St. Paul Art Crawl – Fall 2013

                With summer fading away, the wet, chilly autumn starts baring its fangs. Though the weather rakes in a time studded with a monotony of well-celebrated holidays, it also stands as the official ending point for the vibrant, flooded Food Truck season we all adore (well, that and the warm, sunny weather). Of course they aren’t gone; the years of forming various relationships with local businesses and fellow breweries providing them with a firm base of business during the cold months.

                Hoping to share an effect in this is the St Paul Art Crawl, following the Nordeast’s summer foray with its own fall-season event. Taking place from October 4^th to the 6^th in various hours (6pm-10, 12-8, and 12-5 respectively), the artist’s gathering studs the entirety of the Downtown area, along with a few places south of 94, with studios, galleries, performances, probably some bands (at least the local restaurants may hire), even a few different runs and marathons.

                And of course, Food Trucks. The organizers of this Fall’s shindig have begun a focus and foray into the Truck territory, sending out emails and notifications and whatnot to bring as many of the mobile ops out to the Crawl as they can. From last I heard of a representative, they only had 7 signed up, but they expect to bring in a BUNDLE more (they said “think State Fair”) to provide fun and nourishment along the visual city tour. I don’t really know who they are, though, as no listing has been provided (guess it’s a surprise!)

                I would so love and look forward to the chance to go down, if anything just to compare it to the last Crawl, but also to see what Trucks decided to come down. Especially since, despite a full listing of galleries and map, there’s not too much info for me to report on before-the-fact. Sadly, though, my out-of-town schedule finds it impossible… if anyone would like to go and report in my place it would be highly welcome! Haha.

                For those who can make it, hopefully this offers a proper mobile respite before the ever-so-long distraction of the cold Minnesotan seasons to come. The weather should be sunny, days nice, and food a great accompaniment to enjoy our Local Art Scene. With that, I leave each to their own devices yet again; Good Luck and Good Eating to all.

http://www.stpaulartcrawl.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Stpaulartcrawl

SFC: The Deep Pickle, Part 2

              Well, my classes have dragged on, tests are taken, studies come to a close, finished a trip to Kentucky, the Food Trucks are starting to wind down for the season, and the cold, bitter threats of “before ‘Winter’” are hanging on my mind… but my Sauerkraut has finished its pickling!!

                Okay, so “pickling” isn’t really the proper term, as I came to learn when researching recipes for this fella. There are, of course, multiple “quick/easy” kraut recipes that involve actual pickling of the cabbage, but I just couldn’t help wanting to do the true, original method for this sour treat: Fermentation (… no, this has absolutely no tie in to my interest in alcohol… none at all…).

                http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

                This is my favorite site on the method in question, the author going a bit detailed into the process of how to start and control the “Wild Fermentation” (basically making use of the natural yeasts hanging in the air as opposed to introducing a produced, created, controlled product found on a supermarket shelf). If you decide to try making them yourself, it’s a great link to go to for checking up on the little details.

                Overall though, it’s a fairly simple process. We start with a tight, compact head of cabbage, white or red (the author likes to mix the two for a fun, pink-colored product) and slice or chop it up however you want. Can be thing strings, rough squares, shredded in a grater or torn apart with your hands… so long as it can be packed into a bowl later.

                I always like keeping these things thin, so Mandoline it is! Once shredded, mix the veggies with salt: kosher or sea salt works great. Avoid table salt, and though many recipes CALL for special Pink Pickling/Curing salt, it’s not a stringent requirement. What’s important is how much you get in; the main ratio is ABOUT 3 Tablespoons of rough salt to 5lbs of Cabbage (2 heads, ish). Though lead no worries in trying to measure about specific weights and TBs, the author reveals that it’s not too set, and actually changes depending on the season. In summer he’ll add some more, and in winter a little less (most likely due to fermentation speeds with temperature changes).

                From here come the additions! Any sort of herb, spice, aromatic, or veggie you want to customize your own Kraut mix! I kept things simple with a crushed clove of garlic and bay leaves, but one could shred some carrots or peppers, get in some coriander for the classic European flavors, or whatever else one thinks of.

