Fun with Cake Pops

Thanks to Bakerella, cake pops have been quite a popular phenomenon amongst bakers in the last little while. They're cute. They're fun. And they're a lovely alternative to the cupcake. I decided to give them go and made a batch of cake pops a few days ago to add to treat bags I was putting together.



I'm a very strong believer in scratch cooking, but I decided to cheat and make life easier by picking up a box of cake mix (at least it was organic!) and canned frosting. The cake pops themselves are extremely easy to make. What I found time consuming was coating them to ensure a beautiful, perfect outer shell. Due to the temperature difference (cold cake, warm chocolate), the coating cracked as it cooled and dried, which meant I had to do two layers to get a nice, white coating.

While it took twice the time, it make the pops look great in the end, especially with some rainbow sprinkles on top. Encasing them in chocolate, plus the frosting added to the cake, make them super moist even after a few days.



Cake Pops
Adapted from Recipe Rhapsody
Makes about 50 pops

1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you will not need all of it)
or 1/2-3/4 cup homemade frosting
1 (24 oz) package candy melts (white or chocolate)
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks

Bake the cake according to the directions on the box in a 9" x 13" pan. Allow to cool completely.

Cut the cake into smaller pieces and place in a food processor (you will probably have to do this in two batches). Pulse until you get fine crumbs. Place crumbs in a large mixing bowl.

Add 3/4 cup of the frosting to the bowl of cake crumbs. Using your hands, mix the frosting into the crumbs. Add more frosting as necessary until the cake is rollable and holds together.

Roll a small amount of cake into a ball, much like a truffle, into a 20g ball, about 1 inch in diameter. Place on a baking sheet. When all the cake has been rolled, placed them into the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Melt candy melts in a double boiler. Remove cake balls from the fridge. Dip the end of a popsicle stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the flattened side of the cake ball, no more than halfway through. Repeat with remaining cake balls. Place the cake balls into the fridge for about 15 minutes to chill them again.

Remove cake balls from fridge and dip into the melted chocolate, twirling and lightly tapping the popsicle stick to remove the excess chocolate. Insert the cake pop into the styrofoam to allow the chocolate to dry. Repeat with remaining cake pops.

After the first layer of chocolate coating has dried, repeat with a second layer of chocolate coating. Add sprinkles to the cake pops before the chocolate sets. Allow cake pops to set completely before wrapping in small cellophane bags.