Graduation Cap Candy

Graduation Caps ~ Bakerella

Ingredients Needed:

• Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sour Belts
• Minature Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
• Godiva chocolate squares
• Sucker Sticks
• Chocolate for melting
• Candy Sprinkles
• **see optional items for ingredients in post for colored caps

Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sweetly Sour Belts! Ummm… Can you say mouthful? When I found these in the candy aisle at the drug store, I had to grab them. I knew I could find something fun to do with them.

And besides… they’re just plain pretty!  These were definitely the inspiration for the graduation caps. They make perfect tassles and give you color choices at the same time. Just cut apart each color strip with a knife.

Now, grab a bag of miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups. But, before you unwrap them, stick them in the freezer for a few minutes. It will make it easier to remove the wrapper and keep the sides looking pretty when you do.
 
If you remove the wrappers while the candies are room temperature, the sides sometimes come off with the wrapper like this. But that’s okay, because these rejects taste good.

After you unwrap them, place all the cups on a sheet of wax paper and let them get back to room temperature. When the chill is gone, dip the end of your lollipop stick in some melted candy coating and carefully insert into the candy cups. If they are too cold, the cups will split apart. Just insert the sticks about halfway and let dry.

Now, work on the tops. I used these small Godiva chocolate squares. They aren’t the cheapest little things, but the proportions were perfect and because they were individually wrapped, the edges were clean. I found them at a store called the World Market a while ago. Just draw a thin line of candy coating on top with a toothpick and glue on a short piece of the candy belt and a rainbow chip sprinkle in the same color to match.

When the tops are dry, glue them on the candy cups using some more of the candy coating and insert into a styrofoam block to finish drying.

Cute!

But, wait a minute. What if you don’t want brown graduation caps?

Or maybe you’re just dying to do the whole cake pop thing. Well, you’re in luck.

Grab some colored candy melts and get your hands on one of these square candy molds .

Pour some melted candy coating in each square and then drop it on the counter several times to flatten/smooth out the chocolate. Put them in the freezer for a few minutes and it will be easier to pop them out of the molds.

You can also use one of these medium size candy cup molds . I’ve shown them before with the Cake Bite Method. Just fill the bottom of the cup with some melted candy. Place small, chilled cake ball shapes (smaller than the width of the mold) and push them into the candy coating until the coating inches up the sides. That one on the right is how they look for the Cake Bite Method, but for these they should be almost flush with the height of the molds.

Then, cover the exposed areas with more melted candy coating. When covered, insert lollipop sticks about halfway in. By the way, using chilled cake balls here helps the sticks stand up straight when you insert them. Then place these in the freezer for a few minutes and when dry, they’ll pop out relatively easy. Don’t try to pull them out by the sticks, though. Push them out by pressing on the mold underneath.

Then, you can glue everything on. Instead of rainbow chip sprinkles, use a mini-size m&m because these hats are larger in size than the Reese’s version.

And there you have it… Colored Candy Covered Cake Ball Caps!

P.S. If you can’t find Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sour Belts, then try pull apart Twizzlers. They are bigger and round, but if you cut them in half, I think you can glue them, flat side down.