Bakerella's Blog, page 20

Cocoa Cake Pops

I’d rather be thinking about spring-themed treats right about now, but man… Winter will not leave. So I made these adorable little mugs of not-so-hot cocoa. Hopefully we’ll be on to warmer weather soon, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy these cold weather inspired cocoa cake pops. I love how cute they turned out!

I wanted perfectly-shaped handles for the mugs to help pull off the look, so I thought I could use my Letters Candy Mold to make them and I think they turned out pretty great. If you don’t have a candy mold that would work, you could also just pipe thick C shapes on to wax paper.

To use the mold, fill the shapes with melted candy wafers using a toothpick or squeeze bottle. Place the mold in the fridge for a few minutes for the candy to set. To release the letters from the mold, give it a gentle twist and push on the plastic from the bottom of the shapes to help release the letters. Hold the mold over a towel so the letters won’t break as they fall out from the mold.

I used the letter C and also used D, G, O, Q by filling a curved portion of those letters to mimic the C.

You can make the handles ahead of time and then just save them until you need them.

Here are the basic cake pop instructions to get you started. Once you have them rolled into balls, continue shaping them by hand. Make an indentation on one end and then roll, rotate and slide the ball on wax paper to form a cylinder like above. The wax paper makes it much easier to shape and achieve defined edges.

The indentation in the top of the cylinder shape will act as a well for the “cocoa”.

These pops are dipped in melted marshmallow white candy wafers first and then melted chocolate is placed in the well. If you made a perfect cylinder shape without a well and dipped the pops in coating, once you placed the chocolate coating on top for the cocoa it could look like it was sitting too high above the mug. But you can totally skip the whole indenting step if you want. They’ll still be cute.

Here’s how they are dipped and decorated.

Dip the cylinder in the melted coating allowing the excess to fall off. Gently press a handle shape into the side of the pop and attach a red jumbo heart sprinkle on the front before the coating sets. Let dry completely and then fill the well with melted chocolate coating (Note: I mixed chocolate with vanilla to get a lighter, more cocoa-like shade of chocolate.) Use a toothpick to coerce the coating into a circular shape if needed. You can also gently tap the bottom of the pop stick on the counter to help settle and flatten out the coating.

But wait. We need teeny, tiny marshmallows for our cocoa.

Before the chocolate sets, place 3-5 into the coating.

Oh so cute!

Enjoy!!! Hope these warm your heart.

Everyday Brownies

I was craving chocolate. Just chocolate. Okay … WAS is probably the wrong choice of words because I crave chocolate everyday.

And these easy Everyday Brownies from my friend Kamran’s new book Hand Made Baking were … p-e-r-f-e-c-t. < That was me singing btw.

So decadent and fudgy!

I love brownies because the ingredients are simple and you don’t have to mess with your mixer to make them. And truth be told, when I’m craving chocolate in a pinch, I will break out a brownie mix to quickly satisfy my craving. But these brownies. Oh my gosh, they are insanely chocolatey and totally worth making my craving wait an extra few minutes for their decadence.

They call for dark brown sugar in addition to the white sugar. Sweet!

And the chocolate. Oh, the chocolate. Cocoa plus chunks of chopped dark chocolate get mixed in before baking.

And in no time, you end up with these sinfully sweet squares to enjoy.

 

Everyday Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs, cold

3/4 cup all purpose flour

5 oz roughly chopped dark chocolate cacao (54-70 percent cacao)

Position rack in upper third of the oven.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper leaving an overhang on each side.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Mix in both sugars, the cocoa powder and salt with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.
The mixture should be lukewarm before adding the eggs. If not, set aside to cool slightly. To test, a clean finger should be able to comfortable stay in the mixture without getting burned.
Vigorously stir in the vanilla and eggs. Once the batter appears shiny and the eggs are blended in well, add the flour and mix just until the flour has disappeared.
Briskly stir in the chopped chocolate and spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 38-43 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges slightly moist with batter.
Allow brownies to cool in the pan placed on a wire rack. Life the parchment paper and transfer brownies to a cutting board and cut into 16 equal squares.

Recipe from Handmade Baking 2014, shared with permission from Chronicle Books.

 

Want more?

