Baseball season is here! And so are Twin pops!

I thought this would be such a fun one to attempt to make, being that we are in Minnesota and enjoying outdoor baseball (it’s a new thing for us)!  Here I am going to make the Minnesota Twins mascot and baseball cake pops.

So first off  we need cake balls! (Basic cake pop recipe on the first page:Minnesota Twins Cake Pops)

Next - shape some of the balls into the shape of a bear’s head I used a picture of the mascot as a guide, somewhat! (Be sure to set aside some of the cake balls for the baseballs!)

For the facial features, you will need black cake decorating gel, vanilla CANDIQUIK®, small red sprinkles, and whole almonds.

Stick the almonds into the sides of his head (pointed side in).

And for T.C.’s complexion: I used 1 pkg of vanilla CANDIQUIK® w/ a dash of yellow powdered  food coloring (just a hint to give the vanilla a creamy/off-white color, only use powdered or oil based food coloring).

Attach a lollipop stick to his head and dip completely in the CANDIQUIK® mixture and place him in a Styrofoam block to dry.

While we are waiting for him to cool and the CANDIQUIK® to set, lets start on the baseballs themselves!

Same thing – cake balls on top of lollipop sticks = cake pops. But this time, I used plain vanilla CANDIQUIK® (12 oz) and broke off two squares (4 oz) and set aside (we will need this for the hats later)! Coat the baseballs in the Vanilla and place in the styrofoam block to let dry.

I am going to toggle back and forth between the two types of cake pops. While waiting for the baseballs to set, we can start adding a little more life to T.C.

Using a toothpick and vanilla CANDIQUIK®, draw little circles for his eyes (add the pupil when the vanilla CQ is dry, with your black cake decorating gel or a small black candy)

For the nose, simply draw a cute little “triangle” shape with the black decorating gel.

Once the soon-to-be baseballs are dry we can slowly, with a steady hand draw the lines that we will attach the laces to next!

Once that dries for a few minutes,or if you’re brave, slowly go back and draw horizontal lines to make the stitches. (I used a picture of a baseball as a guide, recommended!)

Now, for the second part of coloring T.C.  his brown trim fur! Carefully dip the back of his head in chocolate CANDIQUIK® and slowly roll to the sides of his face, ears, etc. to coat the edges of his head in brown!

and finally, paint on a big smile with the black decorating gel! You can add a red, heart shaped candy, or even a plain red sprinkle as a tongue to add a little more character! Place this candy on top of the gel before it completely dries.

He’s looking pretty cute now! Almost cute enough not to eat…almost!

Now T.C. would not be complete without his baseball hat! First, I melted the remaining 4 oz of the vanilla CANDIQUIK® that we had set aside and added navy blue oil based food coloring. With a spoon I dropped little round dots of the blue CANDIQUIK® onto wax paper (and place in the fridge for fast drying)! These will eventually be the bills of the hat. For the dome of the hats, I chopped a round candy in half  (I used Whoppers), insert a toothpick into the chopped candy, and coat in the blue CANDIQUIK. Quickly attach the dome of the hat towards the back of the bill.

Let these set for at least 5 minutes. After the hats are dry, use a dab of the blue CANDIQUIK and attach the hat to T.C.s head. Let dry. Tah-dah!

Ingredients:

• 1 box cake mix (use a light colored cake for best results, so it doesn’t show through the CANDIQUIK® coating)
• 1/2 of a 16 oz can of ready-made frosting
• Wax paper
• Baking sheets
• 2 pkgs Vanilla CANDIQUIK® candy coating
• 1 pkg (16oz) Chocolate CANDIQUIK® candy coating
• Blue food coloring (oil or powder based only)
• Yellow food coloring (oil or powder based only)
• Round, hard candy (I used Whoppers®)
• Whole almonds (ears)
• Black cake decorating gel or black edible ink pen (eyes/nose/mouth)
• Red cake decorating gel or red edible ink pen (laces on baseballs)
• Red confetti sprinkles (tongue)
• Toothpicks
• Paper lollipop sticks
• Styrofoam block(s)

If you’ve never made cake pops/balls before, I suggest checking out this tutorial: http://blog.candiquik.com/?p=3020