REAL Cake Pops

A big boom in the baking and pastry world is the making of these tiny little balls of cake.. cake pops of course. Now if you have seen my past postings, you know that I have my fair share of experience with cake pops. I love making them actually. They are small and individual sized, which people love these days. All about portion control of course. But what makes these great treats extra special are the decorations and uniqueness that one can add to each pop. A great cake pop starts with a strong base first though right? So this is what gets me. These new little inventions, called "cake pop makers". Those are not how to make cake pops. It's a fraud... At least I think so. For the holidays, my sister bought me one of these so called "cake pop makers", which she knew I would not use for cake pops. But it gave me a chance to look it over and compare it to the actual way of making them. Now, I might just be old fashioned but I think machinery can be a great asset to have at times and useless inventions at other times. This cake pop maker- useless invention. So I decided to clear it up and teach everyone the way to make a REAL cake pop and show how it is OBVIOUSLY different from these new machines.

First. You make a cake. If you aren't skilled, you can use a boxed cake or make your own. Just pour the batter into a big 9x13 pan and don't worry about spreading it perfectly.

Second. The KEY part and biggest difference between this machine and a true cake pop. After the cake cools, you crumble the cake by hand and add a scoop or two of frosting into the crumbs. You then mix by hand until it becomes a workable dough, sticking together and shapeable but not overly wet.

Third. Roll the cake dough into equal sized balls. Freeze them and dip a lollipop into chocolate and then into the cake ball so it holds the cake on securely. At this point, you can dip the cake pop into melted chocolate and decorate however you please.

Now, reviewing this simple easy peasy way of making cake pops, why would you even bother using the maker? Most people would probably spend double the time just scooping perfect amounts of cake batter into the little machines to get even sized cake balls. On top of that. Theres that main ingredient missing. WHERE'S THE FROSTING??? Yes. As you can see, this agitates me the most. How can a cake pop be classified as a cake pop unless it has the frosting to glue it together into little moist cake spheres? What will end up happening to those "cake balls on a stick" is that they will taste like dried out cake cooked differently throughout the ball and will not hold onto the stick when dipped in chocolate. Obviously, if these inventors put thought into it, they would realize that the "cake balls on a stick" are less dense than the chocolate dipped into it probably. Which will cause the cake to fall into the chocolate. See? Problem.

    

                                   


So moral of the story. Do not waste your time or money on making these "cake balls on a stick". Inventions these days are not always the most useful. Instead, be lazy. Go throw together some cake batter and stick it in the oven all at once, crumble it up real quick and put the darn frosting in with the crumbs. Save the time to put the effort into decorating these tiny treats and feel free to laugh at the people who can't figure out why their "cake balls on a stick" won't stay on the said stick. Finally, savor all the great compliments you will receive from making a REAL cake pop.

2012- So Trendy

Happy New Year everyone! As I sit in bed with my tea and try to recover from a hectic weekend and a lovely cold to start up the year, I thought it would be a perfect time to keep up with one of my new years resolutions..this blog of course.

So I thought to relate to the new year, I would touch upon the new trends in culinary that are supposedly coming about in the upcoming year.

There was an article I read from one of my chefs that stated a BIG trend happening in the future is the spread of healthy choice foods for kids. Now, I already thought that was a big theme going on? No? All I hear about in schools and restaurants are the portion control and healthy options for children to eat. New trend? I don't think so.

Second would be using sustainable and homegrown veggies and ingredients in restaurants. Now, I do believe this will be a big trend starting up for all levels of food industries, not just the more expensive cuisine settings.I already heard of restaurants with their own gardens attached to the restaurant with fresh vegetables and herbs grown right there. It seems all about the generation of fresh choices in food. I totally agree and support this trend if it becomes big because I think using foods that are pesticide free and safe from added chemicals and handling are the best for our bodies. What really weighs my decision to go into a nutrition degree in school would be the fact that I think nutrition is the new idea that our population is slowly embracing and becoming supporters of. I am excited to see the new changes to food options with this trend.

Another trend.. a ridiculous one I heard actually.. would be comfort food. THATS A TREND? I'm sorry, but no. Comfort food is like a staple in our society. Let's get real. If anything, comfort food is being replaced by new unique foods like Asian and Peruvian inspired foods.

Jewish Cuisine. A trend predicted in the upcoming year. Who woulda thunk? Now, I like my Jewish food like latkes and matzoh balls but for some reason, I really don't see gafilta fish making a big hit on menus. Ever. But we shall see.

Lastly, the one which makes me laugh, is the trend of... grilled cheese. Yes. I didn't see that one coming either. Crazy right? I always think of "trends" as general ideas for the future. I did read some trends about specific foods like burgers, pizza, pickles. Yupp, all trends. But the grilled cheese one made me laugh. So simple but so trendy! Who knew?