                And that’s it. That’s all the ingredients we need for this. Just need to pack it (tight and HARD) into a clean, sanitized high-sided bowl. The author suggests a ceramic crock, but also any safe plastic bowl should work fine as well.

                Top the vegetables with a flat, firm covering, like a small plate or lid, and place a weight on top of that (I stuck with a bowl of water, though soup cans could work well too). The important thing is that one is sure ALL of this is clean and ideally sanitized; a little dip in screeching hot water a while beforehand should do the trick.

                Cover this with a fine cloth towel, or cheesecloth; making sure to keep out insects or solid matter while allowing yeast particles in.

                No matter what the season, one should start the first day in the warmest section of the house (not HOT), or even outside if the weather is nice enough. Keep this here for 24 hours, occasionally pushing down on the weight. By now, the salt has started to draw out the cabbage’s fluids, while also controlling the yeast’s fermentation once activated.

                After the first day, the ”Brine” SHOULD be covering the veggies in a thin layer at least; it’s hard to imagine once you start with the dry, crunchy bundle, but it will happen. If it doesn’t, could be due to an old cabbage, add some salted water to cover. From here, move to wherever you want so it’s out of the way, should be a stable temperature. Cooler basement temperatures aren’t required, but would work well if one wanted a long, slow fermentation.

                And now we wait. How long depends on kraut, temp, humidity, salt, and other such factors, but at least a week and up to 3 or more. All we have to do is check the stages of fermentation, maybe push the weight down now and then, and deal with “scum.” This is basically a combination of little particles that float up to the surface during the fermentation and possible light, yeasty molds that develop.

                It can look like this depending. Don’t worry if you see it, it’s absolutely safe (despite some smells), you just need to check every couple days and skim it off the top with a slotted spoon or something. It’s only if you start to see the blue or fuzzy mold when there’s a problem…

                But after enough time, it’s done and you’re ready to consume. If the moldy scum was pretty well present, I might suggest rinsing off the top layer of fermented cabbage before storing, otherwise we can eat directly from the bowl.

                A little sour, surprisingly crisp from the salty protection, and aromatized with whatever veggies one chose, this offers a high contract compared to the soft and pungent product found in the green bags and cans. I myself wonder how off I really am from the original recipe’s ideal, but I like the outcome! It went great on this Wild Rice Sausage Brat Sandwich (with Mustard! and yes that’s a pretzel bun… we had leftover).

                Before I finish, there’s one last step in the process for those looking to continue their Kraut-making sessions. After shredding and salting up your next batch of cabbage (I thought I’d see what happens if I used Napa/Chinese Cabbage, since I had nothing else to do with it), pour the already-fermented Kraut on top before pressing. This will hopefully help the new cabbage to begin a steady, controlled fermentation, while also melding the flavors somewhat. If continued for multiple years, the resulting continually-developed kraut should have a deep, complex subtle flavor to it.

                So whether one decides to start their own batch of the European Fermentation (or continue it… apparently I’ve found out there are a lot more people who make this than I thought) or not, I hope this recollection and recipe link helped to inform and inspire your insight (wooh, three i-words) to this product. As for me, I’m starting to think about more Napa Cabbage… I’ve been getting an urge to try making Kimchi… (look for a 3^rd part to the Pickle Saga sometime in the coming months)

Taste of Target Field (Quasi-review)

http://mlb.mlb.com/min/fan_forum/tasty.jsp

https://twitter.com/TastyTwinsTruck

                As many Minnesotans are aware, about a year or so back our Target Field decided to amp up its selections of consumable fare, giving food stand spots to higher quality outlets (such as AZCanteen) while bringing in things like Kramarczuk’s themselves. With such, popularity and interest in the Stadium, and eating at it, have risen notably with the options for both classic and new cuisines.

