Cake Pops (5 page)

Dot your eyes. Edible-ink pens are an excellent tool to have on hand if you decide to add personality to your cake pops. They are quick and easy. Use them to draw eyes, mouths, eyelashes, and more. Americolor Gourmet Writer pens come in colors like black, brown, pink, red, blue, and more. You can buy a whole set or just black to suit your need.

Use them carefully. If you press down too hard when drawing on the candy coating, residue from the candy will build up on the tip, making the pens difficult to use. So use a very light touch. When dotting eyes on sprinkles, though, you’ll need to press a little harder. Imagine the pen as a paintbrush and the pops as your canvas.

Always keep a small container of toothpicks within reach.

You can use them to direct candy coating that may not have made its way completely around a cake pop. You can use it to texturize the surface of the candy coating. Or, if your candy coating pools at the bottom of the cake balls after they are placed on a wax paper–covered baking sheet to dry, simply take a toothpick and draw a line through the coating, close to the cake ball. When it dries, you can break off the unwanted coating for a cleaner look.

Toothpicks can also be used to apply candy coating as “glue.” They are also extremely useful when adding decorations. After your cake pops are coated and dry, you can use any remaining candy coating left in your dipping bowl as glue. Apply it to candy or sprinkles with a toothpick and attach them to the cake pop. You can also apply the candy coating to a coated, dry cake ball and then place the add-on into position. Use a tiny amount of coating to attach the smallest items, such as sprinkles for eyes. Use a slightly larger amount for bigger add-ons, such as M&M’s or candy necklace pieces. When the coating dries, the add-on will be attached, or “glued” on. If the coating in the bowl has dried, simply heat it again to melt it.

Here’s a handy list of edible ingredients used in making cake pops.

Cake:
Cake mixes, homemade cakes, and store-bought cakes can all be used to create cake pops. Avoid using cakes that are extremely moist or that contain fruit, because when combined with frosting, the texture can become, for lack of a better word, gooey.

Frosting:
You can combine any flavor frosting with any flavor cake you like. Homemade frostings also work. If you’re using frosting with perishable ingredients, such as cream cheese, make sure you store finished treats in the refrigerator. If you’re using ready-made frosting, avoid the whipped varieties.

Candy coating: Coatings are widely available in disc form but are also available in blocks. Wilton and Make ‘n Mold are popular brands that you can find in craft stores and even online. Merckens is another brand that is available online and in cake-supply stores. Grocery stores, such as Kroger, even carry their own brand of candy coating. Be aware that when ordering candy coating online during the summer months, your coating can arrive already melted. Don’t worry, though; you can still use it.

Candy coloring:
Wilton and Chefmaster are just two makers of candy coloring. These colorings are oil based and do not contain water. Never use regular food coloring, which does contain water, because it will ruin your candy coating.

Candy writers:
Try these handy tubes of colored candy coating for smaller jobs. Just heat, following the directions on the package, and use right out of the tube. They’re quick, easy, and definitely not messy. Colors include black, brown, red, white, yellow, green, orange, and pink, to name a few.

Candy flavoring oils:
Use candy flavoring oils to add flavor to candy coatings. They are not a necessity by any means, but you may want to experiment for fun.

Paramount crystals:
This product is ideal for thinning candy coating. It’s available online from cake- and candy-supply Web sites and cake-supply stores. Shortening and even vegetable oil are also acceptable alternatives. Start by adding about a teaspoon per pound of coating until the coating is fluid enough for dipping.

Edible add-ons:
Sprinkles, candies, nuts, and cookies are fun ways to transform plain cake pops into party pops for every occasion.

Edible-ink pens:
Americolor Gourmet Writer is a popular brand of edible-ink pens. They come in packs of ten assorted colors, and a two-pack is also sold in black.

You can make sensational treats with these simple tools. The following equipment is recommended for successful cake pops, cupcake pops, cake balls, and cupcake bites.

Cake pan:
Use a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Buy one with a lid—it will come in handy if you choose to bake the cake the night before you dip and decorate.

Mixer:
You’ll need to have one of these on hand, unless you use a store-bought cake and frosting.

Microwave:
I couldn’t live without mine. You can melt candy coating colors as you need them if you have a microwave.

Double boiler:
Great for larger jobs, a double boiler can heat candy coating slowly, without letting the coating get too hot, but it is not a necessity.

Cookie cutters:
Use a small flower-shaped cutter to make cupcake pops. Cutters should be about 1¼ inches wide by ¾ inch deep. Larger cutters 1½ inches wide by ½ inch deep can be used to make flowers and hearts. Round cutters can be used to cut candy melts into shapes for decorating.

Microwave-safe bowls:
Durable plastic bowls (not melamine) are ideal for melting candy coating in the microwave. They are lightweight and can be held without burning your hands while dipping. Look for bowls that are narrow and deep. Small bowls like this will make dipping much easier and will allow you to work with less coating at a time. Wide bowls will require you to melt more coating to make it deep enough for dipping. If the coating starts to get too low in the bowl to dip properly, you can transfer the coating to a coffee mug or smaller microwave-safe container. This will help you get the most out of your candy coating.

