BLK, thy name is hubris.

Usually, we're not total imbeciles in the kitchen. In fact, we're pretty good, especially with baked goods. So it makes sense that we would make treats for the baby shower of our friend and guest poster, Angela. We could make cake balls, then show you the process here; you know, to prove that we are good cooks when we know what we're doing, and that not every recipe is fraught with misadventure . . .

Cake balls do not seem like they should be all that hard to make, you know? I mean, really - step one: make a cake from a box mix; step two: mix in a can of frosting; step three: make into pops; step four: shove in mouth. 

Sadly, we were wrong - apparently sometimes we don't even know what we should be really afraid of. Angela's younger sister, Royela, requested our help, as she had made cake balls before and failed. (You would think this would have been a warning to us, as Royela is no slouch in the baking department.) I decided - without consulting Courtney - that we should actually make these spring chicks . . .because, babies! Also, I like to be fancy and make things more difficult.

Saturday afternoon I showed up to Courtney's house with my supplies. When I got there, the cake was just coming out of the oven. It was lovely, especially for a cake that was about to be destroyed. Once it cooled, we crumbled it up, mixed in the icing, then rolled the goopy mess into some balls! So easy - just a little messy, what with it being red velvet cake and all.

It was hotter than . . . well, this is a family site, so I don't know what analogy to use here . . . suffice it to say it was very hot, so we decided the cake balls should rest in the freezer for a while before we put sticks in them and dipped them. That was okay with us though, as we needed to make some congo bars too. Court, why did we need to make these? [Because they were also on Bakerella's site and they looked awesome? Do we need more of a reason? - Court]

After the Congo bars, and putting Court's son to bed, we got to the dipping. So, it turns out, we need to learn the same lesson over and over. I just re-read the directions we should have been using to make the pops and I think we skipped a couple of potentially helpful steps. 1) We did not incrementally add more frosting, we just poured it all in and 2) we did not add dip the lollipop stick in icing before putting it in the cake ball. This may be part of the reason some of our pops ended up with nipples, or looking more like the New Years Eve Ball at the end of the night. I think the cake ball dough may have been too moist from all of the icing and I think the extra icing on the stick would have been helpful to keep the stick in place. [I also think the cream cheese frosting was goopier than regular frostings - we might have had different results with something else. - Court]

It also didn't help that maybe we had way too much sugar that day. I am not really sure when it happened, but we definitely crossed a line. Between sampling cake batter, frosting, congo bars . . . I will just say, there were a lot of bad puns (mostly from me) and silent laughing. I believe at one point Tom even said we were tweaking on sugar. [I will also admit to bouncing around in the kitchen - Court]

I always thought Bakerella's creations were amazing, but after this attempt I have to say, I am simply amazed by her. [Agreed. I think we both thought a cake from mix and premade frosting equaled an easy recipe, but we were clearly mistaken. - Court]

After dipping some of the pops and having them fall down the sticks or in general not look as good as Bakerella's I gave up the idea that they would ever become chicks and was willing to give up the idea of them being cake pops. However, Courtney persevered and was really good at dipping the pops. So she continued . . . until we were out of chocolate.

This called for a trip to the nearby co-op for some certified organic chocolate chips. For a cool $13.97, I got a pound of them (yikes!). We also picked up a falafel sandwich because we had the munchies from our sugar high.

We went back to Court's house and she finished dipping. We then refrigerated everything and I came back the next day before the shower to wrap each pop and tie with a blue ribbon. In the end the looked very cute (even if they weren't chicks) and everyone thought they were amazing. So amazing that we forgot to take a picture of the finished product . . . d'oh!

Comments

[Fitz]

I thought they were so pretty (and delicious), I would never have known that you struggled initially. I want to try making these now!

[Ann Thompson]

What, no picture!? You guys are brave, indeed, to try cake balls. I'd never, ever heard of them, and, honestly, I'm pretty sure I'll never, ever try to make them myself.

Hurray for BLK!

[Jordan 5]

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[Best Penny Stock]

I made this recipe so many. I love it. It's my favorite food. This is so much delicious.