Easter Eats

I have lots of traditions that I love about Easter. Of course there are all the lovely church services and music, the roast lamb my family always had for dinner, we decorated our own eggs (both chocolate and chicken eggs), we even had our own egg hunt at home. It's a combination of all of these traditions that really makes it feel truly like Easter. Now I'm adding Easter pops to my mix!

Last year I only made these types of animal pops, but I wanted to add to the mix so I created free-hand Easter egg pops. Long title, great results. I tried two different styles; first the classic milk chocolate shell with colourful decorations, and second a pastel colour design. Those, mixed in with the animals, made a great Easter presentation.

I've already heard from some of the people who ordered pops this year and they've all said how great they look on their table. Hopefully after their meals, they'll taste good in their tummies too!

Happy Easter to everyone!!

I'm Frolicking!!

I felt these definitely required their very own post! This idea came into my head the other day, and I hoped that I could turn that into reality. I'm hosting my Mother and her best friend on Easter Monday for a lamb dinner, and as I was setting my table I decided I wanted to make special place markers that could double as desserts. That's when these little beauties came to me...

As I was constructing all the layers of chocolate, I kept thinking of a quote from the moving "Milo and Otis". A feel good film with a talking cat and pug dog, who at one point are befriended by a foal. If I remember correctly Milo and Otis are with the foal and are being taught how to "play". The foal realised the cat and dog are being left behind, so to convince the foal they are in fact trying, they spring through the grass announcing "I'm frolicking, I'm frolicking!" This has clearly stuck in my head. I remember my Mum explaining to me that foals and sheep don't run through fields, they gambol.

I tried to get these mini-sheep to gambol around these pops... I have included a little film, hoping you can see them jump.

So proud of these!!

...a little out of focus, but I still wanted to show how they looked on my table.

Workshop at Délices Delary Delights

After much planning, stressing, and fussing, today was the day for the workshop! Today, I looked out at 10 pairs of eyes all eagerly awaiting to learn how to make cake pops for the first time, or at the very least to try new designs. Despite all the challenges and learning curves that come with the first time you do something, I felt very proud of myself at the end of the day. Not only because there were 10 happy people leaving with beautiful bouquets of cake pops, but also because I proved to myself that I could do it! It gave me the chance to appreciate the experience I've gained over the past two years of making these little treats: all the times I've wondered if a design were possible and finding out that it was, all the times a design hasn't worked as I thought it would and I've worked through it, and all the times I've seen happy people with their cake pops. It's hard to roll all that into a 3-hour time block but hopefully I was able to be helpful and inspire these people to make more cake pops at home. So all the planning, stressing and the fussing was well worth it! The proof is most definitely in the eating!

Here are just a few glimpses of all the busy attendees and their busy teacher!

First, we must crumble our cake and mix with icing...

...then we can start forming balls of cake dough to dip... 

The pièce de resistance.... the Sheep!! Everyone got to have a go at making their own sheep, and we had a flock by the end.

  Everyone with their certificates! So proud!

They all looked so fantastic all displayed together!!

Photos courtesy of Délice Delary Delights

Shining Stars

This year, I got the opportunity to appreciate teachers at two different schools. Edgewater school back in February and this week the teachers of St. Paul School, a more local near where I live, who received a batch of shining stars for their appreciation day. One of my colleagues is a Mum at the school, and she thought these would go very well with the coffee she was also providing. The school's colours are blue and yellow so it was easy to personalize the pops, afterall I already had the yellow so I just added to blue ribbon! I love how specific you can make these.

It sure is a wonderful sign of growth! I've certainly felt a lot of branching out this year as compared with last, and as always I'm glad people are enjoying these little sweet treats!

Teaching Me How to Teach

Gearing up for next week's class, I asked a few of  my friends to help me practice going through my class. I've done seminars at University, but never something practical like this so I wanted to get used to demonstrating and explaining the techniques used to make cake pops. Normally it's just me, in my own head, listening to music working on my pops. I don't talk much while I work, and don't pay attention to things going on around me. So for me to lift my head and actually describe what I'm doing then on top of that try to demonstrate what I'm doing, is not what I'm used to. Today was important, it gave me the chance to practice making cake pops and showing someone how to make one at the same time. In essence, bringing them into my head!

We had a so much fun! We went through all the designs that I'll be making with class next weekend at the official workshop and by the end, my friends were confident enough to not only rock at making the seasonal designs, but also to branch out and try something new with their new-found skills.

The "Tara Monster"

Sheep!

I really appreciated their feedback and suggestions as well as their enthusiasm. It's made me look forward to next weekend all the more!