Beyond the Box

Sweet treats become holiday traditions

by LYDIAKAMPE & KAYLAMASTERMAN | Editor in Chief & Print Editor

C
hristmas is an annual holiday celebrating the birth with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. After our snack and less than
of Jesus Christ that is recognized and celebrated by an hour of waiting since our impatience drove us to place them in
two billion people worldwide and 93% of US citizens. the fridge to cool rather than letting them sit on the counter, we
Christmas takes place on December 25th of each year. Christmas took them all out. Kayla and I put on gloves and began crumbling
is a cultural and religious celebration with customs such as attend- the cake into big bowls, each flavor with their own. Meanwhile,
ing church, giving and receiving gifts, decorating and putting up the vanilla cupcakes sat and waited to be frosted. After crumbling
a Christmas tree, and famously waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. the oreo, chocolate, and funfetti cakes, we added in frosting. This
Santa Claus is also known as Saint Nicholas. His knowness dates was probably my favorite part because each flavor ended up in a
back all the way to the 3rd century. He became the patron saint of big ball that felt like play-doh.
children during his time and was known for being kind by helping After getting the cake to form dough-like balls, we broke off
the poor and sick. Saint Nicholas’s popularity grew tremendously small chunks, formed them into spheres, and placed them onto
over time. His popularity sparked up in America in the late 18th baking sheets. We then put the sheets in the refrigerator to cool
century in New York City. Dutch families came together to honor in their shape. During this time, we worked on breaking pretzels
the death of Saint Nicholas. In 1822, a Epis- to form the antlers for the reindeer cake pops.
copal minister named Clement Clarke Moore “WE OVERCAME This task proved far more difficult than expect-
created a Christmas poem named “An Account ed, and we ended up eating more scraps than
of a Visit from St.Nicholas,” that is known for THE CHALLENGES we successfully broke.
its first line “Twas The Night Before Christmas.”
The famous poem shows Santa Claus being a AND IT BROUGHT Shortly before taking the cake balls out of the
refrigerator, Kayla made us some delicious
happy, jolly man who rides a sled led by rein-
deer to give gifts to families. Christmas was first
US CLOSER dinner. Such hard work requires good fuel,
so chicken potstickers and spinach cakes she
declared a federal holiday in America on June
26th, 1870 and its growth throughout America
TOGETHER” made! It was delicious and definitely kept us
going. Once we finished our meals, we melted
has increased significantly over the years with the chocolate and vanilla candy melts in the
Christmas Hallmark movies and the construc- Lydia Kampe | 11 microwave.
tion of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree The cake balls came out, and we realized
lighting tradition in 1931. that the frosting we tried to use to stick in their
Christmas has long been celebrated with sweet treats and icon- sticks was not going to work, so we instead figured out that we
ic characters. Over the holiday break, Kayla and I decided to try needed to dip the sticks in melted chocolate then let it harden. Af-
baking a few new desserts for our friends and family. We decid- ter repeating this process on about ten pops of each flavor, Kayla
ed to bake at Kayla’s home in Black Mountain, so after picking up began using our green and red homemade frosting to decorate the
all of the ingredients we needed, I headed off on my fifty minute Santa hat and Christmas tree cupcakes.
drive. The drive up was calm and enjoyable, but I was definitely While Kayla decorated the delicious vanilla cupcakes, I worked
ready to get baking when I arrived. on dipping each cake pop into the correct color of melted choc-
We first started by organizing our ingredients. We used four olate and then putting on the extra decorations. Kayla helped me
separate bowls to make four different types of cake. Kayla was in dip them as well when she finished the cupcakes. My favorite to
charge of oreo and vanilla, and I was in charge of chocolate and make were the snowmen because their hats were so adorable.
funfetti. We quickly figured out that I was really bad at separating Once I made a cake pop, I would stick it into the styrofoam block
egg whites, so Kayla contributed her egg-breaking skills to get us to stand up and dry. It was a good thing we made ten of each fla-
moving along. vor, because about half of them ended up being total failures. The
We placed the batter for the chocolate, oreo, and funfetti cakes hard work was worth it though for the ones that worked!
into three separate 9x13 cake pans, and the vanilla batter into During the entire six-hour process, Kayla and I became better
twenty-four cupcake tins. Everything was baked for about twen- friends, overcame a lot of challenges, and worked together to
ty-five minutes at 350° and then placed on the counter to cool for think of strategies and quick solutions. When something didn’t
about an hour. work, we both tried to think of how to fix it rather than immedi-
Before we began our next steps, Kayla made us a nice salad ately turning to the internet. Things that seem simple such as put-

