Elmo cake pops - step by step!

This is the post you've been waiting for :)


Elmo cake pops for the birthday girl on Friday. It was my biggest food project ever.  Took hours and hours.

I followed instructions from Bakerella carefully.  She knows what she's talking about.  Do not veer off from her method.

Supplies needed:
candy melts
cake mix
frosting
lollipop sticks
candy eyes
candy for noses

If you've never made cake pops or cake balls before (I hadn't) I suggest reading her post on the original cake pops.

I used a yellow cake mix and white frosting. 

Crumble the cake completely.  Mix in a can of frosting.  Mine seemed quite wet.  I kept out a few tablespoons of the frosting and I'm glad I did so.

Roll into balls; chill.  You can use fridge or freezer, but don't freeze more than about 15 min.  If you do, they will expand as they thaw and crack your candy coating.  Been there, done that.

Dip tips of sticks into melted candy melts and then into chilled balls.  Chill again briefly. 

(Sorry, some of these are yucky cell phone pics)
Coat heads in the melted chocolate, and apply eyes and mouth while wet.  You don't have much time.

Add nose and extra chocolate to make 'fur'.  The nose was a bit of conundrum for me.  I tried three options.  Here you see the tic tac.  Overall it was the best option.  The color was right and it didn't weigh much.  It bothered me that it looked rectangular, but it was okay.

Jelly bean option (this is what Bakerella used and I don't like it)

My FAVORITE - the runt nose.  SO realistic.  Unfortunately very heavy.  I tried four and two cracked right away.  In order to secure it well enough you need to press in really hard and that compromises the structure of the cake.

Isn't he CUTE?!

Love him.

But, alas, most ended up with tic tacs.  It's all good.

And I ended up doing party pops with sprinkles with the remaining balls.  One cake mix gave me 48 balls, I had 35 sticks, and only 28 pairs of eyes.  So I got creative at the end.

All in all, it was very rewarding, albeit HARD.  Especially when Rosebud said "ELMO!" as I showed her one.  Yep, totally worth it.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Rosebud turned two last week. What an emotional day!

She woke up bright and early, saw all the balloons and streamers waiting for her, and clapped!  She is a great morning person and stayed happy all day.


The nice UPS man brought her a cuddly elmo doll.  She played with him for hours.

She made him a bed

and took care of Abby Cadabby too.

 Took him shopping

and went to nap.

That's good because mom still had some serious baking to do.

Cake says "Elmo loves ______" with her name spelled out in candles.

Here's the cuteness on the table.  See the elmo pops (details coming in the next post)!

Rosebud had a blast with gifts.  I think at Christmastime she really got the hang of opening presents, so she was a pro.

Rosebud got very cute, thoughtful gifts.  She was genuinely excited to play with/wear each thing. She was delightful all day.



Our house seemed spacious.  We're used to packing it full for birthdays but sadly over half of our family wasn't with us.  But we had a special time with this special girl. 

Cake time, and I'm emotional again (you can see me here crying halfway thru "Happy Birthday"). We lit just two of the letters in her name and she blew each one out on her own.  Cheers from everyone!

It may have been a little too fun.  This morning she said "(her name) burdday!  Elmo party!"  Um, not again, sweetie pie.



Time for Family Home Evening.  Will post the Elmo pops in a bit.

Day 25

Day 25 - Put your ipod on shuffle, first 10 songs

I don't use my little ipod much except for entertaining my toddler in a waiting room, so I'll use my more common method of music listening - iTunes on the computer. 

Shuffle gives me these 10:

Break Your Heart
Pictures of You
Hey, Soul Sister
Viva la Vida
Only Wanna be with You
New Sensation
La Sonadora
Lucky
What is Love
Bubbly

Day 24

Day 24-A photo you took

PapPap and Princess, Oct 2009

Of course I have thousands of choices when it comes to photos I have taken.  Thousands.

I chose this one because I can see the emotion in both their faces as they bond over a book.  Each has a unique expression.  Each loves reading, as do I.  And she loves this guy, as do I.

Day 23

Day 23-Something you've learned

Rosebud, 1st birthday

Rosebud, 2nd birthday

Something I've learned is that they definitely grow up too fast.

Day 22

Day 22-Favorite vacation



My best vacation ever was going to Montego Bay, Jamaica with Strider for our 10 year anniversary.  Best money we have ever spent.  Wonderful memories.

Pic 1 - Right outside our lodging

2 - Strider and I setting sail, all on our own in the waters of the Carribbean!

3 - sometimes if you play ping pong outside, your ball might get stuck in the foliage

4 - Strider is SOOOO strong!

5 - us with our guide for a shopping tour downtown

6 - Everything was just gorgeous!

7 - 15 hours of traveling, four days that flew by, but I miss my little kiddos (including 18 month old Princess)