Here’s a little peek.

I started out wanting to make this Everyday Chocolate Cake.

I mean if I could take a bite out of a book, I would eat the heck out of that cover.

But, then I wanted to make these Chocolate Snickerdoodles.

And then these Heartbreak Chocolate Truffle Cookies were calling to me.

They’re still calling to me… Screaming!

But there’s lots of other non-chocolate yumminess inside too.

Check out Hand Made Baking sometime if you want to satisfy your sweet tooth… or visit Kamran’s Blog, The Sophisticated Gourmet for more goodies.

 

30 Valentine’s Day Worthy Treats

I rounded up a bunch of fun treats for the fourteenth. If you’re looking for something yummy, cute or chocolatey to make for your sweetheart this Saturday, then check out the links below. The list is a mix of some of my favorite past Valentine’s Day desserts plus some straight up chocolate decadence, too. Enjoy!

 

1. Mini Cake Pops Display

 

2. Box of chocolates cake

 

3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

 

 

 

4. Red Velvet Cake Balls

 

5. Big Love Butterscotch Cookie

 

6. Fourteen Layer Cake

 

7. Meringue Kisses

 

8. Cha Cha Chocolates

 

9. Cheesecake Pops

 

10. Red Velvet Cake

 

11. Sugar Cookie Dessert Stands

 

12. Puppy Love Mini Cupcakes

 

13. Whale Cute Sugar Cookies

 

14. S’mores Brownies

 

15. Strawberry Cake Pops

 

16. Valentine Bear Cake Pops

 

17. Sweet Shape Candy Cupcake Toppers

 

18. Cookie Molds

 

19. Itty-Bitty Brownie Bites

 

20. Kit Kat Cream Cheese Brownies

 

21. Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

 

22. Melty Salted Caramel Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

23. Cupid’s Arrow Red Velvet Cupcakes

 

24. Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Bars

 

25. Brownie Mocha Milkshakes

 

26. Vintage Valentine Cookies

 

27. Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 

28. Oreo Kisses

 

29. S’mores Cupcakes

 

30. Big Kiss Cake Pops

 

Hugs and Kisses and Happy Valentine’s Day this Saturday. Hope it’s the sweetest!

Sweet Shapes Candy Cupcake Toppers

I have another easy little project to share with you today using candy wafers and one of the candy molds in my Bakerella for Make’n Mold line. If you liked the candy jewel pops from a few weeks ago, then I think you’ll enjoy this project too.

It’s a fun way to make the cutest candy cupcake toppers … perfect for your sweetheart!

First, we’ll need this Sweet Shapes Candy Mold.

Here’s a glimpse of the super cute packaging.

We’ll also need some candy wafers in happy colors. Melt them and you are ready to go.

Okay, let’s get some melted candy in this mold. You can take the easy road and fill the shapes with just a couple of colors …(or even just one) in no time, but I wanted to show you how fun they could be using all the colors in the product line.

To fill in the mold, use a toothpick dipped in the melted candy wafers to draw in defined areas. If you’re filling in larger areas with one color, you could spoon it in carefully or use a squeeze bottle to pipe it into the mold.

Then layer on more colors until the mold cavity is full. (This takes a little longer than just using one or two colors, but the great thing about these is you can make the toppers ahead of time.) Make sure to let each color set before adding another color on top. When finished, pop the mold in the fridge for a few minutes to set.

They don’t look like much here, BUT…

…When you turn them over, they’ll look as sweet as can be.

I mean, look at that cute little bear with his perfectly pink paws. Oh my gosh.

I illustrated these shapes and it’s so fun to see them evolve from a two dimensional drawing on the computer to an adorable edible 3d version.

To remove the shapes, give the mold a little twist, then turn the mold over and let them release on to your counter. You can do this over a dishtowel also to help prevent any from breaking. If some don’t want to pop right out, then twist again and gently lift them out by the edge, one at a time.

To turn them into cupcake toppers, just dip a toothpick in more melted candy wafers and attach it to the back of each candy shape and let dry.

That’s it. Super easy.

I like placing these toppers on vanilla frosted cupcakes so the colorful candies really stand out.

Leave them just like this or add a few pastel sprinkles around the edge of the cupcake to spruce them up a little more.

