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As a long-time fan of The Cake Poppery, I am super excited to share today’s post with you – a review & giveaway of The Art of Cake Pops: 75 Dangerously Delicious Designs, by Noel Muniz.

The Art of Cake Pops doesn’t come out until May 22nd, but Noel was so gracious to let me be one of the first people to read it. And one lucky KC Bakes reader will win an advanced copy of their own!

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Summary: Noel Muniz shows you the basics of making these small, delectable sweets, with tips that will guide you in every step of the process. The Art of Cake Pops cover everything you need to become a cake pop pro, including the different types of chocolates to use, how to use cookie cutters as molds, coloring chocolate, and when it’s best to use homemade or boxed cake. Filled with delicious recipes for cake flavors and colorful and creative designs for silly frogs, cute babies, and vibrant butterflies, you’ll make a splash at any gathering, and your cake pops will be the talk of the event. (from Amazon.com)

The Art of Cake Pops

My Review: I’ve seen quite a few cake pop books to date, so I was really interested to see what Noel would do to set his book apart from the crowd.

First, he explains the basic cake pop making process and includes helpful tips along the way. But what really blew me away were the troubleshooting sections that followed! Cracked pops, yellow sticks, leaking oil, coloring/melting/storing chocolate & more – Noel breaks down why these problems happen, how to fix them and how to avoid them in the future. I re-read some of these sections more than once, he has such great insight!

Also impressive, Noel shares 75 unique design ideas, which are sorted into thirteen themed chapters such as Around The World, Under The Sea and Sports. While they’re all amazing, my favorite chapter is Sweets & Treats, where he shares eight different food-inspired designs; they all look so real – wait til you see the Jawbreaker pops.

Noel’s photography is so elegant; this book is page after page of eye-candy. Each picture is taken so beautifully, with just 3 pops in each photo and a nice bright background. It was hard to choose, but here are some of my favorite designs from The Art of Cake Pops:

Final thoughts: From beginner to pro, there is something for everyone to learn in The Art of Cake Pops; it’s a must-have resource for any cake pop maker.

Sneak Peek: As if this book isn’t exciting enough, Noel spilled some secrets about his second cake pop book, which he’s working on now. It will be a more advanced version of The Art of Cake Pops and will have even MORE designs than his first book. It will include 5 new cake flavors, 5 new frosting recipes and cover hot topics such as painting cake pops, coloring the cake on the inside and shipping the pops. I feel so lucky to have gotten a look at the photo library for the second book; here are just a few of the incredible designs:

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To truly appreciate this book, I found it really interesting to learn how it came to be published. Get to know Noel:

How did you get into making cake pops?
I attended culinary school for almost a year studying cooking before I left and ended up baking professionally despite never being trained. I have been doing it since 2009, at the time when I started, cake pops were not that popular and Bakerella was just catching on.  Google only had a handful of cake pop images at the time and no one was making or selling custom cake pops. I only found around 5 companies selling cake balls, very few did cake pops. So I decided to fill a need and start the first custom cake pop bake shop. So I have been making cake pops ever since. 

When did you decide to write a book?
I wanted to do a cake pop book as far back as 2010. I planned it completely out at that time. I did a list of all the designs I wanted to do and information I wanted to talk about. The book now is exactly how it was originally planned out give or take a few designs. The plan was for three books, two that focused on basic party themes and a holiday edition. Two of the three books have become a reality so far, with one left to go.

What’s the process like of publishing a book?
I was originally going to self-publish it but the cost was way too high. When I approached publishers, no one originally wanted it because of the size and cake pops still were not that popular. Around 2011, I was approached by a company looking for a cake pop designer for their book. I was only going to supply the pops and designs for their book; it wouldn’t have been my book. I did some designs for them and a test shoot but never heard back. Again I had a half-completed book just sitting on my computer. Last April, I got an email from a publisher looking to do a cake pop book. My book has been in the making for years, so as soon as I got the offer, I took it. 

I think the most interesting aspect is what people don’t see – the hard work behind-the-scenes that goes into making a book. The Art of Cake Pops originally had 100 designs, but I ended up dropping a lot of designs because I wanted the book to ‘wow’ people. I wanted to make sure I loved every single design I put in there, and make sure that each design was creative and unique. After I finished photographing the designs, I went back and re-did them all because I wanted it perfect.  It was a challenge because I had to do it in the middle of a heat wave, with no air conditioning!

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The Giveaway!

Prize: One (1) autographed copy of The Art of Cake Pops: 75 Dangerously Delicious Designs. Note: the winner will receive one of the first copies when it becomes available.

Entry Deadline: Friday (3/29/13), 11:00pm EST. Giveaway is closed. Winner announced below. Any comments left after the deadline will not be considered.

To Enter: Leave a comment answering this question: What new cake pop designs would you like to see in Noel’s next cake pop book?

For 5 Extra Entries (leave a separate comment for each item):

  1. Like The Cake Poppery on Facebook
  2. Tweet this contest, mentioning @KCbakes (or RT @kcbakes contest tweet)
  3. Share this giveaway on your Facebook page, tagging both KC Bakes & The Cake Poppery in the post
  4. Follow KC Bakes on Instagram
  5. Find KC Bakes on Instagram & re-post giveaway pic (take screenshot, crop, repost on your own Instagram)

winner Lois