Hi, all!
Thinking about what treats to make my sweetie for Valentine's, and I'm kicking around the idea of making something like cake pop truffles [I'd like to make him something dainty and snackable and something that'll look fancy arranged in a pretty heart-shaped box and embarrass him when I drop it off where he works]. Thing is, I've never made cake pops before. All the recipes I've seen need you to blend cake crumbs with frosting. I don't really want to use frosting, so my question/s is/are:
Could you use peanut butter or instant pudding? [And if not, what else could you use?]
I often make myself peanut butter pudding by mixing peanut butter into instant pudding, so I'm kind of thinking of using chocolate cake and PB/caramel pudding, because he loves those flavours. I'd imagine I'd have to be careful not to add too much pudding/PB - when you guys have made cake pops, what sort of consistency has been just right for you?
What [non-expensive] non-frosting items have you guys made cake pops with? And what are you making for yourself/your sweetheart this Valentine's Day?
<3
Thinking about what treats to make my sweetie for Valentine's, and I'm kicking around the idea of making something like cake pop truffles [I'd like to make him something dainty and snackable and something that'll look fancy arranged in a pretty heart-shaped box and embarrass him when I drop it off where he works]. Thing is, I've never made cake pops before. All the recipes I've seen need you to blend cake crumbs with frosting. I don't really want to use frosting, so my question/s is/are:
Could you use peanut butter or instant pudding? [And if not, what else could you use?]
I often make myself peanut butter pudding by mixing peanut butter into instant pudding, so I'm kind of thinking of using chocolate cake and PB/caramel pudding, because he loves those flavours. I'd imagine I'd have to be careful not to add too much pudding/PB - when you guys have made cake pops, what sort of consistency has been just right for you?
What [non-expensive] non-frosting items have you guys made cake pops with? And what are you making for yourself/your sweetheart this Valentine's Day?
<3
When I make cake pops, I use just enough frosting so the mixture will hold together and roll into a smooth ball that doesn't fall apart or crack.
I ended up trying a mixture of peanut butter and pudding, and it turned out fine. At least, I think it did! I'd never baked or eaten cake pops before, and they held together well enough; only one or two of them cracked, and I think that's just because I didn't mix too well :)
<3
You could also probably do a lightly sweetened cream cheese, if you didn't want to do a true 'frosting'.
I wanted to try cream cheese, but was trying to stay on budget! I'll definitely try it another time :)
Thank you!
<3
maybe if the cake were less sweet, the frosting wouldn't end in overpowering sweetness (if that's your concern!) pudding that had a lot less liquid in it than normal, though...might work. marshmallow fluff might work. i've wondered if tapioca could be introduced, to make a thin frosting-substitute thicker...
i hope you write with your results! :)
I had much better results than I anticipated! I ended up using peanut butter with just enough butterscotch pudding added to it to make it a more frosting-like consistency, and it worked pretty well. A few of the cake balls cracked, but I think that was just because I didn't mix the crumbs into the PB mix well enough. I used a vanilla cake and rolled them in melted chocolate, and they were delicious!
We don't have marshmallow fluff here, but I wonder if that would work! Going on what I imagine the stuff to taste like, it sounds yummy :)
Thank you!
<3
Thank you!
<3
http://www.amazon.com/Bake-Pops/dp/B005
My thought was to make chocolate lava cakes for Valentine's Day dessert, to follow up our steak dinner. I've used Gordon Ramsay's recipe before and it came out quite nicely:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8
I believe that the higher density of the Original Cake Pop (wadded up cake with frosting) is critical to holding out on the dipped shell. If the "cake" inside isn't as structurally dense (ie, a fluffy baked cake with loose crumb), the candy shell isn't as supported and will crumble around it and fall off. (But then, I don't know if there's a recommended recipe for cake pop pans that might be more dense than straight up cake.)
At the extreme other end of the spectrum, I had cake pops made from donut holes once (ick) wherein the chocolate/candy shell completely collapsed around the super squashy "cake" part.
Oh, ick! >.< I hope you've had more good cake pop experiences since!
Oooh, steak dinner *and* lava cakes! That sounds scrumptious *_* I hope you guys had a fun night!
Ooooh, wow. That sounds *beyond* delicious, and it's so sweet that you worked on it together! Aaaaw :) *melts*
Awesome, can't wait to see those cookies!
<3
http://fredellicious.blogspot.com/2
<3
[Your icon is mesmerising, but I can't figure it out - what is that creature doing?]
Good luck!
Thank you! ^_^
I ended up using peanut butter with a tiny bit of butterscotch pudding mixed into it, and it held up fine. Your reassurance about them being hard to mess up really helped me feel more at ease about it, so thank you so much! ^_^
<3
good luck!
Thank you for the tip on consistency! It's hard to figure out from pictures online when you're making them for the first time! And I'll definitely remember to chill them next time!
Thank you, thank you!
<3
I wanted to try cream cheese, but it was out of my budget! I never even considered condensed milk, thank you! I don't like the stuff, but if I made a batch just for my sweetie, he'd be in seventh heaven. Thank you! ^_^
I did use peanut butter in the end [with a wee bit of butterscotch pudding mixed in to make it smoother], and it was actually fine - I was kind of expecting it to be overpowering, because I used a vanilla cake and figured the PB would be waaaaaay stronger, but it was nicely balanced.
We don't have marshmallow fluff here! What was the cake/candy combination you used it with?
Thank you!
<3
Thank you!