                Well, it seems the Field isn’t satisfied with this and has decided to cash in on the Food Truck craze with their own creation! Taste of Target Field hit the streets about a month ago (and I did visit soon after, but got a bit distracted in putting the response post together, my apologies), with the idea to “bring our delicious ballpark fare out into the community,” or to get the food out to those who aren’t at, don’t want to, or can’t go to the games. They offer a various menu of the same ballpark items in the Stadium, letting those experience the much-talked-about food without having to buy a ticket. Though, for those who would like to re-create the experience, they also sport a flatscreen TV from which to watch whatever game is happening on when they’re out!

                Normally, a truck like this might have actually gotten a Full-on review from me; they have a very solid and noticeable theme, there’s that feeling of an “experience” in its design and when you go, the prices are pretty fair (well, except for a couple things… but will mention that in a bit), and the speed isn’t too bad. However, this isn’t exactly a start up, independantly owned business, or even based on a restaurant; this creation is owned by Target Field and “Delaware North Sportservice” (anyone else think that sounds like an eerie, behind-the-scenes mega-company?). No matter how well one does certain aspects, large company ownership always tends to create a product that just lacks… soul. You go up to it and you know what it is.

                Secondly, at the end of the day all of the food is just regular Ballpark Food. They try to jazz it up, and they have the good Kramarczuk brats (probably the only thing on the menu I would suggest worth getting, maybe the Dogs too; though the Chili is from the Loon Café, that might not be too bad), but everything has that… mass-produced quality to it. Which is another thing; you know the Truck is just taking things already being made at the Stadium, which only needs the smallest of effort to bump up production on Pulled Beef, Chili, and Cutting various Veggies. I doubt there’s any cooking done on the Truck besides heating up dogs, brats, and frying potatoes to order.

                Not that there’s anything wrong with that; they’re able to do many particular things because of it, but one can safely argue it detracts from those unseen atmospheric factors which I’ve constantly found so crucial in one’s experience somewhere.

                As for the actual food, I decided to try something which I couldn’t guesstimate its quality, the seeming Menu Highlight of Smoked Brisket Sandwich (with “coleslaw”) along with a side of Garlic Fries (ooooh, ahhhh, it’s not just regular fries…). Though technically tender, and pretty tasty, there was nothing in the Brisket to really impress me; it’s not that soul-melting, eye rolling experience of getting that GOOD Pulled Beef or Pork from a quality restaurant or BBQ Pit. And the slaw… that was so not a slaw; or, suffice it to say it was JUST the slaw without the cole. It’s just sliced cabbage, no dressing… I think someone needs to remind them what a coleslaw is made from.

                The bun was toasted though, at least they did that. As for the “Garlic Fries”… regular french fries, cheap parmesan cheese, and some herbs on top… whoo boy, I’ve never seen THAT done before at how many “higher end” restaurants. Could barely even taste the garlic. It’s a combination that’s getting just about as old and depressing as the Pretzel Bun (seriously, I love them I do, but can people stop doing them based on the fad and go back to finding the RIGHT bun for the situation!?). The worst part is that it’s $3 more than the regular Fries, despite obviously only adding that which is only a few coins worth of actual and perceived cost/quality.

                Well, that’s about all I have to say, so let’s get down to the potential ratings.

Food: 5 – it’s a good thing they have Kramarczuk’s…  

                Holdability: 6.5 – Depends on item, but ultimately these ARE Ballpark items, based on things that were meant to be ordered and brought back to a seat and enjoyed. Somewhat portable but not completely.

                Price: 8 – They commit some annoying sins here and there, but the ultimate range is pretty good and one can buy some nicely-priced, loaded dogs. $2-6 mainly with 3 bigger items ranged $10-13.

                Speed: 8.5 – Somewhat dependant, but most are pretty quick, expect a little longer for Sandwich bun toasting and frying potatoes.

                Toe: 5 – I’ll keep it at 5 because there’s a strong, noticeable theme and trend, and one does get a bit of that ballpark-ness to it when you go, but my previous feelings still affect the final.