They’ll make the sweetest Valentine’s Day treat!

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Below are the Bakerella for Make’n Mold products used in this post if you want to give them a go.

You can find them in stores at A.C. Moore Crafts.

Or, if there’s not a retail location in your area, you can also order online from Make’n Mold at the links below.

Sweet Shapes Candy Mold
Candy Wafers
Pink Pastry Bags

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Groundhog Day Cupcakes

Happy Groundhog Day!!! I know it’s late in the game to make these little guys, but I had a last minute idea for them this weekend using some fave candies and I didn’t want to a year to see how they might turn out. Bookmark these cuties if you want to make them next year for Groundhog Day… or I guess if you need any Beaver cupcake inspiration, then the faces could come in handy for that too. ; )

Now, I couldn’t be more ready for Spring. I’m hoping for a cloudy morning when Punxsutawney Phil pokes his little head out this morning. If he sees his shadow, then he’s predicted another six weeks of wintery weather.

But regardless if he’s right are not, I hope these little guys make you smile.

Here’s how to make them.

You can use the chocolate cupcake and frosting recipe below to get started.

Then you just need to organize your candies to decorate.

Hershey’s Chocolate Drops for cheeks and paws
Brown M&M’s for ears
Reese’s peanut butter cups for heads
Black coated sunflower seeds for noses
Chocolate wafer cookies crumbled up for dirt

Mini marshmallow bits for exaggerated teeth
Sugar eyes for… well, eyes

To make the faces, first separate the peanut butter cups from the wrappers, but leave on so you can move them around without getting chocolate on your fingers.
Use a toothpick dipped in some melted chocolate coating to act as glue and attach the candies. Place two Hershey’s Drops in the middle.
Then dot on more coating and attach the nose, and two candy eyes.
For the teeth, take the marshmallow bits, press them together flat for teeth and attach them with melted coating.
Draw on eyes using a black edible ink pen and let dry.
If they cups started to warm up from your touch, place them in the fridge for a few minutes while you frost the cupcakes.

Frost the cupcakes using an offset spatula. Apply the frosting around the sides of the cupcake with a downward motion using the offset spatula, leaving a “well” in the center.
Roll or press the frosted sides of the cupcake into chocolate wafer cookie crumbs for the soil.
Place a groundhog face gently in the center until secure. You can coerce the crumb coated frosting around the base to help hold it in place if necessary.
Then attach two M&M’s in position for ears with more melted chocolate as glue and let dry.

Finally, take two more Hershey’s drops and place on each side of the groundhog’s face for paws.

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CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup whole milk

1/2 cup hot water

FROSTING

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cocoa

2 Tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Fill cupcake tray with 18 cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk. Add eggs, oil, vanilla and milk and mix until combined. Add hot water and mix. It will be very liquid.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Pour into liner with a large spouted measuring cup for ease.
Bake for 15 minutes or until done.
For chocolate frosting, beat 1 cup butter until creamy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar and cocoa and mix until combined. Add 1-2 Tablespoons milk and mix until creamy and smooth.

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Super cute!!! Here’s hoping for an early spring!

Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinnamon rolls and this weekend these were the perfect comfort food. Or comfort dessert that is.

Dough swirled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Yes, yes. yes.

These are basic cinnamon rolls … basic yum … with vanilla icing. But you can also try these chocolate cinnamon rolls or pumpkin pecan cinnamon rolls if you like them jazzed up a bit.

Prepare the dough and let it rise per the recipe below before rolling it out.

Then roll it into a roughly 14 X 24 inch rectangular shape.

Cover with melted butter and brown sugar.

Then sprinkle on cane sugar and cinnamon.

Then you are ready to roll. Start from the back and roll toward you to create a long spiraled cylinder.

Like so. And like so pretty!

Slice the dough into 18 equal sections about 1 1/4 – 1/2 inches thick.

Butter two square pans and place 9 pieces in each. I like using disposable aluminum pans with lids for these.

Let the cut rolls rise again in a warm place for about 45 minutes before baking.

Remove them from the oven and cover with vanilla icing while the buns are still warm.

Yum!!

