August 30, 2020

The Flaw…

My product has a flaw.  You read that right, I’m not making it up, I wish I were.  But after ten years of manufacturing and shipping The Easy Roller around the world…I just have to face the facts.  How do I know?  Because I am told at every convention, on every video I post, and in the comments I read amongst my followers.  It shows itself right after the big reveal, you know the part where 21 balls come rolled out perfectly consistent with minimal effort.  Sure it saves time, offers consistent sizing and allows you to produce large quantities without plugging anything in…but then right after the WOW factor BAM, it hits you.  The PRICE. 

And there is the ugly truth.  I hear it ALL THE TIME.  So many people tell me they would LOVE to have the Easy Roller! However, “It’s just too expensive!” Quite honestly, my original goal was to be able to sell it for $50. And how amazing would it be if I could offer it for even less! 

Why is it so expensive for Plastic?

The reality is, the production costs and the barrier to entry for small businesses like mine are high.  In no way can I compete with the production runs of the big box stores like; Wal-Mart, Target or even a Williams Sonoma type manufacturer.  Fact is, I’m just a passionate baker, much like you, who thought there had to be an easier, faster , better way…And then decided to do something about it!

Much like the baked goods we make or sell, there is an inherent cost of making the Easy Roller.  It was easier when I was calculating the cost of eggs and sugar.  Now I stare at production run numbers, packaging costs and let’s not forget the big SALE killer…Shipping.  We can in no way compete with the Primes of the world who offer expedited free shipping.  Not when domestic shipping alone for the Easy Roller ranges between $15-$20 per shipment for us! International shipping is it’s own special beast with some of my customers paying more for shipping than the product itself.

Those two factors alone make it nearly impossible for me to be able to offer the Easy Roller at a price point that would be found at the big box stores.  So then the conversation evolves to; “If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them!”  I’ve tried to get the Easy Roller into all of them. Micheals, Joann’s, Target, Wal-mart, Bed Bath and Beyond, even Pampered Chef! And online? QVC; applied, HSN; rejected…Even Shark Tank has an application processed.  Trust me, if given the time of day, this girl is willing to travel! 

The Solution?

I’ve always been taught if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.  So now what?  How do we get it in front of the masses and reduce the price so that the everyday baker can enjoy without writing a dissertation on the pros and cons of the purchase.  

One would think, in this online world we live in, and especially in this COVID-19 world of online shopping, that we could leverage our combined social media presence to create the same awareness that a product on a shelf in a big box store would recieve. Could I get this post to go viral and create enough visibility to pull together a large enough order to slash the price of The Easy Roller to $29.99? This is after all how the Easy Roller got started…HELP ME have a PRESALE. To slash the price to $29.99, (taking $120 OFF of normal retail) and to have a minimum of 500 delivered by Christmas, I would need to place a bulk order. Since The Easy Roller is produced right here in the USA, (in Arizona where I live to be exact) the order would need to be placed to our manufacturer by the first week in October. 

Would you PRE-ORDER an Easy Roller?

Details:

• Order here to be included in the $29.99 pre-order Sale.
• If you need an Easy Roller in 7-10 days, this pre-sale will not work for you. Order here
• The first wave of a minimum 500 Easy Rollers will start shipping mid December 2020 for Christmas Delivery. Subsequent Easy Rollers will ship from our facility as they are produced.
• This post will be updated to reflect manufacturing/shipping updates as we have them! The first update will be the first week of October.
• Take a look at all the tips and tricks of using the Easy Roller HERE
• All money collected will be refunded 10/16/2020-10/22/2020 if we do not get enough pre-sales to fulfill our requirement .
• The pre-sale is only for the Easy Roller. The “Mini Easy Roller” is not eligible.

June 8, 2020

Lets Make some “Worms and Dirt Cake Pops! These cake pops are great for beginners!

