Cake Pops

A few posts ago I wrote about our visit to Bakerella.  The weekend before that I made my first cake pops.  I know, I'm kind of posting out of order but c'est la vie!  Anyway, turns out, cake pops are more difficult than I thought.  I had a feeling this might be the case so I didn't try to rush things. 

 I baked the cake ahead of time and let it cool overnight like Bakerella suggests.  The crumbling of the cake wasn't too bad and went pretty quickly.  Lola helped out.

The rest is kind of a blur.  I chose lemon cake and dark chocolate candy melts for the coating.  Two reasons for that:  1. I thought dark chocolate and lemon would go well together, and 2. I don't like lemon cake so I figured I'd be less tempted to eat them.  I mixed in the frosting with my Kitchenaid, which made it a lot easier, rolled them into balls and stuck them in the fridge.

After heating the candy melts and dipping I decide that next time I'm going to have to thin the mixture out with something.  They didn't turn out as smooth as I'd had like but it was a good first run!

Isaiah got to take a bunch to work because, really, what am I going to do with a bunch of experimental cake pops in a flavor I don't like?

And, of course, Lola did the taste-test!

My next cake pop challenge is making jack-o-lantern cake pops that are presentable enough for Halloween.  Wish me luck!

Cheating

That's right.  Cheating.  Some days are made for it.  Like today.  Tomorrow's my mom's birthday and we're going up for a visit in the morning so I have a lot to do.  We're having Moroccan chili and 10,000 grains of sand for lunch and I'm making it ahead of time and bringing it up, so that has to be done today.  We're also bringing a lemon meringue pie in lieu of a cake, so that has to be done today.  Lola wanted to make Grammy a pinata for her birthday and we finished that up today.  What I'm tryin' to say is...I got a lot to do!  So we cheated. 

Lola wanted to make cookies so we opted for the frozen, already made-pop-in-the-oven kind.  I know it's cheating and they don't taste very good.  But I don't have to eat them and Lola loves them!  Besides, they are pretty cute.  With my laze factor the closest I could come to these is to bust out my spritz gun and use two colors of dough...maybe.  So Lola and I baked Halloween cookies and Lucy supervised.  I'll get to the rest of that stuff after they go to bed!

Bakerella!

Number 32 in line!

 Last week the girls and I went to a book signing for Bakerella's new cookbook Cake Pops!  It was scheduled for 12:00 PM on a Wednesday and we arrived shortly after 11:00.  When we got in line, much to my irritation, I was asked if I had my book, yes.  Then I was asked if I had purchased my book at Williams-Sonoma, no.  Then I was informed that, per the contract between the publisher and Williams-Sonoma,  in order to get my book signed by Bakerella it had to be purchased at Williams-Sonoma and I had to have the reciept, *$@#!!!.  The pleasant woman in the black smock told me she'd save our place in line while we went in and purchased a book and when we came back she gave us our number.

The line outside the store

The wait in line was not that bad.  All of the people waiting were nice and everyone was in good spirits.  It had a little bit of a circus vibe going on; everyone was excited to get to the front of the line.  A couple of smocked William-Sonoma employees flitted up and down the line as it grew passing out sample size servings of coffee and coffee cake.  I did not partake but Lola enjoyed two tiny squares of the cake which she gave a thumbs-up.  

Bakerella!

 Before she came out the employee who seemed to be running the show informed us that Bakerella (AKA Angie Dudley) would be doing a demonstration and Q&A before the book signing and that we should all pile into the store but hold onto our numbers.

Demonstration

 It was standing room only and a packed house to boot!  Most people that asked question inquired about things to which I already knew the answer but it was fun to watch and listen anyway...for a while.  About the time I was getting bored Lola informed me that she needed to go potty so we made a quiet exit and migrated to the store next door because it happened to have it's own restroom.  When we had all used the facilities (or had a diaper change in Lucy's case) we went back to the store to find that the Q&A was finished and people were moving back to the cordoned off area in front of the store so we took out our trusty number 32 and found our place in line.

Lola calls her Cinderella; she thought that was cute

 Angie was super cute and very nice in person, and much shorter than I imagined.  My only complaint, other than having to buy the book a second time, was this:  Bakerella was featured in the October issue of the Betty Crocker baking magazine.  You know, the tiny ones you see in the checkout aisle?  Well I purchased it sometime in late September and Lola fell in love with it.  She loved the pictures; it had jack-o-lantern cake pops on the cover and several recipes from Bakerella inside.  I brought this with us to get it signed for Lola and asked an employee if Bakerella could sign it for my 3 year old daughter.  The answer?  Absolutely not!  Per the contract, of course.  So instead of having her sign the Cake Pops book to me, I had her sign it to Lola.  She was happy.

Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner? Yes!

 I love me some potatoes!  I do have a bit of the Irish in me, after all.  And what better way to get in touch with my inner leprechaun then with rainbow potatoes?  Ok, so they're not really called rainbow potatoes.  I believe they are marketed as Tri-color Potatoes, when sold together, but when sold separately they are simply known as Yukon Gold, Red, and Purple Potatoes.  I got these at Costco.

I had the potatoes I was craving but what to make with them?  I had also been craving Quiche and everyone knows potatoes go great with eggs....I know!  Quiche with shredded potato crust!  I got the idea from a recipe I found at For the Love of Cooking but I adapted it A LOT.  If you follow her recipe instead of mine you will get a tasty, but completely different than mine, quiche.

As I am a firm believer in using what you have in your fridge/pantry, this is what determined what went into the quiche.  I wanted to use the bacon that I thought I had in the freezer but I was mistaken so I chopped up about 1/4 of a Kielbasa sausage instead.  For veggies I had some baby spinach and zucchini on hand so in they went.  I also had some broccoli, which I enjoy in quiche but I've found that too many people at the party gets crowded so I saved the broccoli for next time.  And for cheese?  I was fresh out of Gruyere so I chopped up some Swiss and was thrilled to find that I had some Feta lying around and threw a couple handfuls of that in too.

• 10 small tri-color potatoes, shredded (I used 4 Yukon Gold, 3 Red, and 3 Purple)
• Olive oil or olive oil cooking spray
• about 1/4 Kielbasa sausage, diced
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced finely
• 1/2 cup of fresh spinach, diced
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup zucchini, diced
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a pie dish with cooking spray. Shred the potatoes into a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. Smash the shredded potatoes all over the bottom and sides of a 9 ionch pie pan, making sure to press them firmly. Season with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, and garlic powder, to taste. Bake in the oven for 12-13 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a small frying pan, saute Kielbasa and onion for about 5 minutes.  Add zucchini and spinach until the spinach is wilted.  Sprinkle the sauteed mixture and cheeses on top of the potatoes Beat the eggs and season with sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Pour the egg mixture on top of the veggies and sausage.

 Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of the quiche comes out clean - don't overcook. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before slicing. Yum!