A few weeks ago, I got my first paid cake pop job!! Up until this point, I had just been making cake pops for friends, family, or fun occasions. But after a friend of the family saw my Football Cake Pops at my nephew’s first birthday party, she asked if I would be willing to make some cake pops for her niece’s first birthday. Of course I said yes!!
The little girl’s name was Gabby and her birthday party was Winnie the Pooh themed. When I heard this, I was SO excited because Winnie the Pooh was my favorite Disney character growing up (and still is my favorite today)! When I was a toddler, I used to watch a Winne the Pooh VHS tape (yes, VHS tape!!) over and OVER and OVER again. It was the only thing I would watch. I watched it so many times I still could probably quote the whole movie today!
Having this inspiration behind me, I did some research on how to shape and decorate Winnie the Pooh cake pops, and of course the Queen of Cake Pops, Bakerella, came up in my search! Her cake pops are impeccable and mine could never in a million years measure up to hers, but she did have a great guide for “Winnie the Pooh and Hunny, too” cake pops that I could follow to shape the Pooh Bear heads and the honey pots.
I also tried using an edible ink pen for the first time ever while making these cake pops! Unfortunately, the brand I purchased at the craft store was a Wilton brand edible ink pen. It was TERRIBLE! I managed to draw Pooh Bear’s smiles on, but had a lot of trouble writing “HUNNY” on the pots. The ink seemed to not want to take to the hard candy coating. I was able to sloppily write on about five of them, but it proved to be difficult and not great-looking so I gave up. Luckily, the plain honey pots were still cute. I did reach out to a girl I went to high school with that also makes GORGEOUS cake pops. She recommended purchasing an Americolor edible ink pens, which the company calls Americolor Gourmet Writers. Apparently they are difficult to find in stores, so you must purchase online. I will definitely be doing this for the next set of cake pops I make!!
After I made my pops, I created a fun display to put them in. I got a “photo box” from a craft store, lined the bottom with foam, and then covered the foam with Easter grass!! (That was my great deal find…I went shopping around Easter when paper Easter grass was on sale. I bought lots of extra grass to in almost every color for future projects…now just need to find a place to store the extra grass). I got a square scrapbook paper page with a Winnie the Pooh Print and backed it on cardboard to serve as a backdrop. I then decorated it and the box with Winnie the Pooh Stickers, Birthday Stickers, and glittery green alphabet stickers to spell out “Happy Birthday Gabby!”
When the friend of the family stopped by my house to pick up the finished product, she almost cried! She loved the whole presentation so much!! She later told me they were the hit of the party!!! I am so happy I could contribute to this Gabby’s First Birthday milestone and make it a memorable one!!!
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix
- Ingredients required for the cake (listed on cake mix box)
- 1 cup vanilla frosting (feel free to use a store-bought kind)
- 1 (14 oz) bag of yellow-colored and vanilla flavored candy melts.
- 1 (14 oz) bag of purple-colored and vanilla flavored candy melts.
- Black nonpareils
- Black rainbow chip sprinkles
- Lollipop sticks
Instructions
- Bake your cake according to the directions on the box.
- Allow your cake to cool completely.
- Crumble your cake up (You can use your mixer to break it up).
- Add in 1 cup of frosting and mix well (this will give it a sticky texture).
- Roll your cake into about about 2″ – 2.5″ size balls.
- Take about 9 of the balls and shape them into a Winnie the Pooh head. Insert Candy or sunflower seeds for the ears, or just pinch up the dough a bit. Keep the remaining balls as a round shape.
- Once everything is shaped, place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to firm up slightly.
- Melt a small amount of the chocolate candy melts. Dip each end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and the press the stick about 3/4 of the way into the ball. Do this with each ball (I did about half of my footballs with regular-sized lollipop sticks and then the other half with slightly longer lollipop sticks. This allowed me to display them all at different graduated heights in the display).
- Once you have sticks in all your balls, place back into the refrigerator for another 10 minutes or so. This will ensure that the sticks stay in your balls.
- Melt down your purple candy melts. Dip each round cake pop into the melted candy so it is covered completely. Do not tap off excess candy for these. Immediately remove and place upside down on was paper. The excess candy will drip down to form the lip of the honey pot and a flat top!
- Melt down your yellow candy melts and dip in each Pooh Bear head. You may want to tap it on the side of your dish to eliminated any excess candy. Place each of these cake pops standing up in a styrofoam block until the candy hardens.
- Once your purple honey pots have hardened, take each one individually and turn right side up. Using a spoon, drizzle some of the melted yellow candy melt on top to create the "honey" spilling out of the pot. Once you do that, you can place each of these upright in a styrofoam block until hardened.
- Once all of the pops are hardened, it's time to decorate! Write the word "HUNNY" on all of the pots using an edible ink pen.
- To decorate Pooh's face, you can use black nonpareils for the eyes and a black rainbow chip sprinkles for the nose. Then, draw on a great big smile and some eyebrows with the edible ink pen!
BA – love these cake pops as much as the football themed ones! You do an amazing job personalizing each and every pop! I hope to share your info with people for upcoming weddings and the like – I hope you consider brochures, etc. to pass around! You have a gift for this! XO A C