Emma's birthday is next week. I gave her the choice of having a birthday at a place around town that does parties or taking just a couple of friends to do something that would be a little more expensive per person. She elected to have a princess makeover night with just a couple of her closest friends from school. So, my mom (who is a beautician) and sister (who is an elementary school teacher) are loading up and coming over. Aunt Jan is making some special attire for the makeover attendants, Dad is working on a Disney wishes goodnight film and Nana has some special, princess sleep masks on the way. Emma and I have been planning her special night for six months and I think I've enjoyed it just as much as she has.
I've decided that it would be smart to come up with events for us to plan together on a continuing basis. It has been great at times when we've hit a rough stage, to have this connecting point, separate from everything else, to join back together. We are heading straight for the tween years and I think it's going to become increasingly important for us to have activities that just the two of us share to keep the communication lines open. The moments where she thinks I hung the moon and know everything in life there is to know are becoming fewer and further between. I guess she was bound to figure out the truth at some point.. But, there was one point in the planning when I was going on and on, talking about tulle and ribbon and about about how I wanted to use real decorations, not birthday party decorations. Emma looked at me with admiration in her eyes and said, "you're like a designer or something aren't you mom"!! It was a moment where I felt like I could do anything.. A moment where I wished I could forever stay the person she was thinking I was right then. A moment where I wished I had a tape recorder. A moment that I wrote on my heart.. Okay, I'll stop now. You came here for the cake pops now didn't you. Well, we were scouting around the internet for cake ideas and we kept running across pictures of "cake pops". We fell in love with the idea of "cake pops" and decided that we would give them a try to see if they would meet our fairytale needs.
We followed these directions from Bakerella
1. Bake cake in 9x13 cake pan. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)
4 .Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)
5. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)
6. Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
7. Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.
8. Place in a styrofoam block to dry (I didn't have styrofoam so I punched holes in the bottom of a shallow box. Styrofoam would be much easier).
1. Bake cake in 9x13 cake pan. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)
4 .Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)
5. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)
6. Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
7. Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.
8. Place in a styrofoam block to dry (I didn't have styrofoam so I punched holes in the bottom of a shallow box. Styrofoam would be much easier).
We're still trying to figure out how we want to display our culinary art so look for that in pictures from our makeover night!
And where are all of these out of character culinary experiences coming from? Have I found a new love for cooking? Ha, not a chance. It's all a part of my devious plan to make Emma the family cook!
Check out my post over at The Mom-tage about our fun blackberry picking trip along with a super easy, fool proof cobbler recipe! Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can!
Blessings,
Dana
