Cake Pops or Cake Balls

Ingredients for Cake Pops
(Printable Version)
To make these cake pops, you will need:
1 cake baked in a 13x9 pan
1 tub of frosting, or about 2 cups
12 ounces of candy coating
lollipop sticks

Crumble the CakeBegin by breaking up the cake into fine crumbs. This recipe is really flexible, and you can actually use any flavor of cake, or even substitute muffins or quick breads instead. Whatever you use, work the cake until it's entirely crumbled.

Mix in FrostingTake your frosting, and again you can use any flavor you like, and mix it in. you can use a spoon, but I think it's easier, although messier, just to use my hands. I reserve a little of the frosting because I don't always need it. The exact amount needed will depend on the moistness of the cake.

You want the final mixture to be fairly moist and to easily hold itself together when you shape it into a ball, but not so moist that it's soggy or gooey.

Roll the Cake into Balls
Roll the cake into small balls, using a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop. You should get between 3-4 dozen balls depending on how large you make them. Set them on a lined cookie sheet.

Freeze the Cake Balls
Once they're all formed, put them in the freezer to harden for about an hour to make them easier to dip.

Melt the Candy Coating
While you're waiting for the cake balls to harden, melt the candy coating in the microwave and stir until it's entirely melted and smooth.
Put Lollipop Sticks into Cake Balls (or move on to the next step if not using sticks)

After an hour, remove the cake balls from the freezer. Use a skewer or a toothpick to poke holes in the balls, then dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melted coating, and stick it into the hole you just created. The melted coating will help hold the stick in the cake pop.

Dip Cake Balls into Candy Coating
Once all of the cake balls are on sticks, it's time to dip them. Hold one end of the lollipop stick and submerge the cake pop completely in the melted coating. Take it out and gently tap it and swirl it upside down to remove excess coating--if you don't it will drip down the stick and look really terrible.

Set the Cake Pops
Now you can just stick them upside down on a baking sheet to set, but this does give them flat tops.

So if you want rounded shapes, you'll need to find some Styrofoam or florist foam to stick your cake pops in while they dry. Continue dipping them until all of your cake pops are covered with candy coating. If it starts to get too stiff from the cold pops, re-warm it briefly.

Decorate the Cake Pops
If you want to decorate them, you can drizzle them with melted white chocolate, or add sprinkles or chopped nuts while the coating is still wet.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cakes

 Another fabulous recipe from Our Best Bites....make sure to have plenty of milk around when you serve these. They were great..

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Recipe by Our Best Bites
(Printable Version)
1 Duncan Hines yellow or white cake mix
1 cup sour cream (full-fat or light, but not fat-free)
3 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
24 unwrapped mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup melted butter (real butter, not margarine)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 pound powdered sugar
3 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup  real butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons (or more) of milk (you can use some of the leftover evaporated milk; it’s awesome in this frosting)
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine all the cupcake ingredients except for the peanut butter cups with an electric mixer on medium-low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl frequently. Turn the speed to high and beat for another 3 minutes.
Fill each muffin cup about 1/2 full with batter. Top with an unwrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup , then fill the muffin cups with the remaining batter. Make sure the Peanut Butter Cups are covered and the cups are about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frostings. For both frostings, just combine all the ingredients for each one and whip until light and fluffy, adding additional milk as needed. Frost the cupcakes with the swirled frosting in this tutorial.

Oreo Cupcakes

I saw this recipe and knew I had to try it. Just as I thought it was a huge hit!!

Who doesn't cupcakes right? Go Ahead make them and then head straight to the gym:)

Oreo Cupcakes ( From Your Cup of Cake )

(PRINTABLE VERSION)

Cakes: 24 teaspoons Oreo crumbs ¼ cup water ½ cup buttermilk ½ cup oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream 3 eggs Devil’s Food Cake Mix Oreo Buttercream: 8 ounces cream cheese ¼ cup butter Oreo cream from cookies 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 ½- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk 1 cup Oreo crumbs, sifted Directions: 1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffins tins with cupcake liners 2.    Separate about 24 Oreos. Scrape off the cream centers and set aside for later, and put the cookies in the food processor.  Or if you are a poor college student, put them in a plastic bag to crunch by hand. 3.    Sift the crushed Oreos.  You will need 1 cup sifted cookies for the buttercream, so set that aside, and then add the extra sifted cookies to the larger pieces that did not sift.  4.    Place 1 teaspoon of larger/extra sifted cookie into the bottom of each cupcake liner. 5.    In a large bowl, use a whisk to combine water, buttermilk, oil, sour cream and vanilla extract.  6.   One at a time, add the eggs.  Be sure to stir well in between each addition, you do not need to beat the eggs though.  7.    Slowly add Devil’s food cake mix while stirring. 8.   Fill cupcake liners (with the cookie crumbs on the bottom) ¾ full and bake for 13-18 minutes depending on how hot your oven gets.  The tops should spring back when you touch them. 9.   Place into air tight containers as they cool to seal in moisture.  10. Oreo Buttercream:  For 5 minutes, beat cream cheese, butter and the Oreo cream centers you scraped off from the Oreos.  11.   Add vanilla, powdered sugar and heavy cream and let beat again. 12.  Stir in Oreo crumbs and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.