Group: "Hi, Kathleen!"
The topic of this blog may seem kind of light compared to my other posts, but I feel that it is serious and needs to be addressed. You see, aside from being very opinionated about many controversial subjects, I also happen to be an avid baker. Where I was once frightened to try anything that is not printed in my Cooking Bible According to Betty Crocker, I now seek out new ways to challenge myself in the culinary arts.
Some may say it is just me getting on my it's-only-homemade-if-it's-from-scratch high horse, but looking up recipes for cake pops is making me feel like singing a particular Patsy Cline song over and over and over and over....
Yes, I said cake pops. I told you it was serious.
Boxed cake mix is NOT, in and of itself, an ingredient. It is a handy short-cut if you are in a hurry or have no patience or skills in the baking arena. But I was specifically searching for a scratch cake pop recipe for use with my cake pop maker (C.P.M.). It is a gift from a couple of Christmases ago and I am finally ready to try it out.
I've never really trusted cake pops and have never eaten one. After a little research, I now know how they are traditionally made and I am glad that I have chosen to refrain. The idea of baking a cake with the intention of crumbing it up and mashing it together with canned frosting (EEW!) and presenting it to people as something to be ingested leaves me feeling a bit queasy. Kind of like taking the efforts of a child at his first birthday party and serving it up to your guests. I guess the only good thing you can say about these treats is that they are truly handmade.
My C.P.M. did come with an instruction book that also contains some "recipes," if you consider throwing a box of mix into a bowl with some oil and water a recipe. Pardon me. Is that my snobbery showing?
I really find something satisfying about taking a bunch of ingredients and combining them to create something delicious, and then decorating it so that people think it is too pretty to eat. But the taste is the most important part. If it tastes like cardboard, or worse, then all the frills and furbelows won't save it. To me, baking is a work of love. I do not do a lot of things exceptionally well but this is one area where I shine. So it feeds my soul to feed others. The best way for me to do this is from scratch.
Although I love to bake, I have no background in chemistry. I did not take it in high school and I don't necessarily understand how the ingredients I mix together become a cake instead of a lump of goo. Once, I forgot to add baking soda to my chocolate chip cookie dough. When I opened the oven door, I found a soupy lake in the middle of the baking sheet. I learned that baking soda is needed to make the cookies hold together and rise, but my knowledge ends there. Maybe someday I will take the time to study and understand the importance of ratios of salt and baking powder to flour, but for now I need a recipe to follow.
So I continue my search for the perfect cake pop batter recipe, from scratch. I may have hit upon a couple of ideas and now it is time to test them out. My poor family must suffer as my tasting guinea pigs. They don't mind. It's all in the name if deliciousness!
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