My Birthday / Mint Chocoalte Chip Cake Pops

Hello again! Did you miss me? I know it's been awhile but I've been busy.  I turned 30, for one thing, but that's irrelevant to this post, I guess.  I got a bunch of cake pop supplies for my birthday - thanks to all who funded this hobby! :-)

I also received two rather generous gifts which I couldn't be happier with. First, my brother, sister and their spouses all chipped in to buy me the below KitchenAid Standing Mixer! They asked me to pick the color so I went with the Dark Blue, since it was the most unusual of the choices.  I know I don't need to say this, but I do love it so. It works perfectly and I use it for more than just mixing cakes!

The second item was from my brother and sister-in-law, and it was this unique Cake Pop Stand! It assembles rather easily and collapses and is very portable. I love it!

Anyway, back to the cake pops. My friend Kerri has been badgering me at work ever since I started doing cake pops to do Mint Chocolate.  Now, I personally, have a love/hate relationship with Mint Chocolate anything -- It triggers my heartburn really badly.  But these turned out really nice!  Yes, I did taste one. Just one... and they kind of came out tasting like Mint Oreo's.  And who doesn't love an Oreo?

So how did I get the mint flavor?  Simple, I started with Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix, the kind my mom used to make.  Have you ever heard of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations?  I haven't actually made the frosting yet, but I purchased a packet of the Mint flavoring and added that to the cake batter. This added a slight flavor of mint to the chocolate cake.  Turns out this step wasn't that necessary as the mint in the Mint Chocolate candy coating provides all the mintiness you will need.  But it's an easy way to add flavor to cake batter, so try it out.

The next step was to roll the cake balls.  FYI, I have started rolling the balls and letting them chill in the fridge for a full 24 hours.  This makes them so much easier to work with and guarantees they won't fall off the stick when dipping them in the candy coating later.

I have never worked with Dark Mint candy coating before but these wafers were extremely easy to work with.  Perfect consistency -- not too gloppy and not too runny.  I sprinkled the top with some green and white nonpareils and some mini chocolate chips.  Overall these are delicious and anyone who loves Mint Oreo is going to love these!  Enjoy!

Orange Cake Pops

These were outrageously fun and easy to make!  Take a box of Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix and mix it up with packet of Orange JELL-O.  Follow the instructions as normal and roll them into orange-y cake balls :-)

I made half the batch into Orange Cream pops (with vanilla coating) and half into Dark Chocolate Orange pops (with chocolate coating).

The Orange Cream ones really taste like an Orange Popsicle and the Chocolate Orange ones really taste like one of those chocolate orange candies you get at Christmas!

LOVED making these and they were delish!  :-)

S'MORES Cake Pops

These were fun!  I made them using Chocolate cake crumbled with chocolate frosting coated with Dark Chocolate candy coating. Finished with crushed graham crackers and mini-marshmallows.

Rocky Road Pops

I made these, along with some Birthday cake pops, for a New Year's Eve party and everyone loved them.  I made these using Chocolate cake crumbled with chocolate frosting.  The cake balls were coated with dark chocolate candy coating, almonds and marshmallows. Marshmallows are also in the cake as well, however, in the future I won't do this again as it causes problems when adding the lollipop stick.