If you feed them, they will come … Cake Pops!

There is a phrase that is bandied about quite often when discussing teen programming: “If you feed them, they will come.” It is on message boards and comment sections and Facebook posts. It is the first response to anyone posing the question: How do I get teens to come to programs?

I am not denying its positive response. Snacks do bring in a bodies for programs, but I also want to have snacks make sense and make sure that my teens are engaged in the program. Creative food programs for the win!

This year, I had a cake pops program lined up as a part of summer reading. It sort of came as a suggestion from my TAB group. I say sort of because I was actually out sick the day of the TAB meeting and my substitute *cough cough, Annamarie* wrote down the suggestion of a cake pop program. It turns out it was actually a suggestion for a K-pop program. And while I still haven’t tackled a K-pop program, cake pops were definitely a hit regardless of how it came to be.

The original concept I was going to try was a Nailed It/Failed It style, and in fact it was even named Cake Pops: Nailed It/Failed It in the library’s program guide. However, when looking at the amount of tools each teen would need to try and recreate sample cake pops, I decided to scrap that and just let my kiddos play with their food.

By dropping the Nailed It/Failed It aspect of the program I was able to focus using my budget solely on basic cake pop supplies, instead of including any piping tips or bags. Changing how my funds would be used also meant that the number of participants could increase as I could buy more delicious supplies.

Now it was time to figure out a list of everything that would be needed to create cake pops and not make a giant mess in the process. Here’s what I came up with:

• Disposable table cloths
• Paper plates
• Disposable bowls
• Plastic spoons
• Mini cupcake wrappers (completely optional, and I probably wouldn’t use them in the future)
• Baggies
• Sucker sticks
• Almond bark (or candy melts, or tempered chocolate)
• Slow cooker(s)
• Food coloring
• Sprinkles, mini M&Ms, chocolate chips, etc.
• Donut holes

I went back and forth on what to use as the actual cake for the program; letting the teens make real cake pops by smooshing cake into balls or with donut holes? Ultimately, due to limited access to a sink and a freezer and the time constraint of the program, I went with donut holes.

On the day of the program I set up tables with groups of 6 chairs, had supply stations at the front of the room, covered everything with tablecloths, and put mixtures of the decorating supplies out on each table. After a brief tutorial on how to make a cake pop (directions in notes field below), I released the teens to gather their melted almond bark, donut holes, and sticks before having fun creating deliciousness.

During all the fun it came up that I had never had a cake pop before, even though I had made them many times in my former career as a pastry chef. So of course it was a momentous event when I had my very first cake pop during the program.

Note: Cake Pop Construction

1. Dip the cake pop stick into the melted almond bark, wait 5 seconds and then place the stick into the donut hole. Patience is key! If you rush the dry time on the almond bark glue your cake pop can come off the stick very easily.
2. Once the donut hole has adhered to the stick, dip the pop into the almond bark and gently shake or twirl off excess. Once the almond bark begins hardening you can begin adding your decorations. This part can sometimes be tricky – if you go too fast some of your decorations can slide off, but if you go too slow they could need more glue to adhere.
3. Enjoy all the cake-y goodness, but remember to snap some photos first!