DazzlePopDiva takes a Walk on the Dark Side

Hello my fellow Divas!
As we move through dreary February (remember, I live in Michigan), sometimes one needs a bit(e) of indulgence to brighten the spirits. With this in mind, I decided to make some special pops that I call DecadencePops. These pops will revolve around an extremely rich, heavily-flavored cake ball, coated with dark chocolate and dusted or decorated as my whim desires.


So...after that description, do you really need an excuse? I didn't think so. And now, on to the important stuff. Introducing DecadenceDevilPops!

Yes, I AM smart ;)

To begin, choose a rich heavily-flavored cake recipe. I chose to make devils' food cake for this batch. Use either a dark chocolate or vanilla cake frosting to form the balls. In keeping with the chocolate theme, I chose to use chocolate frosting.



Look! You can see my flash!



In this batch, I deviated from using chocolate candy melts in favor of semi-sweet baking chips for two reasons:

1. I was out of chocolate candy melts

2. Chocolate baking chips harden (eventually) to a high glossy finish

On the other hand there are a few disadvantages to using baking chips; for instance, candy melts harden more quickly and solidly than baking chips. Baking chips also retain a tacky surface and are sensitive to being over-handled.



From here it is just a matter personal Decadence preference!
(I dare you to say that quickly 3 times!)
I used the same type of Decadence typically found on chocolate truffles. I crushed English toffee and chocolate covered espresso beans (separately) in my food processor until it was reduced to dust, essentially. Then each DevilPop got it's own healthy coating of Decadence!

Crushed chocolate covered espresso beans

Crushed English Toffee

In the end, these cake pops turned out to be a wonderfully rich filling dessert that won't last in my house for very long at all.

During the course of my experiment with the DecadenceDevilPops, my awesome Sissy/Partner was (digitally/spiritually) right beside me offering her expertise and essentially, babysitting me. We decided to conduct further experiments using a combination of baking chips and candy melts to achieve a hybrid dipping mixture that delivers a richer flavor, high gloss and structural stability. Because science is important. (Yet another reason to make more cake pops, in case you needed one.)

Wishing you ALL one hour of indulgence this week!
Alicia the DazzlePopDiva