More festive cake pop ideas

Just another idea for holiday cake pops. These pops are chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting dipped in chocolate and topped with cream cheese icing ( I didn't make this icing, Betty Crocker did).

While finishing up some Christmas shopping at Target, I found holiday M&Ms on sale and thought they would make a perfect base for my pops. Best part... everything is edible!

New and improved Football Cake Pops

This is my second attempt at making football shaped pops. These were made to be arranged in 49er cups for my co-worker. While I was icing the pops, I decided that the two stripes on opposite ends would make them look more like footballs. My husband thought it would be appropriate to tell me, AFTER I was done icing, that the two stripes are only on college footballs. OOPS! How was I supposed to know that?

Festive Cheesecake Pops

This project included many firsts for me. A while back, my husband commended me on my awesome cake pops and mentioned that I might try to make them out of cheesecake. I thought long and hard about this and initially wanted to shape the pops into balls like I would the cake pops. After much deliberation, I decided to go with little cheesecake squares so that I would be able to include a crust on the bottom. There's just something about the perfect cheesecake crust that ties the whole thing together. I'll even let you in on a little secret... I use cinnamon in my crust and I think it makes a world of difference! Here's the finished product...

Another first for me was making my own icing. I quickly grew tired of constantly buying icing from the store so I decided to make my own. How hard could it be, right? Turns out, it's not hard to make icing, it's hard to get it the right color and consistency. Remember... too much corn syrup makes it diluted and too much confectioner's sugar makes it too thick to work with. Three words... trial and error :) I finally got it down.

I even made my husband take a big bite out of a cheesecake pop so I can show all of you what they look like inside.

Christmas Cake Pops

Holiday Pops for a Christmas Party. These pops were filled with red velvet cake, mini chocolate chips and cream cheese frosting. The combination was my favorite thus far because it's just the right amount of sweet. I originally decided to go with red velvet because of the color scheme I was going with but it ended up tasting just right. The hardest part of this project was HAND PAINTING the sticks to get the candy cane effect. The topping was kept simple with chocolate dots.

Cheesecake Brownie Cup

What do you get when you combine cheesecake with brownies with chocolate frosting with cherries... AWESOMENESS. The trick with these bad boys is baking them at the right temperature to get the cheesecake and brownie mixture just right. To help, I marbled the two batters once I filled the cupcake liners and baked them at 325 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. This treat is not for the rookie sweet tooth because it is really rich... a good variation might include a whipped cream topping instead of chocolate frosting.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

These are mini cheesecakes that you can bake in cupcake liners. They're perfect for holiday parties because you don't have to go through the mess of cutting a big cake. Also, everything is cuter in mini! This particular recipe calls for a simple gingerbread crust with a pumpkin cheesecake filling topped with pecans. I used regular pecans versus candied because I didn't want the cups to be too sweet. I topped the pecans with caramel to help keep them in place.

Fall Truffles

These are truffles (cake pops minus the stick) that I took to a Thanksgiving dinner. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting coated with white and milk chocolate. This was my first attempt at piping designs on the pops and I'm gonna go ahead and call it a work in progress. 

I placed the truffles in a tin can that I bought at Michael's and glued wired ribbon to the top.

Baby Boy Pops

My friend recently had a baby boy and I figured, flowers make a pretty gift but you throw them out after a few days and you obviously can't eat them. Since I'm on a cake pop bender, I thought... some baby themed cake pops would be a sweet idea...

 I got the idea of using baby feet from my friend's tattoo of his son's footprint. The idea seemed simple enough at first but some of these feet look a little alien-like.

 I mixed it up using two different colors so it would have a more dynamic look when the gift came together. Both the blue and chocolate pops are filled with vanilla cake and buttercream frosting.

I placed the pops in this box that I found from Michael's. I filled the box with that zig zag paper (the official term has escaped me) and it helped keep them from moving around.

Football Cake Pops!

These were my very first attempt at making cake pops. I don't know why I decided to go with football-shaped pops and halfway through the process I wanted to rip my hair out but I think they came together quite well. These particular pops are filled with chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting and covered with chocolate candy coating.

My husband is a hand model (according to him).

In light of the fact that it is football season, and that my husband's favorite football team finally has a winning record, I put the pops is 49er drinking cups and took them to a party. They were a pretty big hit!