Almond Roca Cake Pops

Does how one eats something define who they are? Because, if that's the case, I may be in trouble.

I am a strange eater. First of all, I'm picky. It's been downgraded from "seriously picky" to "moderately picky" but still finicky, nonetheless. I don't like condiments. I don't like most fruit. Cooked leafy vegetables make me shudder. (I haven't, however, ever met a carb I didn't like...which figures.)

Besides being picky, I like to dismantle my food. I like to eat the best part last. (I'm the same way at the dinner table; vegetables get eaten first, followed by meat, then the pasta/potatoes/rice.) However, "saving the best part for last" is a bit difficult when you're eating, say, a bean burrito (no sauce, no onions) from Taco Bell.

I mean, the best part of a Taco Bell Bean Burrito is the tortilla. Sans beans. Duh.

You can probably imagine how I manage to eat the tortilla last. It does not involve a spork, although that might be a more appropriate way to eat something in a public restaurant. I eat the beans first, then the tortilla. It's a bit vampirish.

How do you eat a Reese's? I like the peanut butter best, so I save it for last. That entails eating the chocolate off the outside first.

Let's not even discuss Oreos or Peanut M&Ms. It might make you think I'm really strange.

Enter Almond Roca. I've loved that candy since I was a little girl. My husband loves them too. To me, the best part of an Almond Roca is the toffee. So, if you're following along, that means eating the chocolate and almonds first.

When I was creating the dessert table for my husbands' birthday party, I thought about putting a bunch of Almond Roca in a fancy vase. But I was already doing that with M&Ms and Reese's. So my mind turned to cake pops and the idea for these came to me.

To make them more like Almond Roca I added toffee bits into the cake mixture. I then dipped them in milk chocolate and sprinkled the pops with toasted almonds. The toffee adds a little crunch inside the cake pop, a nice surprise when you're expecting just a bite of cake. Of course, the almonds add crunch too. But, because I'm me, I ate the almonds first. Since the center of a cake pop is the best part, of course.

What can I say? I eat things weird. Wait a minute. What does that say about me?? (Don't answer that!)

How do you eat an Almond Roca?

Almond Roca Cake Pops

Recipe by Crazy for Crust

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix, with eggs, oil, and water called for on box

1 can vanilla frosting

1 bag Hershey’s Heath Toffee Bits

2 bags (about 14 ounces each) milk chocolate candy melts or almond bark

1 cup almonds, chopped and toasted

Directions:

1.       Mix ingredients and bake cake as directed on box for a 9x13 cake. Cool completely before making pops (preferably overnight).

2.       Crumble cake into a large bowl. Make sure it is a fine crumb. Add the bag of toffee bits and stir. Add frosting to the mixture a little at a time (about 1/4 cup) and mix into cake crumbs. You will use about ¾ of the can. Form into desired sized balls (I use a cookie scoop for this) and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes and then move tray to refrigerator. (You can make the balls a day ahead and refrigerate, not freeze, overnight.)

3.       Melt your chocolate (I like to start with one bag and add more as needed). If you are making pops, gather your lollipop sticks.

4.       Work in small batches so the balls stay cold. I like to remove 2 or 3 from the refrigerator at a time. Dip your lollipop stick into the melted chocolate (about ½ inch), then stick in a cake ball. Then dip the entire ball into the chocolate. Be sure the chocolate is deep enough for the entire ball. Do not swirl the pop in the chocolate. If needed, use a spoon to finish covering the pop. Remove from chocolate and, holding the pop in one hand, gently tap that wrist with your other hand to remove excess chocolate. Place upright in a styrafoam block. If you are making balls, just dip into the bowl of chocolate, remove and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet.

5.       While the pop/ball is still wet, sprinkle with toasted chopped almonds. Refrigerate to set. They can be made ahead and frozen. Serve room temperature.

Yield: approximately 40 pops, depending on size.

This recipe will be linked with:

Tuesday: 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking). Wednesday: Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), This Chick Cooks.  Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life

Carrot Cake Pops

To my daughter's future spouse,

First, let me start off by saying, thank you for loving my daughter and marrying her. I hope you make each other happy for a lifetime. You are marrying a wonderful woman - I'm sure she will be as lovely and as sweet as an adult as she is as a child.

That said, let me get to the point.

I want to apologize to you. For that problem with your ears. The one that has probably, by the ripe old age of 35, has caused you to either (A) go crazy or (B) need hearing aides. I know I should have warned you of my daughters' propensity for language and the increased and abundant rate at which she uses it.

But then, if you knew how much she really talked, we might not be having this conversation right now. Hence my neglect in telling you that you will never get a word in and you should just give up trying.

I remember one hot summer day when my daughter was six we were on our way to have dinner. From the moment we left our house, through the car ride, and across the parking lot, she never stopped talking. I remember looking at my husband with one of those looks only a husband and wife can have; the ones that speak volumes. I think mine said "Holy Cow. She hasn't shut up for 15 minutes. Will the noise ever stop?"

His probably said "This is your fault. I should have known what I was in for when I married you."

Anyway, one thing you can probably do to stop her from talking is to feed her.  It works for me.

These Carrot Cake Pops might be the perfect thing. Because I'm sure she's over that whole picky-eater thing by this point.

Or maybe not. But no matter, you should make these anyway. Because they are delicious. Amazing. The moist cake-cream-cheese-frosting flavor inside a house of white chocolate? Priceless. Even better because of the crunch from the nuts that hits your mouth first.

They are quite large and require lots of bites. Feed her one and have five minutes of peace.

Sincerely,

Your future mother-in-law

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Carrot Cake Pops
Ingredients:
For the Cake:
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

To make the pops:
1 can cream cheese icing (or your favorite recipe)
1 - 1 1/2 bags white chocolate melts (14-20 ounces) *Have two bags on hand just in case*
Lollipop sticks
2 cups toasted pecans, chopped


Directions:
For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one round 9" cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon. Gently fold in carrots. 
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes. Cool completely (overnight, preferably) before making cake pops.

