Duff Goldman Has Some Serious Beef With Cake Pops
"I say they should put more meats on a stick, you know? They got a lot of sweets on sticks- popsicles, Fudgesicles, lollipops — but hardly any meat." While that may have been true in 1998's "There's Something About Mary," nowadays, Americans put everything on a stick. Food on a stick is portable and adorable. While the aforementioned treats are primarily geared toward children, tiny food versions of the OG are having a moment sparked by videos on TikTok (per Guilty Eats).
According to Larry Fyfe, who has worked the concession stand at the Iowa State Fair for 50 years, impaling food with a stick instantly increases sales by 50%. While corn dogs may be the first and most famous food on a stick, fairs, restaurants, and home cocktail parties are serving up everything from Caprese salad on a stick and deep-fried butter on a stick to cajun chicken on a stick and grilled corn on the cob on a stick (per Eater). Tampa even has a "Food on a Stick Festival" dedicated to the mobile food trend, per ABC Action News on YouTube.
While cupcakes were considered the portable version of a slice of cake to many of us growing up, Angie Dudley of Bakerella shrunk them down and made them cuter, inventing cake pops in 2008. Compared to truffles, the bite-sized, lollipop-looking cakes revolutionized the baking world. However, chefs like Duff Goldman have rejected the cloyingly sweet treats and are not afraid to say why.
Duff Goldman doesn't like cake pops
After appearing on "The Martha Stewart Show" in 2008, Dudley's mini cupcake-looking 'cake pops' became all the rage leading to several cookbooks and a cake pop appliance not affiliated with Dudley called Babycakes (per CNBC). When Starbucks added them to its growing menu, it inspired copycat Starbucks cake pop recipes.
Asked how he felt about cake pops via Twitter, Duff Goldman, the celebrity baker known for his outrageous cake creations and Food Network series "Ace of Cakes," didn't mince words about the trend. He responded, "Cake pops are stupid. Mashed up crappy cake and frosting tastes like it's already been chewed. Takes way too long to decorate them proper. And customers always complain that they're not 75 cents each. Cake pops can get the bozack."
According to Bakerella, a box of cake mix and a can of icing will make three dozen cake pops. The cake is crumbled and mixed with frosting to create a moist ball of cake that's refrigerated before dipping in melted chocolate and decorated. You can make them from cake leftover from a party, trimmed from unwanted domes or cutout designs. While Dudley's adorable cake pops take several hours to decorate, newbies can expect longer, as Goldman mentions.
Starbucks sells cake pops for about $2 a piece, but expect to pay more for elaborately designed ones. According to Baking How, cake pops can run up to $5 for a single one-biter.