Valentine’s Day is all about the nostalgia for me. It’s represented by handmade cards, usually made from doilies and construction paper, and conversation hearts. You know what I’m talking about. Those little heart shaped, pastel colored candies with adorable sayings written on them? You know the ones that didn’t taste all that great but you ate them anyway? Yea, those things. Ever wonder how such a mediocre candy became the sugary symbol of a whole holiday? Well, I do. And since I couldn’t figure it out, I decided to give them a makeover.
Thinking outside the box, of candy that is, I decided these pasty pastel pieces need a serious upgrade. Everyone loves cake and most certainly everyone loves chocolate, and it’s a known fact that everything on a stick tastes better. So cake pops seemed like an obvious choice.
The best part? Other than the taste of course…By making your own conversation hearts you control the conversation. Have something to say? Write it in edible ink. Cause nothing says I love you like..well, a heart shaped dessert that says I love you.
And if you don’t want to say I love you…you can always go in another direction…
Conversation Heart Cake Pops (makes about 26)
Ingredients
1 box of yellow cake mix
Eggs
Butter
16 ounces of container ready-made frosting, vanilla
16 ounces of yellow candy coating
16 ounces of pink candy coating
16 ounces of green candy coating
Metal heart-shaped cookie cutter, 1 1/2 inches wide
26 paper lollipop sticks
Styrofoam block
Red Edible Ink Pen
Directions
Bake the cake as directed on the box, using a 9×13 in cake pan. Let cool completely. Once the cake is cooled, get organized and set aside a few hours to crumble, roll and dip the cake pops.
Crumble the cooled cake into a large mixing bowl. This is the fun part, because you get to use your hands to crumble! Make sure the cake is really crumble, no large pieces of cake please! Add 3/4 of the container of frosting to the bowl of crumbled cake and mix until incorporated. You can use your hands (the fun way) or the back of a metal spoon. *Don’t add the entire container of frosting. If you do, the cake balls will be too moist.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Press the cake mixture into the pan in an even layer. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and then place into the freezer for 15 minutes, or in the refrigerator for a few hours. Once thoroughly cooled, remove and get ready to cut! Prepare another baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper. Grab your heart shaped cookie cutter and get cutting! Cut out hearts. Make sure the heart are thick enough to hold a lollipop stick. They should be about 1 1/2 inches thick. If you need to add more cake mixture to the heart, now is the time! Once the heart is cut out, place it on the second baking tray. Continue until your finish the cake mixture. If the mixture becomes sticky, place back into the freezer for a few minutes and then continue.
Once all the hearts are cut out, place into the freezer for 15 minutes to firm them up again before dipping. Once they are firm, transfer them to the refrigerator. Remove a few at a time for dipping, keeping the rest chilled.
Melt one color of candy at a time in a microwave safe plastic bowl, following the instructions on the packages. The coating should be about 3 inches deep for easy dipping. One at a time, dip about 1 1/2 inches of the lollipop stick into the melted candy coating, and insert the stick straight into the bottom of a heart shaped cake, pushing it no more than halfway through. Dip the cake into the melted coating and tap off an excess coating.
Let the pops dry on the styrofoam block. When they are completely dry, use a red edible ink pen to write notes on one side of each cake pop.
Serve and Enjoy!
P.S. If you have extra chocolate, grabs some Oreos and pretzels and get dipping!
Bite Sized Banter 