Jule Cakepops/Christmas Cakepops

Jamen, jeg skal jo på en eller anden måde finde plads i fryseren til en and, en gås og en kalkun, så alle de kage- og smørcremesrester skulle jo bruges op, så vi har fået lavet en hel del cakepops. Faktisk flere end vi kan spise, med den begrænsede holdbarhed. Men så er det godt, at børnene heller end gerne tager nogen med til klassekammerater :)

I somehow have to find room in the freezer for a duck, a goose and a turkey, so I had to do something with all those cake and buttercream leftovers, that I had stockpiled. We ended up making so many cakepops, that we couldn't possibly eat them all, before they go bad. Luckily the kids don't mind bringing some for their classmates :)

Der var både drømmekage med jordbærsmørcreme, mudcake med aftereightsmørcreme og så blev der til en del romkugler også.

Pirat Cake Pops/Pirate Cake Pops

I disse dage, så planlægger mine børn altså hvad der skal være på deres fødselsdags kage op til et halvt år i forvejen, og min nu 6-årige, havde snakket om hans ønskede Avatar-kage (Asiatisk animation serie, ikke Cameron's blå version) endnu længere end det. Og så kommer han hjem fra en børnefødselsdag en uge før sin egen, og laver hele molevitten om. Han havde været til verdens sejeste pirat fødselsdag, så nu ville han absolut også have en piratfest!!

These days my kids plan their birthday cake up to 6 months in advance, and my now 6 yo son had been talking about this Avatar Cake (Asian animation series, not Cameron's movie) that he wanted for even longer than that. Then he comes home from a birthday party he attended a week before his own, and suddenly all plans are changed. He had been at the coolest ever pirate party and of course wanted one of his own now!

Så var de godt at have både hvid, rød og sort Candy Melts hjemme. Idéen var oplagt, da jeg har set adskillige pirat cake pops før. Jeg har desværre ingen links til inspiration, da jeg kun har set dem, når jeg har kigget efter andre idéer, og derfor ikke har gemt siderne.

I had white, red and black Candy Melts, so I didn't have to think too hard about what to do, as I have seen several pirate cake pops before. Unfortunately I can't provide any inspirational links, as I have only seen them when looking for other ideas, and therefore haven't saved any pages.

Der var kun det lille bitte problem, at der er en dreng med sukkersyge i klassen. Jeg stræber altid efter at tage hensyn til allergier, sygdomme og trosretninger, men foretrækker at planlægge det, så alle får det samme. Med den indstilling, så burde jeg slet ikke lave cake pops til denne klasse, men jeg må indrømme, at når nu mine børn forventer pyntede kager m.m. til deres fødselsdag, så har jeg heller ikke lyst til at skuffe dem. Så jeg gik på kompromis og lavede en enkelt sukkerfri Sørøver Kaptajn Cakepop, med hvad jeg nu kunne finde hos den nærmeste købmand: Sukkerfri marcipanbrød, hvor jeg pillede chokoladen af, og så overtrukket med sukkerfri chokolade og pyntet med Nellie Dellies.

I only had a minor problem as one of the boys in the class is a diabetic. I have always tried to accomodate people with allergies, illnesses and religious beliefs and preferably plan it, so everyone gets the same. As such I shouldn't have made cake pops for this class at all, but I must admit that now my kids expect decorated cakes etc on their birthdays, I don't want to disappoint them. So I compromised and made a single sugarfree Pirate Captain Cakepop using what I could find at the local grocery, which wasn't much: Sugarfree marzipan coated in sugarfree chocolate and decorated with sugarfree candy.

Cake Pops - "How-to-do"

Når jeg deler kager i bunde, så er der altid noget overskud - plus en eventualt vulkan der skæres af i toppen, og man kan hurtigt samle en hel masse kagerester.  Disse kan så bruges til fx romkugler eller cake pops - hvis ikke familien spiser resterne, inden jeg når så langt.

When I split cakes into layers, there are always some leftovers - typically the vulcano at the top, and at times I end up with lots of leftovers. These can be used to make truffles or cake pops - if the family doesn't eat them, before I get that far.

Først skal kagen smuldres til helt små krummer, eller bare giv den en tur i foodprocessoren - det er så dejlig nemt.

First crumble the cake, or just throw it in the foodprocessor - nice and easy.

Så tilsættes en rest smørcreme (eller syltetøj, flødeost, brug dine rester og fantasi). Her brugte jeg 60 g smørcreme til 350 g kage, men det var en svampet kage, og det kan variere meget. Smag til med essens, kakaopulver, spiritus eller hvad du nu har lyst til.

Add some leftover buttercream (or jam, cream cheese, use your leftovers and imagination). Here I used 60 g buttercream to 350 g cake, but it was a moist cake, and it can vary a lot. Add flavoring with essence, cocoa, liqueur or whatever you feel like.

Massen skal ikke være fugtig, der skal bare tilsættes nok til at man kan lave kugler, der holder formen.

The mix should not be moist, but you need to add just enough to be able to make balls that can hold the shape.

Hvis de falder fra hinanden, så tilsæt mere smørcreme.

If they fall apart after rolling them, you need to add more buttercream.

