"breakfast at tiffany's" inspired cake pops

I had the pleasure of attending a lovely baby shower for a friend who is expecting a little girl the same week I'm expecting my little guy. This baby is her first, and her family and friends threw a fantastic and glamorous event with the theme "Breakfast at Tiffany's". The soon-to-be grandmother thought of everything from valet parking to M&Ms printed with the baby's name as favors. She also asked me to make cake pops for the occasion. A Google image search for the movie resulted almost entirely in pictures of Audrey Hepburn, and not being confident in my ability to recreate a cake-pop bust in her likeness, I opted to feature tiffany blue with white satin ribbon and pearl sprinkles. The mama-to-be has been craving Nutella, so a chocolate/nutella center was in order. The hazelnut flavor wasn't as noticeable as I would have liked, but at the end of the day chocolate can stand on it's own pretty well. They turned out great!

"things that go" birthday party

My little man turned one today, and we threw him a great party. He loves anything with wheels, so we focused on "things that go".

train and car frosted sugar cookies

semi sized sign

car made from a box

wheel-themed cakes that spin

oreo pop favors with rims

car-themed board book favors for kids

birthday boy loving a new toy

bumble bee cake pops

I loved making chocolate chip cookies when I was young. Part of it was the quality time spent with an adult supervisor on a project I could help with, but I suspect a larger part was getting to eat cookies. One of my first solo baking attempts lives on in family lore as the notorious salt cookies. I still don't know if I added a cup instead of a teaspoon of salt (they were on either side of the same measuring tool) or if I used salt instead of sugar, but yes, they were that salty. It wasn't even worth picking off the cookie part to eat the chocolate chips. They were a disaster.

Salted caramel makes me nervous. It just seems like too much salt for a dessert. I can't commit. However, Starbucks has salted caramel cake pops and I was challenged to make a better version, so I made a first attempt.

My salted caramel cocoa cake pops didn't taste salted. I suppose that's better than too salty, but now I wish I had more culinary courage. Perhaps my next attempt will be more bold. I used a devils food cake (from a mix) and a mix your own can of caramel frosting. I was worried the chocolate would overpower the caramel, so I used the whole flavor packet with only 8 oz of the frosting. It was still very subtle, so I added a caramel swirl with a jar of ice cream topping we had in the fridge. The outer layer was dark cocoa candy melts, and the bee decor was to fit a baby shower theme.

This project came to me at the last minute. It's not that a week isn't a reasonable time frame to ask someone to prepare a dessert for a baby shower, it's that when I'm asked to bring dessert I decide on cake pops, and when I make cake pops they are usually themed. I was pleased with the vision I had for these little guys (a few bees and a busy looking trail on the others), but I was short on supplies to make them happen. Michaels didn't have any dark cocoa candy melts, so I could only make half the batch with what I had on hand.

The other half I decided on a white cake from a mix and vanilla frosting. That seemed too boring, so I added chai spices. Yum! I know chai isn't as universally liked as vanilla, but these pops may have been my all time favorite flavor so far.

I didn't love the bee-scape, and they felt a little sloppy, but they went over well enough at the party.

beach-theme desserts

Beach-theme baby shower dessert spread.

Coffee cake cupcakes with dulce de leche filling, cream cheese drizzle, and white chocolate shells.

monogram cake pops

I made these as favors for our baby dedication. The centers are "blue velvet"... like red, but with blue coloring instead. Yum!

lettering

playing with some hand drawn lettering

butterfly baby

As promised, here are more pictures from the baby shower this weekend!

butterfly cupcakes

dirt

decor

guests of honor: Elliana with her big brother and mama

here come the caterpillars

I am hosting a baby shower this weekend and have been prepping all week. The theme is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I'm pleased with my first attempt at cake pops! More pictures to come, but for now, a little preview.