BOOKS

A pinch of trouble
Alicia Ramirez, or Ali for short,  is a spunky middle schooler with one super special talent—she's an *amazing* baker, a skill she picked up from her family at their bakery (the adorably named Say It With Flour). Though Ali loves to try new recipes, her father is all about tradition. But when a new coffee shop called Perk Up opens across the street and starts stealing all of their business, it's up to Ali to save her family's livelihood. 

1 cute new boy
The worst part? The owner of Perk Up has a son named Dane, who just so happens to be very snarky, very good at baking and (yikes!) very cute. But she can't be falling for a guy who's basically trying to put Say It With Flour out of business…can she?

2 heaping cups of competition
When the mayor's daughter announces she wants the most delicious desserts in town at her birthday party, Ali and Dane get ready for an epic cake pop bake-off. But it's not just about bragging rights—if Ali wins, the publicity could keep her family's bakery in business. 

Will it be a sweet victory…or a recipe for disaster? Start reading Cake Pop Crush, and find your own future HERE!

Want to make your own pretty pops? Check out Ali's recipe below!

Red Velvet Mocha Fudge Pops

For the cake:
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 one-ounce bottle food coloring
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, mix the oil, eggs, banilla, food coloring and vinegar. In a large bowl, mix all these ingredients together, adding small portions of the dry and wet ingredients at a time until completely blended. Finally, add in the buttermilk and blend. Pour the batter into a 9x13 greased pan and bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

For the icing:
3/4 cup cocoa
1 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh cold decaffeinated coffee (not instant)
2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, blend all ingredients together with a handheld mixer.

To make the pops:
Several packs of cake pop sticks (can be purchased at craft stores or some grocery stores)
Several 1-pound bags of candy melts
2-3 Styrofoam blocks to stick your cake pops in while they're setting (can be purchased at craft stores)
1 small but deep microwaveable bowl for coating your cake pops
Sprinkles or mini chocolate chips if you want to decorate your pops

 Let the cake cool completely. Once it has cooled, cut it into eight sections. Lift out one section at a time. With your hands, crumble each section of the cake into one large mixing bowl. Break up any large chunks with your hands until you've crumbled the entire cake into the bowl, and all the crumbs are small and about the same size.

Mix 3/4 cups of icing into the bowl with the cake. Use your hands or a large spoon to knead the cake/icing mix until it's well blended. Then, roll the cake pop batter into small balls about 1 1/4 inches wide. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer about 15 minutes.

While the cake balls are chilling, make your candy coating (this should only take 2-3 minutes, so wait until your cake balls are nearly ready to be taken out of the freezer.) Melt about 1/4 pound of candy melts according to the instructions on the package.

Once your cake balls are chilled and your coating is melted, you're ready to dip and decorate. Have your cake pop sticks and your Styrofoam blocks handy. Remove just a few cake balls from your freezer at a time, so they don't get too warm. Dip the tip of a cake pop stick into the bowl of melted coating, coating about 1/4 inch of the tip. Insert the coated stick about 1/4 inch into a cake ball. Then, once the cake ball is stuck on the stick, dip the entire ball into the coating in one swift movement. Try not to roll the pop or dip it for too long, or the ball might fall off or break into the coating bowl. Lift the pop out of the bowl and carefully turn the pop, tapping the stick with your finger very gently to remove any extra coating. If you want to decorate the pop, now is the time to dip it into a smaller bowl of candy sprinkles or mini chocolate chips. Then stick the cake pop into the Styrofoam block to set. Repeat this process until all of the cake pops are done (you will need to melt more candy melts for coating as you go.) Let the coating dry completely. Then pass out pops to friends and family and enjoy every bite!  

by GL | 3/28/2016