Mixing bowls and spoons:
Large mixing bowls and metal spoons are used to mix the cake and frosting together.

Lollipop sticks:
Paper lollipop sticks are available in several different sizes and widths. I find the 6-inch length to be the most versatile for displaying.

Styrofoam block:
Use a block that’s at least 2 inches thick, so the cake pops can be inserted far enough that they won’t fall over. Poke holes about 2 inches apart in the top before you start dipping, so it will be ready when you need it. Do not poke the holes all the way through. A 12-by-18-inch block can hold 48 pops.

Candy molds:
These are sold in hundreds of shapes and sizes The projects in this book use candy cup molds, square molds, disc-shaped molds, and more. Familiarize yourself with what’s available and watch your creativity skyrocket.

Baking sheets:
Rimmed 12-by-18-inch baking sheets are large enough to hold 48 cake balls. However, smaller rimmed baking sheets are easy to slide in and out of the freezer or refrigerator—especially if you have a side-by-side model.

Wax paper:
Keep wax paper handy for lining baking sheets before resting cake balls, cupcake pops, and cupcake bites on them; it allows them to be removed easily.

Toothpicks:
These are extremely useful for touch-ups, dipping, and decorating.

Small dishes for sprinkles:
Pour sprinkles into a small dish so you can pinch a few to sprinkle on each pop. Pouring them from the container can result in too much waste.

Squeeze bottles:
Perfect for drizzling and decorating, squeeze bottles come in small, medium, and large sizes to meet every need. You can also pour melted candy coating into resealable plastic bags. Just snip the corner off the bag and squeeze the coating through the hole.

Dish towels:
Always have a dish towel handy, especially when making cupcake pops. Coating can get on your fingers easily with this method, and it’s better to wipe them on a dry dish towel than to risk getting water in your coating.

Candy gloves:
These are great if you are making cupcake bites. When holding the ridged cupcake bottoms formed by candy molds, your body heat can start to make impressions in the coating. Candy gloves can help prevent this. If you’re a quick dipper, don’t worry about having these around.

Tweezers:
Keep a pair on hand for use solely in the kitchen. They can be helpful when attaching small add-ons to a cake-pop surface.

Warming tray:
This is a great tool to have around if you make a lot of cake pops and use more than one color, but it’s not a necessity.

Sprinkles are so much fun. They come in tons of shapes, sizes, and colors. You’ll be surprised by how easily they can be used to give cake pops pizzazz and personality. Here are some of the most commonly used sprinkles featured in this book. Keep in mind that in many cases, the single-color sprinkles used in these projects are separated from a container of multicolored sprinkles.

• Chocolate hearts mix
  

• Colorsticks
  

• Confetti sprinkles
  

• Halloween confetti sprinkles
  

• Jimmies (brown, orange, red)
  

• Jumbo confetti sprinkles (peach)
  

• Jumbo hearts (pink, red, white)
  

• Jumbo stars (yellow)
  

• Kissing lips
  

• Miniature hearts
  

• Multicolored diamonds
  

• Multicolored hearts
  

• Nonpareils
  

• Oval sprinkles
  

• Pastel sequins (also called miniature confetti sprinkles)
  

• Pastel wildflowers
  

• Poker shapes (black hearts)
  

• Rainbow chip sprinkles
  

• Sanding sugar
  

• Sugar pearls
  

• I like to buy seasonal sprinkles and keep them on hand. For instance, around Halloween you can find black sprinkles, which may be more difficult to find at other times of the year.
  

Much like sprinkles, candy and other edible add-ons are fun to use for bringing life to your cake pops. Check out the candy aisle in your grocery store, drugstore, or even gas station. You’ll start to see candy in a whole new way, inspiring your very own cake pop creations.

• Candy-coated sunflower seeds
  

• Candy necklace pieces
  

• Caramel candy corn
  

• Chocolate-coated espresso beans
  

• Dark chocolate–coated espresso beans
  

• French burnt peanuts
  

• Fruit Roll-Ups
  

• Hershey’s Kisses
  

• Jelly beans
  

• Junior Mints
  

• Licorice belts
  

• Licorice buttons
  

• Licorice pastels
  

• Life Savers
  

• Life Savers Gummies
  

• M&M’s
  

• M&M’s Minis
  

• Pastel candy corn
  

• Rainbow Airheads Xtremes Sour Belts
  

• Red Hots
  

• Sour Punch Straws
  

• Tic Tacs
  

• Vanilla-coated espresso beans
  

• Alphabet pretzels
  

• Chocolate chips
  

• Coconut
  

• Japanese somen noodles
  

• Miniature marshmallows
  

• Mini Oreos
  

• Oreos
  

• Peanut butter chips
  

• Pretzel sticks
  

• Pretzel twists
  

• Sugar cones
  

• Teddy Grahams
  

• White chocolate chips