Recipe: Cake Pops; A Success Story

Only another parent will recognize the feeling you experience when you gaze down at that tiny little person for the first time, and you find yourself saying "I can't believe I made you..." Well, I felt that again with these cake pops.

Maybe it was beginners luck, or maybe I just expected these to be more difficult after reading all of the horror stories and the complaints of hard work involved. Maybe those people aren't used to cranking out Gourmet Caramel Apples on a weekly basis, so they have no idea that these cake pops are literally a cakewalk by comparison. Whatever it was, I found these simple and delightful to make- and they're oh so cute so you get the satisfaction of a job well done. Bonus!

This was my first time making these. Actually, last night was. They turned out so well that I'm in the process of making a second batch as I type this. I am literally waiting for the cake to cool. The kids just had to bring a couple of these to their teachers at school today, and we are planning on bringing these as a special treat for classmates to celebrate my son's upcoming birthday.

It really surprised me is that these are made of crumbled cake, glued together and shaped into balls with a bit of icing. I never would have thought! Therefore, you have to option of making this a "no-bake" project by simply using a store-bought cake. I didn't have a ton of time, so I used a rainbow-chip Betty Crocker cake mix and a jar of prepared vanilla icing.

 Ingredients:

• one cake- store bought, made from scratch, or whip one up from a box (yields 22-25 'pops)
• icing- home made or store bought- you only need a few table spoons
• candy melts- I used Merckens and mixed white with either pink or blue to achieve my colours
• sprinkles- I used white
• coconut oil- just a bit

 Tools:

• cake pop sticks
• medium-large mixing bowl
• tall, narrow glass for melting candy wafers
• pot of water to use as a double boiler
• styrofoam block or whatever you can rig up to hold the cake pops

Now here's what to do...

If you're baking your cake from a box, then go ahead and bake according to the directions on the box. I used slightly less milk and slightly less oil to reduce the moisture so the cake pop wouldn't have a gross gooey texture.  While your cake is baking, clear some room in your fridge and freezer.

When your cake is finished baking, let it cool. I actually baked mine the night before. Once it's room temperature, you're good to go. Crumble the cake into your mixing bowl Literally crumble the life out of it until it's completely smashed into itty-bitty bits. There should be no big pieces of cake left.  Add no more than two tablespoons of icing to your crumbled cake. It's best to mix it by hand so you can get a feel for it. You want to use just enough icing to make it form together and stick. Too much icing would be a mistake.

While you are mixing your cake crumbs and icing, put your candy melts into your tall, narrow glass cup and melt them in your pot of water, double boiler style. If your candy melts seem too thick to work with, you can add a few drops of coconut oil to thin it out. You don't want it too thick, nor too thin.

Form your cake/icing mix into small balls. Most people will form the balls into the size they want the finished cake pop to be, but you need to remember that there will be a layer of candy coating also and you do not want it to be too heavy for your stick. Make it slightly smaller than your finished 'pop should be. Once your balls are formed (sorry, I had to laugh)... take one of your cake pop sticks and insert it into the center of your ball carefully, then remove it. Dip the tip of the stick into your melted coating, then insert it into the hole you made previously. This should "glue" the stick to the ball. As a tip, insert the stick half way into the ball.

Once all of your sticks are "glued" into your balls with your melted candy coating, and perfectly formed, place them in the freezer for 15-30 minutes. I kept a plate in the freezer and put them in one by one, after I'd inserted the stick.

If your balls should accidentally become frozen solid (giggling again... this recipe is loaded with double-entendre!) you will need to bring them down closer to room temperature before dipping them in your candy coating, otherwise as they thaw after they are finished,they may expand and crack your coating. Only one of mine cracked, and I assume this was why. I have read that an alternative to putting them in the freezer is to place them in the fridge overnight, or for several hours.

Make sure your candy coating is melted properly, without burning it. Make sure it is deep enough to dunk your 'pop down into it and completely submerge it. Because it is oil based, so much as a drop of water will ruin it. That said, I remind you not to use water based food colouring! It will cause your candy coating to seize. So if you've noticed your candy coating has thickened, add a drop or two of coconut oil. If it is too thin, throw in a few more candy melts. As I mentioned, I bought white, blue, and red Merckens candy wafers. I added white to each colour to make my pink and blue.

Get your Styrofoam block ready, because after you dip your cake pop in the candy coating you're going to need something to hold it while you work on the others. I couldn't find Styrofoam until after they were finished, so I used an orange crate with a sheet of craft foam, as well as a sheet of craft foam over a popsicle mold, I transferred them to a piece of styrofoam after. Also, have your sprinkles handy because the coating dries fast.

Our goal is to dunk the pop just once, in one motion. Pick up your uncoated cake pop by the stick and dunk it into the candy coating deep enough to cover the point where the stick enters the cake ball. Pull the cake ball out of the candy coating, turning slowly. Tap your wrist firmly while rotating the stick to knock off any excess and round things out. You really don't have much time so sprinkle your sprinkles onto the pop before it dries. You now have a finished cake pop. You'll be tempted to eat it, but what you should really do is stick it into your Styrofoam and place it in the fridge. After all, you have 20 or more of these to finish!

Like the gourmet apples, these are about a million different ways to change these up. After the cake balls have set in the freezer, you can re-shape them a bit if desired. As an idea, I'd like to try a red velvet cake mixed with cream cheese icing, with a white coating sprinkled in coconut with two candy eyes. The kids fashioned this idea after the Abominable Snowman, or Yeti.

They double as an adorable prop for photos!

Recap: 
I know I tend to ramble, and the recipes on my blog aren't as practical as those found on actual recipe sites... soooo I'll finish up with a summary.

• bake the cake, let it cool
• crumble the cake, mix with less than 2 tbsp icing, form into balls
• melt candy coating, insert sticks- cemented with candy coating, and chill in freezer for 30 minutes
• let cake balls defrost if frozen, and dunk swiftly into candy coating. Tap wrist and turn cake pop to drip off the excess and smooth it out
• throw on a pinch of sprinkles before candy coating hardens
• stick into styrofoam and put in fridge to set
• nom nom nom nom!!!

These are amazing. They turned out really well, and my children agree that they taste better than their previous favorite, which was the cake pops from Starbucks.  I have no idea why people find these so difficult to make. Try them out for yourself and let me know how they turned out in the comments!

Update: Check out this post for more simply adorable decorating ideas.

-H.Cat