Sunshine On a Rainy Day.

Our weather (and occasionally the power) has been affected by Tropical Storm Fay the last several days. As the tail end of it left the area this morning, I found myself feeling restless. I also found myself with a dozen and a half cupcakes and no idea what to do with them.

You see, friends, I am pushing ahead with this cake decorating bit. It's mostly discouraging, as I'm finding that increasing my decorating skills takes away from other culinary pursuits that are more pressing. Like, oh I don't know...dinner perhaps?

Two afternoons ago, my daughter asked for cupcakes. I had leftover butter cream from the last experiment, so I obliged. I found a wonderful chocolate cupcake recipe from The Dummy's Guide to Cake Decorating, and got to work. As a novice baker, I know I am missing the boat somewhere because my "yield 1 dozen" always yields AT LEAST twice that. As was the case with this batch. I had enough butter cream to frost the first dozen, but not the remaining 18. So, I threw them in a plastic bag (HUGE mistake, by the way) and left them for the next day. I had bags of butter cream frozen, so I planned on thawing and finishing with that.

Nearly 24 hours later, I thawed the butter cream and got out my frosting colors. I planned on decorating in the colors of the university my husband works for - as sort of a "hurray" to the new (school) year. For a variety of reasons, this effort failed. Not the least of which being the crumbly (yet moist) mess that the cupcakes had turned into while being stored in a bag.

Now, being the conservationist I am, I couldn't just throw these cakes away. They were FAR too good and I'd put FAR too much effort into them. Then, in an epiphany, I remembered a blog I had visited recently. It's as if that blog was a divine intervention, foretelling my cupcake disaster to come.

Bakerella is a wonderful goodies site that I encourage you to visit. I think I had seen it before, but just rediscovered it. These little cake pops really caught my eye, and I noticed that the base was just frosting and crumbled cake. Well, I sure had that, so I gave it a whirl.

Now, my first piece of advice would be to follow the directions explicitly. Like the whole dipping the stick FIRST and inserting into the cake would have made my life a LOT easier. As would have freezing the darn things. Just like the stereotypical lost man, I just didn't want to get directions and insisted on making my own way.

I also used what I had on hand, and not what Bakerella called for, as a grocery run in the middle of Fay was not in the cards. I used my crumbled cupcakes, my own butter cream, and white candy bark I had in the pantry. As I thought about the project, I got a bit curious about flavors and enhancements in the candy shell (as the cake and frosting were set). Out of my pantry I pulled flaked coconut, raw (brown) sugar, peppermint extract, coconut extract, and Christmas sprinkles. I found some hard peppermint candies too.

I mixed my cupcakes and frosting until I got a workable mixture. Then I got right to work. I should have used Bakerella's ideas and dipped the pop (or Kabob Skewer stick in my case) in melted candy, then the cake ball, and then frozen the whole thing. Instead, I tried to get right into dipping which turned into a big fat mess. However, I did manage. And I think I got some pretty results. These were the chocolate cake and frosting balls dipped in melted white bark flavored with coconut extract. I topped them with raw sugar and flaked coconut. In my case, I took each ball in my fingers and topped it with melted bark. Then I placed it on a plate (candy side up) and sprinkled it with sugar and coconut. When dry, I inserted a stick and then used a knife and my fingers to cover the underside of the ball. I was very careful to really douse the stick area with extra candy to sort of hold it in place - almost like a calking.
I sort of liked the snowball effect, which made me think of Christmas in September.
I topped two of these with sprinkles, and the third with crushed candy pieces. Also, the bark was flavored with peppermint extract - and this (in my opinion) was the superior of the two flavors.

I have to tell you, these turned out SWEET. I would use a less intense cake, softer flavored frosting (if that's possible), and save the sweetness for the candy shell. I also think that a lime cake and frosting pair would be wonderful - as the tartness of the citrus would cut down the sugar a bit. Regardless, they are BEAUTIFUL, and look really intense and different. I would also certainly buy more appropriate sticks and a better quality candy melt too. It likely would have made my dipping easier.

Oh, and follow the directions too. That's always good.