For the pops:

Note: the cake has a lot of oil. I found it easier to do upside-down cake pops so they didn't fall off the sticks. You will not use as much icing as you would with a box mix. Also, make sure the balls are very cold before dipping.

1. Crumb your cake into a large bowl. Add about 1/4 of the can of icing and mix into cake. Add more icing as needed until you can form the mixture into a ball. Form into balls and freeze for 15 minutes or chill in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Melt your vanilla candy coating according to the package directions. Place your chopped pecans in a shallow bowl or pie plate.
3. When ready to dip, remove balls from freezer and place in refrigerator. Remove only about three balls at a time to dip. Dip the lollipop stick into the candy (about 1/2") and then insert into ball. Immediately dip the ball into the melted candy. Remove and tap off excess (I use Bakerella's tap-tap-tap the wrist method). Roll in chopped pecans and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all pops are made. Chill until hardened. You can make them ahead of time and freeze if needed. Let come to room temperature before serving.

Yield: about two dozen pops, depending on size.

Source: Carrot Cake recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com.

This recipe will be linked with:
Thursday: Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls). Friday: Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son). Saturday: Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies). Sunday: A Well-Seasoned Life

Patriotic Pops

My Top Ten List for the Fourth of July:

10. Barbecue...everything. Steak, sausages, corn, you name it. I love that part of the Fourth.  It's a little bit of a bummer this year because we won't have a barbecue, so we'll have to move inside and faux-becue.

9.  Fresh watermelon, eaten after a water balloon fight.

8.  Red, white, and blue crafts: paper flags, pinwheels, flag wind socks and anything that requires crepe paper and patriotic card stock.

7.  Red, white, and blue tie dyed shirts. Even if they come out magenta.

6.  Spiral cookies and apple pie.

5. Watching fireworks on TV (East Coast time). Because there is no way my husband and I my kid could stay up to watch the real thing.

4.  Small town parades. Ours throws candy and we come home with a haul the likes of Halloween.

3.  Buying a special bathing suit for my daughter that looks like an American Flag. And watching her wear it proudly, all summer long.

2.  That this year, we will be walking on the beach and picnicking. And because there are no fireworks allowed, I won't have to face my fear of all things fire.

1. The "proud to be an American" feeling that is just oozed everywhere by the holiday.

Oh, and one more thing.

These patriotic pops.

I was going to call them "patriotic pops and balls" but, well, I decided not to. You can probably figure out why.

I wasn't having much luck with cake pops when I made these. I don't know if it was the cake recipe I used or the fact that they were too big, but they kept falling off the stick. I managed to get a few of them striped, like I'd wanted. They're sort of like those bomb popsicles. Or Papa Smurf, whichever you prefer.

After several of the pops fell off the stick, I decided to switch tactics. I decided to make cupcake balls instead. I used a candy cup mold to make the base.

These are made very similarly to my Baby Peeps: fill the mold with your candy melts, then pour out the excess  chocolate. Freeze the molds for a few minutes and pop out the shell.

At this point, your cake balls should be ready and waiting for you. Pipe some candy melt into the bottom of the shell and add your cake ball. Let it harden and then dip in the candy you want to represent the "frosting". (Yes, I know the cake ball looks like mold. If you ever try to make blue velvet cake, make sure you use enough blue food coloring.) Top your "cupcake" with sprinkles and a red M&M (or red chocolate covered sunflower seed) and let it harden.

Cute little red, white, and blue "cupcakes". Perfect to help you celebrate the Fourth of July.

I loved arranging them this way. The cake pops in the background seemed proud to be covered in red, white, and blue, don't you think?

What is on your Fourth of July Top 10 List?

Patriotic Pops and Cupcake Bites

by Crazy for Crust

Keywords: July 4th cupcake

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (any flavor), prepared according to package directions, baked and cooled
• 1 can frosting (any flavor)
• 1 bag white candy melts
• 1 bag blue candy melts
• ½ bag red candy melts
• Red, white, and blue sprinkles
• Red M&Ms or chocolate covered sunflower seeds or similar candy

Instructions

1. Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add half the can of frosting and mix well. Test to see if the cake ball is wet enough to stick together. If not, add more frosting up to ¾ of the can.
2. Make round balls of the cake mixture and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes before dipping.

For the Patriotic Pops:

1. Melt white candy coating in a medium sized but deep bowl.
2. Working in batches, remove cake balls from freezer (place extras into the refrigerator; you don’t want them frozen). Dip a lollipop stick into the melted candy and then insert into the bottom of the cake ball. Dip each pop in the melted white candy coating. Do not swirl or move the cake pop inside the melted candy. If needed, use a spoon to help you cover the entire ball with white candy. Pull straight up to remove and tap your wrist (not the stick) to remove excess candy. Place upright in a styrofoam block. Repeat with remaining pops and freeze until hardened.
3. Repeat step #3 with the blue chocolate and red, dipping less of the cake pop each time to create stripes. Let harden in between each layer.

For the Cupcake Balls:

1. Melt the blue candy melts and add to a squeeze bottle. Fill the candy molds with the blue candy. Pour the excess back into the bowl and freeze the mold. When solid, pop out the candy cups.
2. Add a little more melted candy to the bottom of the cup. Add a cake ball and wait until it hardens. Melt your topping color candy coating and dip the cupcake ball upside down in it. Pull straight up (do not swirl) and top with sprinkles. Chill until firm.

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Enjoy!


This recipe will be linked with:

Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), This Chick Cooks, Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), A Themed Baker's Sunday (Cupcake Apothecary)