You Will Need:

• Easy Roller …or our new Mini Easy Roller! (optional, but WE recommend it;)!
• Box Cake Mix of your choice (Or your favorite recipe) …or leftover cupcakes or cake scraps!
• 3 Eggs
• Water
• Vegetable Oil
• Oreo Cookies
• Chocolate Almond Bark or Candy Melts
• Cake Pop Sticks
• Gummy Worms

Oreo Crusted Cake Pops start out like all other cake pops, with a baked cake!

Making the Cake Pop Dough

This can be store bought, your best recipe or a simple box cake mix. Once you have your Cake the next step is knead it down to dough. To do this, just crumble it down and knead those crumbs by hand with just enough frosting (or binder of your choice) into a “Play-doh” like consistency.  If you don’t want to knead the cake by hand, give the food processor a try! I always use my Food Processor. It’s so much faster! A mixer with the paddle attached works just fine as well! It only takes a minute or two to go through these steps!

 First it will break down into fine crumbs, then they start to stick to each other and form a bit bigger of a crumb and finally, if you leave it in long enough it will turn into a big ball of dough all by itself!

Rolling Cake Balls

The next step in creating these worms and dirt Cake Pops is to roll the cake dough into rounds.  Have you seen the Easy Roller?  It will roll 21 cake pop rounds at a time! That means you will be done with this step a snap! First, measure the dough into the frame (provided). Then place the measured dough into the Easy Roller to be cut into dough logs. Then turn those logs the other way on the Easy Roller and slide just a few times! This will yield 21 cake pop rounds!  Here is a 30 second demo… See for yourself:)!

Cake pops are easiest dipped cold.  However, if the dough is too cold you will find your cake pops cracked after the chocolate has set. Cake pops actually have the best outcome if they are dipped at room temperature, So if you are going to refrigerated them for ease of dipping, just make them cold enough to where you are comfortable dipping them.  For this project I would say refrigerate them until you get all your toppings prepared:)!

Getting Prepared

You guessed it, next step, get all your Oreo’s and crumble them up!!  I use the food processor for this! However, if you don’t have one, don’t worry, you can put them in a large freezer bag and crumb them by rolling over them with your rolling pin!

If you are able to put them into the food processor, just put the whole cookie in there and turn it on until they looked like this…

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Place these into a bowl and get a spoon for it (unless you want your hands to be full of crumbs)!

For these cake pops I cut the gummy worms in half. If I left them whole they were just too long and I thought they looked a little funny. So the easiest solutions was to just cut each worm into 2! Set these aside so they are ready to go when you need them!

Next put your candy melts into a microwave safe dish. Then place it in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute to melt it down.  If the candy melts are still not yet melted, put them back into the microwave at 50% power for 30 second increments until it is melted.

Putting it all together

Get your cake balls out of the refrigerator and dip your cake pop stick into the melted chocolate and then into the cake pop. Now dip the entire cake pop into the melted chocolate. Tap off the excess!

Then immediately dip your pop into the cookie crumbs.  They will stick to your wet candy melts!  Roll it around in the bowl and when you have gotten the base coated, tap off the excess cookie crumbs.

Then take your gummy worm piece and place it at the top, near the stick . Now you just place them on the wax paper to set.

These are a Huge Hit and are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!  If you like the tutorial don’t forget to check out and share our Easy Roller (or our new Mini Easy Roller!) with your friends!  It is how we keep these tutorials coming:)!

Sharing is caring!

May 26, 2020

This Chocolate Tool Box with CakePops for tools is what I made for a carpenter. This is also a fun idea for Father’s Day?! This is almost completely edible! Besides the little cake pop holder insert on the inside and the cake board it sits on;)!

Things I used to make the tool box portion was a wood grain mold, and disposable cake pop stand from BRP Box Shop, 2 cardboard cake Circles, washi tape, a metal straight edge, almond bark and a pretzel rod.

First I measured the cake pop stand against the chocolate mold so I could see how big I wanted to make it. I didn’t worry too much about getting it perfect but I knew bigger was better than smaller. You can always cut away what is too big!

Melt your chocolate almond bark on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Then spoon or pour it onto the mat.

