what's for your sweet tooth {birthday cake ball pops}.

have you gotten bit by the cake-ball-bug? well, if you haven't yet let me just warn you... one taste and you will be. cheesy intro, i know. but it's just fact.

i was first introduced to cake balls last year in dallas when the sweet family i was nannying for introduced me to them. (pssst: if you live in dallas, you have to try the cake balls at creme de la cookie. there's a location on preston/forest and one in snyder plaza in university park. oh.my.deliciousness.)

around the time i was thinking of ideas for bella's first birthday party, i met my friend amanda for coffee at starbucks one saturday morning. it was then that i saw them. these sweet, little "birthday cake pops". perfectly pink. deliciously girly. and a little bit expensive. so, i decided to try my hand and make them myself. just as tasty and alot less cash. aaaaand the satisfaction of doing something myself. priceless (as they say in those credit card commercials).

as for the recipe/instructions; i combined two i found... one on the wilton baking site and one from bakerella.com. the result was scrumptious. here is my recipe.

birthday cake ball pops

* 1 box yellow cake mix (cook cake according to instructions on box)
* 1 can cream cheese frosting (i recommend using betty crocker, whipped)
* 2-3 pkgs of wilton candy melts (you can buy at your local craft store such as joanns or michaels... for the birthday cake pops i used pink)
* pretty sprinkles (i used white crystal sugar sprinkles)
* a pkg. of at least fifty lollipop sticks
* cookie sheet
* wax paper
* couple blocks of styrofoam

- bake cake according to instructions on package. cool *completely*. make sure it's totally cooled before the next step!!!
- shave off the outer edge, corners and any rough spots on the top of the cake. this will ensure your cake balls to be very smooth.
- crumble cake into very fine crumbs in a large mixing bowl, combine thoroughly with frosting. i find my hands are the best tools for doing this! just extremely messy...
- roll mixture into quarter size balls... should make about 45-50 or so. once you roll them, lay them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
- chill for several hours. and i mean CHILL. i like to use the freezer to speed along the process. but this step is very important!
- while you are waiting on this step, you can prepare your display for your cake ball pops. for mine, i used a basket and cut two blocks of styrofoam to fit. later, i filled in the spare spots between my pops with fake moss i bought at the dollar store.
- melt candy melts according to instructions on the package. i melted mine into a tall, wide mug to make it easier for dipping.
- dip sticks into the melted candy and insert into each cake ball. let set and wait until sticks are completely firm before dipping the cake balls.
- with the help of a spoon, dip pops into the candy melts. i found (with the help of my good friend, who dipped most of them for me thankfully!) that if i dipped the top of the cake ball and used the spoon to guide the candy melt around the rest of the cake ball, this worked much better and kept the excess from dripping everywhere.
- stick each pop into the styrofoam blocks and top with sprinkles. allow each to harden (with the help of your refridgerator) before you serve to your guests.

happy baking/dipping/sprinkling. you will not be upset with the end result, i promise :)