Cake Pops (12 page)

Use a candy mold to make cupcake bites, and decorate these sweet treats for your favorite sport.

48 uncoated
Basic Cupcake Bites

48 ounces (3 pounds) chocolate candy coating

2 or more deep, microwave-safe plastic bowls

Large squeeze bottle

Medium-sized plastic candy cup mold (with cavity openings 1½ inches wide)

Baking sheet

24 ounces (1½ pounds) white, yellow, or orange candy coating

Toothpicks

White candy writer, for tennis balls

Small squeeze bottle

Red candy writer or candy coating, for baseballs

Red jimmies, for baseballs

Black candy writer, for soccer balls and basketballs

• The ridges formed in the chocolate by the candy mold can melt slightly when you hold them for more than a few seconds. Wearing candy gloves can reduce fingerprints on the coating.
  

Have the cake balls chilled and in the refrigerator.

Melt the chocolate candy coating in a microwave-safe plastic bowl, following the package instructions, and transfer it to a large plastic squeeze bottle.

Use the large squeeze bottle to fill a cavity of the candy mold with chocolate coating, and immediately place one of the cake balls into the coating. Start out by filling the cavity about halfway. Slowly push the cake ball down until the pressure causes the candy coating to force its way up and fill in around the sides of the cake ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge of the candy mold so that it doesn’t form a lip around the edge. Half of the uncoated cake ball should be raised above the mold to form a mounded top. Repeat with the remaining cavities of the mold.

Place the filled candy mold tray in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. Placing it on a baking sheet will keep the candy mold from bending.

Remove from the freezer and separate the cupcake bites from the candy mold. Give the mold a twist and pull, holding on to the exposed cake balls.

For the soccer and baseball cupcake tops, melt the white candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl. For the tennis balls, melt the yellow candy coating, and for basketballs, melt the orange candy coating.

Holding the bottom of each cupcake bite, dip the top in the melted candy coating until it meets the edge of the chocolate coating. You can use a toothpick to touch up any uncoated areas.

Remove the cupcake bite from the coating, turn it right-side up, and swirl your hand in a circular motion to help smooth out the coating. Set aside and let dry completely before decorating the details.

For tennis balls, use a white candy writer (or pour some melted white coating into the small squeeze bottle) and pipe on wavy seams.

For baseballs, use a red candy writer (or melted red candy coating) to pipe semicircles onto the tops. Add red jimmies while the coating is still wet, or pipe on red for the stitches, and let dry.

For soccer balls, use a toothpick to etch hexagon shapes into the white coated tops. You can use the markings as a guide to outline the shapes using a black candy writer. Fill the shapes in with black.

For basketballs, use a toothpick to etch two perpendicular lines and then two semicircles. Trace the markings with a black candy writer.

Let the cupcake bites dry completely.

In addition to cake balls, bites, and pops, you can combine other ingredients that will allow you to mold different shapes. These footballs are actually crushed Oreos mixed with cream cheese. You can shape them out of cake and frosting as well, but don’t limit yourself. Feel free to experiment with other sweets, like cookies, and brownies. Or for other pop examples, visit:
www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/other-pops/

Create cute bug bites using domed candy molds.

48 uncoated
Basic Cake Balls

64 ounces (4 pounds) red candy coating

2 deep, microwave-safe plastic bowls

Large squeeze bottle

Dome-shaped plastic truffle candy mold (with cavity openings 1¾ inches wide)

Baking sheet

Black edible-ink pen

4 ounces of chocolate candy coating

Toothpicks

48 Junior Mints

96 white confetti sprinkles

48 red lip-shaped sprinkles

About 400 black confetti sprinkles

96 chocolate jimmies

Have the cake balls chilled and in the refrigerator. Refer to the
Basic Cupcake Bites
method when making these ladybug bites.

Melt the red candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl, following the package directions, and pour into a large squeeze bottle.

Fill a cavity of the domed candy mold with the melted red coating, and place a cake ball into the cavity. Press it in slowly, allowing the candy coating to force its way up the sides of the candy mold. The top of the ball should be almost flush with the top of the plastic mold. In other words, it should not stick up past the top of the candy mold cavity. If the balls are too large, simply pinch off a little bit and roll them smaller. You can also shape them similar to the shape of the mold cavity to maximize space.

Use the squeeze bottle to pour more red candy coating over the top of the cake ball. The coating should be level with the surface of the plastic mold. Repeat with each cavity and let dry. You can place the filled mold on a baking sheet in the freezer to speed this up. Remove after 5 to 10 minutes, and pop the red ladybug bodies out of the mold. Repeat using the same candy mold, or use several molds at once.

Draw a straight black line down the center of each domed, candy-covered cake ball with a black edible-ink pen and let dry.

Work on the heads next. Melt the chocolate coating to use as glue. Use a toothpick to dot melted chocolate candy coating onto each Junior Mint in position for the eyes, and attach 2 white confetti sprinkles. Use the same technique to attach 1 red lip sprinkle in position for the mouth. Set aside to dry.

Using a toothpick, dot more chocolate coating onto either side of the line on the ladybug’s back. Press 1 black confetti sprinkle on each dot of coating and let dry.

Place a small amount of chocolate coating on the back of each Junior Mint head and attach to the ladybug body. Allow to dry completely before moving. Finally, dip a toothpick into the melted chocolate coating and dot on the pupils of the eyes. Dip the ends of 2 chocolate jimmies, one at a time, in melted chocolate coating and attach in place on each head for the antennae.

Optional:
If you would like the ladybugs to have feet, attach 2 black confetti sprinkles to the underside of the ladybug body with more candy coating, so that half of the confetti sprinkle is exposed for view. Allow to dry completely before moving.

• The antennae and feet will be very delicate, so be careful. If you plan on presenting these at home, they should do fine, but if you want to transport them, consider skipping the feet and antennae.
  

• You can also pipe on spots with candy coating instead of using black confetti sprinkles.
  

Use white candy necklace pieces for eyes that pop, and draw on a big smile to round out these happy faces.

48 uncoated
Basic Cake Balls

48 ounces (3 pounds) dark green candy coating

Deep, microwave-safe plastic bowl

48 paper lollipop sticks

96 white candy necklace pieces

Styrofoam block

Black edible-ink pen

1 package (5.64 ounces) Red Rips Licorice Belts (optional)

Have the cake balls chilled and in the refrigerator.

Melt the dark green candy coating in a microwave-safe plastic bowl, following the instructions on the package. The coating should be about 3 inches deep for easier dipping. (I usually work with about 16 ounces of coating at a time.)

When you are ready to dip, remove a few cake balls at a time from the refrigerator, keeping the rest chilled.

One at a time, dip about ½ inch of the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted candy coating, and insert the stick straight into a cake ball, pushing it no more than halfway through. Dip the cake pop into the melted coating, and tap off any excess coating, as described in
Dipping Methods
.

While the coating is still wet, attach 2 candy necklace pieces in position for the eyes, and place in the Styrofoam block to dry. Repeat until all the froggie cake pops have eyes.

Draw a nose and a big smile with a black edible-ink pen, and let dry completely in the Styrofoam block.

Optional:
Cut tongue shapes from the licorice belts. They should be round on one end for the tip of the tongue and slightly curved on the other to attach more easily to the curved surface of the cake pop. Dip the slightly curved end in melted candy coating and attach it along the frog’s smile. Hold it in place for a few seconds until the candy coating sets like glue, and let dry.