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Lookin’ Smurfy! How to make Smurf cake pops

Confession: I was a child of the 70’s. I grew up loving those singing, blue, 3 apples tall, bundles of fun. Forget money from the tooth fairy, I wanted to find a new Smurfy friend under my pillow! My dad and I spent hours building village upon village of the little guys – and one girl – on this special wide window ledge in our basement. And I’d be lying it say that through the years I hadn’t snuck a peak on eBay to see if I could find some new ones to add to my collection still tucked away in the garage.

No one could have been happier to see the promotions come out for the new Smurf movie than me! I eagerly found it on YouTube to share with the Princess, you know, just whenever, so she could start to appreciate this little band of pip squeaks. She had lots of questions about what those blue people WERE and it was my mission to to make sure she was fully informed. I even dragged out my special Smurf stash and nervously let her have her way with playing with them. Mushroom houses and all.

Dusting off the Smurf DVD’s came next and Cupcake made my heart swell when she asked to watch! She was a bit concerned with the whole Gargamel issue however. We had a mantra that we repeated over and over, “Remember, Gargamel NEVER gets the Smurfs! Does Gargamel ever eat the Smurfs? NOOOOOOO” Once she understood the outcome was unfailingly the same, she was all in.

Being the consummate fan, I don’t know how I missed the invitation to the movie premier but none-the-less, I couldn’t have been more excited to go see it take the Princess Cupcake to go see it. We dragged along her bestie and her I’m-not-crazy-about-Smurfs-but-I-can-appreciate-the-quiet-time-in-the-theater-Mommy and caught the matinee.

smurf cake pops

I LOVED. IT. We went straight to McDonalds to get the happy meal with featured Smurf prize. And one for the Princess too.

So really, how long do you think it took me to decide that I wanted to make these?

Smurf CAKE POPS!

smurf cake pops

Overall, I think these are my best ever cake pops – both in taste and creative challenge. Even the hubs grinned when he saw these guys:

Seriously, how could you not laugh at their goofy faces?!?

Couple things I did differently than my previous attempts at cake pops (pooh, poor little sad hello kitty…) that I really think made them head and shoulders above the others.

  1. I DIDN’T use a “super moist” cake mix. Just a regular one.
  2. I crumbed the cake in a food processor to make the pieces more uniform.
  3. I made my own buttercream frosting to mix in, rather than the canned store-bought variety
  4. I dyed the cake batter blue. J Of. Course.
  5. I didn’t freeze the cake balls, I refrigerated them overnight. Okay, like a week because I got so busy, but still — they weren’t frozen like I’ve always done before.
smurf cake pops

Let me tell you, Princess Cupcake was involved with this project at every step. She helped make the cake, she ran the food processor (okay, hit the button), mixed the frosting and crumbs, dipped the sticks in chocolate, skewered the pops, dipped them in the chocolate, put the faces on the pops. I did the detail work, but she had a great time helping with this one.

NOTE: Because these little guys have faces, any kid any age would have a great time with this.

To decorate them, I used:

  1. Premade candy eyeballs from Wilton (Michaels, JoAnn)
  2. Blue premade fondant for the ears and noses and eyelids (Michaels, JoAnn). Unfortunately it was too pale so I added Duff’s color gels to darken it up. Yes, this means you get coloring all over your hands but it washes right out. It’s hard to match the Wilton colored candy melts exactly but you can get pretty darn close. These are not perfect, but as I’ve said before – I’ve released my inner Martha and I love their inconsistencies.
  3. White premade fondant to create the hats. Originally I tried making a double decker cake pop by forming hats with cake balls, but I couldn’t get it to sit on top without looking like it was stacked. They looked RIDICULOUS. I resorted to fondant and it worked beautifully.  Plus — fondant is just like the consistency of Playdoh – she LOVED it!
  4. To make the nose and ears, I pinched a small little piece of fondant off and rolled and smushed it in my hand until I had it in the shape I wanted. To get it to stick to the Smurf, I first tried just wetting the fondant where it was to stick to the cake pop and held them together. But that didn’t work. Then I tried using a little bit of melted chocolate as glue and that worked perfectly, although a little messier.
  5. To make the hats, I took about a round half-dollar size of fondant and made an upside down mushroom. Then I stretched over the top of the hat and formed a little crater in the part that would sit on the Smurf head. Then I stretched out the sides a little. On a few of them I used a toothpick to make wrinkle marks around the hat like the Smurfs have (I was using a McDonald’s Smurf as my muse. I used a small amount of melted chocolate to stick the hat to the Smurf head. It worked great.
  6. To add the eyebrow and mouth detail, I used an edible writer candy pen.
eating smurf cake pops

Whether you make Smurfs or just cake pops with faces, it’s totally worth the extra expense to buy some fondant to create the extra features.

Since I wasn’t really planning on using fondant until the last minute, the next time I use fondant for cake pops, I’m going to find a recipe online for marshmallow fondant which I hear tastes much better than the store bought. Anyone have a good recipe for the marshmallow fondant and tips on how to make it?

I don’t dare point out to the Princess that ironically, we are now the Gargamels and are eating all the Smurfs.

 

6 Comments

  1. Those are the best smurfs I have seen so far. I made 30 of them this weekend and did pretty much what you did as far as fondant and how to make the hats and things. You can see my smurfs at
    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2066446940673.2108875.1229782036&l=ee07c71cbd&type=1

    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2141309652194.2111884.1229782036&l=5faef3c009

    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2142425360086.2111918.1229782036&l=4e7ea41c37&type=1

    The marshmallow fondant I made was great.

    It’s really simple.

    Wish I could just remember the link but I only printed it and it didn’t print out the link.

    16 ozs. white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
    2 to 5 T water
    2 lbs powdered sugar (Please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results).
    1/2 C Crisco Shortening (You will be digging into it so place it in a very easily accessed bowl.)

    Please be careful the first stage can get hot.

    Melt marshmallows and 2 T water in a microwave or double boiler. To microwave, place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. (My microwave is 1000 watts so it barely took 60 seconds.)

    Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

    Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers) then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

    Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

    Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! AD dtherest of the powdered sugar and knead smoe more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts to get sticky.

    (If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry, so add water (about 1/2 T at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

    It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

    Prepare the fondant icing for storage by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in plastic wrap and then put in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag, squeeze out as much air as possible.

    MM fondant icing will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make two batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant icing can be prepared well in advance.

    I sure hope this works well for you. It was VERY, VERY, sticky and messy. I smothered my hands and the counter in thick Crisco and it didn’t last long. The minute I put my hands in the mixture to knead it stuck to me from elbows to finger tips. LOL And it stuck to the counter in a matter of minutes too.

    Next time I will pour it out onto taped down parchment paper. Instead of just using the Crisco to keep it from sticking I would put the Crisco down, smothering the counter, then take some of the powdered sugar and sprinkle it on the crisco. This seemed to help me to get it kneaded enough that it finally quit sticking.

    I made tons of Smurf hats and facial features and still have half the recipe left. I think it is kind of sweet, but my sons’ loved it.

    Thanks for the great pics of Smurfs.

    Reply
    • KIMM! You rock! Thanks for the recipe and the photos. Very, very cool!
      Li, Jenny, L, and Lizzie, thanks for making me feel good. 🙂 I hated to eat my little friends!

      Reply
  2. Trista, awesome job! I see that you put your fondant skills to good use. These pops are just too adorable.

    Reply
  3. Can you sell these on like etsy.com They are awesome and would really like some.

    Reply
  4. These are WONDERFUL!!!!! When you find a marshmellow fondant, PLEASE publish! The smurfetts on this end of the computer are inspired.

    Reply

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