For those of you new to the baby world (as I was), 5 months is an exciting time because 1.) you made it through half of your pregnancy, and 2.) you get to do an in-depth ultrasound to make sure all is good with you/baby and 3.) you can find out the gender!  For a change the baby actually looks like a baby too, instead of a little blob!

I kind of went back-and-forth on whether or not I wanted to find out the gender (there aren’t too many real surprises in life, right?) but my husband wanted to find out and my a-type personality definitely sees the benefit of being able to plan!

For our “reveal” we had the ultrasound tech put the gender in an envelope and we went to dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Broder’s Pasta Bar in Edina, MN.  If you are looking for amazing homemade pasta in a cute, quaint space you need to check this place out!  We didn’t have a great plan for how we would do the reveal, worst-case thought we could have them send X drink for a boy and Y drink for a girl.  But lucky for us our waitress was AMAZING and way into it (shout out to Kaleia!) – she was in training to be a midwife and is obsessed with babies so it was meant to be!  We handed her the envelope and she came-up with a plan (meanwhile we awkwardly ate our appetizer and bread in silence, the anticipation killing us).  When she came around the corner with these cute sherbet drinks we knew we were having a little girl!

My husband and I loved having that moment between the two of us, but also wanted to do something fun for our families but without a big party since our actual announcement was a bit bland (aka hey, by the way we are pregnant).

Insert the cake pops – with everyone in town for the holidays it was a perfect excuse to disguise some holiday baking with our gender reveal.  I have been making this cake pop recipe from Skinny Taste for a few years – they fit my “cute” criteria, are tasty, and outside of cleaning the pan are easy!  They earn the “skinny” title because the cake part is made with Greek yogurt, but full disclosure they are dipped in chocolate so I’m not sure it counts…but details, right?!

I made a few colored for the reveal and a few vanilla to share over the holidays which worked-out great!

Here is the recipe, enjoy!

One recipe makes around 24 cake pops

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow (or chocolate) cake mix
• 1 individual serving (or 5.3oz) plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup water
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 package almond bark (vanilla or chocolate)
• Lollipop sticks (I get mine at Michael’s)
• Parchment paper
• Cake pop pan

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray your cake pop pan
• Combine all of your cake ingredients (cake mix, yogurt, water, egg whites, and vanilla) in a medium bowl
• Using a spoon or plastic bag with the tip cut-off, gently fill the bottom half of each cake pop mold, wiping-off any excess

• Spray the top of the cake pop pan and secure, then place in the oven for 18 minutes, turning half-way through so they bake evenly
• Place the balls on a rack to cool and repeat until you use-up the batter.  Note you may have to clean the pan in between batches to avoid sticking.
• Using a scissors cut-off the excess “ring” around the cake balls and place in the fridge or freezer.

• Melt some of the chocolate according to package directions (careful not to over-heat and scorch)
• Place a lollipop stick into each cake ball and dip in the melted chocolate – let the excess chocolate run-off then either place on parchment paper or a foam block

• Cover with sprinkles or decor of your wish!