Leprechaun Cake Pops

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day as I'm sure you already know. What you may not know is that today I am bringing these Leprechaun Cake Pops to my daughter's class! I am so thrilled with how cute they turned out! I had a vision for them and they turned out exactly how I'd imagined (better actually!) This was only my second attempt at making cake pops and it seriously went so smoothly. By smoothly I mean that:

1. The cake balls actually stayed on the sticks and didn't fall off from being too heavy.

2. When I dipped them in chocolate, I did my little *dip, twirl, pull out* method and it was flawless.

3. My chocolate did not seize at any point from me accidentally getting a drop of water in it. 

4. I did not panic, cry or throw any cake or chocolate.

All in all, this was a very successful project! I watched Bakerella's Cake Pop Tutorial Video to give me some confidence and some much-needed support. Thanks Bakerella!!

Due to the fact that these little guys were just too darn cute, I just kept taking pictures:

And here's one more of them all packaged up and ready to go to their new homes (The stomachs of 23 little kindergarten children that will take one look at it and pop it in their mouths). 

How to make Leprechaun Cake Pops:

Ingredients and materials:

For cake pop base:

• 1 Box Yellow cake mix
• 1 Can vanilla frosting
• eggs (the amount your cake mix calls for)
• oil (the amount your cake mix calls for)
• water (the amount your cake mix calls for)
• white melting disks (I used like 3 pounds, just in case I had any problems.)
• 9"x13" cake pan
• Lollipop sticks
• Mug or measuring cup to dip

For hair/hat/details:

• White Melting Disks
• Orange candy coloring
• Green candy coloring
• Black candy coloring
• Mini Marshmallows
• Rainbow Chip Crunch Sprinkles (or any other yellow sprinkle you might have)
• 2-3 #2 Decorating Tips
• Double boiler
• Decorating bags
• toothpicks

Instructions:

Bake your cake according to package directions. Allow it to cool, then, In a large bowl crumble it into tiny little pieces. Add in some frosting (I used a little over 1/2 a can of it) and mix it all together. You don't want it to be too gooey. 

Roll mixture into balls. I'd say a large, heaping tablespoon full is about right. You should be able to get somewhere around 35-40 balls (depending on how big or small you make them) Place on parchment paper and into freezer for about 30 minutes or so, or until they become somewhat firm, but not icy.

Melt about 2-3 cups of white chocolate in a double boiler. Pour it in something like a mug or even a measuring cup (for better dippage!) Place a tiny bit of orange dye into the mug and mix until you get the perfect shade for your Leprechaun's skin.

Remove balls from freezer. Dip the tip of one lollipop stick into the skin-colored chocolate and insert into cake ball about half-way.    Place on parchment paper with the stick up in the air. Repeat with all cake balls. 

Grab one of the cake pops and dip it into the chocolate. Move it around (just a tiny bit!) to make sure it's all covered, then remove it! Don't spend too much time in the chocolate or your cake ball will begin to melt and then it will fall into the chocolate and you will cry (trust me on this.) Place cake pop back on the parchment paper (once again, with the lollipop sticks in the air.) You want them to get slightly flat on top so that the hat will sit on there perfectly! :)

While they are drying you can take about 3/4 cup of your melted white chocolate and tint it green. 

Place whole (unmelted) white chocolate melting disks onto parchment paper (this is the hat base, so use the same amount of disks as leprechauns!) Take a mini marshmallow, dip only the bottom into the green chocolate and place it on top of the melting disk. Repeat with all melting disks. Once they have hardened, insert a toothpick into the top of the marshmallow and dip the entire "hat" into the green chocolate (do it quick so the chocolate disk doesn't melt!) Place it back on parchment paper and allow to harden.

Take about a cup of melted chocolate and tint it orange. Place the orange chocolate into a decorating bag fitted with a #2 tip. Pipe some hair on the flattened part of the cake pop and make a beard, using swirling motions to make it look more textured. Lay them on their sides on the parchment paper to harden.

Take about 1/8 cup of melted chocolate and tint it black. Using another decorating bag fitted with a #2 tip, pipe a black rim on the hat around the place where the marshmallow meets the melting disk. While it is still wet, place a yellow candy on on the black chocolate.

Using the same bag filled with black chocolate, make tiny black dots for the eyes.

Place the same chocolate you used to dip the cake pop (the skin colored chocolate) into another bag fitted with a #2 tip. Use this to pipe bigger dots for the noses.

Using the orange chocolate, pipe a little more hair on the very top of the cake pop and quickly adhere hats. 

You're done! You should now have a whole bunch of extremely adorable Leprechaun Cake Pops!