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!

Dyeing for Peace- Tips & Tricks

Along with many people all over the world our school is celebrating the International Day of Peace on September 21, 2010. We will be joining Montessori Schools around the world at 11:00am and singing "Light a Candle for Peace". This world event will start in New Zealand and travel around the world for 24 hours with each school joining in at their local time. There's a great article about in from the Examiner, so check in out for more details.

Our school decided to invite parents and do some fund raising during this time for our Upper Elementary and Middle School participation in MMUN. We'll have the usual backed goods, but also official UN gear and tie-dyed socks of various colors and sizes. My boss coined the clever slogan "dyeing for peace" and I anticipate all the kids will want a pair. I thought I would share some tips and tricks with all of you concerning sock dyeing.

Tips & Tricks for Sock Dyeing:
1. Try to get thin, all white 100% cotton socks for the best results. The thicker ones made to wick away sweat just don't dye well.
2. Be sure to pre-wash to remove any sizing or other chemicals the manufacturers use. Otherwise the colors won't be as bright or even.
3. Protect clothing with plastic bad aprons or wear what we call "painting" clothes. Shoes are the most likely to get dripped on, so don't wear them. Go barefoot because feet are much easier to clean!
4. Set up your work space outside to easily managed spills and mess.
5. If you are not using a kit, I suggest Rit Dye. It comes with very good instruction on how to dissolve the powder into hot water. It is also important to use the salt and detergent they ask for in the instructions to get the brightest colors. They've been the dye of choice for years, so trust their instructions.
6. While you are setting up your dye bath, keep the socks soaking in hot, clear water. Wet fabric absorbs dye quicker and more evenly.
7. If you are doing a big batch, you will likely need a place for some of them to sit while you finish the others. We spread garbage bags out on the grass next to our dye bath wash tubs and just piled like colors together while we finished the other. Remember that while they are sitting together they are likely to bleed, so put only the same colors next to each other.
8. Have the kids twist and rubber band them into as many crazy shapes and designs as they want. Our kids really loved this part and their designs came out great.
9. If you are doing various sizes, keep pairs together to make life easy. This takes more workspace and planning, but will result in the less stress.
10. If doing two or more colors on one sock, remember to do its matching pair in a similar pattern. Keep in mind socks come in twos, even though they will be twisted and tied separately.

The dye sets really well and after rinsing in the sink with cold water, they were all set to be washed together regardless of color. Watch for pictures of use wearing our socks "Dyed for Peace".

Tips & Tricks- Adhesives

Everyone has their favorites and I am always looking to discover better, cheaper and easier ways to get my work to stick together. Below are a few of my favorites, but please feel free to share any insights you have come across.

#1 Gel Medium- This adhesive rocks my world, because it not only holds stuff together and dries clear, but has a million other uses. My personal favorite use is image transferring. Almost every craft book you come across recommends this and for good reason. It is hard to buy in small quantities and can be quite pricey, but it is well worth it to have on hand. It's like Modge Podge for grown-ups! You'll find this with the acrylic paints in your craft store.

#2 Adhesive Rollers- These little do-dads make scrapbooking, card making and other paper decorating fast and mess-free. It reminds me of the white-out rollers that were popular when I was in school. They also make gluing really easy for children. My favorite use for these rollers is gluing down satin and other fabric ribbons! These are usually located in the scrapbooking aisle of your craft store.

#3 Loctite Gel Super Glue- I love how super glue actually changes the chemical make-up of plastics and "melts" them together, but the liquid version usually ends up more on my fingers than my work- yikes! This is easy to control and will hold almost anything together with just a dab! I find it in the adhesive section of my local craft store.