The Messyish ADORABLE Curl!

Everyone is always looking for new ways to curl their hair. I'm always looking on youtube and honestly, there are so many different ways to curl your hair, I'm just going to post about them separately. The first one I'm going to do is so cute and so successful, like 99% of the time, that you have to be crazy not to try it. It's different from the normal, curling iron way, and different from the beachy, Taylor Swift way. Its kind of a mix of both, and it gives you more of a new, unique look, so you don't have to look like everyone else who curls their hair. Plus it's messy in the cutest way. Without further ado:

First, get your hair wet. Probably after your nightly shower. It's really important that it's at night. Night's best because you sleep on it and it drys overnight. I tried wetting it in the day and taking it out later, but it still didn't dry completely, and that's SUPER important. So trust me, just do it before you go to sleep and then sleep on it. After your shower, braid your hair. It could be a side braid, two braids, a French braid, or a Katniss braid. But not a bunch of little ones, because you don't want your hair to be bushy with curl, just wavy. Any of the ways work, because its gonna be the under layer anyways. I just put mine in a simple side braid (make sure you do it when it's wet) :

Sleep (zzzzzz) on it. Its okay if it's messy in the morning. Now take it out. It should just have a little wave, like this (DON'T BRUSH IT): 

Now take a strand from the upper layer of your hair, right in the middle of your head:

Clamp it in the curling iron. Don't just wrap your hair around it without using the clamper thingy. That's what I usually do, but for this, its important to do the clamper:

Now wrap it up as far as you can take it with burning your skin off:

It'll look something like this over the braid curls:

Now run your hands through it to separate the curl and brake it up a bit: 

Then each curl will look like a perfect little strand ;) :

Now do a curl towards the back, exactly the same way:

And then one towards the front:

Now you're done with that side. Move on to the other side and do the exact same thing, with one curl in the middle, one in the front, and one in the back, just using the upper layer. The curls will be kind of big, like this:

So make sure to run your fingers through each one to spread them across your head. When you've done the three curls on that side, carefully run a brush through the top of your hair down to that point:

This is so it cams down the flyways and static from bed. You won't notice on the bottom because obviously, its in curls, but you might want to do this real quick on top.

And... Voila! The finished, adorable look! Isn't it cute! It has the over-layer of curls with the wave from the braid underneath! This look is like my new favorite! Me and Ella both love it. We found it online and then both showed up at church the next day wearing it! Haha it was really funny! Have fun with it!

Chocolate Cake Pops!!!!!!!!

Cake pops! Can you believe it?! I actually found something to work with these without a cake-pop making machine Those are just lame. I mean, do you want to rely on technology or the incredible fun of experimental baking? I think its obvious which direction this post is going. Hello? Do you know me?! Now, these are chocolate cake pops.  Feel free to take away the cocoa and make vanilla.
Ok, a few things about this recipe: There are a few long steps in the process of making cake pops. Its not this particular recipe's fault, its just how cake pops are. So get ready for it. This recipe actually does work and its pretty simple, it just takes a while.
One last thing: DO NOT DOUBLE THIS RECIPE! Seriously, even if you have a big group. I have 8 younger siblings, and this recipe was way more than enough. If you double it, you might find you have cake pops when your 80 and living in a nursing home. Just... trust me.

First, you have to make the cake part of the pops. These are the ingredients and directions to that step.

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Chocolate Cake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans. At least, that's what we did. You could use your normal round cake pans too. It really doesn't matter, because you're taking it out of the pans anyways.
• In a medium bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside.
• In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar till it's all fluffy. This should take about 4 minutes if you want to time it. Then add the vanilla and eggs. Mix. And just so all of you know, I kind of take it for granted that most bakers know to scrape the sides with a spatula, so if you don't, start to.
• Okay, now keep the mixer going while you alternate with the flour mixture and milk. You know, pour a bit of flour in, then some milk, until both are gone and the mixture is fully applied.
• Pour into the prepared pans until both have close to even amounts of cake mix in them, then pop them in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until you stick a fork or a toothpick in and it comes out clean. Don't be discouraged if you find that the cake is sinking in the middle or something like that, because trust me, it won't matter at all.  At first I was like, "Oh no! The cake is sinking!" But then I realized it wouldn't make a difference. You'll see. 

