CLOSING ONE CHAPTER & BEGINNING ANOTHER

I’m so glad I began this blog for my Fundamentals of Digital and Online Media assignment. Through networking on WordPress, Pinterest, and Twitter, I’ve gained some wonderful followers and experiences. I’ve always enjoyed blogging and working with social media, and, being a PR major, I definitely will use these tools in my future career.

I found networking with other WordPress blogs and utilizing hashtags on Twitter to be most successful for increasing traffic to my blog. Storify also proved to be successful in drawing in readers when I chose the option to notify those that were mentioned in my story. While I enjoyed working on my Pinterest account, the result wasn’t quite as successful.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class blogging experience, but I also look forward to continuing my adventures! My followers can look forward to more cake pop stories and less posts about other things like some of the earlier posts I made to fulfill some class assignment requirements.

Be prepared to see more fun creations like these Easter basket cake pops I made last weekend!

Easter Cake Pops
Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL, CAKE-POPPIN’ DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL!

Photo Credit: A.C. Moore

Hello again, cake poppers!
In honor of today being Easter Sunday, I decided to create a Storify about my favorite Easter-themed cake pops! Follow the link below:
Check out my Storify here!

GERMAN CHOCOLATE ADVENTURE!

Fellow cake pop lovers, enjoy this slideshow featuring a step-by-step guide for today’s adventure! I used Duncan Hines German Chocolate Cake Mix and Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Coconut Pecan Frosting to make these irresistible German Chocolate pops. Take a look at the slideshow to see how it’s done!

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RED VELVET

My latest cake pop adventure featured a delicious combo: red velvet cake and buttercream icing. I decided to make a video to capture the experience, guest-starring Fleet Sweets baker Aly Yale! Enjoy!

INSPIRATION

The first time I encountered a cake pop, I was as a teenager at Starbucks. My friends and I joked about the tiny, bite-sized cake on a stick. We decided to give them a try, regardless of the seemingly high price for such a small snack. We soon realized how the chain got away with charging customers so much for such a teeny dessert… The cake pops were amazing!

I still can’t pass up the Birthday Cake Cakepop at Starbucks
Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

While Starbucks has surely mastered the art of cake pop-ing, there is one other source for these delicious desserts. My sister Aly Yale, writer-turned-baker extraordinaire, is another source of inspiration for my cake pop adventures. She is the owner of her own bakery called Fleet Sweets. Not only does she make the best cupcakes, pies, cakes, cookies and breads… She can also delight your taste buds with her yummy cake pops!

Baseball Cake Pops made by Fleet Sweets!
Photo Credit: Aly Yale

Maybe someday I’ll be able to create cake pops that are as amazing as the ones made at Starbucks and Fleet Sweets.

CHOCOLATE CAKE POPS

I decided to create my first true cake pops. Sure, the brownie pops were nice, but I was ready for the real deal. I started by purchasing Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Pillsbury Confetti Funfetti Chocolate Fudge Frosting at Walmart. I specifically chose the Funfetti frosting, because the sprinkles come with the frosting! As I began my first batch of cake pops, I came across an issue.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

I realized that I needed to find a way to get the batter into the cake pop holes without spilling over onto the rest of the skillet. Upon digging through my kitchen cabinets, I discovered a measuring cup that had a spout that perfectly accomplished this task. The problem was solved, and I continued with much better results.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

After applying frosting and sprinkles, my cake pops were done! (And quite tasty!)

CAKE POP ADVENTURES GOES MOBILE!

If I were to create an app associated with Cake Pop Adventures, it would be an interactive social app used to share ideas and recipes between users. It would help cake pop makers find the perfect recipe for an occasion or give them ideas about what cake pop experiment they want to try next. People may also wish to use it to utilize the forum tool to ask others the cake pop questions they’ve been dying to ask. I have designed this app using Yapp app creator.

This would be the default home screen for the app.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

Here is an example of what the Forums page would look like. Users would be able to discuss various topics about cake pops. For example, a user may want advice for a specific recipe and design for a Halloween party.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

Below is how the Top Rated Recipes page might look. It would display the recipes that have received the highest ratings from users.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

The Live Upload Feed page could look like this. The Live Upload Feed page would be similar to Pinterest or a Facebook news feed. The page would be constantly updated as users upload new recipes and photos.

Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

I know personally, as an aspiring cake pop aficionado, that I would definitely download a Cake Pop Adventures app!

 

BROWNIE POPS

The day after Christmas I found myself surrounded by gifts that I was eager to put to use. At the top of this list was the cake pop maker. Too impatient to make a trip to get all of the cake supplies I needed, I settled for the Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix I found in my parents’ pantry (pictured below). Upon reading the manual and searching the internet, I learned that my cake pop maker can indeed be paired with non-cake mixes like brownie or muffin mix.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

 

Full of excitement for my first cake pop adventure, I plugged in the cake pop maker and quickly read over the instructions on the back of the box of brownie mix. I followed the instructions and, before long, found myself with a bowl full of brownie batter. This is when I ran into my first obstacle.

…How do you get the mix into the cake pop holes without spilling all over the rest of the skillet? My first batch of brownie pops created quite the mess. Brownie mix was EVERYWHERE. After about 7 minutes, I was supposed to push one of the cake pop sticks (which luckily came with the maker) into each of the brownie pops and remove them from the skillet. This is not as easy as it sounds, but I mastered the art after a few tries.

I finished off the brownie batter with a couple more brownie pop batches. Sure they weren’t perfect. Most of the brownie pops were lopsided. Some slipped all the way down to the bottom of the cake pop stick. But I was still proud of my creations and ready for my next cake pop challenge!

 

 

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

The Fleet family was blessed with plenty of Christmas presents!
Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet

 

It all began with an unexpected Christmas present. It wasn’t an item on my Christmas list, but if I had known it existed, it sure would have been! Upon ripping the wrapping paper from the cake pop maker, the ideas of what I could produce began bouncing around in my head. It wasn’t long before I was searching through endless cake pop pins on Pinterest. My mother later told me she was concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy this gift, as it wasn’t an item I had asked for. Little did she know, it would be the beginning of a great (and delicious!) adventure.

WELCOME!

Welcome to Cake Pop Adventures! I chose to begin a blog about these sweet treats after receiving a Kitchen Living cake pop maker (distributed by Aldi stores) as a Christmas gift. I hope to discover and utilize new, fun recipes that I can share through this blog. My audience is anyone who enjoys baking or is looking for new dessert ideas. Stay tuned for my first cake pop adventure!

Kitchen Living cake pop maker
Photo Credit: Jessica Fleet