Tril små kugler af massen, og stil dem på et skærebræt eller kageplade beklædt med bagepapir. Kuglerne skal ikke være for store, da slikkepindene (eller træ spyd) skal kunne holde vægten. Sæt dem i køleskabet et par timer, eller 15 min i fryseren. Lad dem ikke stå for længe i fryseren, da overtrækket ellers nemt vil knække af kuldechok.

Roll the mix into small balls, and put them on a board covered with greaseproof paper. Don't make the balls to big, as the pop sticks need to be able to hold the weight. Put them in the fridge for a couple of hours - or 15 min in the freezer. Don't leave them too long in the freezer, as the candy melts or chocolate can easily crack due to the cold.

Tag kuglerne ud af køleskabet, dyp enden af slikkepinde eller træspyd i lidt smeltet overtræk (candy melts eller bare chokolade), og stik dem ca halvvejs ind i kuglerne. Sæt dem så på køl igen.

Take the balls out of the fridge, dip one end of the pop sticks in the melted covering and insert the stick halfway into the balls. Put them back in the fridge.

Tag så Cake Pops enketvis ud af køleskabet, og dyp dem i det smeltede overtræk. Drej dem rundt og sørg for at de er helt dækket, før de tages op. Lad det overskydende overtræk dryppe af - bank pinden let mod kanten for at få det sidste af. Tandstikker er gode at have til at fjerne en evt lille "hale", der bliver hængende tilbage. Hvis candy melts er for tyktflydende, kan der tilsættes lidt palmin eller smagsneutral olie for at fortynde det lidt. Hvis du laver store portioner, må du regne med at skulle genopvarme overtrækket over vandbad et par gange.

Take one Cake Pop at a time out of the fridge, and dip them in the melted covering. Twist them around and make sure they are completely covered before you lift them up. Let the excess covering drip off - lightly  tap the stick on the edge of the bowl to get the last bit off. Toothpicks come in handy if you need to remove a "tail" hanging down. If the candy melts are too thick to get an even coating, you can add shortening or neutral oil to thin it a bit. If you are making a big portion, you will have to gently reheat the covering a few times.

Put pynten på med det samme, inden overtrækket stivner og placer pindene i flamingo, oasis eller lignende. Der kan tegnes med fødevaretusch, når ovtrækket er helt stivnet.

Add decorations immediately before the covering hardens and place the sticks in a block of styrofoam or similar. You can use foodsafe pens when the covering is completely hardened.

Cake Pops og/and Brownies

I sidste uge fik jeg rigtig kagehygget med børnene, men fik bare for travlt til at opdatere bloggen. Fredag skulle den 17-årige have kage med på gymnasiet. Hun bagte selv Brownies med Blank Chokoladefrosting , og der er ingen herhjemme, der har hørt, at man ikke kan pynte brownies, så de fik lidt fondant-blomster som pynt.

Last week I had fun caking with the kids, but just got too busy to update the blog. Friday the 17-year old needed to bring cake to school. She baked Brownies with Glossy Chocolate Frosting herself, and noone in this house has apparenty heard, that you can't decorate brownies, so they were decorated with some fondant flowers.

Jeg tror hun næsten er alene om at holde deres kageordning i live  - i hvert fald var det ikke en måned siden, at hun lavede  Banan- og Mudcake Cupcakes med Chokolade Smørcreme, som også var pyntede med fondantblomster. Hun bager selv, men får lidt hjælp med pynten - mest fordi hun altid har travlt med skole, lektier, arbejde, håndbold, fodbold osv osv - så hende skal vi nok få en kagepyntepige ud af.

I think she singlehandedly keeps their cake rota alive - at least it hadn't been a month since she made Banana and Mudcake Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream, which were also decorated with fondant flowers. She does the baking on her own, but gets some help with decorations - mostly because she is always busy with school, homework, work, handball, football etc etc - so we will make a cakedecorating girl out of her soon enough :)

Lørdag lavede jeg Cake Pops med den 5-årige. Da jeg kun havde lyserød candy melts, blev vi enige om at lave grise. Jeg kunne ikke komme i tanker om andet ikke-piget lyserød at lave, og han var helt klar - dog mente han, at vi havde brug for lillesøsters gris, så vi havde noget at lave efter :)

On Saturday I made Cake Pops with the 5 year old. Since I only had pink candy melts, we decided to make pigs. I couldn't think of anything else to make that was non-girly but pink, and he was totally ready - he just thought we needed little sister's pig to model from :)

Da jeg så ville finde mine candymelts, så jeg kunne farve fondanten i nogenlunde samme lyserøde farve, så viste det sig, at det altså var røde og ikke lyserøde candy melts jeg havde. Men nu var han jo så opsat på at lave grise, så jeg endte med at prøve at blande hvid chokolade med de røde candy melts og det fungerede da også fint nok... heldigvis :)

When I went to get my candy melts, so I could make the fondant approximately the same pink colour, it turned out to be red, and not pink candy melts I had. But now he was determined to make pigs, so I ended up trying to mix white chocolate with some of the red candy melts and it fortuntely turned out fine.

Vi fik også taget billeder, så jeg kunne lave en "How-to-do", så den kommer senere.

We also got some pictures taken, so I could make a "How-to-do", so there will be a post about that later.

Søndag lavede vi så romkugler af rester af mudcake og chokoladesmørcreme.

On Sunday we made truffles with mudcake-cutoffs and chocolate buttercream.