if at first you don't succeed...

try, try, again!  here is my 2nd attempt at cake pops...red velvet with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate coating.  we had a potluck at school for our vice principal so i decided this would be my opportunity to try cake pops again and actually have somewhere to take my dessert so i don't have to eat it all by myself.

i used box mix to try to save time.  I wanted to give it a homemade touch so I tried to add pudding and buttermilk.  i also used homemade frosting.  well, the cake came out super moist.  this would be a good thing if it was just cake by itself.   for cake pops, mixed with frosting, this was not such a good thing.  bakerella says to use 3/4  of a container of frosting to mix the crumbled cake with, before forming your cake balls.  so, i made 3/4 of my recipe of cream cheese frosting and just dumped that whole batch into the crumbled cake.  bad idea.  my cake mixture was super mushy...i should've added a little at a time.  i decided to continue making my cake pops anyway and hoped and prayed it would turn out.  my next step was to coat the pops in chocolate.  this time, i added shortening to the candy melts.  this helped to make it not so thick and made the coating look more smooth, but i was still not fully satisfied.  i guess this means i need yet another try.  in the saying, "at first you don't succeed, try, try again..." there are two "tries" right?  so maybe the third times a charm?  i'm hoping.

in the end, i had my husband taste the cake pops...i asked if i could take it to school...he said i probably shouldn't because the texture makes it seem like it's not fully cooked....ugh to too much frosting!

note to self...add frosting a little at a time and don't make the cake balls too big (i had a hard time fitting them into their wrappers.)  also, work on chocolate coating technique!

so in the end, i had to keep the cake pops at home, which probably means i'll end up eating them all by myself....hopefully little by little.  i have them in the freezer now.

this also meant i need to make something else to take to the potluck.  so, at 9:30 pm the night before the potluck, i decided to start baking.  i was very proud of myself, i did it without having a fit and in record timing (a little over an hour...baked, decorated, and kitchen cleaned.)  here was my final creation:

almond cupcakes w/ caramel frosting topped with caramel bites! (thanks christy for the recipe!)

upcoming projects:

make some cute aprons

organize my recipe book

so far...

so far, this is my self-assessment cupcake report card.  nowadays in public schools we don't have a's, b's, c's, etc.  we have:
ME- Meets with Excellence
MP- Meets Proficiency
DP- Developing Proficiency
WB-Well Below

successes (in teacher terms ME):

lemon meringue

mocha cake w/ cream cheese frosting

key lime

smores

 valentines sugar cookie pops 

maple bacon

mint chocolate chip

guava chiffon

red velvet w/ cream cheese frosting

okay(in teacher terms MP):

pumpkin chiffon

orange chiffon

toffee cake w/ caramel frosting

strawberry cake w/ cream cheese frosting

chocolate cake w/ pistachio

coconut cake w/ haupia filling and chocolate frosting

needs perfecting (DPs and WBs):

matcha green tea cupcake w/ green tea frosting

red velvet w/ cream cheese cake pop dipped in dark chocolate

apple cake w/ caramel topping

banana chocolate chip

cookies n cream

aside from perfecting my DPs and WBs, here are things i want to try:
* chocolate dream cupcake (like zippys and kauai bakery!)
* lilikoi chiffon cupcake (like zippys and kauai bakery!)
* haupia chiffon cupcake (like zippys and kauai bakery!)
* potato chip cupcake (i saw this one on cupcake wars!)
* green tea cupcake w/ cookies and cream frosting (my ultimate Bubbies ice cream combination)
* cake pops that look cute (inspired by Sweet as Sugar and Bakerella!)

* more cookies (just because...)
* roy's souffle (inspired by jackie-lynn!)

the first.

i actually created this blog about a year ago in january of 2010.  my resolution was to write more.  i guess that didn't happen seeing as it stayed blank for the whole year.  well once again, as 2011 began, i made the same resolution: to write more.  this year, i'm determined to make it happen.  so here, is my first post!  hip hip hooray!

purpose:
previous to last year, i was never really friends with the kitchen...we went as far as cooking with ground turkey, mushroom soup, frozen vegetables, and teriyaki.  yikes!  joe got tired of my cooking pretty fast so he became named head chef at our house.  he is good at this job.  but, this year he started school full time started working evenings which made me need to step it up and do a little more in the kitchen.  so i've been experimenting with new things (beside mushroom soup and stuff).  so i'll report my successes (and bombs) in blogs to follow.  currently in the oven: yukon gold rosemary potatoes and a crustless asparagus-goteborg quiche!

also, i started baking more this year.  it all started on admissions day 2010.  i was bored at home because joe had to work since the bank doesn't get admissions day off.  we had recently gotten a kitchen-aid mixer from joe's parents so i decided to do some baking.  i think cupcakes are really cute in general so i decided to make cupcakes that look cute, like the ones you always see in magazines.  i started simple, vanilla with vanilla buttercream.  it came out not-so-bad for my first cupcake from scratch...and that's how it all began.  i haven't been able to stop!

so follow me, as the kitchen and i become good friends :)

ps.  i don't like to capitalize things...really bad for a 1st grade teacher to tells her kids every day, "start with a capital, end with a period!"