Part two of my celebration of one of the world’s most well known animated families brings us to yet another wonderful invention – Cake pops! I love making and eating cake pops. It’s the best invention since cupcakes in my very humble and very biased opinion. They are a great vehicle for creativity and the possibilities are truly endless. So in this post I decided to pay homage to Homer Simpson – the patriarch of the hilariously dysfunctional family – in the form of a cake pop. That bald-headed, beer-bellied, unwittingly wise dad that we are all thankful for not being our own father. 
I did also pay tribute to the other utterly disrespectful animated cartoon dad – Peter Griffin – the overweight, lewd chinned, inept but well-meaning citizen of Quahog, partly in recognition of the Simpsons/Family guy crossover episode airing this Sunday and partly to surprise Mr. K, who is a huge fan of Family Guy. Check out his cake pop in the picture below. He doesn’t look half bad right? This post however will only cover the Homer Simpson cake pop.
I started off with my favourite cake and icing recipes. It’s important to get the consistency of the cake and icing correct. You must then crush the cake into small crumbs which obviously is an important step. One way of doing this is by rubbing two larger cake pieces together to create smaller pieces/crumbs. The other old fashioned way of doing it is just getting your fingers in there and crushing it. This second way has worked great for me every time. I know some others who have also utilized forks to crumble the cake. Find out which method works best for you.
Recipe
For the Cake-Pops
Difficulty:
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
- 1 box of your favourite cake mix Or a 9×13 inch size of your favourite home made cake
- 1 tin of your favourite ready made icing or home made icing which should be a stiff icing not too soft and runny.
Instructions:
- Bake the cake according to instructions and let it cool completely.
- Check the edges of the cake and remove any hard or burnt parts.
- Using your hands or a couple of forks crush the cake in to crumbs. Make sure there aren’t any large pieces of cake left.
- Transfer the cake crumbs in to a mixer or a bowl.
- Add about 2 heaped tablespoons of icing.
- With the paddle attachment or mixer (in a hand held device) start mixing the crumbs with the the icing to form a soft dough. Add more icing, a tablespoon at a time to get a play-dough like consistency.
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Recipe
Homer Simpson Cakepops {The Simpsons}
Difficulty:
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
- 1 quantity of cake pop mix as described above
- Fondant tools 1 with a sharp edge and another with a small blunt edge OR a wooden skewer
- 2 bags of White Chocolate for Candy making I used Ghirardelli
- Cake pop sticks
- Gel or powder Colouring – Yellow Brown, Black
- Colouring brush with narrow tip
Instructions:
- Make a smaller oval shape for the mouth area and curve and flatten it like a boat. Then using a sharp fondant smoothing tool or the sides of a wooden skewer, attach it to the bigger oval and smoothen it.
- Use your fingers to refine the shape further. Be gentle as you don’t want this to crack.
- Smoothen the edges with a fondant tool.
- Place this on a parchment paper. Refrigerate for a few hours to harden.
- Melt about 1 oz of white chocolate candy wafers according to manufacturers instructions, this is for the stick glue
- Dip 1 end of the cake pop stick in the chocolate mix and carefully skewer the hardened cake pop on to the stick (About halfway).
- Let the chocolate dry. If the chocolate mix is too hot and takes too long to set, the cake might slip down the stick. So let the melted chocolate cool down a little but still remain a liquid.
- Let the cake pop come to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, melt about 2-3 ounces (I like to work with smaller batches) of white chocolate wafers and colour it with yellow powder or gel colouring to get the Simpsons’ colour.
- Dip the cake pop gently in the chocolate mix and let the excess drip. Place it on a stand to dry. If the chocolate mix is getting too thick, just microwave it a little to thin it out.
- Use another cake pop stick and dip the end in to melted white chocolate wafers (the leftover from the stick glue). Use this chocolate at the end of the stick to form the eyes.
- Also use light brown colouring (I used brown and yellow) to get the right colour for Homer’s beard (test it on a “dummy” cake pop). Paint the front of the face that pops out of the larger oval for Homer’s beard.
- Let these dry.
- Using black gel paste paint the eye balls and hair and the mouth.
- Let it completely dry before serving.
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Have I mentioned I love cake pops? I’ve also shared these funfetti Deadpool cake pops previously that were so much fun to make! As long as you use your favourite cake recipe (like a classic chocolate cake or an extra fudgy chocolate cake), even the cake pop disasters (and there certainly were a few casualties in my hands) will taste amazing! If you’re a Simpsons fan you will know that Homer isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact there has been medical evidence in the form of x-rays to show that his brain is exceedingly tiny. And another time we were presented with the image below. 
I am happy to say that contrary to what the show may have led you to believe, Homer’s brain was not empty at all! It was in fact very full and very very delicious! 
This Simpsons themed week has been so much fun! I loved making these Simpsons Doughnuts and the cake pops, and hope you will make them too! I can’t wait to find another excuse to make those delightful doughnuts. 
If you want the tutorial for the Peter Griffin Cake pops, let me know and I will do another article on that sometime too 🙂 Leave a comment below or get in touch with me! You can always follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram or by email and I’ll let you know what I’m up to in my kitchen!
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