If you want to learn how to make this Tall Army Men Cake & “Camo” Cake Pops stick with me! I love making custom birthday or occasion cakes and then pairing it with matching cake pops. Besides, what else are you going to do with all the cake scraps!

This Tall Army Men Drip Cake might just be one of my favorite tall cakes to date!! Just look at that texture<3 <3!  And check out those matching “Camo” Cake Pops I made with the Easy Roller!!

Let’s get started by making the cakes!  I have 2 Fat Daddio’s pans in each size to help speed things up! However, I do wish I had 4 of the 8 inch ones!!

Doctored Cake Mixes are my jam for my decorated custom cakes! They are sturdy enough to stack and there isn’t too much extra thinking involved;)! To one box cake mix just add the following:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 package of instant pudding mix
• 1/3 cup of oil
• 1/2 cup of Sour Cream

For this tall army men 8″ cake, I baked 4 boxes of cake!  Each cake I split between the 2 pans for baking.

Cutting and filling the cake is first.  I always make each tier 4 layers of cake. To do this with precision I use the Agbay to cut each baked cake into equal layers. My standard is to cut off the rounded top and about 1/8″ off the very bottom. No one likes the darker bottom edge of the cake do they?! **Don’t worry, I don’t throw those away, these are the “cake scraps” I use them for the cake pops!!

I have the Agbay Jr and LOVE IT! Sometimes wish I would have gotten the bigger one, but so far, so good with the Jr.  If I ever make a cake 14″ in diameter I may have to invest! This is one of those “cake tools” I couldn’t make stacked or designer cakes without! It brings your cakes into the professional ranks without having to practice splitting cakes. Because splitting cakes is a TRICK, trust me!  I mean look at this… If you can figure out a ruler you can use this. And more importantly get the SAME results!

Next I filled the layers with vanilla buttercream and crumb coated the outside!

**I forgot to take a picture, but when you stack cakes on top of each other you need support so they don’t topple over or crush the layers underneath! This Army Men  cake is a “double barrel” or “Tall Tier” meaning you take the same size cake tiers and stack them on top of each other to look like one tall cake! 

So to support the cake, I stack the cake layers about 4 inches high on a 8″ cardboard then insert wooden dowels in the cake. Then the next cardboard cake circle (with the next filled cake layers) will go on top of the supported cake tier.  Next go around with your frosting and crumb coat the cake and set it in the fridge to harden up. It should look like this after crumb coating:

Double Barrel Cake, crumb coated and setting in the fridge.

Next I took my 8.5″ acrylic discs and put one on either end of the cake (both tiers together) and filled it with butter cream and scraped off the excess so it was smooth! Again, I forgot to take pictures but here is a couple pictures with chocolate instead;)!

Just put as much buttercream (Or ganache works just as good!) and use a bench scraper that will be long enough to hit both discs at once and it will smooth it out just perfect!

Put it in the fridge to set, then the best way I have found to take them off is to just use fishing line! I wrap it around the bottom edge of the disk and just pull it around! It comes right off 🙂

Now for the fun part!! Decorating!!

I took a scoop of buttercream and put it into a small bowl to color them! Using a dark green, almost black, a regular forest green, brown, and then I mixed brown and green to get that color in the back! The color I ended up using more of the darkest color and regular green color! Also This is about a cup of each color…. WAY TOO MUCH;)!! I could have done like 1/4 of a cup:)

With the smallest amount of frosting on the back of the pallet knife (part of the cheap $4 paint brush pack you can get at WalMart) I spread the buttercream on the cake in small downward motions.

Then just trade off colors! No need to clean the knife or be too careful, it actually helps the blending process:) I left the top white so I could do a white chocolate ganache drip.  To make it, I boiled 4 ounces of heavy cream and added to to 12 ounces of White Chocolate wafers (I love Winco!). Whisk to combine!  As soon it was cool to the touch I put it in a zip lock bag and cut off the tip.  Then with the cake on a turn table I went around the outside adding drips!  Then filled in the center with the rest of the ganache.

Now its time to play!! Adding the Army guys into little situations… I have this little “sniper” on the edge…

This Army Guy is helping another army guy up to his position (with the help of a Pull and Peel Twizzler!!) See the tanker in the background, this is in case they need to get around;)!

These 2 are holding their post behind a wall of soft caramels;)!

These guys are all surrounding the cake;)!  The dirt you see? That is chocolate chip cookie crumbs!

Now if you remember in the beginning we cut off the tops and bottoms of the cakes before we stacked it!  Instead of throwing those out, or snacking on them;) we make cake pops out of them!!

