Duff's Cake Pops!

I bought it, I read it,

I baked it, I brought it!

I was so excited when my copy of Bakerella's Cake Pops Cookbook finally arrived!!!   And, it was the perfect weekend to experiment making cake pops for the first time since my family is opening up a restaurant this week! I have made cheesecake pops before, but cake pops...never! I felt like an amateur, but Bakerella's step by step photos made each step easy to follow.  I even took a few shots of myself to show those of you who may not have your own copy of her book yet, what to do.

Bake a cake in a 9"x13" cake pan and let cool overnight. The next day, cut into four sections.

Set up your station with all of the supplies you will need.  Pictured above are lollipop sticks, candy melts, frosting and the crumbled cake. Crumble the cake by cutting each section in half and rubbing the pieces of cake against one another with your hands to form crumbs. Since each section makes about 12 cake balls, I only used half of the cake for this recipe. I froze the other half. 

Add frosting to the crumbs and mix with the back of a metal spoon.

For consistency, I used an ice cream scoop to divide equal amounts of cake to be rolled into balls.

Roll cake into balls and set on a parchment lined cookie sheet.



Cover with saran wrap and place cake balls in the freezer for about 15 minutes until firm.

Gather all materials needed to dip and decorate the cake balls.

I looked all over the city to find Candy melts! After calling about four stores, I finally found these at Party Packagers, only to find out that they are being discontinued! YIKES! I guess I will have to visit Michael's more often, since it seems to be the only store in the city of Toronto that carries these!

Melt the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time and stir with a spoon in between. Continue to microwave for another 30 seconds until fully melted. Mix with a spoon until desired consistency is reached.

Dip a lollipop stick about 1/2 inch into the melted candy coating.

Insert the stick no more than 1/2 of the way into the cake ball.

Dip the entire ball into the candy coating.  I found that after the first few cake pops, I needed to spoon the coating onto parts of the ball in order for the pop to be fully covered.

Since I wanted the cake pops to look similar to the color of chicken wings, I immediately poured red sugar crystals on the candy coating over a large bowl.  The candy coating acts as glue when items are placed on almost immediately after coated. Stick each pop into a styrofoam block to set. Repeat with the remaining cake pops.

Creating the tags. I was inspired by all of the tags Bakerella had in her cookbook, but most importantly, the ones that she made for Rich's proposal to me.  Since I knew that I wanted to bring these cake pops as a dessert for the Family and Friends night at the new Duff's location, I decided to make my own tags, to go with the theme of the night! I created the tags on the computer and had them printed on thicker paper. I cut out the circular tags with scissors and used an exacto knife to cut two diamond shaped holes, one on the top and another on the bottom, in which the lollipop stick could slide through. 

Here is a close up of one of the tags.

And a jumble of the others!

Love the slogan of the restaurant as seen on the back of the server's shirts!

Say hi to my cousins Richard and Loren who will be running the show on Rutherford. Their brother Steven was in the kitchen preparing all of the food. The restaurant is lookin' good boys...best of luck!

So...what are you waiting for? Take a bite!

Duff's Famous Wings located at Bathurst and Rutherford in Toronto, is the third restaurant that my cousins and their family will be opening very soon.  See you there!

What's your favourite wing flavour?