It’s Earth Week here on LFM, so what have I got for you today?
No celebration is complete without cake, so tree pops and ladybug bites of course!
Originally I planned on making Earth pops, but the amount of work that was going to be required to do the details on the balls just ended up not being worth it, so I rethought my plan. I decided on doing treats inspired by the Fujilings instead. Squirrel inspired the tree pops, because Squirrels love to play in trees,

(Foodie in training . . . reading one of Mama’s food mags)

and Bug inspired the ladybug bites, because, well . . . that one’s pretty obvious!
I used Bakerella’s recipe and this video clip as a reference. These were so fun to make. I used a Devil’s Food cake and a can of cream cheese frosting (just for sake of time) for the balls.
The tree pops ended up looking a bit like a tree that a Kindergartner would draw, or something out of a Dr. Seuss story, but hey, you can use your imagination right? To make the tree pops I dipped some lollipop sticks first in dark chocolate for the tree trunk and then stuck the into the balls, then let them firm up again in the fridge.
Then I dipped them in green candy melts and sprinkled them with “apples.”
For the “apples” I used some red candy sprinkles left over from Christmas.
To make the ladybug bites I dipped the cake balls in red candy melts and then added the details on with dark chocolate.
A few things I learned from this experience:

— These are surprisingly yummy! I figured they would be good, but was really making them for the “cute factor.” They ended up being delicious–BONUS!
— These would be really fun to make with kids, though they are still a bit messy for Squirrel to help with. I let her “help” roll the cake balls. I think she ate the mixture for the most part.

— Next time I make these I will add half of the frosting and mix it up and then slowly add in the rest until I get a consistency that I’m happy with instead of adding all of the frosting at once. The mixture was a bit on the soft side for me, even after being refrigerated.

— Don’t plug in your slow cooker next to your tree pop forest without thinking . . . The heat will cause some “global warming” which will cause some inadvertent “deforestation” to occur.
Oops . . . .— Tree pops and ladybug bites make the Fujis happy.