Cupcakes and Cake Pops!

I wanted to try my hand again at cake pops because I was disappointed with the first batch.  I decided to make half a batch of cake pops and the other half as mini cupcakes.  I had a white cake mix on hand that I used for the cake and then made the recipe below for the frosting.  Every time I've made this recipe it turns out well plus it's a pretty easy frosting recipe.  And I love a good cream cheese buttercream frosting!

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 (1 pound) box powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Place cream cheese and butter in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the sugar (I usually sift it first), scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium.  Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute. 

I really enjoy decorating cupcakes!  I haven't done it too much but am getting the hang of it more and more.  And it is actually a lot simpler than it looks.  What you need is a frosting tip, decorating bag, and coupler, if necessary.  For a regular cupcake, I use a 1M Wilton tip and a 12 or 16 inch decorating bag.  Fill the decorating bag with icing.  It's easiest if you roll down the edge when scooping it in then roll the edge back up when filled. 

Hold the bag at a 90 degree angle right above the cupcake.

Pipe the icing from the outside inward

Stop pressure and pull the tip away

Begin a second smaller spiral and when done, stop pressure and pull tip away.

The result!

So pretty!

The cake pops turned out a lot better than my first batch!  The cake wasn't as gooey and I finally found a system that works well, as well as chocolate that worked well with me.  It took a little trial and error but I was pleased with the outcome.  They are far from perfect though!  I still have a lot of things I want to try with cake pops!

At first, the chocolate was too thick and dripping everywhere and the sprinkles I put on didn't look right. 

So not what I was going for...

So, I switched it up a bit.  I thinned out the chocolate a little, kept the chocolate warmer, and used chocolate sprinkles.

That's better.

And I tried rainbow sprinkles!

I like it!

I also made a few in the shapes of hearts to try something new.  I wasn't sure they would turn out but thankfully they still resembled a heart when finished!

A few more cake pop pictures:

And they tasted so much better than the first batch!