Pancake Love

Hey friends!

It has been awhile since I last posted. I have been working to get back into blogging and am planning to write some updates soon.

Until then, I wanted to share with you an idea I recently had. A week ago, I celebrated seven months of marriage with my husband and wanted to do something simple and sweet for him. This is what I came up with. Enjoy!

*Pancake Love*

What You'll Need:
1 Condiment Bottle
Pancake Mix
Griddle or Skillet

Mix up your pancake batter. 

Next, fill your clean condiment bottle with pancake mix. I found a set of 2 condiment bottles at Walmart for $1. I originally purchased them to use for decorating Christmas cookies, but they can be used for a lot of things.

After heating up the skillet, squeeze the batter onto the pan in fun designs. If you are writing words or phrases, I found it was helpful if you "wrote" in cursive and kept the letters connected (it makes flipping the pancake much easier and less messy).
 
This is what I came up with. 

For my hubby (I need to improve on my heart design, haha.)

I even created a heart with our initials in it. =)

I had a ton of fun with this idea! In the future, I might cut the tip of the bottle so the batter comes out thicker and the "pancakes" won't be so thin. 

Hope you try this out and enjoy making some designs of your own!

With love,

Cake Pop Deliciousness

Hello blog world! 

It's been awhile. I have so much to update you on...just trying to find the time to do it. 

A few weeks ago, I made some treats for a friend's party. My goal was to make these Cupcake Pops, but I quickly realized that my lack of experience with cake pops led me to settle for the basic version, Basic Cake Pops. I used Bakerella's recipe, adapting it to my preferences.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) (I chose Cherry Chip!)
1 can frosting (16 oz.) (I used Cream Cheese Frosting.)
Wax paper
Yellow candy melts (1 lb. pkg.) (I used 1 lb. of white chocolate bark.)
Lollipop sticks (I couldn't find these, so I used skewer sticks. That didn't work out very well so I would find lollipop sticks if you can find them.)

1. Bake cake mix from scratch. Cool completely.
   
2. Crumble cake into a fine consistency in a large bowl.
   
   
   
   
3. Add a container of cream cheese frosting and blend together using a large spoon. Blend thoroughly.
   
4. Roll mixture into 1.25″ – 1.5″ size balls and lay on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. You may want to periodically rinse and dry your hands off in between.
   
5. 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.
6. While cupcake shapes are chilling, begin to heat up your chocolate bark.
7. 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.
   
8. When you are ready to dip, remove from freezer and set up another wax paper covered cookie sheet.
9. I chose to dye the white chocolate two of my friend's favorite colors, purple and green, to make them more colorful. Just use some food coloring and mix quickly with the melted chocolate in separate bowls.
10. Take the cake pops and dip into the melted chocolate. Remove from chocolate, turn upside down and wiggle so that the excess starts to slide down slightly. 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 cake pops. You can also leave some without the sticks. They’re just as cute as Cupcake Bites. (This is what I chose to do. Less hassle!)TIP: Dip end of your lollipop stick in the melted chocolate before inserting into chocolate bottoms.
11. I added some sprinkles to the cake pops as well.

It was really difficult for me, inexperienced chocolate dipper that I am, to dip the cake pops in the chocolate, cover them completely, and not poke holes in the cake pop. After I started using a spoon to dip the pops, the process ran a bit more smoothly. I'd like to work up to these Cupcake Pops, but I need to practice a bit more. 

Reviews:

Everyone who tried them seemed to love the "cake balls" and remarked on how cute and yummy they were. I'd definitely like to make these again!

Special thanks to my roomie and her boyfriend for the extra hands of help for dipping!

Until next time...

With love,

Amanda