                If looking to visit, these guys travel all the main Minneapolis and St Paul stops along with some unique locations outside stadiums, office buildings, etc. I’m glad they got rid of their “upcoming schedule” thing on the site, too, since twice I’ve tried getting to them in Minneapolis on days they were supposed to be there only to find them absent. One will want to pay attention to their Twitter though.

Loco Taco Stop

                I do love those small, traditional Mexican Taco Trucks. So well priced with simple, delicious classic options wrapped in a proper masa tortilla.

                Luckily for me, there’s this fun little cart named “El Taco Loco” parked in this tiny stripmall lot along central (around, say, 45^th-50^th), pretty close to where I live. Annoyingly for me, despite seeing it every time I drive towards downtown, I hadn’t actually visited it until today.

                It was nice to finally grab lunch from there. The selection was of the basic, expected Taco Truck: Asada, Pastor, Pollo, Chorizo, and some Lengua (cow tongue) to keep it interesting and traditional. $2 a taco, and much like Taco Taxi also offered the option of Enchiladas and Tortas (term for Sandwich for those not aware yet; they actually use this interesting flat, round bread for them usually).

                Definitely glad I finally stopped in; tacos were just as good as one would expect; particularly with that little Salsa Verde. Think I’ll be making a few more stops there from now on, especially in the coming winter months.           

                Yeah, that’s it for this post; the Loco isn’t really a Truck, and despite its wheels just stays in the same spot day in and out. So not much reason for a full on or either quasi review this time.

SFC: Fudging up some Cake

               If you read my recent post on Cake Pop creation, you’re aware I was left with quite a bit of leftover Vanilla Cake. For me this was quite a joy, since it gave me the chance to make my FAVORITE little confection, one of my very own invention (truly, so far I have not found any evidence of this little creation in any form online, in recipes, etc). And by accident/chance too; this little guy sorta just came to me one night when I was making cupcakes and had most of my Chocolate ones completely destroyed when trying to take them from the pan. Had all this tasty cake leftover but nothing I could think of doing with them… and nothing on hand but a little pot of melted marshmallow.

               I call it “Cake/Brownie Fudge,” and it is easily one of, if not THE, best ways to use up leftover cake or brownies, vanilla or chocolate, sheet or cup, dry or already icing-ed, plain or flavor/nut studded, etc. It’s extremely simple, highly customizable, and sooooo good. And like fudge it’s easy to cut into squares, wrap in wax or whatever, and carry around (thus my ability to include it in Street Food Corner).

              We start by taking our leftover cake, getting it completely or mostly crumbled up, and mixing it with melted Marshmallows (melt it in a pan with butter). There’s no real rule to ratios here; if you only have a small amount of cake, just use a few marshmallows, if you have most of a pan like I did then use over a cup of marshmallows (before melting… maybe after).

              (Apologies for the blurry picture, didn’t realize camera was acting up) Pour this onto the crumbles along with ANYTHING else that you want or have leftover! In this instance, I added in the leftover blue white chocolate, and part of the cake I used was mixed with that frosting mixture. Mix thoroughly so you know the marshmallow is well integrated and move into whatever PROPERLY SIZED (enough so you can fit it all in thick, you don’t want a thin little layer of fudge here) Loaf, Cake, Cupcake, Bundt, or whatever pan you have, already well-covered with plastic wrap. If you haven’t figured it out yet, yes, I am basically just making rice crispies but with cake.

              Press this down evenly and top with anything else you want or have leftover. For this, I got some more marshmallow (which wasn’t too great of an idea, it keeps coming off on the plastic wrap), a little sweetened condensed milk drizzle (if you haven’t tasted condensed milk as is, DO SO… it is lactic heaven), and some of those sprinkles. We can also use some caramel, chocolate sauce, more icing, etc (I drizzled a port chocolate sauce over my chocolate cupcake fudge, mmmm).

              Now, wrap the rest of the plastic over the top and cover it with a weight of some sort; preferably the same sized pan on top with some heavy cans (no luck for me, so I used some heavy coasters for one side and a can of chicken noodle on the other, haha). Place it in the fridge and leave overnight to cool, condense, and for those marshmallows and other fillings/sauces set up.

