Favorite Summertime Recipe

Today I am stepping away from my usual Cake Pop related blog to share one of my favorite Summertime recipes with you. My Mom used to make this and I'm so very thankful that I learned how she made this (and some other yummy recipes, like Homemade Chicken & Dumplings) before she passed away. It's pretty simple, but the result tastes like being at home in the summertime. Enjoy!

Fried Summer Squash
Ingredients:
2 Yellow (Summer) Squash
2 Eggs - beaten
1 pks saltine crackers - crushed into tiny pieces
vegetable oil
frying pan

Find a nice size Yellow Summer Squash. I typically have to go to our Farmer's Market to find a decent sized squash. You can make this same recipe with zucchini, but there's just something about the Yellow Summer Squash that tastes so amazing.



Next, you will need to cut the squash into small slices. Be careful not to cut them to chunky or to slim. You can still use them, but it might take the chunky slices longer to cook and the slim slices might cook a little too fast.







Pour the vegetable oil into the skillet and put over a medium heat. Hot oil can be very dangerous, so please take caution not to get it too hot. Have a lid or fire extinguisher near by, just in case.


Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk. You can add a dash of milk if you like, but it's not neccessary.

Dunk the slices of squash into the egg batter. I use my fingers, but if you don't want to get too messy, you can use a fork.

















Next, dunk the egg covered slices of squash into the bowl of crushed up saltine crackers. Cover both sides of the squash, making sure it has a nice coating on it.













Carefully place the covered slices of squash into the frying pan. Turn the squash when it becomes slightly golden.














Remove squash slices when both sides are a nice golden brown color. Drain excess oil off on a paper towel covered plate or you can use a microwave bacon pan, like in the photo, but you will want something under the slices.

Lightly salt, if you want to and Enjoy!

Love is in the air

A few months ago, we were contacted by TomKat Studio (http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/) to make Cake Pops for an upcoming photo shoot. We jumped at the chance to be involved with such a reputable company, plus Kim is such a sweetheart, I can't imagine saying no to her.

As you can tell by the photo the colors were gray and yellow, which seems to be a big trend this wedding season. We also made a variety of dessert items for a local wedding using this same color scheme.

We often get questions about how to display our Cake Pops. We typically stand our Cake Pops up so that the swirls can been seen from the top, but for this photo shoot, they displayed them upside down in the mini cupcake papers. The ideas for displaying the treats, depend on what you are using them for; centerpieces, as an addition to a dessert table or just to hand out as favors. You are only confined by your own creativity, as there are hundreds of ways to display them.

It was fun to see the final product and to be apart of a TomKat Studio project. The talented photographer for this photo shoot was Laura Winslow. (http://www.laurawinslowphotography.com)

We've decided to do a contest. What kind of contest? One where our customers/fans/followers can help us with their creativity. We want to produce a Cake Pop Co t-shirt with a clever saying on it. So we're asking for YOUR help! Leave a post on this blog with your best saying or image idea about our delicious and addicting Cake Pops. (Example: a drawing of a Cake Pop with a bite out of it, with the words.....Bite Me!)

My staff and I will choose the top 5 sayings and those folks will win a FREE dozen Cake Pops. The final winner will win a FREE t-shirt and a dozen Cake Pops! Are you up for the challenge?

We will offer the winning t-shirt for sale both online and in our shop. The contest will last for 1 week, so check back often to see everyone's ideas. This is going to be FUN!!

Good luck!

Month 1

Well, it's been a little over a month since we opened our storefront. We have had an overwhelming amount of support from our community as our customer base grows. So many people had never heard of a Cake Pop and it has been so much fun explaining and then watching as they take their first bite. Their facial expressions are priceless.

We started out selling regular size cupcakes but quickly realized that the mini cupcakes were flying off the cake stands, while their larger counterparts were sitting around getting stale. I made the decision at that point, to go in a kind of new direction....specializing in Mini desserts! It's been a blast coming up with new mini cupcake flavors and other Mini desserts, like whoopie pies, fruit pies, brownies and other cute and tasty treats.







We are also excited to announce that the city has approved us to have seating, so that our customers have a place to sit, relax, enjoy a hot cup of coffee and their treat. I couldn't be more thrilled at how cute the brown table and chairs look in our shop. At this time, we only have seating for 6 people, but we have room to expand. We've even had several people ask about reserving our shop for baby showers, wedding showers and even a political fundraiser. Nothing is booked at this moment, but it's exciting to consider all the fun events that could take place in our new "home".


I do hope that if you are ever in the Springfield, MO area, that you will stop by, say Hello and have a Cake Pop or another mini dessert. Until next time.........