 

CINNAMON ROLLS WITH VANILLA ICING

Makes 18 cinnamon rolls

DOUGH

1 cup whole milk

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoon (1 packet) active dry yeast

4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

CINNAMON FILLING

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

VANILLA TOPPING

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

3-4 tablespoons whole milk

PREPARE THE DOUGH:

Heat milk and butter in a small heatproof bowl in the microwave until warm. Stir in sugar.
Transfer milk mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Sprinkle yeast on top of warm milk mixture and let rest for 2 minutes. Gently stir together.  (Note: temperature of liquid should between 100-110 degrees when using Fleischmann’s and between 120-130 degrees for Red Star active dry yeast.)
Add 3 cups of the flour, salt and egg and mix on low until combined.
Switch to the mixer’s dough hook. Add remaining cup of flour and knead dough for a few minutes until it pulls away from the bowl. If needed, add another tablespoon of flour to help all the dough completely pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Spray a medium bowl with non-stick spray.
Remove dough from mixing bowl. Knead dough a couple of times by hand and then shape into a ball. Place in coated bowl and turn over to coat each side.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise in a warm spot for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. If dough reaches top of the bowl, punch down.

FOR THE FILLING:

Butter two 8 X 8 inch pans.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Keep extra flour handy to coat your rolling pin, hands and work surface if needed. Roll into a roughly 14 X 24 inch rectangular shape with the longest side closest to you. Roll so that the dough is almost 1/4 inch thick.
Drizzle melted butter on dough, spread around to coat, leaving about a 1/2 inch uncoated along the edges. Sprinkle both sugars and cinnamon all over surface of the dough.
Starting from the side opposite you, roll dough tightly towards you to form a long cylinder of dough. At the end, pinch the seams together and turn so the long seam side is down. If needed, gently squeeze or shape the dough to help form more equal size cinnamon rolls. Cut dough shape into 18 1-1/2 inch sections with a serrated knife and place nine cinnamon rolls in each pan. There will be a little space between each roll.
Let rolls rise a second time in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and then bake rolls for 15-17 minutes.

COVER WITH TOPPING: While the rolls are baking, prepare the vanilla topping. Sift confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in melted butter, vanilla and milk until completely smooth. Remove rolls from the oven and pour topping evenly over cinnamon rolls while warm.

Notes:

You can also bake these cinnamon rolls the next morning. After placing cut rolls in the pans, refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, let the rolls rise in the pans in a warm spot for the second time (45-60 minutes) before baking.
For a maple topping: Make the vanilla topping above and use 1 teaspoon maple flavoring instead of vanilla.
For a cream cheese topping: Beat 4 oz softened cream cheese and 2 tablespoons room temperature butter until smooth. Add 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Then add 3-4 tablespoons milk until smooth.
If you like your topping thicker, add more confectioners’ sugar or thinner, add a little more milk.

 

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

A peek inside my pantry

I finally organized my pantry and I’m super excited about it. If you follow me on instagram, you may remember the photo below that I posted several weeks ago.

This is my out-of-control pantry, but it barely has any food in it. It’s 95% dedicated to baking and decorating supplies and it’s looked a lot like this since I moved in about a year and a half ago. I’ve just never taken the time to focus on organizing it.

Cookie cutter chaos, overflowing bins, baking cups everywhere. A ton of space, but somehow no place to put anything… let alone find anything when I need it.

But now that’s changed because I recently partnered with Target to use some of their storage solutions to spruce up my space. It was a perfect opportunity to work with them since I’ve been using their plastic bins for years to stack and store my stuff.

But now… oh my gosh. I’m so excited about this space.

Want to see the after?

Aaaaaaaahhh! I LOVE it! My friend Julie came over and helped with the final arranging and now I keep walking in and staring at everything with my heart all fluttery. I think I could even sleep in here … especially now that I can find the floor.

If you want to take a closer look, I’ve included lots of pictures and links to the Target products below in case you like any of the items I used. (And if you have any storage solution ideas you want to share, I’m all ears.)

Let’s start with that bar cart in the back. I bought it from Target a while ago to put supplies on when I work on a project and I can’t wait to finally use it again.

For the new items, I went shopping in the store and online. I found these fabric bins to organize things like regular and mini baking cups, cake boards and more.

