*{Let Them Eat Cake}*

I finally did it.  I had been wanting to make the cake balls and cake pops that I had seen on Bakerella's website for an eternity (or so it seemed!).

They are fabulous!  I had never seen such a thing before and was excited to try them.  My friend Leslie was just as excited and next time I want to make them together. Baking + Friends = *FUN*

Anyway, after hearing about a  mexican dinner fundraiser for my friend Steven, who has bone cancer, I decided to make the cake balls/pops for the bake sale portion. Steven has to travel to Chicago (about a 3-4 hour drive) for treatments, so this fundraiser was to help with those expenses.  I was hoping they might fetch a little higher price than a chocolate chip cookie so that we could gather as much donation money as we could for Steven & his family. From what I heard later, the fundraiser was a complete success!  A lot of people spent many hours planning it and they pulled it off beautifully. I enjoyed cooking, baking and serving for this event. It really feels good to serve others in their time of need. Heaven knows I've had friends and family serving my own family in our time of need, so I'm glad that I was able to repay a little of what was done in the past for myself.

Anyway,I didn't make the cake balls/pops too fancy, but I hear they flew off the table, so I must have done something right! Next time I would like to make different fun pops. Maybe flower shaped or Hello Kitty shaped. That would be fun! Aren't they cute?  Bakerella is the queen of baking!

Anyway, if you're wondering what a cake ball/pop is, here is the low-down.

I baked a boxed cake mix in a 13x9 pan. Let it cool and then broke it all up into pieces.  I thought that might feel liberating, but truthfully, it just felt....wrong. I felt like I ruined the cake! Haha.

Next, I mixed all the cake crumbles with a can of cream cheese frosting.  This is a messy process, but nonetheless FUN.  I rolled most of them into quarter sized balls.  Some I made extra big. The small ones where pop in your mouth-able, while the larger ones were meant to be eaten with a fork.  Well, actually, you could just take a big 'ol bite out of those too. Doesn't matter when it's so tasty!

Next, I put them in the fridge to firm them up. To go faster, I froze some of them (I'm always behind and late for events!).  For the cake pops, lollipop sticks were inserted and then dipped in melted chocolate or white chocolate coating.  They turned out cute!  I wrapped them in cellophane tied with a twisty and they were ready to sell.

The cake balls were dipped, finished off and placed into a small cupcake liner. Or a big liner for the monster ones.

I made double chocolate balls and pops. And red velvet balls dipped in white chocolate. Next time I might use a home made cake mix instead of a store bought one. I think they would be tastier made from scratch.

Of course I HAD to try one....

....or 5.

 Mmm....delicious!

Try it Tuesday.....Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Devils Food Cake Mix

Because of last weeks post with the Hot Fudge Icing recipe, I decided to make some cake! I usually use a Texas Sheet Cake recipe that I got from Cooking Light, but this time I chose to use the Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Cake Mix that was sitting in my pantry just waiting to be made. It uses the same ingredients as regular cake mixes....eggs, oil and water. Easy.

I'm a total batter licker. I love to make any kind of batter and lick the heck out of the beaters, spatula and bowl. I was expecting the batter to taste less sweet since it's a reduced sugar version, but it was pretty much the same to me. So I checked the ingredients and noticed that it's made with sugar alcohols, not Splenda like I had previously thought. Here are the nutritionals:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/12 package (43g mix)
Amount Per Serving Calories 150 % Daily Value
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0g 0%
Sodium 340mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 35g 12%
Dietary Fiber 1g 6%
Sugars 9g
Sugar Alcohol 5g
Protein 2g
Vitamin A 0%
Iron 6%
Vitamin C 0%
Vitamin D 0%
Calcium 2%
Niacin 2%
Thiamin 4%
Riboflavin 2%
Folic Acid 4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

With 5 grams of sugar alcohols, I thought I would have a problem after eating a piece or 2. But nothing bad happened, thank goodness! And trust me, I ate a lot of the cake this weekend! It was gone in 2 days. I know it was the yummy icing! Who can resist?! My family couldn't tell that it was reduced sugar and same as me, no one had a problem with sugar alcohols.

Anyway, Pillsbury's reduced sugar line carries not only cake mixes, but frosting's and brownie mixes. Mmmm. The cake mixes come in White, Yellow, Lemon and Devil's Food. I'll have to try the brownie mixes sometime soon. And there is even a reduced sugar cream cheese frosting. I loooove cream cheese frosting.

Oh, and to make it into Texas Sheet Cake, I only needed 1 box. It bakes just fine in a jelly roll pan.

Sorry, but this cake mix has milk and wheat, so if you allergic to those, you will have to skip this product.

As far as WW points goes, it's 3pts per piece, not counting the frosting, so it's an indulgence. Speaking of indulgence, I have some fabulous special desserts to blog about soon. Tip Junkie got me drooling over the ,"Guilty Pleasure Snack Game", so I started a post with a couple of my all time favorite decedent desserts! I'll finish that up and hopefully post it tomorrow ;)

Pink Cake Box

So I made a chocolate pink polka dot cake for my daughter who turns 15 today. When looking for designs, I stumbled across a fabulous blog!

A lady from NJ has pages and pages of the most imaginative cakes! Take a looksee! ~Pink Cake Box~


Oh, and maybe I'll post a picture of my polka dot cake, but it's put to shame by Pink Cake Box's cakes....kind of embarrassing actually. Haha. So much for the Wilton course I graduated from. *sigh*