I feel like the blog’s been a little boring the last few weeks.

Recently I’ve been consumed by work, WeddSplosion R’n’D, and a tiny bit of money fatigue over aforementioned R’n’D as well.  Even so, I feel badly that I haven’t been doing anything super creative (or even been a frequent poster at all!).  And while I’ve really enjoyed my more frequent experimentation with cakes, I’m not sure how interesting that’s been for the reader (that’s you).

So in the interest of doing something a little more interesting, check it out!  German chocolate cake pops!

I’m pretty late to Bakerella’s cake pop party, and since I was looking for something fun and different to try out, I thought cake pops would be the perfect experiment!  Think my lollipop sticks look a little funky?  That’s because they’re swizzle sticks. >.>  Last minute baking decisions do not mesh well with oddball ingredients.

Additionally, teh BF was coming into town and german chocolate cake is one of his very favorite things.  I knew that if I made it not only would he be in heaven, but he would also eat most of them for me.  Double bonus.

So how to go about doing this?

First, in the slacker tradition (as well as in Bakerella’s directions), I decided I didn’t feel like baking the cake from scratch….so resorted…to a box. /shame  Don’t judge me!  I wanted a break from cleaning mixer blades every day…and little Betty Crocker never hurt anybody (to the best of my knowledge).  ^_^

Second, after reading over the basic cake pop strategy on Bakerella’s site (that being “crumble cake, mix with 1 can of frosting”), I decided to take the traditional german chocolate cake icing and mix it in with the chopped up cake in order to hold the pops together.  In less slacker tradition, I planned on creating the icing from scratch since really, if I was using boxed cake mix there was no way I was going to use store-bought icing too.

…Then I got home and stared at my kitchen.  Then I went to the store and bought a can of coconut caramel icing. -_-

Despite my culinary depravities, I sought to make the tastiest cake pops possible.  I did melt my own chocolate in which to dip the pops, and also I bought pecans for a final german chocolate cake bit of flair.  And to be honest…I’m pretty happy with how they turned out!  Just a note, though: if you ever can’t find lollipop sticks, I don’t recommend using swizzle sticks instead.  They’re alright in a pinch, but they can’t stand the weight of the cake balls very well.  They are weak!

German Chocolate Cake Pops

Technique from Bakerella.

Makes 2 million.  You think I’m joking?

Ingredients:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix (or your favorite chocolate cake recipe for a 9×13 cake)
• 1 can coconut caramel icing (or 1 cup of your best german chocolate cake icing)
• 16oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 cup toasted pecan halves

Instructions:

1. Bake the cake per the box’s instructions.  Let it cool completely.
2. Crumble the cake into a bowl and mix it thoroughly with the coconut caramel icing.  Use your hands if you want!
3. Roll the cake mix into quarter-sized balls and place them on a sheet of wax or parchment paper.
4. Melt 2oz of the chocolate in the microwave.  Dip the ends of your lollipop/swizzle sticks into the chocolate, then push into the cake balls, to just before reaching the center.
5. Put in the freezer and let chill for ~10 minutes.
6. Melt the rest of the chocolate in a double-boiler (or microwave.  Whatever).
7. Gently roll each cake pop in the chocolate (be careful, as I found the chocolate tried – and sometimes succeeded – at dragging the ball off of the stick.  This may have been because swizzle sticks are more slippery then a normal lollipop stick).  I then just put the pops cake-down on parchment paper.  If you want you could also stick the sticks into styrofoam.
8. Let the chocolate set slightly, then gently push a pecan half onto the front of the cake pop.
9. Solidify in freezer.
10. Consume!