Cake Pops and Life Lessons

Last weekend, my friend Lyndsey came to stay with me for a few days because she was throwing a baby shower for our friend BreAnn. I didn't know until we got home from the airport that it also meant we were in for a two-day marathon of baby shower crafts, and even though I was grumpy from not getting much sleep and driving out to East Jesus Nowhere, it all turned out wonderfully. It was probably the cutest (not cutesy. cutesy = puke.) baby shower ever, and people seemed to actually enjoy themselves, which I find to be a rare thing for showers.

The whole shower was robot-themed and one of Lyndsey's ideas was to make cake pops shaped like robots from this book. Now, you probably haven't heard me expound on my feelings for cake pops, so I will indulge myself now by doing so again. [Disclaimer: Up until last weekend, I had never had a cake pop because I thought they were weird. So, the only one I've had is one I made.]

Cake pops are made of cake crumbs. Cake crumbs glued back together with frosting. Am I really the only one that finds this weird? You bake a cake, crumble it up, then mash frosting into it until it is the consistency of play-doh or some crap, and roll it into balls. Furthermore ::insert the I-bake-from-scratch snooty face:: the recipe calls for boxed cake mix and canned frosting! Bleh. So, we (the recipe and I) met in the middle by using a boxed mix and making the frosting from scratch.

Long (long, long) story short, here is my advice on cake pops:
1. Don't use canned frosting on account of how it tastes like Crisco. Unless maybe they're just for kids because kids will be all YAY! CAKE ROBOT! and not care what it tastes like, or will just eat the candy faces off them like Bre's adorable little brother did.
2. Give yourself a lot of time to make them, especially if you've never done it before. You will be swearing* at them a lot, mostly when the filthy little buggers fall off their gorram sticks into the em-effing mug of candy melts for the fourteen-thousandth time. Believe me, the swearing level ranks up there right behind Mario Kart and being an olde-timey sailor.
And most importantly,
3. Don't make cake pops. I mean it. Even after making them myself, I still thought they had the consistency of cake-I-already-chewed-on-for-a-minute (plus I could taste that it was box mix, even with the real buttercream, but I am weird like that.) Furthermore, it will make your friend who asked you to make the cake pops wonder if you hate her forever for making you make cake pops. Luckily for everyone, I don't hate her. I just also don't want to make cake pops again.

But in all seriousness, I'm kind of glad I had the experience now. I thought they were weirdos beforehand, and since I made them, I can now say for sure that I still think that. And at least I can say I know how to do it if I ever get asked to again, even though I will likely refuse unless I love you a lot and your life depends on me making you a weirdo dessert on a stick. And they turned out pretty adorable and people at the shower told me they really liked them. So, all good things in the end.

My first (and possibly last) foray into cake-poppery.

*swear words changed to protect my parents from realizing I know real swear words.

EDIT: I don't still hate cake pops. I almost like them now.