Yummies- Cake Pops!

  It's true I am jumping on the bandwagon a bit by planning on having cake pops as part of my wedding dessert bar, but they really are genius little treats. They do take a bit more time than baking a regular cake, but they add a certain pizazz to cake that no amount of fondant or icing flowers can.
  The original recipe was located on Recipe Rhapsody, but I have reproduced a shortened version here with a few tips and tricks to go along with it. My sister and I had a lot of fun making them together, but we will have even more fun eating them!

Ingredients and Materials:
Favorite Cake Mix
Favorite Frosting
Favorite Candy
Melting Chocolate
Lollipop Sticks
Florist Styrofoam blocks
Oven and Microwave

Step 1: Bake your favorite cake following the box's instructions or make Aunt Elma's family recipe from scratch. For the cake pops pictured, I choose a triple chocolate mix from my local grocer.

Step 2: After it has cooled completely, crumble into a large bowl.

Step 3: Add half a container of frosting to crumbled cake and mix with spoon well. I used chocolate butter cream. You will know it is mixed well enough if you can easily form balls with it. If they fall a part, mix more or add more frosting.

Step 4: Roll cake/frosting mix between balls to form balls (like you would clay). The recipe says to make them about an inch wide, but we discovered it was best to err on the smaller side than on the larger. Not only does it make it easier to coat them later, but they fit better in one's mouth if they are smaller. They will also be less likely to slip down the stick with the weight of the cake and chocolate if they are on the smaller side of an inch.

Step 5: Let balls chill on wax paper for at least 30 minutes.

Step 6: Melt some of the melting chocolate in the microwave. I used vanilla flavored, green colored melting chocolate. The deeper the bowl the better. We suspect an actual melting pot would be the best as it keeps the chocolate at a consistent melting point making coating easier.

Step 7: Dip in the lollipop sticks, then push the stick into the chilled cake balls. The chocolate will harden and help keep the cake ball on the end of the stick.

Step 8: After all the sticks are in the cake balls and have hardened a bit, you can melt more chocolate and begin to coat the outside of the balls. Submerging completely is the best to coat the balls evenly.

Step 9: Once you've coated the balls immediately dip them in your favorite crushed up candy, nuts or coconut. I used Heath bar bits, but toffee or crushed almonds would work too.

Step 10: Push stick into Styrofoam block, so that the chocolate coating can harden evenly. After you have filled your Styrofoam block full of cake pops, place it into the fridge to chill. Once the chocolate coating has hardened, then they are ready to serve!

  Note: These would make a great alternative to the huge piece of cake served at kids' birthday parties, which is usually too big and too sugary for them to eat. It's just the right size for those sugar and calorie conscious individuals. Also, anything on a stick is fun to eat, especially if you're five!

Yummies- Blueberry and Mango Fruit Sundaes

Tonight my foodie partner made a delicious dessert that was not only beautiful, but ridiculously yummy! I love summer-time and all the fruit that is available, so I thought I would share this cool treat with you so that you can impress your guests/family/self without feeling too guilty about the calorie count.

 

Prep Time: 15 minutes (unless you have to run out to get the sugar you forgot)
Cook Time: 7 minutes (do this ahead of time, if needed)

Ingredients:
1-2 Mangoes, pitted, peeled and diced (ripen via bag-in-refrigerator method beforehand, if needed)
1-3 Cups Blueberries
1-2 Limes
1/2 Cup Sugar
5 Mint leaves
1 qt. Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

1. In a large bowl combine diced mangoes and blueberries; set aside
2. Using a veggie peeler, remove the peel from limes in strips; set aside. Juice limes to measure 3 tbsp. juice; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan bring 1/2 cup water, lime peel, sugar, and mint to boiling over medium-high heat; stir until all sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 3 minutes. Remove syrup from heat.
4. Place syrup in small bowl. Stir in lime juice; let stand 15 to 20 minutes. Remove peel and mint; discard.
5. Drizzle syrup over fruit; toss to coat.
6. Scoop yogurt into individual dessert dishes and spoon fruit over yogurt. Serve and Enjoy!

Nutritional Info- 230 calories, 0g fat, 0g saturated fat, 4mg cholesterol, 70mg sodium, 55g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 5g protein

Full Recipe- Serves 8

Note-
*The ingredient list is listed with so many ranges because it should really be to taste and what is available fresh in your area. Also, there are only two of us, so we reduced it to the lowest number to have less waste and less added to our waist.
**The maxium number of limes can be too much if you are not a fan, so reduce as you see fit.
***The ripen via bag-in-refrigerator method means that you may need to buy your mangoes a couple of days in advance, seal them in a bag and place them in the refrigerator. If you are really pressed for time, place them with a banana in a sealed bag.
****Steps 3 and 4 can be done ahead of time and saved in the refrigerator a day or two until the family BBQ. Wait to do Step 5 until right before serving or the fruit will go bad.
*****Garnish with mint leaves if you are feeling extra fancy.