Easter Cake Pops- More Chicks and Pink Bunnies

This is now my fourth batch of cake pops.  I feel more confident than ever, since my last two batches turned out well.  Not only did they look so cute, but they tasted wonderful as well.  Now I've really been bitten by the cake pop bug!  And I feel compelled to make more.  Thank goodness that I have a 3 year old in preschool- I can give them all to the kids and not have to be tempted to eat them all myself!

<Tip Alert!>  One thing I've learned so far is to get all your little decorations together before you begin decorating.  There is nothing worse than having to stop in the middle of your "decorating flow" to find something!  Here for my chicks, I have melted candy coating (for glue), edible ink pens, little candies in separate dishes (I pre-sorted them into their own colors), an extra dish cloth to wipe your fingers (they will get messy), lots of extra toothpicks and a small dish to put them when they have coating on them (these were not in the shot!).  And note the baby monitor:  I usually get most of my cake-popping done when both my kids are napping.  :)

I flavored my candy coating with lemon oil.  There are dozens of different flavors you can use, though.  It gives a nice zip to the cake pops.  Remember that you need to use an oil-based flavoring with candy coating.  If you use regular flavored extracts in your coating, it will turn your candy coating all lumpy, bumpy, and make it awfully grumpy.  So don't do it!

If you want to have smooth, evenly coated cake pops, you will most likely need to thin out your coating with something.  An inexpensive choice is to mix a tablespoon or two of Crisco into your melted candy coating.  Yes, it works.  But another choice is to use a tablespoon of Paramount Crystals.  Here they are in the picture to the left.  I like using the Paramount Crystals over the Crisco because it does not leave your candy coating oily.  If there is a little too much oil in your candy coating, you will not be able to draw on them with your edible ink pens.  Also, I find that when you use Crisco, the candy coating dries softer than when you use Paramount Crystals.  So if you're making simple dipped cake pops, use whatever you want to thin your coating.   But if you're planning on drawing on them, use the Paramount Crystals.

Okay, last tip!  Everyone at some point will experience cracking in their cake pops, like seen here.  Reasons for cracking:  1. Thin spots in the coating.  Here, you can see an area where the coating didn't cover the cake ball all the way near the base of the stick.  This creates a weak spot in the coating.  As the cake ball warms up after being refrigerated, it expands.  The weak spot will be where the crack starts.  Make sure your cake ball is evenly coated all over to avoid this. 2. Cake balls are too cold.  Don't work with frozen cake pops.  Ever.  Let them warm up a bit before dipping.  3. Cake balls are rolled too tightly.  As they warm, they expand.  Don't roll 'em too tightly, and you'll avoid this problem.   And if you'd like to read even more tips about making cake pops, check out my troubleshooting guide.  </Tip Alert!>



Okay, so you've seen these before.  Yellow dipped pops ready to be decorated!

Chick pops.  I added a swirl of 'hair' to their little round heads with some extra candy coating and a toothpick.  I like to give them expressions to make each one unique

What a cutie!  Click on the image to make it bigger!

These two look like an older chick hanging out with a younger chick.


Now on to the bunnies!

I decided to make little pink bunnies, so I used a raspberry oil in the coating to enhance the flavor.  You don't need a lot of it to get great taste.

Here is a cake ball with two tic-tacs stuck in as the ears.

 

This is like a little edible bunny hutch.  I love these little guys!

I found that adding a little candy coating would help the ears stick better when I dipped them.  Small Ziploc containers are one of my best friends when making cake pops!

Drying.  The ears and body look like one piece.

 Add a small pink heart to the front, and a mini marshmallow to the back, and a bunny is beginning to form!










With my edible ink pens, I drew on eyes, and the rest of the face.











It looks a little cat-like, but still cute!