Halloween Treats

We were going to make some sort of Halloween treats for friends and neighbor kids. We have only made cake balls or cake pops once before. They turned out good, but wasn’t trilled with the melting of the chocolate. I had used almond bark for that. I used candy melts this time. Not impressed for what we needed.

I have since done research on google and youtube and learned several tricks and tips. We will be trying this again. One thing I learned was, not to follow the package directions when doing cake pops. Excellent. Perfect. 

Most people use a regular box cake mix. We used angel food this time. Used white and chocolate before. Both were good choices. You break the cake of your choice into fine pieces. The finer the better, you will not get the angel food as fine as regular cake without a food processor, which we did not have.

Next you mix in enough of something to get it to a mixture that will hold it’s shape well. Before we mixed it with frosting, which was good but in the end they were soooo sweet (we thought). This time we mixed it with cream cheese, which was good and cut the sweetness quite a bit. Next time we are trying gnash.

Form them into balls. Then stick in fridge before 20-30 minutes to firm up. We used a recipe that said the freezer. This awesome cake pop lady suggest the fridge instead.

Dip the sticks in melting chocolate and insert into the cake ball 3/4 of the way in. Back in fridge (not freezer) for another 15 or so. They should then sit out for 5 minutes or so before dipping in the next step. We did not do this.

Our melting process did not go well. We went solely by the package. I tried both ways it suggested. If you were piping or decorating with it, it was perfect. But for wanting it more runny to dip these in and let the excess drip off, it was not so perfect at all. 

Nonetheless, here are our ghosts. Taste wise, they were fine. But the chocolate is so thick on them. It should not be that thick and chunky looking. 

And did you know when adding liquid or gel food coloring to melted chocolate, it creates cement. Yea, I know that now too. People who have success with this, usually mix the coloring with a little shortening, then add it to the chocolate. Because guess what the secret is to getting chocolate runnier and dipable?  Shortening. Uh-huh. Never got the memo on that fine tip til now. So the eyes and mouth did not go well. The best way to color it is with this powder coloring or by using the colored candy melt chips. 

End result was still fine. But we will be trying this again. Since clearly, we made these completely ass-backwards. 

Ashlyn may have a Halloween party to go to next weekend, and we were looking for something healthier to bring. Few ideas I saw.

Loved this one. Pineapple, Cuties and Cool Whip.

This guacamole one is just plain gross but funny. I’ve seen the whole puking pumpkin puking seeds on the front steps. But never seen one food related and how perfect to use guacamole.