I added pom poms to the ring pulls to decorate the fronts.

These cute y-weave baskets came in super handy to store things like my candy molds…

Colorful straws …

… and my collection of cookie cutter tins. I love the pattern.

For individual cookie cutters, I found these 3-Drawer Organizers to store them in and I added washi tape to the fronts to give them a little color.

Each drawer is organized by theme. Easter, Christmas, Halloween, hearts, animals and sweets. What I love about these is that I can easily remove the individual drawers to carry.

Here are some of my cake pop and cupcake stands now all stacked up. YAY!

I used these utensil holders to put pretty paper straws on display.

I love this chevron bath basket for my candy wafers. It makes it easy to grab the color I need. It’s actually a baby item, but I couldn’t resist the design.

I only have a handful of props to organize … thank goodness.

These tall wire baskets came in handy for yarn and paper filler.

And I finally found a place to put my Cake Pops books and kit on permanent display.

These easy-to-access glass containers keep my lollipop sticks cozy.

Here’s another three-drawer organizer that I decorated with more washi tape. I’m using it for luster dust, plus powdered and gel food coloring and candy flavoring.

The four small bins in the upper right hold small items like miniature spoons. You can write on the pink fronts with a dry erase marker but I decided to leave them blank. I also used the medium size bins to hold ribbon and treat bags and twist ties.

I found this small tote basket great to carry bottles in. It’s holding colored cocoa butters for now.

I was going to print out labels for these magazine holders, but instead I just used bright green washi tape to cover the cardboard insert for a little pop of color.

Egg cartons and ice cream containers. I bought the egg cartons a while ago to package mini cupcakes in. Now that I can see them, maybe I’ll finally use them.

Here’s a small kitchen organizer I’m using to hold glitter. I liked the size of it and the bottom was teal. So basically I had to get it.

I wish I had more of these glass jars. Love them!

P.S. I think I’m set on mini marshmallow bits. : )

These are some of the thirteen storage bins that I already had. They are filled with all kinds of candy that I keep for reference. At one time they were organized by pastel and primary colors. But the contents kept growing. I guess going through these will be my next project.

If you are wondering where my sprinkles are, they hang out upside down in two of my kitchen drawers so I can see them all at a glance. They used to be in several plastic bins this way, but I love having them handy in the kitchen.

Here’s a last view of the main wall from the left…

and the right!

Thanks for peeking inside my pantry. And now that I’m all organized, it’s time to bake!

This post is a collaboration with Target.

Paddington Cake Pops

Paddington arrives in theaters Friday, January 16th and I made these sweet little pops to celebrate the movie from the beloved novels by Michael Bond and producer David Heyman (Harry Potter). Paddington brings the comic misadventures of everyone’s favorite Peruvian bear to life on the big screen as he travels to the city in search of a home, meets the Brown family who offer him a temporary haven and then catches the eye of a museum taxidermist played by Nicole Kidman.

I love making character cake pops and Paddingtion is such a charming little bear. I had the most fun interpreting him in cake pop form for the movie. I gave him his signature red hat and a hint of a blue collar from his duffle coat to carry out the look.

And, here’s how you can make him, too!

Follow my basic cake pop instructions to get started.

Once you’ve crumbled your cake, mixed it with frosting and rolled the mixture into cake balls, you can reshape them into little bear heads for dipping.

To shape them into a head for Paddington, his forehead should be taller to accommodate the height of his hat and his nose should protrude in front. You can shape by hand, but I also find it helpful to use a lollipop stick to aid in shaping. Try rolling the stick on the front to flatten the forehead. You can also use it to make indentions for the eyes and nose as reference.

When you are ready to dip, insert the lollipop stick into a chilled and shaped cake ball. Then insert into melted light brown candy coating. (Note: To make light brown coating, melt and mix white candy wafers along with chocolate candy wafers in the microwave. Start small with the chocolate until you get shade you want. I also like to add some orange candy wafers to warm up the color, but it’s not necessary.)

Dip the cake pop and tap off any excess. Then, before the coating sets, attach two black sugar pearls in position for eyes.

