Cake Pops Friday

I am a fan of Bakerella and her cake pops - bite size cake Popsicles.... So last friday, mimi, me and Megan decided to tested it out. Megan was so keen on the idea that come Friday morning, she crashed into our room at 730am shouting "lets make cake pops, lets make cake pops today!"

Ingredients from Phoon Huat AMK :

Sara Lee Pound cake (ready made cake! No baking!)

Creamy vanilla frosting (not available so we have to make from scratch)

Candy Melts

Candy coloring

Lollipop sticks

Sprinklers (kids simply love them)

Let's get it straight. Me and mimi are no baker. I am making cake pops for Megan to have fun and get her hands dirty. Mimi is invited to join so that while I goggle what went wrong, she can continue the process with her grand daughter.

First make the frosting - WikiHow says to mix 11/2 cups of sugar with 1/2 cups of butter, 2 table spoon of cream and a few drops of vanilla essence together.

Beat mixture until a peak forms... end result should be totally different from what Megan is demonstrating in the picture here. 

The process of making cake pops is far longer and complicated than I envision - in hindsight, maybe not a great idea for an impatient kid. But then as long as you can bear through a hundred "are we ready to make the next step yet?', "is the butter soft yet?", you are fine. So I am glad I cheat through the actual baking process and opt for Sara Lee pound cake. 

Crumble the Sara Lee cake into tiny crumbs and add the frosting to the disintegrated cake. 

Mix them together to form a paste so that the cake mixture can bind together when you roll them into balls. Be warned not to add too much frosting or the mixture will be so wet that they will fall off the lollipop sticks! 

Megan has rolled enough plasticine balls to do a great job... then comes my mum whose hand rolled balls made ours look like crap...

Stick lollipop sticks into the balls. But first, dip the end of the sticks into melted candy chocolate before poking them to ensure they stick to the cake balls. Child labor is perfect for this job as they take it very seriously. 

Cake pops need to harden in the freezer before you can coat them in melted chocolate. In the mean time, prepare the sprinklers and chocolate bits. Watch your little one as a proportion of these sweets will go missing before you even started. 

This is the part where everything gets a bit messy. Kid's attention is divided between eating the ingredients and adding the finishing touches which means they are not fast enough for the harden coating. It has been a few hours of hard work and they are tired and has grown cranky. Because this is also the most interesting part, they refuse help from anyone but want to finish every pop themselves!

Fat and satisfied. Now comes the best part.... Give the cake pops away!!! You seriously do not want your kid to go on days of sugar high.....

Activities for the 3 yr old part 3

I want to play with mummy all day long... everyday...

People always say Megan will have my genes for art. Hearing that is kinda stressful.What if, just what of she does not like to paint. At this moment, she is more interested in mixing colors - red and blue become purple, blue and yellow become green, white and red become pink etc.... I once dismissed her question on mixing two colors and told her the result will be maroon. She ended up mixing and showing me different shades the whole evening asking me if "that" is maroon.... And of coz, eventually got angry with me because she will never get maroon. 

We were walking home from the playground some time ago when it suddenly it rained, bringing down a lot of frangipani from the trees. We picked a few home and I urged her to draw the flowers with me. One thing I learned being a parent is that kids do not develop interest by themselves. To get Megan to sit patiently and draw, I have to paint first.

Of coz, we can only guide. Kids being kids will still do it their way. Megan stuck the flowers on her paper and drew me and her walking under a park of tall frangipani flowers. 

Megan spent half of her time at my in laws place. Since I am not sure what she will be doing, I actually drew up a lot of maze games and simple maths worksheets for her to pass her time. Yes I am a KS Singaporean mum. 

Variation to painting : painting 2D Easter eggs! 

Using paper cut outs to create a picture! 

Learning to make origami planes and animals together......I also made paper boats of various sizes in which I wrote the words 大中小...  well since you want to do it, might as well go a step further right? 

Puzzles are a great way to pass time. Diaso sells a set of 2 for $2! 

Reading is the best activity. I realise that many books are not suitable for beginners. It is too expensive to buy then realise the content or the sentence structure do not work well for your kid. The national library is your best friend. It is amazing how much books they stock! But do remember to return them on time because we never did. Megan is a book hogger. 

Megan has been wishing for a playdoh set for months but I cannot convince myself to spend the money. But then, lets not forget that Megan has a daddy who loves her to the moon... Just look at her smile when daddy finally bought her playdoh in May.

Ok I am not happy with old school plasticine for its color BUT I hate playdoh that flakes into a million pieces!! Urgh... Finally I had enough of both last week and decide to make our own play dough. With youtube screening on my ipad, Megan and me had a grand time mixing flour, salt, oil etc in the living room floor... The results? Spectacular color and texture!!!

It turned out to be one of the best activity that we have done together. Megan creating plasticine from scratch. You want it, you make it... I like the concept. And she decorated her rainbow waffles with beads fallen off her broken abacus.

When I am busy, I will tell Megan to invite her frens over for picnic. 

The great outdoors - 

Having friends who are well informed of various exhibitions around town helps tremendously. Andy told us we have to bring Megan to iLight at the bay and Megan went out of control... simply refused to go home...

The East Coast Park is a great place for families. Tiff recommended longgang fishing which did not appeal to Megan but she loves feeding the fishes though... All in all a great morning...

Scooter skate - one of the latest toys daddy bought! I have to admit, this is a great toy.... zooooomm!