             Once ready, you can take it out and slice off as big or small pieces you want to enjoy this now-rich, dense, tenderly chewy piece of heaven highly unique unto itself. Similar to fudge, but like a cake… really a cross between the two. Personally, I myself sorta prefer the Chocolate-based ones; maybe it’s that rich cocoa which converts it to even more fudgy. Or something.

             Hopefully this little post is able to inspire the spread of this new confectionary creation! But whether one tries creating it at home or not, I hope you at least enjoyed reading this idea of mine. If you’ve had similar kinds of creation experiences, please do share! Until then, Good Luck and Good Eating (of sweets) to all.

SFC: Baby Blue Sweet Cake

               Back again after a small hiatus, my class Finals are finished and now I can spend a bit more mental time on writing up various posts again. Like my little adventure in confections I had a week ago.

                So a friend of mine challenged me to reproduce the Birthday Cake Pops they sell at Starbucks; being somewhat competitive, confident, and curious about my reproduction capabilities, not to mention it’s the perfect street food version of a loved confection. Had to try it first, though, so I popped down to the nearest nationally-chained coffeehouse.

                … bright pink white chocolate and sprinkles covering a very interesting center. Not my normal choice of baked item, but there were some intriguing components. For those who haven’t had it yet, the center isn’t just a simple cut white cake (like I thought it’d be). It’s noticeably “moist,” it possesses this very unique texture, sorta crumbly but sticking together at the same time, and there’s a flavor reminiscent of the childhood box-made birthday cake and cheap frosting. Which is all coming from the cake, as the outside is just a cheap white chocolate (seriously). So now the work comes in trying to reproduce it.

                There are a couple different recipes and methods of productions I’ve found online to attempt to reproduce them, and though I like elements and methods of each I think they all need touching, so I combined a bit of two main ideas that I liked. 

                We start with the cake of course. If you want to try completely duplicating the flavor notes of Starbuck’s, I think you could safely use a Box Cake Mix at home; in fact, I might actually SUGGEST doing that, or at the very least finding a REALLY good White Vanilla Cake Recipe to make from scratch (especially one using Oil). I went off the cake recipe from one of the main Recipes for these Cake Pops, which my Friend actually tried themselves before challenging me. Apparently they thought the cake was pretty close to original, but other parts of the recipe screwed things up… I’ll explain later.

Basic Vanilla Cake Recipe (from site)

1 cup Butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 Tb vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups flour

1 TB baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup  milk

                Basic cake-making procedure here. We start by creaming the Butter, Sugar, and Vanilla (electric hand mixer always works well).

                Add Eggs in one at a time. Once that’s done, get all those Dry ingredients mixed together and start carefully adding about 30% of it in.

                Add a similar percentage of the Milk in and switch the additions back and forth 1-2 times until both milk and flour-mixture are fully incorporated. Mix well so there be no lumps; and an fyi, no real need to be careful and try and “preserve a light cake” by sifting flour or anything else. We’re gonna be mashing this all up at the end of the day, any delicate texture will get destroyed anyways. Which makes Poundcake a really good and tasty cake substitute if you wanted to try something different.

                350F oven in a 9x13in Cake Pan, HIGHLY buttered, for about 30-35 minutes is what the recipe states; mine took longer than that for the same pan actually (look how much I got in there…), and ultimately one can use whatever pan they like, just keep close watch.

                And there we have a simple, boring, and sorta bland white vanilla cake. Almost perfect for adding in loads of frosting and forming into balls of sugar joy.

                Speaking of Frosting, we can get to making that while the cake is cooling (over a rack preferably). Now, the original recipe called for a very simple icing mixture of ½ cup each of butter and milk along with 3 ½ cups of powdered sugar… yeah, that’s right, 3 ½ cups. No wonder my friend’s attempt was reminiscent of gingivitis.

