Cake Pops

I'm on Cake pop duty for the big 'Breakfast Birthday Party' tomorrow morning.

Making cake pops sounds quite easy, but really, it can be rather tricky. Allot of practice and learning through trial in error is the best way to learn.

Basically all it is, bake a cake - you can do this from a packet of from scratch, let it cool completely then break it up {best done with clean hands and a fork} into fine crumbs, make a frosting of your choice and then add it to the cake crumbs. You want enough frosting for it to stick together kind of like play dough, but be careful not to add too much, if you do you can simply add more cake to the mixture. Using a spoon to scoop the mixture out, roll it into small balls and place on a baking tray with non-stick baking paper on it. Refrigerate overnight or freeze for 15 minutes then put them in the fridge, you want the balls firm but not frozen. Melt your coating in the microwave in a narrow plastic bowl 30seconds at a time and mixing in between making sure the coating doesn't get too hot and cease or burn. Taking only a few cake balls out at a time, dip the lollypop stick into the coating about 1-2cm then into the cake ball but be careful not to go more than half way in. Then dip the cake ball in in one movement, down straight in, then one movement to pull it out. If you move it too much the ball will likely fall off. Tap any excess coating off. The coating will set very quickly so {about 30-60sec} so if you add adding sprinkles or anything like that you need to do it fast. Then stick it in a Styrofoam block.

Too easy right!?

Well, there are more tips/tricks I need to add...

I have made them with a packet cake, but mostly from scratch. I have made THIS Red Velvet Cake which is a great size and taste or for plain and chocolate cakes I have found the best ones for me to use are from Bakerella's book 'Cake Pops' {let me know if you want me to post these} they are a great size and taste too.

For frosting I prefer to use cream cheese frosting, I have used and vanilla butter icing {recipe from Bakerells book} but found that it just added too much too the sweetness it's all pretty much more butter and sugar, so i find that the cream cheese adds a different taste to break up the sweetness/sugar. And you can add a flavour to the cream cheese frosting if you wish.

When you roll the cake crumbs into balls, the best technique I've found for this to get evenly sized cake balls, is to weigh it. I grab a spoon full and weigh 30grams then roll it.

You want to roll the cake balls as smooth as possible. The smoother the cake ball the smoother the coating will go on.

To coat the cake balls you will need Candy melts also knows as Confectionary coating. There are two brands that I know about, Wilton and CK/Merkens. Wilton is crap, it is too thick and you usually need to thin it out before you start dipping. Chocolate is not strong enough to hold the cake ball on the stick, so I only use chocolate sometimes only if they are going to be upside down or if I'm not using a stick at all and just want Cake balls.

Working with Candy Melts is the trickiest thing to learn because it can be so temperamental. You need to take extreme care when melting it, I find halving the power of the microwave and checking the temperature {with my hand on the bowl or dipping a finger in} to make sure it is not getting to hot. If you find it has melted too thick, you can add a shortening to it such as coafa {not sure how to spell it} which you can get in the supermarket, or I've found vegetable oil is pretty much the same thing. Just don't add too much, this breaks down the coating and thins it out so if you add too much it won't be strong enough to coat the cake balls. Also, when you add shortening it takes may take a little longer to set/dry. Don't get any moister in the melts, this will make it cease and you can no longer use it once this happens.

When you are ready to dip the cake balls, make sure you have everything set up around you {the sticks. sprinkles, plenty of bowls, styrofoam block} Take the cake balls out of the fridge about 5-6 at a time, they need to be firm BUT because of the contrast in temperature between the cold cake balls and the hot/warm melts, this can cause the coating to crack once after it is set, So, leave the cake balls out about 5-10 mins to come up to room temp a little, then start dipping them.

It is a good idea to poke the holes in the styrofoam block before you start.

Ok, I can't think of anything else right now, but I'm sure I've probably forgotten something.

There are a lot of thing to remember when making Cake pops as you can see, {which is why I hadn't written this post earlier} but, they are great fun, and look and taste fantastic.

For tomorrows party the colours are Navy blue, Peach & Teal. I have made vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting to coat with peach melts, and a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting to coat with dark blue melts. {Will post photos later}

 

Landon Paul Pemberton



Landon Paul Pemberton 5.12am 27th August 2012 Arizona

We could not be happier for Aunty Saffron that Landon has finally arrived and is as precious as ever. Can not wait for our first skype date with Landon!

Two more sleeps

Two short sleeps and I'll be picking my mum and nana up from the airport YAY! and my super cute niece Harlow will be two.

Any minute now we're waiting on news of our latest nephew entering this world, it's 3am in the morning there, but kerry won't call and find out! boo {excited much}

My poor Mathias is starting to look like I'm beating him, last week he fell and hit his eye on the corner of my bedroom draw, and this evening he slipped on the steps and cut his lip!

My preperation for fathers day is in motion. last year he got super spoilt so this one is low key. with some cute printables off the internet I'm putting together a selection of treats for kerry and will post photos later.

Baby teeth

Taylah-benet's second baby tooth fell out today right after school while eating an apple.

Monday 20th August 2012 Taylah-Benet's second baby tooth fell out

She is so excited and has written a letter to the tooth fairy {which reminds me....i need to do that}

Count down is ON!

