I found more candy-making inspiration and again enlisted the help of Ruthie and Jamie, this time to make "cake pops." Lily was dedicated last Sunday and Ruthie was planning a small reception at their home afterward, so cute food was called for. Arguably, the morning before the event wasn't the best time to learn, but based on our previous successes, we took the risk.
Cake pops are basically one-bite cupcakes on a stick. You can, if you want, get super fancy with the decorations, but we stuck to one design: a mint green cupcake with pastel decorations.

We arrived Saturday morning and helped Ruthie with a few other party preparations and then got to business on the cake pops. The night before, Ruthie baked a chocolate sheet cake. Then we crumbled the cake by hand and added a couple of spoonfuls of frosting so the crumbled cake would hold together.

We rolled the cake into balls the size of ping pong balls and stuck them in the freezer to set. Then using a mini flower cookie cutter, we molded the bottom half of the ball into the "cup" part of the cupcake.
We dipped the bottom of the cupcakes into milk chocolate and stuck in a lollipop stick. With the sticks in the air, we put the pan back in the freezer to let the chocolate set.

After a few minutes (the chocolate set quickly) we added our cupcake tops. Using pale green candy melts, we dipped the top of the cupcakes into the green, being careful to make sure the green and the chocolate met (Jamie does our precision work.)

As soon as the pops were dipped, we put them in a block of styrofoam and topped them with sprinkles and one Easter M&M.

The results were precious: perfect two-bite baby cupcakes.

The next day, Ruthie reused the styrofoam to fill a vase and display a bouquet of cake pops next to her signature Honey Bee cake.

The whole process was much faster than I'd thought. It really was very cute and easy, and Lily was happy to to help with her dedication menu.

Plus, yum!