Saturday, October 02, 2010

Channeling Bakerella

Some time ago I was introduced to Bakerella. I may or may not have subsequently sent that person some very minor death threats for the introduction because Bakerella is one talented baking type chick and THE cake pop maker of the universe and  I was left feeling  even more  inadequate in the frissy baking department simply by viewing her website.

Aside from cake pops Bakerella  does all manner of other delectable goodies , including a 67 layer cake. (OK I exaggerated a little - it's 14 layers) I tried to emulate this with a 9 layer cake a while back and had a rip roaring success. Success in that nobody died after eating the result.

Anyway , you can go look at Bakerella's website here. You probably won't be back for hours, so go do that AFTER you've read my post. And dont bother sending me death threats after you've visited. I came away after my first viewing 5 pounds heavier and had to blow dry the drool out of my keyboard with my hairdryer.

Bakerella's cake pops look so dang cute and she's just written her first cake pop book. I'm thinking of doing an alternate version, called "Cake Pops From Hell " which could chronicle my cake pop attempts. Unco-baker chicks everywhere could buy it and I could become an cult anti-hero. I'm determined to be famous for something besides being Australian mother and wife of the year.

Miss P showed me a recipe recently for Tim Tam Pops. Similar principle to cake pops but with biscuits. And I thought ...how hard could they be? It's three ingredients. Even I can't stuff that up. That was my first mistake. Confidence.

So here it is- my version of Mint Slice Pops (uber fabby Aussie chocolate and mint biscuits ) You will need a pack of Mint Slice Biscuits, 125 grams of cream cheese and about 200 grams of chocolate.

Gather your ingredients , and your trusty baker's apprentice.  This is blurry because Little P was shaking with laughter at the thought of his Bella baking. I am a legend in my grandson's mind.


Chuck a pack of mint slice biscuits in your cruddy food processor with 125 grams of cream cheese. My food processor really sucks. I spend more time taking the lid off and pushing things round the bowl so the blades can have another crack at them than I do actually processing.  Alternatively you could whack the crap out of the biscuits with a hammer and melt the cream cheese in your microwave then mix it altogether. Next time I might take to the food processor with the hammer and kill two birds with one stone.


Pulverise your ingredients into something that vaguely resembles mush...


Roll that mush into balls



I didn't get a picture of the next part because it was too hard and nobody in my house was feeling helpful. Melt some chocolate and dip those balls in. It is a kitchen rule that you get to lick the spoon during this process. Multiple times. Just shove it back in the chocolate. Family germs don't count. They probably already have what you have anyway.

Shove a stick up the centre of the ball..


Coat your entire kitchen in sprinkles, roll the biscuit pop over your counter top, on your floor, in your dishwasher  and hope some of them stick to the biscuit pop...


Enjoy. Nobody here danced a jig of joy and begged me to make them again. Boo sucks to me. I could have spent that time quilting or blogging or picking the fluff out of my navel or something exciting like that.

By the time it was done, my kitchen was a wreck. I had sprinkles, chocolate and mashed biscuit everywhere ...little P thought it was Christmas. And that's about when I'll be attempting to make these again....

P.S. Sprinkles are like confetti. It doesnt matter how well you clean up afterwards you'll still be finding sprinkles for the next 15 years. Even if you've moved house 3 times.

16 comments:

Kirsten said...

They sure look good though...and your very brave to even try to bake - I gave that up after I met my mother in law. She makes the world best cakes - no way I can even get close to that - so all I do now is order :-))

Shevvy said...

Ah bless, all that effort and mess and they didn't appreciate it. Not good for your moral!

Larri said...

LittleGirl came in while I was reading your post and shouted, "Oooh! Those look good! Momma, can we make some of those today?" So, really, thanks. Where in the world am I going to find those biscuits? Is there an American version? They kinda look like Girl Scouts' Thin Mints.

They do look delicious. Thanks for sharing. Happy Saturday night! :o)

Sarcastic Quilter said...

