Cooking, cooking, cooking….

So, as promised, I will tell you about my MAMMOTH cooking session on Friday. I decided to make the most of my last chance for a big cook up during the school hols. With one week of our school hols coming to a close, I could see school work looming in my future (yes, teacher's DO work in the holidays!).
So, on a previous shopping trip I picked up two new toys – a mini ice cream scoop (otherwise known as a cookie scoop), and an oven thermometer. I was hoping that the thermometer would help with my burned bum cake sitch, and that the cookie scoop would make my baking life easier.

I got prepped for the first batch of cookoroma – cake pops inspired by Bakerella. I technically didn’t follow the recipe, but skimmed the instructions and thought ‘yeah I can do that’, then made up my own version.

I bought a slab of chocolate cake, a tin of betty crocker frosting (OMG I have never bought this before, and I’m thinking I’m going to wish that I never stumbled across it! …..evviiiiiiilllllll), and some white chocolate melts.
Step 1. Eat some cake. Crumble the rest of the cake into a bowl.
 
Step 2. Open the tin of frosting and stare – then dip your finger in and lick it off elegantly.

Step 3. Add icing to the cake mixture.
ALERT! Do not add too much at once. I don’t know exact quantities, but I got a little carried away. Before I knew it my mix was too gooey, and I had no cake left to add to to make it thicker.

Step 4. Proceed anyway with melting white chocolate. I wish I’d used Cadbury Dream, or a better quality white chocolate, as these ended up tasting a little ‘compound-y’.

Step 5. Use the cookie scoop to scoop out balls of the cake/icing mix. Eat one. Realise that the mix is too gooey. \ I ended up freezing my ‘balls’ in for a few hours (Step 6) prior to dropping them in the melted chocolate (Step 7) after the first ball dissolved into chocolate melty goodness on impact. Sorry, no photo of that moment, as my hands were a little sticky.

The pre-frozen balls.

Semi-Frozen balls – re balled by hand
Here’s one of my balls for you to admire. Yeah, it aint pretty. But it tasted damn good.

Note how I use the term ‘balls’ loosely here.

The finished product:

They were a hit at the BBQ on Saturday. I might make them again, but to be honest I preferred the Caramel Chocolate Balls, which I also made on Friday. They are also a bigger hit with the crowds.
The BEST BIT about making these cake pops? Using left over cake/icing mix to add to my leftover ice cream…..
OMG SOOOOOO goooooooood! I will definitely do this again. It’s like home made Cold Rock. One of my fav Cold Rock toppings is  hot fudge and brownies. Voila!
What else did I cook that day? Not fully documented, but fully appreciated by my loved ones, I also made sausage rolls to take to the house warming party, and quiche, for Mr RG and I.

Still to come before school officially starts bake back in a weeks time….. Mini Oreo Baked Cheesecakes! Stay tuned, my friends.