I Scream for Ice Cream Cake Pops!

My friends and I decided to throw a little poolside barbeque to enjoy the nice sunny California weather we've been having, and to enjoy each others' lovely company! This also gave me a chance to try out my new cake pop pans! What I really liked about the cake pop pans is that it makes the whole process of making cake pop super fast and less messy. You don't have to crumble the cake and mix it with frosting (which ends up making the cake a lot sweeter than it need to be in my opinion) and then forming the cake into round balls that's relatively the same size. With the pans, the balls are made purely from the cake batter, and then you just use the chocolate for coating, so no frosting and messiness is involved. The chocolate adds the right amount of sweetness that the frosting normally would give to a cake or cupcake. That being said, I decided to make these super fun ice cream cake pops that I've been seeing on Google images! The flavor is French Vanilla, and I used white chocolate, milk chocolate, and pink chocolate melts for the coating of the cake pops along with a variety of sprinkles. These were a big hit and I had a great time making them for all my friends to enjoy! I also made flower cake pops and smiley face cake pops that I will add in separate posts! It's been a long time that I made something just for fun, so it's times like these that really makes me enjoy my hobbies =).

Ice Cream Humor:
- What did the cake say to the ice cream? You're cool!
- The young man entered the Ice Cream Palace and asked, "What kinds of ice cream do you have?" "Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry," the girl wheezed as she spoke, patted her chest and seemed unable to continue. "Do you have laryngitis?" the young man asked sympathetically. "Nope," she whispered, "just vanilla, chocolate and strawberry."
- A man approaches an ice cream van and asks, "I'd like two scoops of chocolate ice cream, please." The girl behind the counter replied, "I'm very sorry, sir, but our delivery didn't come this morning. We're out of chocolate." "In that case," the man continued, "I'll have two scoops of chocolate ice cream." "You don't understand, sir," the girl says. "We have no chocolate." "Then just give me some chocolate," he insists. Getting angrier by the second, the girl asked, "Sir, will you spell 'van,' as in 'vanilla?'" The man spells, "V A N." "Now spell 'straw,' as in 'strawberry.'" "OK. S-T-R-A-W." "Now," the girl asked, "spell 'stink,' as in chocolate." The man hesitates, then confused, replied, "There is no stink in chocolate." "That's what I've been trying to tell you!" she screams!

Flower Cake Pops

These are flower cakes pops that I decided to recreate that I found on Google images. These are great for the spring time, mother's day, or any special or random occasion for your special someone in your life. These are French Vanilla cake pops dipped in white chocolate. The flowers are made of fondant with edible pearls in the centers with colored white chocolate for the streaks. The cherry blossoms branches are painted with black food coloring and the blossoms are piped on with pink chocolate melts.

A useful tip that I discovered while making these cake pops is that double dipping in this case is perfectly a-okay! If you find that the first coat of chocolate is too thin, and you can still see some of the cake texture showing through, wait till the chocolate dries completely, and then re-dip the cake pop into the chocolate for a second coat! This makes the coat thicker and more opaque, and it often makes it more smooth as well. Also, if you're having trouble dipping your cake pop into the chocolate (meaning the chocolate is too thick and the cake pop keeps falling off the stick), there's 2 things you can do. I always dip my stick into some chocolate, stick it halfway into the cake ball, and let it harden (dry) completely. Then you can thin the chocolate by adding non-flavoring oil (like canola oil) and this will make the dipping as lot easier. Do NOT add water, that will ruin your chocolate. I hope you all enjoy and have a blossom day!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

I saw these cute smiley face cake pops and so I just had to make them myself! I love sending out a positive message whenever I can, and I feel that the more we absorb ourselves deeper into our busy hectic lives, the more we tend to forget the bigger picture and actually ENJOY our life! So now and then just stop and not worry too much, and try to be more happy with all the positive in your life rather than the negative. There's also opportunities to make a person's day a little brighter, so seize those moments! Now back to these cuties! These are French Vanilla cake pops dipped in white chocolate that's dyed yellow. I used black food coloring to paint in the faces and red food coloring for the tongue. Life's too short, so spend each day like your last!

Here are some happy inspirational quotes to help remind what's important:
- Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy. - Dr. Robert Anthony
- If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.- Albert Einstein
- Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. - Helen Keller
- Life is relationships; the rest is just details.- Gary Smalley
- What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. - H.H. the Dalai Lama
- People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway. - Mother Teresa

Oh Boy! Baby Shower!

Congratulations to Catherine and Han on their arriving baby boy, Kolin!! This baby shower's theme is Sea Critters! The octopus, blow fish, crab, sting ray, turtle and "It's a boy!" decorations are all made out of fondant. Half the cupcakes are carrot cake cupcakes with whipped cream cheese frosting and the other half are vanilla cupcakes with basic buttercream frosting! These decorations were especially fun (but also challenging) to make because this was the first time I use my new razor blade to free hand the shapes! It makes such a difference when you have a super sharp blade compared to a normal knife! There's something about the free flowing movement of the knife through the fondant that's exhilarating and scary at the same time, because if you mess up, you pretty much have to start over. However, just like with anything I do, it's all about practice! Exploring new techniques and being able to be creative keeps me going. Anyways, once again, congrats to Catherine and Han, we eagerly await the arrival of Kolin!!

To be a child is to
know the gift of living
To have a child is to
know the gift of life.
-Unknown