                This being one of, or actually THE key element into what gives these Pops their identity, I really couldn’t stand the idea of using SO MUCH of this in just one cake, not to mention all that sugar; you just know all sense of the butter would be completely lost. So, what I ultimately ended up with was a recipe/ratio that looked like this:

¼ cup (2 oz, ½ stick) Butter

¼ cup Milk

1 Tb Vanilla extract

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

                Now, I only used about ½-2/3rds of the actual cake for this entire batch of frosting, so if one wanted to make more just increase proportionately with the same ratios (you’ll notice that if I had ½ cup butter like the original recipe the Powdered Sugar used would only equal 2 cups, noticeably less than before).

                Steps are the same for any simple icing; cream the butter with vanilla, add some of the powdered sugar and carefully mix in the rest with the milk back and forth, similar to the cake batter. The ACTUALLY recipe calls to cream the butter with the milk, no sugar, in the beginning: do not do this, for the love of god DO NOT DO THIS!! I have no idea what sorta crack this guy was smoking when he wrote it, but these two things just do not want to get along…you’ll end up with a puddle of milk and butter that still won’t fully come together no matter how much powdered sugar one adds… like me. Luckily, though, even if one’s frosting DOES break, it doesn’t really matter too much for our application, as we’re only using the mixture for added moistness, sweetness, and flavor.

                Now, take all the cake that we’re going to use and break it all up into a bowl quite thoroughly, like so.

                Add the icing in ¼ths; if you know exactly how much you need/want for the amount of cake being used, then go ahead and dump it all in. Otherwise I would suggest being careful and adding only a bit at a time, mixing carefully with a spoon or, even better, one’s hands, until it gets the exact flavor and stickiness/consistency that YOU want it. Taste and test the consistency as we go.

                Damn that’s a big ball…

                When I did it, I actually got to the point where you didn’t even need to SQUEEZE it to create a ball that sticks together. You should ideally be able to just take some now-sticky frosting-cake and gently roll it in a palm, with only a little bit of pressure, to make your balls. This is a really nice alternative to the second recipe/method I found in my research, which called for none of this frosting steps and just squished un-affected cake into balls. Though the flavor is still good, it’s noticeably different than the original Pops; plus, by not having to press it down, one is able to use less cake for the same sized ball.

               I did learn one fun trick from the “press” method that I applied here; before rolling, smear a little bit of butter into your palms. Besides helping to grease them so fingers don’t get all “cakey,” I like to think it adds just a bit more of that special richness to the orbs.

              Once you’ve rolled the desired amount, stick ‘em with whatever handle one decides to use. Ideally, one should use some nice long, somewhat thick sticks like they use for caramel apples or others. However I didn’t want to pay all that money for those so I thought I’d try something else: straws! Brightly colored straws!

              Yeah that wasn’t the best idea… they hold the pop very well once everything is done, but they’re a pain during the dipping process. I would suggest one either cut them much longer than me or just find something a lot sturdier; get a pack of those thick wooden picks and just re-use them afterwards.

              After sticking the “sticks” in, making sure to give a good press to the cake around it so that it sticks (that’s 3 sticks in a sentence… well, 4 now), move them into the fridge to cool and set up. Many recipes just say 10-15 minutes for this, I say I’m more comfortable with at least 1-2 hours to make sure they’re solid. Plus, this way one can make the balls earlier in the day and then dip whenever they want to later on.

             While this is cooling, we can start dealing with our coating. Now, that “pressed cake” method recipe also suggested using something on the lines of “colored candy discs” made for people to just melt down and dip whatever they want in. Supposedly they’re the same thing as what Starbucks uses (I wouldn’t be surprised if they were similar) and one can find them at Walmart or something. They basically look like this:

              And they’re basically just really cheap, pre-colored white chocolate, or the closest one could make to it; not to mention they cost a bit more considering the “production cost” for making a packet of these little discs. I personally don’t care how close I’m trying to reproduce the flavor of these, I will NOT stoop so low as to buy crappy chocolate. At the very least I’m getting a decent quality White Chocolate and melting it myself.

