Mommy had a little lamb PART 2

For my friend's baby shower, I also made 50 lamb pops using the process from Bakerella's cake pop book and web site. I had never made cake pops with elaborate decorations on them, and there is a definite learning curve with the melting chocolate wafers. She is right when she says it's a timing thing.

You have to have the chocolate hot enough to have enough time to attach everything before it dries, but cool enough that everything doesn't slide right off. These took waaaayyyy longer than I expected, but I think they're adorable!

Also, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the cake pops being super crunchy so I substituted Kraft Mallow Bits for the sugar pearls. I got them at Target for $1.50 each and it took 4 containers to do 50 pops, with a bit left over. Also, I used junior mints for the faces instead of licorice, just because I think black licorice is nasty (and the bridge mix in the recipe is expensive at Woodman's!) They're still a little crunchy but not as much as I expect the sugar pearls would have been.

I can't take credit for the super cute tins with the grass - one of the shower hostesses put those together, but they look adorable and were a great centerpiece!

Mommy had a little lamb

A friend of mine is having a baby in a few weeks, and I am so, so, so very excited for her. I agreed to make some desserts for her shower.

First, the cakes. I  I put together two 3-layer 8-inch round cakes, one with pink fondant and one with blue. She has a lamb theme going, so I put some lambs on the tops and the sides.

I again used bunnywoman's trusty marshmallow fondant recipe from the Wilton forum site. I halved the large batch recipe (8oz of marshmallows and 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar), which seemed to work well, although I would recommend still using 2 Tbsp. of water. This is another instance where I LOVE the dough hook on my Kitchenaid mixer - making fondant is such a pain without it and a breeze with it! I also recommend adding the coloring (I use Wilton gel in the small jars) to the melted marshmallow before adding the sugar - it saves a ton of kneading time.

And can I just say that when Wilton says their gel coloring is named pink, they really mean freaking bright electric super neon pink. I guess that more accurate description wouldn't fit on the jar. This lovely pastel pink color is called rose petal pink and was a much better choice. The blue is cornflower blue - both colors came in a boxed 4 pack, along with a peach and a sea green.

I've never piped words on to a cake before and I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I was worried that if I freehanded it that the spacing would be off or I would run out of room. 

So I made a template in Word and printed that off. (I used wordart to create a 6.75" circle of round text). I placed it over the top of the cake and used a toothpick to prick through the paper to create tiny holes underneath. I then used the marks on the cake as a guide to pipe the frosting over the top (using a Wilton #5 tip.)

 For the boards, I took 3 round cake boards, used some packing tape to tape them together and then covered them in aluminum foil. I love how these cakes turn out and the beautiful mama-to-be seemed pleased as well!