I wanted the inside to be smooth, so before it set I put a peice of wax paper over the melted chocolate and gave it a light roll with the rolling pin. This will smooth it out. Be careful not to press too hard and thin out the chocolate. If it is too thin it will be fragile.

Once it is set you can remove the wax paper. Then I heated up a metal straight edge to trim the chocolate panel.

Now it is very easy to trim the panel to size.

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Then just repeat this process until you have enough panels to complete the build! I made 6 panels. I made 1 to go up against each side of the disposable cake pop BRP Box (4 total), and then another 2 for the top side portion that the pretzel went through!

Don’t you just hate when you forgot a picture!! But I used a tiny circle cutter to cut the hole out of the top portion for the pretzel to go through!

Next it was time to “glue” the panels together! I used just melted alond bark for this step. I put the melted chocolate into my fancy piping bag (aka sandwich baggy with tip cut off;)) and “glued” each corner.

For the top portion, I wanted it to be at a slight angle. To do this I filled up a tall glass with water and placed it inside the box. This way I had support for the chocolate panel until “the glue” had set. I really “glued” this portion so it was really sturdy!

Next to cover all my seams I used some chocolate buttercream! My favorite buttercream recipe is equal parts butter & Crisco, a tbsp of vanilla, and about 3 cups of powder sugar (or till the consistency is firm enough to hold a shape).

I used a 1B tip.

And piped a zig-zag line over all the seams!

Next to make the cake pops!

To make these pops you will need to bake a cake. Then let it cool and turn it into dough by either kneading that down to a doughy consistency. The food processor is the fastest, but you can do it by hand too. Just mix it up with some of your favorite binder, like buttercream, jam, pudding, the list is endless;)!! If you do use the food processor, all you need is the cake, check it out:

Then roll them out into little 1.25″ balls.  Of course to knock this boring part out in no time flat, may I suggest you take a look at the Easy Roller and roll up to 21 cake balls at a time;)!!

Once you have all your cake balls rolled to 1.25″ in diameter (about the size of a ping-pong ball) dip them into your candy melts or almond bark. Before they set I rolled these cake pops into crushed oreo, coconut flakes and crushed peanuts! Then let them set!

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Now it is just time to “glue” 2 cake circles together (for extra support.) I used washi tape around the edge to cover the exposed cardboard. Then the disposable BRP Box Shop cake pop stand to the cake cardboard circle. Fill up the stand with the cake pops and slide a pretzel rod through the top!

If you liked this tutorial please take a look and share with your friends our Easy Roller!! It is how we keep these tutorials coming to you:)!

Sharing is caring!

May 11, 2020

How is it possible I have never written a post about how to make Football cake pops?! With Football being so wildly popular these are some of the first cake pops I have ever made!

These are so easy!

To get started, bake your favorite cake recipe. If you are just making cake pops, one box of cake will make about 30 cake pops if you are using the standard Easy Roller.  If you don’t have the Easy Roller yet, think ping pong ball size once they are dipped.

You can also take all the tops and bottoms from a decorated cake, yesterday’s cupcakes, or even a store bought cake! Just crumble and knead it down until it is a pliable dough.  Think the consistency of Play-Doh;)!  You can do this by hand (you also will need a bit of frosting this way). However, it’s faster, and easier on the wrists if you just put your cake into the mixer or food processor. Just leave it in there until it turns to dough! No Frosting needed! However, if you’re looking for some extra sweetness, or special flavor, go ahead and add it all in at once!

Next take that dough and roll them into balls.  We do this step with the help of the Easy Roller!It can roll an entire cake in no time at all, since it rolls 21 cake balls at one time & they are all the same size! Here is how it works if you haven’t seen or heard of it yet!

…if you don’t make cake pops often but you still would like to make them faster our newest “Mini” Easy Roller is now available! (This one rolls 9 at a time!) Once all your cake is rolled into balls dip them into melted candy melts. To prepare the candy melts, place the candy melts in a microwave safe container and place it into the microwave on 50% power (or defrost) for 1 minute, take it out of the microwave and stir. Put the bowl back in the microwave at 50% power, in 30 second increments until fluid)!