While you're waiting for the cake to finish cooking, you might as well start on the frosting. And I know some frosting recipes online are total blows and taste like pure sugar, this one is actually legit. It's perfect for cake pops and really just for a frosting. Here's what you need for that step:

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cups cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Chocolate Frosting Directions:

• Beat the the butter till it's light and cloud-like.
• In a small, separate bowl, sift the powdered sugar and cocoa till combined.
• Now we're going to do the same thing we did earlier with the alternating mixtures. Pour a little of the cocoa mixture in, then some of the milk, and so on till both are emptied and the whole thing is smooth. 

Finally, it's time to make the cake pops. If you haven't taken your cakes out of the oven, wait until their ready and then pull them out. Then we can begin. The first thing to remember is that once your cakes are out, you MUST LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY! This takes a while, but don't ignore it! To speed the process, I set my cakes outside in the cool air. Don't freeze or refrigerate though. Once it's all the way cooled off, you will have two things: The frosting, in the electric mixer:

And the two cakes:

This next part is kind of weird. You have to break up and crumble the cakes in their pans until they're just a pile of chocolate crumbs. You can easily do this with your hands, just mixing the cakes up a bit.

Dump all the cake crumbs into the mixer with the frosting and turn it on. Now, this is when the mixture gets kind of thick, so be careful not to burn out your mixer. It only needs a little stirring, so you probably don't have to worry about it. When you taste it, if there are little chunks of chocolate cake, don't worry about it. Personally, I love that part. The mixture will look like this:

Now you roll the mixture into little balls that will serve as the cake pops and place them on a baking pan. You don't have to worry about spreading them out, because you're just sticking them in the freezer. You won't put the sticks in them till later. Don't worry about freezer burn, because the cake balls will only be in there for a short time. Stick them in the freezer and start to work on something else while they are freezing. 

Complete Chocolate Cake Pop Ingredients:

• 5 cups chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter
• 58 thick lollipop sticks or craft popsicle sticks, just any sticks, bearing in mind that they have to support a considerably heavy ball of chocolate

Alright, I just want everyone to know that these chocolate chips will be used for the outer glaze. It doesn't matter what flavor it is in the least. So mix it up, have some fun. You could use white chocolate chips, peanut butter chocolate chips (Reese's pops), butterscotch chips, seriously, whatever you want! I did chocolate because I literally had no other options, but if you do, than go for it! Seriously, I'm planning on using white chocolate chips next time. 

This part isn't exactly where we glaze the pops. You'll see what it is.

Directions:

• Take 1/4 cup of whatever kind of chip you're using out of the 5 cups and put it in a small glass bowl. 
• Take roughly a teaspoon of the butter and plop it on the chips.
• Put the bowl in the microwave and microwave it for 30 seconds. Take it out, stir it, take another teaspoon of butter, put it on, and put it back in the microwave. Heat it for another 30 seconds.
• Do this until the mixture is combined and smoothed, probably about 2 more times. 
• Now take the pops out of the freezer and get out the sticks you are using. Keep the cake pops on the tray (there's no need to move them).
• Take a stick and swirl it around in the bowl of chocolate until the tip is covered with a bit of chocolate. Poke the stick on the chocolatey end into one of the balls on the tray, upside down, and move onto the next one. The bit of chocolate on the end of the stick helps it stick to the cake pop. (Keep the pops on the tray. They will be facing upside down.) Make sure you get a good amount on there, because the cake pops like to fall of their sticks. 
• Put the cake pops back in the freezer.
• Now put the rest of the chips in a larger microwave-safe bowl. Put in roughly a tablespoon of the butter in the bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds.  
• Repeat this, once again, with the butter and chocolate till the mixture is completely melted. This will use the rest of the butter up.
• Check the pops. Is the chocolate all the way frozen? If it's not, stick the tray back in. Do not take them out until the chocolate on the sticks is COMPLETELY HARDENED, or else all may fail. I'm serious, this is a really important step.
• Once the pops are ready, take them out and place them next to the bowl of chocolate. Now, get something that will somehow hold the pops up. My suggestion is find a styrafoam box and poke holes in it, but not too close together because then the cake pops will rub up against each other.
• Take each cake pop and swirl it in the chocolate. If tons of it layers on, try to scrape it off, because you don't want too much on there. Then place the cake pop (right side up this time) in whatever holder you've found. 
• Now you're done! This step is the most fun, because you get to decorate it any way you want! You could make a white chocolate glaze and drizzle it over the top, use fondant, or any candy you want, like gumdrops or something! 

See? I used little candy balls! And notice how they are sticking out of holes in a decorated styrafoam box. This was for a birthday, so that's why its so fancy!

These are always good for trying something new, and ALWAYS for eating! Enjoy!