Cupcake Pops

Aaaaand we're back! I feel like I have been away for so long! With all the cooking I did BEFORE Christmas, I certainly haven't done much since! Chuck and I figured out last night that we haven't eaten dinner at home since December 23rd!

So that's why I am back not with something for dinner, but with a dessert! And a very cute one, as a matter of fact. But just a warning now, these are not quite so quick and easy as so many other things I post. But I digress...

My goddaughter's first birthday party is this weekend and when I found out from her mom (my cousin, Katie) that the theme was cupcakes, I immediately thought of these! They have been around the food blogging world for awhile, even making it onto the Martha Stewart show, and I thought they would be perfect to give out as favors.

My sister, Meg, is way more experienced in all things candy melts and fancy things like that than I am (not to mention having a LOT more patience) so I asked her to help me with these. We spent most of the afternoon on Sunday scratching our heads and wondering how we were going to make these look good, but in the end I think we did a pretty good job!

One that helped us immensely comes from Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats, where Jaime suggests skewering the little guys before the first dip in chocolate. Just make sure to give yourself a lot of time and room for error with these and you will be pleased with the results! I suggest heading over to Bakerella's blog for more step-by-step pics and tips.

Cupcake Pops
from Bakerella
Makes about 50 pops

1 13X9 baked cake (from a box cake mix or from scratch … any flavor)
1 can cream cheese frosting (or about 2 cups equivalent from scratch)
1 flower shaped cookie cutter (1.25" wide X .75" tall)
1 package chocolate bark (I used dark cocoa candy melts)
1 package pink candy melts or white chocolate bark
bowls for dipping
wax paper
aluminum foil
lollipop sticks
sprinkles, m&ms or something similar for top of cupcake
small plastic treat bags and ribbon to package the Cupcake Pops
styrofoam block

Bake a cake from a mix or from scratch and cool completely.

Crumble cake into a fine consistency into a large bowl.TIP: If the texture is too coarse, you can run it through a food processor.

Add can of cream cheese frosting and blend together using the back of a large spoon. Blend thoroughly.

Roll mixture into 1.25" - 1.5" size balls and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet. You may want to periodically rinse and dry your hands off in between.

Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours. TIP: You can speed this up by placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Remove. Begin to shape into cupcakes using a small flower-shaped cookie cutter. Take the chilled ball and roll it into more of an oval and then slide into cookie cutter. Push it into cutter until about half fills the cutter and the rest sticks out of the top in the shape of a mound. Then push the shaped cupcake carefully out of the cookie cutter from the bottom. Set right side up on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Continue with remaining balls.

The ones on the left are already formed, and the ones on the right are waiting to be molded.

Once shaped, cover and return to freezer. (5-10 minutes)TIP: You can leave them covered in the refrigerator overnight if you want to do the dipping on the following day.

While cupcake shapes are chilling, begin to heat up your chocolate bark. Brown chocolate bark for the bottoms. Pink or white chocolate for the tops.

Follow the instructions on the package for melting. Most recommend heating for 30 second intervals at a time and stirring in between. You can also do the double boiler method.

When you are ready to dip, remove from freezer and set up another wax paper covered cookie sheet.

Take the cupcake shaped mixture and dip bottoms into the melted chocolate - just to the point where the mounded shape starts. (You can skewer the tops of the cupcakes here for easier dipping.)

Remove from chocolate, turn upside down and wiggle so that the excess starts to slide down slightly. Then lay on the wax paper upside down. If you want them to be lollipops, then go ahead and insert the lollipop sticks while the chocolate is still wet. Continue with rest of the cupcakes. TIP: Dip end of your lollipop stick in the melted chocolate before inserting into chocolate bottoms. Not sure if this helps a lot, but it couldn't hurt.

DON'T - get water in the chocolate. Make sure your hands are completely dry. Water will cause the chocolate to separate and mess up all your hard work.

Dry completely. (15-20 minutes) Once dry, dip the tops of the cupcakes in the pink or white chocolate. You may need to move it around a little to cover all the exposed areas.

TIP: Let the pink chocolate sit for a few minutes after heating to thicken. This will help it from dripping down the sides of the cupcake.

Remove from the pink/white chocolate and turn right side up. You may need to hold and rotate it if there is any excess so that it doesn’t drip down too far.TIP: You can use a toothpick to help cover any areas the melted chocolate didn't cover.

Continue holding and place an m&m on the top and add sprinkles while wet. Let them dry in a styrofoam block that you have already poked holes into.

When completely dry, cover the lollipops with small plastic treat bags and tie with a ribbon.

Happy 1st Birthday, Carlyn!