Springtime Cake

*Photo courtesy of Mary Gajda, Capital Area Women's LifeStyle Magazine

About five years ago,  I was on my way home from the Kroger and my cell phone rang. I answered the phone and this gal said something along these lines, "I'm from the Rachael Ray Show, I'm one of the producers and we loved your "double duty" idea! can we talk?" (The idea was using powdered lemonade in a biscotti). I said, "well, I'm in the car now and have a bunch of groceries, can we chat when I get home?" I ended up talking with the woman from the Rachael Ray Show for a while and when she got to the question about how often I watch the show, being the extremely honest person I am replied, "as often as I can!" That wasn't exactly what they wanted to hear and after a few email exchanges, I never heard back! Anyways, the reason I told the above story was because when I made cake pops for the first time recently, I came up with another "double duty" idea!! My idea is this - when you are dipping the cake pop into melted candy melts, you need a place to put them to harden up and dry. Take a 12-count egg carton, flip it over, take the stick and press into the bottom of each egg "cup." After you are done with the egg carton, it can be recycled! I sent my idea to the Rachael Ray Show, again. We shall see!

Ingredients

For cake:

4 cups white flour

2 cups white sugar

1 cup margarine, melted

4 large eggs

5 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups milk

Other ingredients needed:

16-ounce container vanilla frosting, any brand

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Green food coloring

Small plastic or wooden fence (35 inches x 1.93 inches)

Sliced almonds (2.25 ounces)

Candy melts/wafers, any color, any brand (16 ounces)

6-inch lollipop sticks (50)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square pan and a 9-inch round pan with non-stick spray and set aside. In a large bowl, put the ingredients in the order given for the cake and mix well with a large spoon, whisk or electric mixer until smooth. Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Remove pans from oven to cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove both cakes from their respective pans. Place round cake on a serving platter. Use 1/2 of the container of frosting (approximately one cup) to frost the round cake. To make the "grass" add a few drops of green food coloring to the cup of coconut and using a fork, mix gently until you get the shade of green you like. Sprinkle the coconut evenly on top of the cake. Toss the sliced almonds on next. Set aside. In a medium bowl, break the square cake finely into crumbs with a fork or with your hands.  Add approximately one cup of frosting (the other half of the container) to the crumbs and combine well with your hands until dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of one hour. Roll into four dozen equal-sized balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill again for one hour. In a medium bowl, melt the candy melts/wafers according to the manufacturer's instructions. Place a lollipop stick into the melted melts/wafers and then press half way into each cake ball. Let it harden up (about one minute) - this little trick will keep the ball from detaching itself from the stick! When the cake pop is ready, dip completely into the melted melts/wafers and place into the egg carton "stand." When dry, place seven cake pops on top of the cake. If you want the cake pop shorter, just cut off the bottom of the stick. When done, wrap the white fence around the cake. Enjoy!!