Once you have the cake dough rolled into balls, pinch either side to make a point on each end!

Then dip the stick into the melted chocolate and into the cake ball. Then dip the entire pop into the melted chocolate. From here, you can then go 2 different ways! Either place them upright into a cake pop stand to set

…or downward facing onto wax paper to set. If you are new to cake pops, or just in a hurry I recommend placing them on wax paper!

Once the chocolate has set I just add the details in white! I melt the white candy melts in the same way (on 50% power). When the candy melts have melted I pour them into a sandwich bag and snip off the tip (just a tiny tiny bit!) The smaller the hole the more control you will have!

I start with the sides. One line across each tip. Instead of “Drawing” this line, I squeeze out the melts in an even flow (with wax paper underneath to catch drips) and pass the cake pop under the flow. The line is straighter and more consistent.

Then I make one horizontal line across the top for the laces. Wait for this line to set before moving on or it will all just puddle together! Then when it is dry just make perpendicular lines! If you want to be technical I believe each football as a certain amount of laces, but I don’t get that specific;)!!

Thats it! These are pretty straight forward and easy! Football cake pops are the perfect game day treat!

I hope you give these football Cake Pops a try! I’d love to see them! You can send me a message on Facebook or Pinterest! I will see them there first:).  Also, don’t forget to check out my Easy Roller too! Because that’s how we keep these posts coming 🙂

May 11, 2020

I just wanted to take a moment and talk about the importance of Pinterest Templates. Pinterest is a platform I didn’t really use or pay much attention to until recently. Huge Mistake! There is an insane number of users here! I was just sort of adding a picture and link when I had something new to share (if I got around to it).

Recently I have discovered these Pinterest Templates through a class I was taking! Wow! Game Changer. My content is really starting to reach people! I am using Canva to create these “fancy new pins” that are getting some traction. For now I am using the free version they offer to get to know the software and I was also was spending some time to create new pins. Its relatively simple but being new to the program I was struggling to get the look I wanted in a reasonable amount of time. Who has hours to create 1 pin… Oh Wait, Quarantine;)!

Well, I also have Easy Rollers to ship, Facebook to manage, cake pops to make/ photograph, home-school during this Covid-19 time, a million meals to cook for the 5 us (which means a sink full of dishes that never end)! So I needed a bit of a short cut here! What I found were 103 Canva Pinterest templates! These templates were designed by a Pinterest Super Star & have the look I was trying to create! But it was taking me FOREVER to do by myself!!

I am a DIY girl, but prioritizing my time in order to get through my workflow is essential! I mean, that is what the Easy Roller is all about! How else can you roll 500 balls in less than an hour? Without paying a few people to help you, anyway? These employee cost or if you are lucky, exploiting a friends kindness, gets old fast! That is how value is found in this “plastic, hand powered tool.” You will pay for the Easy Roller in a busy 8 hour day!

I feel the same about these Pinterest Templates I found! What took hours, now takes minutes! This give me more and ultimate adds to my bottom line! Far and away worth the $97 fee to have over 100 templates available to customize at a moments notice!

I would also like to share with you some progress photos. Who doesn’t love progress photos! You can see just how important it is to put some effort into the pin’s you are pinning!

OK, Here is where I started from. This was just February 15, 2020!

This is just shy of 3 months later, today May 11, 2020!

Just LOOK at those numbers!! That is crazy! Impressions from 27k to 210k!! Audience 21k to 161k and engagements from under 1,ooo to almost 6,000!! Incredible!! Take all my money right now!! And this is just the beginning! I have only really just started updating my pins!!!

I have a few more “in between” screenshots if you are curious. The growth from using these Templates have been nothing short of amazing, in my opinion!

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I hope you give these new Templates a try! I’d love to see your progress as well! You can send me a message on Facebook or Pinterest! I will see them there first:).  Also, don’t forget to check out my Easy Roller too! Because that’s how we keep these posts coming 🙂