Cake Pops!

Assorted Cake Pops

Cake Pops!!!

So either you are excited by reading the title, OR you are like… what the heck are cake pops?!

Cake pops are the hottest trend in the cake world. They are what would happen if you crossed a lollipop with cake! Cake on a stick, formed into a ball and dipped in chocolate. These are not for your diabetic friends.

My foray into the world of cake pops started last week when my friends told me they wanted to have cake pops for their wedding favors… and could I make them. Well, I had never made cake pops before, I had never even eaten them, but I figured I could give it a shot. I offered to do a test run to see if I even could successful make a cake pop. Then I got busy reading blogs, posts and watching videos online to see what I needed to do.

Anyone who knows anything about cake pops has heard of Bakerella; she literally wrote the book on cake pops and she makes the most creative and innovative pops I have ever seen. She has them in every shape, size and Disney character. It is amazing to see what she has done to elevate the simple cake pop.

The basic elements you need to make a cake pop are cake, frosting, melting chocolate and lollipop sticks PLUS anything you want to use for decoration on the pops (sprinkles, chips, etc). Cake pops are a great way to use excess cake that you trimmed off another cake while leveling it, or a great use for that cake that you broke and couldn’t use for anything else. You can also use a cake mix cake. I personally used my own homemade frosting, just because I had a batch on hand, but again, you can use store bought frosting. This is a messy game and you will certainly get your hands dirty, but it is a fun project that you can try to do with kids on a rainy Saturday.

Again, you will need:

Cake, Frosting, Melting Chocolate, Lollipop Sticks, Decorating items (ie assorted sprinkles) Plus a willingness to get your hands messy! (Optional, but highly suggested would be an small ice cream scoop, a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or tin foil, and a Styrofoam block.)

Take your cake and crumble it into a bowl. Just totally wreck it! (This is the therapeutic step) Crumble it up until all you have a cake crumbs. Once you have a nice bowl of crumbs, add in your frosting. If you have a store-bought frosting, use about 3/4 of the container. Now mush it all around until it is evenly distributed. (Some recommend a mixer with a paddle attachment for both these steps, but I was perfectly fine hand mixing the mush) The mixture will look gross, really. But don’t worry, it gets better!

Now that you have your mixture you need to form it into the cake balls. Take your ice cream scoop and scoop out balls, finishing the forming in your hands. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop, just form the balls with your hands. Put the formed cake balls on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or tin foil. Once you have filled the sheet with balls, put it into the freezer for 15 minutes. (If they will be there for longer, take them out of the freezer and put them in the fridge after 15 minutes, to avoid freezing them)

While the balls are chilling, prepare your chocolate. Put the chocolate in a deep microwavable dish and microwave it in about 20 second increments until it is melted. Stir after each increment to help the melting process. You want nice, smooth chocolate.  Additionally, get out your lollipop sticks and your Styrofoam block.

Now there are two ways you can proceed. I have tried both and I preferred Bakerella’s one step method, rather than the popular two-step process.

My preferred method- Take your pops out of the freezer and put them next to the chocolate. Take a lollipop stick and dip it into the melted chocolate about 1/4 inch to-1/2 inch. Then immediately put the stick into one of the balls until it is about half way into the ball. (Do not pre-drill and do not push the stick all the way through). Then immediately after this, take the stick with  the cake ball on it and dip it straight down into the chocolate. Do not swirl it around to coat, instead tilt the ball to each side so it is fully immersed and covered in chocolate. Then pull straight out in an upward motion. Once the ball is out of the chocolate, you can tilt it and let the excess run off. You can also tap you arm as you are holding the ball, to help the excess chocolate drain off.  Put the cake pop in the styrofoam block by piercing the block with the stick. Let the pop dry. (If you want to decorate the pop with sprinkles, you should hold the still wet pop over another bowl and sprinkle the sprinkles on the chocolate before it melts, rotating the pop to ensure maximum coverage.)

Alternately, if you don’t have a styrofoam block, put them stick-side up on a cookie sheet and let dry. They won’t be perfectly round on the top, but it is still a nice way to present them.

Option 2: The other chocolate finishing method- Instead of making this a one step process, the other method turns it into a two-step process. In the method, you melt a small amount of chocolate first, dip the stick into the chocolate and then put the stick into the pop. You then let that dry fully before dripping the entire ball into the melted chocolate. The issue I had with this method was that in some cases the chocolate wasn’t melted enough or warmed up and the ball fell off the stick into the chocolate. I then had to rescue the ruined ball and make sure no stray cake bits ended up floating in the chocolate) Whatever method works for you- Use It!

Last, once the chocolate is dry if you haven’t already decorated it with sprinkles, you can do it in this step. Take the melted chocolate with a spoon (or whatever works) and drizzle it on the cake pop. You can make different lines, or straight, thin lines across the pop, then take your glitter sprinkles and sprinkle them on the new chocolate, creating glittery lines on the pop. Use different patterns and sprinkles for different, unique looks.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG – Ok this all sounds simple enough, but let me just point out some things that can go wrong, so you can try to avoid them.

1. If you don’t use enough frosting in your mix, the cake balls will be too dry and will fall apart.
2. You really must chill the balls after you form them, otherwise will be too soft and will fall off the lollipop stick.
3. Don’t leave them in the freezer for too long either as you don’t want them frozen. (They may also crack when you try to put the lollipop stick in them.) 15 minutes is a good amount.
4. If you try the second method where you put the chocolate candy coated stick in and then let set, prior to dipping, you must be sure that the chocolate is set prior to fully dipping them! Chill them, if not, the ball will fall off the stick and into your melted chocolate mix. (not good)
5. Also, if you have an entire tray to dip, you need to be careful that they don’t get too warm waiting for their turn. You may want to just take a few out of the fridge at a time as you go through the process. (otherwise see problem # 2 above)
6. When you are dipping the pop in for it’s final (main) coating, Do Not swirl it around the chocolate mixture as it will loosen or fall off (also NG). Just dip straight down and tilt to cover the top.
7. When you pull the pop out of the chocolate, let the excess run off. You can also tap your arm lightly to get the drip to fall off. Be careful with the tapping, if you do it too hard, the ball will fall off the stick.

So now you know how to make sweet, fun cake pops. I hope you have fun unleashing your creativity! Enjoy!!!