After all the cake pops are dipped, lighten up the brown coating again by adding more white candy wafers. Use a toothpick dipped in the melted coating to draw on the front of the face for the snout. Before the coating sets, attach a black coated sunflower seed for the nose and let dry completely. (Note: Most of the seeds in the package are pointed on one end, but I will sift through them to find ones that appear rounded on both sides.

For Paddington’s hat, dip his head at an angle into melted red candy wafers so the coating curves around his forehead and around his head.

Remove and let dry completely.

When dry, use a toothpick dipped in coating to draw a floppy brim. Do this in a couple of stages. Draw in the coating, let it set to dry and then add more coating on top to make it thicker.

When dry use a toothpick dipped in melted blue candy wafers to draw on the coat’s collar on the bottom of the pop. Let the first layer dry and then apply more coating to make the collar thicker.

When dry, draw on a sweet side smile with a black edible ink writing pen.

Ta-da! … Little Paddingtons!

These are actually pretty easy to decorate. You just need:

candy wafers – chocolate, vanilla, red, blue, orange (optional)
black sugar pearls
black sunflower seeds
black edible ink pen
toothpicks
and treat tags too.

Download the Paddington Tags pdf that I made and you can dress him up with his famous label from the story that says “Please look after this bear. Thank you.”

Oh my gosh, he’s such a cutie!!

Check out the #PaddingtonMovie in theaters this Friday!

This post sponsored by The Weinstein Company, but obviously I love making character cake pops. Hope you love these too. Enjoy!

Pop Stars for $800

Something crazy happened yesterday. I started getting comments and tweets from people and friends that I was a question on Jeopardy. And I was like what?! No. That can’t be. I mean somebody must be mixed up. But, then last night I saw it… and oh my gosh! I was totally a clue on Jeopardy. Crazy!!! Below is a clip I posted on Instagram, but I thought I’d share here too because it’s so surreal.

A video posted by @bakerella on Jan 8, 2015 at 4:43pm PST

I love that John got the answer right… without hesitation… and then went on to win the show. YAY! I also love that John’s wife saw her husband on my instagram post and commented. Full circle I tell ya. Congrats on winning John… you’re the pop star!!!

Candy Jewel Pops

I shape cake pops all the time by hand, but you can also use some candy molds to help you make them. So, today I thought I’d show you a fun way to use the Gems Mold from my product line with Make’n Mold that came out last year. I love how cute and perfect they turn out.

The flexible silicone mold makes six different shapes.

I went with three of my bright candy wafer colors to make these.

I love the Sunny Yellow, but they look really great in just plain white, too.

You can make solid candy pops by simply filling the molds completely with melted candy wafers and inserting a lollipop stick after the coating starts to set a little.

To prepare the molds for cake pops, fill each cavity with melted candy coating.

Then turn the entire mold upside down and let the excess coating fall back out onto a wax paper-covered baking sheet. You may need to gently shake it a little to help it fall.

This is an easy way to make sure that the entire inside of the mold gets coated. And when the excess coating on the wax paper starts to set, you can remove it to reheat.

Let dry completely or place the mold in the refrigerator to help set quickly.

Now that you have an outer shell, press cake pop mixture into the coated cavity leaving enough room on top for more melted coating to seal and also touch and attach to the coating already on the inside of the cavity.

Before the coating starts to set, insert a cake pop stick straight in.

Place the mold back in the refrigerator to set again.

To remove pops, gently separate the lip of the mold from the candy and then carefully push the shape out of the mold from the bottom.

Keep in mind that if you shake out too much coating in the beginning, leaving a thin shell, that the pop may break when removing.

You can also use the same technique to fill the mold with small candy like these coated sunflower seeds.

Just let your recipients know there’s something fun to expect inside… and maybe give them a bowl ; ), so when they bite in they don’t make a mess.

I probably wouldn’t make these into pops though. Just serve them as standalone surprise inside candies.

Enjoy!

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Below are the Bakerella for Make’n Mold products used in this post if you want to give them a go.

You can find them in stores at A.C. Moore Crafts.

And, if there’s not a location in your area, you can also order online from Make’n Mold at the links below.

Gems Candy Mold
Sunny Yellow, Sky Blue and Party Pink Candy Wafers

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