The count down is on and it is now less than 10 days until my mum and Nana arrive home from their holiday in Europe. My mum and Nana go there once every two years to visit my uncle and his family, and this is the first time we've connected up with them on skype. it's funny that only since this last holiday i had a blond moment and realised i have french cousins, and they are so freakin' cute. Alana, their daughter is about 8 and their handsome little boy Jesse is 4. I can't wait until next year they will all be making the journey over this way to visit. I haven't seen my uncle G in over 8 years and can't wait to meet my gorgeous french cousins!

In other news, we are still awaiting the arrival of Saffrons baby boy {hurry up baby Landon...or baby Hayden? either way we can't wait!} And it's her birthday today HAPPY BIRTHDAY Saffron!! we had a skype date with my beautiful sister in laws today and finally caught miss Riley {auntie Linda's baby girl} awake! she is 8 months and super cute squealing at us through the lap top. 

along with the count down for the return of my mum and Nana, is also my gorgeous niece Harlow's 2nd birthday. my sister is planning a spectacular 'breakfast buffet' for her party and if you've seen the parties she puts together, they just get better and better... Amy Atlas eat your heart out! My sister and my auntie have joined their forces to adventure into the business of event planning/styling and services, head on over to there page HERE to check out all the mouth watering treats!

Taylah-benet had her schools athletic carnival last week which i was excited to attend, she came third in her little race... OK so it was only out of three but who really cares at that age!? she had a great day, and {though it was a little boring} I enjoyed watching her participate.

Mathias is great, still no signs he's ready to take on the toilet training, but I guess I gave up on that one for a little while, I'll try again next school holidays...or maybe Christmas holidays!?

And Carter, I bet your sick of hearing this but he is soooo different from my first two babies. he's so sensitive, sometimes he sleeps through the night, but never without stirring a few times, where I need to at least get up to put his dummy back in. lately this week that hasn't been enough and he has needed a bottle. although he is proving to be my least cooperative little baby, I still can't help but gush over how much I love him! how handsome he is and enjoy every little bit of him! it's like falling in love all over again!

well, that's it from me. have a happy week all Xx

kids

I could say I have been busy, but really there is not normally a time when I am not busy. With three kids it was bound to happen. I think it's funny how with each child I have. it makes me think how much easier it was with just one child, then how much easier it was with just two. But really, each have their unique challenges.When I did only have one, I thought it was far from 'easy'! I mean...seriously, if you thought you had any idea how to be a good parent before becoming one, your first born was destined to give you a reality check. My grandmother said to me once that it's a miracle any first Born's survive. These are the children we experience all our 'first's' with in parenting, so if we get it wrong the first time, we can do better with the next one and hope the first one survives. I remember days with just Taylah-benet and I where I would become so overwhelmed I didn't have a clue what to do and yes, days where finding time to shower was a challenge.

Then there were two. Taylah-benet could not have been an any more perfect first child, which is why I feared that karma would catch up with me on my second child. But, believe it or not, Mathias was a text book baby like his big sister, and with Taylah-benet so well behaved, adjusting to two kids didn't seem all that difficult. It wasn't until Mathias' energetic personality emerged that the real challenge arose. I couldn't be more happier to report that we are out of that tunnel.

And now there are three. As you might already know that was a challenge for me to adjust to.

sometimes I wish I could go back to just one child with the things I know now. but it's all part of the journey right? learning, growing, improving. I love being a mum more than anything, and I wouldn't change my journey one bit.

Carter was six months on Monday, the time has just flown by.

An aunty again

I am so excited once again to have yet another nephew soon. my beautiful sister in law is about to give birth to her first baby, a boy.

Due any day now, my other {very talanted} sister in law took these gorgeous photos. Makes me wish we lived closer, America is just too far away!! {thank goodness for skype}

Good luck Saffron, you are going to be an awesome momma!

A Blessing

I love rediscovering the blessings that come from paying tithing, as we all know the challenge it can be.

Yesterday at church our car got a flat tire. I had left sacrament to get Carter's bottle and discovered it. This also happened only about two weeks ago so we had no spare either. And to top it off no money!

The options were to call a family member for help which is hard enough in itself. or {sitting in sacrament} think of who we could ask at church.

Long story short  my husband opted for the latter and a friend from church took him, purchased a tire and helped him put it on the car, then turned down the offer of the little money we did had.

For myself, it is always a humbling experience when we need to ask for help. Quite often it's my own pride that keeps me from asking as I like to think I can do it all on my own. And when I haven't been able to, it's my own fault, and having to ask for help is kind of telling someone else that I wasn't able to take care of my own family.

But I am always surprised when this does happen, and we do ask for help. Members are often all to happy for the opportunity to help and serve.

Last weekend I attended our stakes family history fair, and sitting in one of the classes a sister said something that stood out to me. That it's always important that we are in tune with the spirit and open to the promptings because what we may not realise is that quite often those promptings are answers to someone else's prayers.

What a blessing. I hope that I can be that instrument for someone.

Do schools kill creativity?

Last week I watched this video produced by TED about an idea. Do schools kill creativity?

Ever since I watched this I keep thinking about my children's own creativity that they have now. How do I encourage and cultivate their creativity? and be confident with themselves? Sometimes I feel I may over think things as a parent, but this one has been on my mind allot lately as I consider myself to be someone with little confidence and I'm always worried about doing, saying or just looking wrong.

I think about people I know who I consider confident and creative and wonder if they consider themselves to be confident people, comfortable with everything about who they are?

I think I can fake it, and my sister often Say's "Fake it til' you make it!"

So my question to all and anyone who reads this is, what did your parents do to encourage your creativity and confidence??