witch cake pops

I stumbled upon Bakerella’s Cake Pops book a few weeks ago on Amazon, then I found her blog. I have a habit of selecting the most intricate and advanced versions of projects I get myself into, and this project was no different. In typical form, I was cursing myself while I was making these, but they did turn out well and more importantly, I was able to make my own organic adjustments to the recipe. Most cake pops don’t have the bits and pieces that these ones did and mainly all you will need is an organic cake mix (or your own scratch mix), all-natural icing, organic dipping chocolate and dye-free sprinkles.

The chocolate I used was made with artificial dyes, because I was against the clock, but I was able to purchase Arrowhead Mills Organic Chocolate Cake Mix as well as Cherrybrook Kitchen All Natural Vanilla Frosting for the two main ingredients. I was so pleased to find the All Natural Frosting because both Pillsbury and Duncan Hines vanilla frostings ingredient list look something like this:

Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and Cottonseed Oil)Water, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, contains 2% or less of Each of the Following: Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides, Color Added including Yellow 5 and Red 40, Artificial Flavor, Modified Corn Starch, Polysorbate 60, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative)Soy Lecithin, Citric Acid.

Um, yeah. RED DYE 40? WTF? I do not know, because this icing is ‘white.’ But, as I read through the lengthy list of ingredients, I nearly broke a sweat and did not feel that giving kids these ‘things’ would be right. I began rifling through the shelf  at the grocery store for an alternative and I was so happy to find the Cherrybrook Kitchen frosting. It was perfect for this application, however, I cannot imagine using it as frosting on a cake, because the consistency was a bit like Elmers glue. What really matters is that it is made of real food and it worked! In the future, I may just make my own frosting, which I’m sure would work too.

At any rate, as you can see, my two year old son adored these little ‘mans’ as he lovingly referred to them. I plan to make more because they are yummy and a lot of fun. Hope you try them, too! Good luck!