firecracker cake pops and other 4th of July goodies!

4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up I spent the 4th at my family's cabin in northern Michigan. We celebrated with sparklers, fireworks over the lake, and of course: the boat parade. This year Husband and I aren't able to make it back to "the mitten", but we are taking a short trip to Maine. I thought it would be fun to share some great holiday baking ideas. Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you have something delicious you want to share :)

Firecracker Cake Pops

This is basically just a reincarnation of the Pop Rock Cake Pops I posted last January. [In fact, I even said they would be coming back in July!] The color variations on these would be endless... red velvet cake or blue candy melts? Pop Rocks come in both red and blue, so you could even mix them together on white candy.

the perfect cake pop placecards

Everything about our wedding was distinctly "us", and the placecards were no exception. 

I decided to make them myself. And of course no ordinary placecard would do... 

I decided to make mine using cake pops.

I started by printing out the guests' names out on colored paper. I also printed some extra tags
that called out the type of cake pop, so people would know what they were getting.

german chocolate cake

A few months ago, my fiancee and I were watching Bobby Flay's "Throwdown" on Food Network, 

and he made this cake. The theme was german chocolate cake. Bobby's creation looked amazing, 

and we knew we had to make it. My fiancee decided that my birthday celebration 

(this past weekend) was the perfect occasion.

chocolate-dipped peanut butter cake pops

Peanut Butter and Chocolate: One of the world's most perfect combinations.

Ever since I made the Peanut Butter Cupcakes a few weeks ago, I've been thinking of

turning them into cake pops. My friend Lisa has been dying to try cake pops

ever since I discovered them on Bakerella and started making them-

so her birthday was the perfect occasion to try these out!

red velvet whoopie cream pies

I have a small confession to make: these are not from scratch. I cheated.

But they were still delicious.

My fiancee bought me a special pan from Williams Sonoma for Valentine's Day...

football cake pops

Let me introduce you to... cake pops. Adorable bite-sized portions of cake
on a stick. They can be shaped and decorated like just about anything. But since
it's SuperBowl weekend and I have a party to host tomorrow, we are
making footballs. The original cake pop recipe comes from one of my favorite
baking sites, Bakerella. Check out all of her awesome cake pop designs,
and other adorable baked goods.

valentine's cakes

 

Valentine's Day is coming soon. And since this year, Valentine's Day also happens to be moving day for me, I thought I would get ahead of the game and post my holiday treats this week.