New Years Cake Pops

Over the holidays this year I also worked to get my skill up on cake pops! First I made a couple of big batches  of the cake balls for a cookie exchange party and then for my BF to bring to work to practice.


 I decided to go big to celebrate the New Year with my new skills. I have found the key is to take your time getting the balls rolled, then freeze them for at least 15 min (or refrigerate if you are making them overnight). I then dip the stick like instructed in the candy coating then put into the cake pop, then freeze them for 15 minutes again to set the cake pop. I kept having them fall apart before I did this process and this last time making them I had none fall off the stick! Success!


Unfortunately I took all these pictures at night, but you can see the idea. To create the base that I placed them on, I used three foam circles from Michaels and used toothpicks to stick them together rather than glue so that I can take them apart if I want in the future. I wrapped the circles 
before I put them together in tissue paper rather than painting as I saw other places online again so I could take it apart and use this for another event. When I put the parts together, I wrapped each level in ribbon to smooth out the edges and make it decorative. 


I used for the coating silver sugar sprinkles, gold sugar sprinkles, and white candy balls to cover the cake pops (filling was vanilla frosting and butter pecan cake mix).To create the numbers I just got some frosting in a tube to write on them. Happy 2012!

And finally the New Years pic with B in front of the tree!

Catching Up.... starting with Colorado cross Country Skiing

Sometimes life gets busy and I miss to catch up on the blog! I am sure like you over the holidays you had friends over and family and spent time with them. Therefore, I am going to post just a bunch of pics that I took over the last month as I traveled and did work on the house!

First up in December, a fantastic friend of mine in Colorado asked me to come up and spend a few days at the YMCA of the Rockies. This fantastic and affordable location is a few miles north of Winter Park Colorado. With your stay, you have access to a vast facilities they have there including the cross country ski park. We stayed with a group of 15 in a cabin you can rent out. I actually got a cold the first day up there so the altitude got to me more than usual (you stay at above 9,000 feet, and coming straight from Arizona the altitude always is a consideration). My friend dayquil got me through the weekend!

Gorgeous View of the park from our cabin

Cabin we stayed in

My fantastic friend Brittany and her BF

Me looking out over the Valley

And me goofing off!