Now For the Camo Cake Pops!

These “Camo” or Camouflage cake pops were perfect for this cake!! With the Easy Roller, it is really easy to turn all those cake scraps into extra profit, or if this is a hobby, just extra treats:)!! The Easy Roller Rolls 21 cake pops at once!! That’s like having the whole neighborhood over to help roll cake balls!  So don’t forget to Check out our Easy Roller (or our new Mini Easy Roller!) It is how we keep these tutorials coming:)!!

If you want to see exactly how to make these cool “camo” cake pops, hop over to my post here:)!!

Now one last thing! If you sell cakes or cake pops, it is so important to get good photos of your work!!  It is how people know what you are capable of doing 🙂  I cannot tell you how many counter top photos I have, but never again!!  Now that I have found these Replica Surfaces I can take photos and eliminate all the background noise of the microwave or oven, or that spoon in the background that I didn’t see until the cake was gone and the pictures were uploaded!! I love these!! They are super light weight, easy to store, portable, and work perfect!! I thought they might be too mall for this cake, but I was pleasantly surprised!! Here is one of the behind the scene photos and how it looked in camera! <3

Here you will learn to make cake pops! More specifically, Rib Cage Skeleton Cake Pops!

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)!

Tap off the excess and place them on wax paper until the chocolate sets.

Next, microwave about an ounce of white candy melts (on 50% power, in 30 second increments) until fluid and pour it into a sandwich bag.  Then cut off the tip of one corner.

Draw a line vertically down the front and the back:

Then you just connect these lines in a “c” shape:

Continue until you have no more room!

Next connect them on the other side:

Then Make the “sternum” a little thicker where they meet and Enjoy!!

As always if you like these tutorials and want to see more please “like” and “share” our Easy Roller or New Mini Easy Roller with your co-workers, friends and family!  It is how we keep them coming, it also means the WORLD to me:)!!

Once I found out my niece was pregnant and saw the theme she chose for her nursery  I wanted to make this macrame dream-catcher for her new addition.

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I was asked to recreate this baseball wedding cake & to add some matching cake pops! I was sent this Pinterest Image:

Gobrail Photography

From the Pinterest album: Peter & Renee’s Baseball & Bling Wedding   Lets take a look at how to do this Step by Step.

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Holiday String light cake pops made by the Easy Roller

These are adorable holiday string light cakepops and perfect for your next Holiday Party!

Have you ever used CakePlay Isomalt? You can use it to decorate all your cakes, cupcakes and cake pops! Because it is like a hard candy you can shape, pour or mold.  There are so many colors available and you can flavor them to your liking as well! All you need to do is microwave it until it melts down and gets all bubbly, wait for the bubbles to dissipate and then pour it into your favorite molds – like this one for holiday lights!! It also sets super fast! For these incredibility cute holiday string light cake pops I am using the Mini Light Bulb Mold! Check out this short video to see how easy!!

Wait! Did you see that cake pop roller;)!? The Mini Easy Roller is new and rolls 9 cake pop balls (..or cookies, and even meatballs) at a time!  Just think, its like having 9 of your friends helping you roll all your holiday balls;)!! There is also a larger version that rolls 21 at once! You can check both of these Easy Rollers out here!

Next you are going to say, but my cake pop mixture looks much different than yours!  How did you make that? Well, I make it the easiest way possible!! I bake a box cake, per the directions on the box and knead it down to a doughy consistency.  To do this really fast I just pop the baked cake – after it is cool to the touch – into the food processor and turn it on! Yep, just cake, no icing and turn it on!

Do you like the icing part? No worries!! The Easy Roller will work even better if you add the icing (just add it all at once to the processor)! All I am saying is you don’t need it to bind the cake into cake pop dough. The food processor will break down that cake for you in a matter of minutes.  If you don’t have a food processor, you don’t need to go out and buy one! Therefore, just knead the cake by hand!

Most importantly, when using the Easy Roller you’ll need to knead it just a little longer than you normally would if you were going to roll those cake balls by hand.  When you roll the cake balls by hand, you are basically kneading a smaller portion into the ball shape. When you use the Easy Roller it can only roll what you give it, it cannot knead at all. This is why we say knead it a bit more on the front end (until it looks like one giant cake ball) and save hours rolling!!

I hope you enjoyed making these Holiday String Light Cakepops, and if you would like to share them with me, I’d love to see them! Reply on Facebook or Pinterest! I will see them there 🙂  Dont forget to check out my Easy Roller too! It’s how we keep these posts coming to you 🙂