Austin' s 5th b-day party...and what I learned about cake pops!

Austin doesn't turn 5 until the 12th, but for the past 5 years we have had his b-day party in conjunction with a Mother's Day party since his b-day always falls right about the same time as Mother's Day. He plays in a Spring soccer league for 4 year olds. He loves it. I'm not sold. It has been a muddy Spring. Anyway, I wanted to make him cake pops, and I wanted them to form the allusion of a soccer ball...not individual ones, but one large one. This was my first attempt. I researched many times on line, looked at videos, and got some advice from a friend at church who has made them. Needless to say, I learned some lessons. As you look at the pics, use your BEST imagination.
















View from very close up. Notice I ran out of black fondant on one of the black pops. I think if I had taken a pic from the roof top it would have looked more like a soccer ball.












Wider view of whole thing. The flower pops were the Mother's day dessert (Big thanks to my mom and g-ma who took them from the pink pops w/silver glitter dust to actually looking more like a flower. I was just out of time.)















Austin was proud of me before I even had it put together. That makes up for my own personal disappointment in how my vision didn't turn out. Happy birthday sweet heart!














Some b-day presents.













Austin going for a goal.







Some extra details about the pops (Extra meaning in addition to what you find on-line.). Be sure the cake is wet enough or the pops will want to crack apart. Be sure when you roll them they are firm/solid or they will want to crack apart. Be sure the cake is crumbled enough or the larger pieces and dryer edge pieces will not want to form into your ball. Kroger's white melting candy worked better than Wilton's. I had to add shortening to the Wilton's, but did not to Krogers. Be sure the melted candy coating is thin enough and deep enough to dip the pop straight into with very little twisting of the pop on the stick, or it will become unstuck and either crack or fall off. Let them air dry before trying to shape them as I did. I couldn't get them closer together because they were wet. Do not push on the pop end of the pop to secure it into the styrofoam, it will punch the stick all the way through. I made about 5.5 dozen pops and you can see how far that got me...not very. I secured the styrofoam ball to the styrofoam platform with wooden skewers, but it wasn't enough. The pops were so heavy I had to secure it further with toothpicks on one side when I was about 3/4 of the way done. It took me almost 2 hours to stick them and dip them and attach them. I baked a white cake and a chocolate cake on Tuesday. I crumbled them and added icing on Thursday afternoon. I then refrigerated it and rolled all the pops Thursday night. I did all the rest today. I read blogs where some people make these as a snack for their kids. Ummmm, I don't think so! Too much work. I also read where someone skips the baking cake/crumbling/adding icing part and uses doughnut holes. I think adding candy coating to a doughnut hole would make it too rich to eat. I had a vision. It's still in my head. Will I do these again? I hope not too soon :)