I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a baker. In the culinary field, it’s widely known that you’re either a savory cook or a baker. You can’t be both. I blame it on the fact that with baking, everything has to be extremely precise. A cup of flour needs to be exactly one cup. It needs to be sifted. Recipes have to be followed exactly.
To me, the best part about being in the kitchen is the freedom you have to add, change, mix whatever ingredients you want, in whatever amount you want in order to make something spectacular. However, I do realize that sweets and baked goods are a tad more popular with my clients. So, when I got a request to make cake pops for a party I obviously said, “Of course we can do that!”.
Little did I know what this baking adventure would entail. I mean, it seems easy enough. You just roll up cake into a ball and cover it with icing, right? Wrong!
I was lucky enough to have a friend who’d made them before (aka able to school me on how to make them). She proceeded to show me the “right” way to crumble the cake after it baked. Apparently using a fork wouldn’t do. And then of course the chocolate icing has to be the right consistency. I thought she was going to keel over when she saw a drop of water on the spoon I was using to mix, yelling, “WATER IS ICING’S ENEMY!”. She even had a special ceramic icing bowl for dipping and a cake pop stand so they all sat upright and pretty. After it took me a full two days to make 35 cake pops, I’d decided that Starbucks is insane for only charging $3 each. Although, I suppose they probably have an assembly line and a much more efficient way to make these.
Yields: 35 cake pops
Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 6 hrs
Ingredients:
1 boxed cake mix, + ingredients needed on the back of the box
12 oz ready made frosting
35 lollipop sticks
32 oz candy melt chocolate
- Bake the cake as directed on the box. Let cool completely. (I let mine cool overnight.)
- Once the cake is cooled completely, crumble it into a fine texture. My friend said the correct way is to put the cake between your hands and crumble it. (I used a food processor and it turned out fine, but don’t tell my friend!)
- Add 12 oz (3/4 of a container) icing and mix thoroughly. The mixture should be moist enough to hold its shape.
- Roll into a round shape ~1 inch in diameter with hands. Place on parchment paper and refrigerate X 2 hrs.
- Microwave ¼ of the chocolate candy until thin enough to pour. Dip ~1/2 inch of the lollipop stick into the melted chocolate. Insert the stick (the part with the icing) into cake balls, pushing it halfway through. Turn over (lollipop stick up) and refrigerate X 1 hr.
- Microwave 4 oz chocolate candy at a time in a bowl. The goal is to submerge the cake ball only once so that the icing is smooth. To get an even coating, tap the stick on the side of the bowl while turning in a circle. Repeat with remaining cake pops. Place upright by putting the stick into a Styrofoam block while they dry.
The Cook’s 2 Cents:
- I like to use applesauce when making cakes. Replace the oil with applesauce to make this a tad healthier.
- When crumbling the cake, make sure not to leave any large pieces of cake or it’ll make your cake pop look lumpy.
- On my first attempt at these, I made the balls way too big. If you do this, they tend to fall off the stick. Shoot for about 1 inch in diameter.
- If you want this process to go faster, you can freeze the cake pops for 15 minutes so they get firm instead of the refrigeration process.
- The key to these are that they remain cold. Only take out a few at a time from the fridge during each step.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 1 cake pop
Servings Per Recipe: 35
Calories; 150 Fat: 6g Sodium: 117mg Carbs: 23g Fiber: < 1g Sugar: 18g Protein: 1g