They look delicious! As for the mess, I didn't do pops but did do cake balls for Valentine's last year (no sprinkles) and I had a holy mess also which is the only reason I haven't attempted them again, since.

I love your version of the stroy about death threats, however. I must comment here to tell your readers the absolute truth. I am CERTAIN the death threats were't minor. They bumped the US security assessment up one color from orange (don't ask, I can't remember if that's red or yellow on the scale and no coffee yet means I'm too lazy to look) and said threatened person had her Deputy Sherriff husband pulling extra duty and calling in all sorts of favors for a lengthy protection detail for me, ending only when she moved states. :)

Sarcastic Quilter said...

ps - Larri, you can do just about anything that can be crumbed and mixed with cream cheese. Bakerella uses frosting mixed in sometimes instead of cream cheese and uses crumbed baked cake. Just be aware, if you use frosting, the end result is a VERY sweet dessert.

Kate said...

Your Tim Tam Pops look very good, sorry they were not appreciated. I long ago gave up on baking for number of reasons. One of which being the hubby is allergic to chocolate. Why make great desserts if you can't use chocolate? Second, in our house the kitchen is hubby's domain. He likes to bake bread and cook elaborate meals. I get shooed out to go quilt because I'm distracting. Oh, the things we bear for love.

Paulette said...

They're cute! Did they taste good? I'm not much for fussing about how fun and festive things look because I know I'm just going to cram it in my maw, so why bother. But I appreciate the eye candy when others go to the effort. I think Bakerella would be proud!

Brenda said...

hahahahahahaha - I love the rolling them on the floor, etc. I don't have a food processor, but it would make me mad if I had to mush the food around inside of it - on TV it just magically does its job. They look very impressive - you could be Bella-rella to little P. (He is a doll)

Anonymous said...

It's funny how we find sites isn't it? I was standing in line at a JoAnn's with cupcake fabric when I struck up a conversation with a lady in line. She told me about Bakerella. So I went home and googled her and like you felt a bit inadequate...but what wonderful things she makes. Love your adorable assistant!

AnnieO said...

I don't own a food processor for exactly the reasons you state--plus the dang things are hard to clean. I hope you didn't get any sprinkles IN your navel whilst making these treats. Sorry they didn't turn out the way you liked--they look pretty yummy!

Elizabeth said...

Mrs. P., you are completely awesome. I always love to read your posts. You get extra points for sarcasm and humor and the pops look yummy.

xo -El

Marg said...

You are very good at these "how to" posts. Having said that, these sound way too sweet and I'll give them a miss. I got rid of my food processor as it made way too much mess for the amount of work it did.
I love your apprentice, he is right, you are a legend.
Happy baking/cooking/messes in your new kitchen.

Kirsten's Cooking said...

First of all - your kitchen floor still is gleaming white - how the heck do you do that?

Secondly - your grandson is so adorable!! He looks so happy and fun.

Third - I can only imagine the mess and the tedium. I think they are adorable and I bet they taste yummy, but if you didn't think they're worth the hassle, then neither do I (plus, we don't have dental insurance) :)

I love the post, though! Just sorry you'll have sprinkles everywhere for 15 years! That's why I've banned easter grass from our house.

Unknown said...

These look really yummy. I wouldn't make them because I would be the only one eating them. Big can actually eat one bit of sweets a night! She really pisses me off. I wish I lived closer and I would come over, eat a few pop and help you find sprinkles.

The baby is so darn cute! He must have gotten his looks from you!

Baa-Me Kniits said...

That was a good initiation for the new kitchen!! I seriously do not need to know how to make those.... I will however have to go and drool over that link tho :-)

Susan Entwistle said...

Admit it, you loved mussing up that fab new kitchen with a project. As for the sprinkles, I'd suggest investing in a small, hyperactive chihuahua. The model we have not only cleans up the runaway sprinkles, but he does a great job cleaning up the flour and confectioner's sugar that seem to fly out of the mixer bowl.