This was my first attempt at the infamous "cake pops" ~ Lego minifigure head style! Yes, I realize they are far from Bakerella-perfect but at least they are somewhat recognizable and the kids enjoyed them. Perfect party or bite-sized treat to send to school on your child's birthday.
Honestly, they weren't all that difficult to make; easier than I anticipated. Healthy? Not in any way, shape, or form. If I had time, I would have at least made the cake "healthier" by scratch, but as time would have it, a red velvet cake mix sufficed. I basically followed Bakerella's instructions for the cake based on these cute cake pop smiley faces.
Where I differed with her was on the icing. If nothing else, I avoided the partially hydrogenated oil in the store-bought frosting. I've never cared for the taste of that stuff anyway... So, my icing (or "frosting" per the American language) consisted of my usual recipe: butter, icing sugar, vanilla, and milk. Just for the yumminess factor, I also added cream cheese.
The gist of making your own icing is pretty simple. You're looking for a creamy, smooth, and spreadable texture. Soften and beat about a 1/2 cup of butter and a 1/2 brick of cream cheese with your first cup or two of icing sugar (American terminology: "powdered sugar"). From this point on, you just continue to add in the icing sugar and tablespoons of milk until you get to the consistency that you want. Do NOT add a good dousing of milk unless you want to go purchase another bag of icing sugar; add it only as needed. (Believe me, I've done this several times in the past few decades; you would think I'd have learned by now....). When you are at the approximate consistency you want, add about a tsp of vanilla and you're done. This is the icing/frosting I use to mix into the crumbled cake (per Bakerella's instructions).
Following the basic cake pop instructions, I formed slightly elongated circles (think minifigure head shapes) and stuck them on the sticks. I used little dabs of chocolate to attach half of a mini-marshmallow to the top of each "head" and put these sticks in the freezer for about 10 minutes. I was a bit apprehensive about the "dipping into chocolate" part of this project, but it wasn't a big deal at all. It's really more of "rolling" in chocolate than dipping. Each head was rolled in the chocolate, then tapped repeatedly (and not too hard) on the side of the pot/bowl to get the chocolate thinned out. After leaving them propped up in a large piece of styrofoam for a few hours, they were good to draw faces on.
For the drawing of faces, I wasn't sure which direction to head, so I opted for black icing. In hindsight, I should have purchased the edible pen that was available in the cake decorating section. I read that the edible marker/pen doesn't exactly work all that well, but the black icing wasn't that great either. I used a toothpick to draw the black icing faces. It would be insightful to find out what the best alternative is for drawing faces on any cake pops; do share!
Would love to see your creations!
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