cake pops

You won't be able to stay out of the alley with these adorable treats! Cupcakes and cake may be traditional, but today it's all about the cake pop. There's something about the sweetness of chocolate, cake, and icing on a stick that appeals to partygoers. For my son's 5th birthday, I combined his current fascination with Spider-Man with bowling to create pops. I spread the labor-intensive process out over several days (there are only so many hours for baking in a working mama's day!) to create Spidey-colored bowling balls and pins. The results, according to the kids and parents in attendance, were well worth the time spent perfecting them. Here's how I made the bite-sized treats.

The cupcake has been dethroned by the decadent cake pop. Where the muffin-sized cakes once reigned supreme a bite-sized ball of cake on a stick is all the rage at lil ones' parties. I've admired the treats from afar for some time now – staring in awe at their presence on Amy Atlas's designer dessert tables, and drooling over the creations in Bakerella's cookbook ($11) – but never considered trying my own hand at them until we started planning my son's upcoming birthday party. Determined to make them every bit as spectacular as those I've seen on the web, I tried a practice round this past week. They were easier to create than I had expected, but more time-intensive than I had planned. Check out the step-by-step instructions, as well as what I'll do differently next time (and stay tuned for next month when I'll share the ones I created for his actual party)!