Irish cream cake pops will make your St. Patrick's Day a sweet one

Fancy another sweet treat? Make Irish Cream Cake Pops! Patience does come when dipping these bad boys, but the green, orange, and white frosting will be oh-so-cool come St. Paddy’s Day!

Irish Cream Cake Pops

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. Cream sugar and butter together until light.
4. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed.
5. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk and Irish Cream, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute.
6. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire racks 10 minutes.
9. Remove from pans; cool completely.
10. Crumble cake into small pieces in large bowl. Set aside.

Irish Cream Frosting

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 4-6 tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream
• 3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Combine all 3 ingredients together until creamy and smooth.
2. Use more Irish Cream as needed to get a consistency that is not too thick and not too thin. (Think Goldilocks…think just right!) You want it to be like it would be if you were going to spread it on a cake.

Frosting for Cake Pops

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (14 ounces) Candy Melts in colors to match your theme. (I have found the greatest selection of these at Diddams' San Mateo store.)

Think: green, white, and orange or green and gold.

Directions:

1. Melt Candy Melts according to package directions.
2. Dip sticks into melted Candy Melts and insert into cake balls; let set.
3. Wait until candy is completely firm before dipping the pops completely in melted Candy Melts.

To make the cake pops:

1. Blend frosting into the bowl with the cake crumbs.
2. Believe it or not, this works best if you use your hands.
3. Form mixture into balls. (It’s just like making a meatball.)
4. I dip the stick into the melted Candy Melts and then insert into the cake pop.
5. Dip the cake pop into the Candy Melts and allow the excess to drip off.
6. Take another dip into sanding sugars for extra baking bling.
7. For the final step, pop them into the fridge for an hour to allow these to set.