Starbucks Does Not Equal Homemade

... now before you say something like, "I told you so!" or, "What?!?" please read on.


I received a very kind gift from a first grader this Christmas and I've been excited to try it out. Along with a giftcard to Starbucks for my caffeine requirement (they know me so well), I also got a kit for holiday themed cake pops. We were on sugar OVERLOAD in the Taylor house from the start of December into the new year. It wasn't until a few days ago that I remembered I had the kit and dug it out.

I know my way around a cake recipe and when it says something to the effect of, "Just add water," I have to second guess it. At least these called for an egg. Even if it was all pouched up in instant form, the kit seemed pretty fool proof. As I started mixing I had a few, "this is gross," moments as well as a few, "this might not be so bad," ones.

I'll start with the pros list:

The kit came with everything I could possibly need (except the perishables i.e. milk/eggs)

The box even doubles as a sturdy stand for the completed pops. How clever! 

They even labeled everything for me. Just in case I couldn't tell the difference between "RED SUGAR" and "WHITE CHOCOLATE MELTS." I guess they're producing for the masses here...

 So I started mixing all of my ingredients, and against my better judgement I left the batter in the oven three times longer than it requires. That's a total of 36 minutes versus their recommended 12. (Wait- 12 minutes to cook a cake?)  Finally it was cooked, so I followed the next steps. This can't be good...

Do your hands look like this when you're rolling cake? It's just cake and a bit of frosting. Hmmm.

All was going well and then the whole oily hand thing happened.  Which leads me to the rest of my cons list.

A little grainy compared to a homemade pop.  Extra crunchy shell.  

Forget what I said earlier. This box was my nemesis.
Take special note of the globs of chocolate coating that fell as a result of the tumble.  

 Final product- not so bad.  Dare I say, edible. (OK, I might have eaten a few for lunch the day after.)

Overall I'd definitely suggest going the homemade route.