Chocolate owl pops - and more at the baking party!

I turned 24 this weekend, and one of my birthday festivities included a baking party! I've wanted to host a baking party for awhile now and what better time to do it than my birthday?

A few of my friends came over and we all somehow crowded ourselves into the kitchen and we all tackled a recipe. It was so much fun just chatting with everyone as we mixed and baked - and of course eating each other's desserts as well!

For my baked good, I decided on owl cake pops. As I mentioned before, owls are one of my favorite animals. I also knew that oven space would be in demand, so instead of competing for it, I used my cakepop maker to make a coffee chocolate cakepop. Since some owls are basically spheres anyways, the cakepop shape lent itself well to making owls out of them!

"....are we related?"

They turned out to be rather easy to make! For the ear tufts, I attached two chocolate chips to each of the owls before dipping it into melted chocolate glaze and pressing the eyes and beaks on. After everything cooled and hardened, I added wing and feather designs using colored writing icing. 

Family photo!

And here are the other desserts my friends made!

Apple crisp - the apples were seasoned amazingly and the crust added the perfect crunch too! (Recipe here)

Goat cheese cheesecake with mango/pineapple compote - the flavors were SO GOOD. I definitely plan on making a cupcake version of this sometime. (Recipe here). 

Cake batter cookies - super moist and chewy and a great use of cake mix in a cookie!

Chocolate Coffee Owl Cakepops (makes 2 dozen owls)

(Recipe adapted from Babycakes)

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 3 tbsp of canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup coffee (1 packet of instant coffee)

1. Combine all the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt). 
2. Add in the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Stir in the coffee last. 
3. Plug the cake pop maker in and let it heat up (green light indicates that it is ready).
4. Fill each hole in machine with ~1 Tbsp of batter. Work quickly because the batter will start cooking the second it hits the machine. The machine will hold 12 at a time. Be careful not to overfill.
5. Let it bake for 4 minutes.
6. Remove cake pops and repeat until all batter has been used. You will have about 2 dozen cake pops.
7. Insert cakepop stick into each ball.
8. Place on a baking sheet and place in freezer while you make the coating.
9. Make the coating in a tall glass (see recipe below).
10. Dip each cake pop stick into the glass until completely covered. Let the excess coating drip back and place on a wax-covered baking sheet to dry. Attach eyes (candy eyes) and beak (half a orange Reese Pieces). 
11. Place back in freezer to harden. Decorate wings/feathers if you want with writing icing. 

Milk Chocolate Glaze (makes enough to coat 2 dozen cake pops)

• 1 cup of milk chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp butter (unsalted, room temperature)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a tall glass, microwave the chocolate and the cream together until melted. Use 30 second intervals so it doesn't burn. 
2. Stir in butter. If it doesn't melt from residual heat, microwave for more 30 second intervals until melted. 
3. Add sugar and vanilla until combined. 
4. If it starts to harden during the cake pop coating process, return to microwave for 30 seconds to keep the coating fluid enough to coat.