             This is a block of white chocolate, taken off from an even BIGGER (think about the size of a small countertop) block of white chocolate. I got it at a Cake and Candy Supply shop that I happen to live relatively close to; places like that often sell various kinds of good quality, block-cut chocolates for one to peruse. If one doesn’t have  a shop like that near them, I’ve also seen some good quality chocolates (sometimes in block form, sometimes in Chip) at the larger shops of Kitchen Window, some Co-ops, etc. I always try to go to a place like that for my quality chocolate needs; stay away from the National Grocery Store Baking Aisle.

              I also picked up a little container (which will last me years I’m sure) of mini-pearl white sprinkles! I didn’t want to, but the friend said it wouldn’t count if I didn’t have them… for those wanting to duplicate entirely and unable to find a thing of just white sprinkles, I hear there are some black n white mixes that use the style, just gotta pick them out…

              Alright, let’s get back to things. Cut off as much of the white chocolate as you need; you’ll want a lot, say 2 cups-ish. Also, just a little note to remember, though it’s easy to slice off pieces of white chocolate, the Milk and Dark ones can be a bit of a Bitch. For those playing with them, a good method for quick, easy, and less messy separation, take any solid knife (a duller one that you use for whatever is perfect; no need to use the finest blade in the kitchen), stab it an inch or so back (or however far back for the size pieces one needs) and just lever off chunks. With the firmer dark chocolates, will probably need to hit the handle with your hand or a wood/plastic mallet to get it down enough to crack.

              We now have our white chocolate in a bowl, which we gently melt over a pan of warm/simmering water (double boiler). Stick to the same chocolate-melting suggestions used in my Cheesecake Bar experience, minus the oil thing.

              Swirl in your food coloring (yes, apparently I forgot that I didn’t have any red, so I made baby blue colored ones instead) to the preferred shade and begin your dipping!

              So, here’s what you want to do: Get some Styrofoam. Seriously. The idea is that, after you’ve dipped the cake pops, you press the end of the stick into the foam so the whole thing stands upright while it cools/dries. This leaves a nice, smooth orb with no marks or flat parts or whatever, maybe some drips on the stick (or swirls around it if there was trouble with dipping). For whatever reason, I actually couldn’t find any styarofoam in the house, so I tried making my own little platform out of a cardboard box with holes in it:

             Yeah, this didn’t work too well… I had one stick that staid up, but the other ones either sank all the way down to the base of the pop or just wouldn’t go in the hole. So I just ended up having to carefully dip them, take them out without the straw popping out (which it did), and tenderly pull them OFF the straw with a fork and transfer to wax paper in a way that at least the top was smooth. It still looked nice, but once cool I had to break off a lot of thick, built up chocolate “bases” at the bottom.

            Add the sprinkles right after you’ve dipped, otherwise it’ll cool quickly and you won’t be able to get any on; I might suggest having a friend help if you’re having a messy time like me. Especially towards the end, when the chocolate is getting low and you’re trying to spoon it on all sides and such… not easy.

            But, when you’re done, you should still have a little pile of your own Birthday Cake Pops like they make at Starbucks, if not better! Look how smooth and pretty it is!

            And the friend’s judgment? : “Pretty damn close actually.”

           That’s a win in my book! As for next time (the friend is making demands now), I think I’ll try a box cake mix, get myself some damn Styrofoam and wooden sticks (and red food coloring yes), and I think I’ll try something different with the chocolate. The shell, though tasty, was a bit thick to my liking, and again I was having some issue with dipping, and it ran low pretty quickly. I think next time I might find a recipe for a White Chocolate Glaze, like with cream or something; that way I can increase the volume of the actual dipping without spending so much on pure chocolate, while creating a slightly thinner coating that A: stays smooth easily and B: uses less glaze. Just need to find one that actually sets up firm…

             Well, that’s it for my Return-Post. Wait a little bit and I’ll post a fun recipe one can do to use up any of that leftover Cake you have! Until then, Good Luck and Good Eating.