 2 hours. Once your cake balls have chilled, melt your candy melts in a glass container according to the instructions listed on the bag, decorate however you want and ENJOY!!

These are such an adorable addition for any occasion! Birthdays, holidays, gifts, parties.. the opportunities are endless!

Photo courtesy of One Hungry Mama

http://onehungrymama.com/2011/01/naturally-nora-birthday-cake-pops/