I didn't always feel this way about cake pops. I was excited when I got a cake pop maker; I thought it would be (no pun intended) a piece of cake. I was wrong, very wrong. I followed the directions, I did everything I was supposed to do, but my cake pops looked like they could be the official dessert of the New England Patriots - deflated. One side was cooked, one side was a wrinkled mess, they stuck to the maker, and that was only the beginning. Trying to get them on the sticks, forget it. Decorating them? My kitchen was covered in more frosting than the cake pops. After all of this I gave up, and my
cake pop maker has sat in my baking cabinet untouched for years...until now.
I have decided to give cake pops another chance and learn how to make them the right way thanks to the network learning project I have been assigned. For this assignment I have to learn something new using the internet as my teacher. So how will I go about this? I am going to start with Pinterest and make a "Cake Pops" board where I can "pin" helpful websites. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, it is a visual collection of internet bookmarks you can search through and save or "pin" for later use. I enjoy using Pinterest because I am a visual learner and scan, process, and remember information much better in picture form. For the same reasons, I even use it as a research tool for English language learners, visual learners, and students with limited reading ability in the classroom! I will also use Google to search for answers to more specific questions like, "Why aren't my cake pops round?" Since I like to watch cooking shows and learn well from them, I will use Youtube as a source for demonstrations on the proper way to make cake pops. My personal learning objectives are to learn:
- How to make a round cake pop.
- How to keep a cake pop on a lollipop stick.
- How to get an even candy coating on a cake pop.
Will this cupcake baker be defeated by cake pops once again, or will I rise up (hopefully better than my first batch of cake pops did) against my confectionery challenger? Tune in next time to find out!