99 | January2022 // GOLDENFLEECEONLINE.COM Graphics & Design | Lydia Kampe

ting frosting into a piping bag and getting a lollipop stick to stay and her patience. It doesn’t require professionals to have a good
in the bottom of a piece of cake proved to be much more difficult time baking or to make a few treats that are delicious for the eyes
than expected, but we overcame the challenges and it brought us and mouth.
closer together. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without Kayla

Reindeer Cake Pops

Cake Ingredients: 2 easpoons Vanilla Extract

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour 1 Cup Boiling Water

2 Cups Sugar Chocolate Frosting

3/4 Cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder Details

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Bag Mini Pretzels

1.5 Teaspoons Baking Soda Red Gel Frosting

1 Teaspoons Salt White Frosting

1 Teaspoon Espresso Powder Black Gel Frosting

1 Cup Milk Chocolate Candy Melts

0.5 Cup Vegetable Oil Cake Pop Sticks

2 Large Eggs

Present Cake Pops

1.5 Cups Milk
Cake Ingredients:
9 Egg Whites
9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
0.5 Cups Sprinkles
3 Cups Granulated Sugar
Chocolate Frosting
1 Cup Canola Oil
Vanilla Frosting
4 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Details
4 Cups + 2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
White Chocolate Candy Melts
4.5 Teaspoons Baking Powder
Red Gel Frosting
1.5 Teaspoons Salt
Cake Pop Sticks

Graphics & Design | Lydia Kampe GOLDENFLEECEONLINE.COM // January2022| 99

Snowman Cake Pops
Cake Ingredients: 1/2 Cup Whole Milk

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour 1 Cup Crushed Oreos

1 Cup Granulated Sugar Vanilla Frosting

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda Details

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder Black Gel Frosting

1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt Orange Gel Frosting

3/4 Cup Unslated Butter White Chocolate Candy Melts

3 Egg Whites Regular Oreos

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract Mini Oreos

1/2 Cup Sour Cream Cake Pop Sticks

To Make the Cakes... 11. Melt about a cup of candy melts per batch of
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. cake pops.
2. For each cake, in seperate bowls, mix together 12.Dip the cake pop sticks into the melted candy
all of the dry ingredients. melts and then stick one in the top of each
3. After all of the dry ingredients are mixed cake ball.
together, slowly add in the liquid ingredients 13. Let the candy harden in the top of each cake
with an electric mixer, (soften butter before). pop, and then dip each cake ball entirely into
4. Pour the chocolate, oreo, and funfetti cake the cup of melted candy.
batters into each their own 9 x 13 cake pans. 14. Stick it into the top of a styrofoam block while
5. Pour the vanilla cake batter into a muffin tin it all hardens.
with 24 spots. 15. For the reindeer cake pops, however, place
6. Bake each pan for 25-30 minutes, except take half of a broken pretzel in each side of the top
the vanilla cupcakes out after about 15 min- to look like antlers before he candy hardens.
utes. Then, decorate the face with red, white, and
7. Check if they are done by sticking in a fork or black frosting as they appear in the photo.
toothpick and making sure it comes out dry. 16. For the snowman cake pops, add a small dab
8. Let everything cool either on a flat surface or of melted candy bet ween the small and large
in the refrigerator. oreo, then place some on top of the head to put
9. Once the cakes are completely cool, crumble the oreo hat on. Decorate the face with orange
each into their own bowl and mix in frosting and black frosting as shown in the photo.
until it can form a ball. 17. For the present cake pops, be sure to shape the
10. On baking sheets, place 18-24 ping-pong sized pops into cubes. Decorate it with red gel frost-
balls onto each sheets. ing tp look as it does in the photo.
Christmas Cupcakes
Cake Ingredients:
3 + 2/3 Cups Cake Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1.5 Cups Unsalted Butter

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

2 Large Eggs + 2 Egg Whites

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1.5 Cups Buttermilk

Sprinkles and Food Coloring

Santa Hats Christmas Trees

1. Add a tube of red gel food 1. Add a tube of green gel food
coloring to a batch of either coloring to a batch of either
pre-made or homemade vanilla pre-made or homemade vanilla
frosting. frosting.
2. Create a spiral of fred rosting 2. Create a spiral of green frosting
with a point at the top using an with apoint at the top using
icing bag, then add red sprinkles an icing bag, then add colorful
on top if you desire. Add white srpinkles on top as ornaments.
detailing as done in the photos
using another icing bag.

MEET YOUR BAKERS

Lydia Kampe Kayla Masterman
Lydia has about 10 years of experience Kayla has similar experience with baking,
cooking for fun, and is well-known for her but is famous for her apple pie! She is great
chocolate chip cookies. She will never share with the electric mixer, and she is an expert
her recipe, but the joy of biting into one of with the sprinkles as well. You may not ex-
her delicious holiday treats can be shared pect it, but she has a world record for best
with all. sprinkle shaking in the world.