Growing Pains

When I was little, I used to get leg aches. My mother would say that it was "Growning pains." There was even a TV sitcom called "Growing Pains." What a strange way to start of my blog this time, right? Well, I should have known that when we decided to take a leap of faith back in mid-November to have our own bakery facility and storefront, that it would come with it's own set of Growing Pains. There's that word again, it sounds painful doesn't it? Well, when trying to open a food service business, it can be a bit painful, but in the end, instead of an inch taller, you are rewarded with a beautiful business and if you're lucky, room to grow a bit bigger. I will say that once, we found the "right" person to deal with, things got done and got done in a timely manner.

So, in case you don't follow us on Facebook or Twitter, I'm talking about our brand new store!

We signed a lease the end of November and after a two month process of getting everything permitted, built, inspected and approved, we are ready to move! Our new store location will not only allow us to be more streamlined for our shipping customers, but will give the residents of the Springfield MO area a new bakery to visit and of course, buy our famous Cake Pops! We are expanding our line of local customers to include cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cookies, muffins, brownies and even a few individual pies. We're very excited, if you can't tell. (big smile)

Our new address is 1805 E Seminole, Springfield MO 65804. Our new phone number is 417.886.CPOP (2767). How cute is that phone number? I love it!
Our store hours will be 9am - 6pm Mon - Sat.

I actually meant to write more as the process unfolded, but with the Christmas holiday, time for writing a blog was not found and I thought January would prove to have more time, but between orders, being sick with the flu and store stuff, the month flew buy. I am hoping that having 1 facility that houses our commercial kitchen and my office, will afford me time to work on the blog more often, as well as being more organized. It was hard to have my office at home and everything else at the shop.

We are planning our Grand Opening on February 7th from 9am - 6pm. The ribbon cutting will be at 11am, which is done by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. If you are in the area or within driving distance, I do hope that you will try to make it on the 7th. We will have merchandise give aways, free samples of our newest flavors of Cake Pops as well as other bakery items. We will also be introducing our newest Cake Pop, The Vanessa. Named after one of our celebrity customers.

Here is one last teaser photo of the new shop.
Enjoy!
Deb

Ring in 2011 with $11 Cake Pops!

It's a New Year and so many exciting things are happening for The Cake Pop Company, LLC. To celebrate and ring in 2011 we are going to have a 1 Day Sale on our Classic Cake Pops! There isn't a discount code to enter, we're just lowering our price for New Years Day to $11 (get it? 2011....$11, tehehe) per dozen. We do ask that you limit your purchase to 2 dozen. Your special purchase will need to be used/shipped by January 31, 2011. This is our way to say Thank You for making 2010 a successful year for us. We could not have done it without you, our customers.


Now, on to some exciting news that some of you may or may not know about.......we will be moving soon, into our own facility and storefront! We are very excited and are ready to have room to grow and a storefront to service the "sweet" needs of Springfield. The plans have been approved by me and our landlord and now we are just waiting for the good people in the city building office of Springfield MO to approve them and issue the building permits. Once we get that, I'm sure that it won't be long until we can move. I have purchased new appliances, the new tile floor has been installed and the remaining details are being purchased and/or ordered this week. I can't wait to show you the progress.

We are planning on extending our product line and hope that some of the items that we will make and carry can be shipped nation wide along with our delicious Cake Pops. We will have some new Cake Pops to unveil and of course, there will be a Grand Opening party that is guaranteed to be the talk of the town. So, stay tuned for more details.

Christmas Rush

The Christmas rush is over, and what a rush it was. We were making Cake Pops around the clock from Thanksgiving until Christmas. I'm not joking, our average day was 16 hours in the shop, but some days it was 18 hours! We started the day after Thanksgiving with a huge Corporate order that we received from a major pharmaceutical company, 600 dozen to be exact. Yes, that is correct....600 dozen or 7,200 Cake Pops! 1,800 of those Cake Pops were the adorable little panda bears that are pictured. We recruited some of our customers/fans to help, as well as family members taking vacation time to help out. We couldn't have done it without our friends and family, that's for sure! It took us about 12 days to get this accomplished. The whole time that we shut down for this huge order, other corporate orders and individual orders started flooding in. Our long days and nights didn't end until Christmas Eve. Apparently, our Cake Pops were a popular gift to send to loved ones this year. We are thankful for each and every order and that you trust us with your gift giving needs.

We have exciting changes that will be happening in 2011 and I will be blogging more so that you can share in our growth and changes. We are moving into our own kitchen facility soon and will be opening a storefront. I will share the progress with you, as things change.

We hope that you had a lovely Christmas and want you to know that we appreciate YOU, our blog followers, as well as our Facebook friends and Twitter followers.