If you're a fan of Bakerella like I am, you know exactly what cake pops are...if not, the short back story is Bakerella went to a party a few years back, tried cake balls, fell in love...tried making them herself...tried putting them on a stick, and thus the cake pop craze was born. (This is the very very short version).
What is a cake pop, you ask?
Essentially it is a baked cake that is crumbled, frosting is mixed in, the mixture is rolled into balls, the balls are put on a stick and then dipped in melted chocolate or white chocolate candy. Now, I know, when I was first looking at pops I thought, yeah sure they're cute, but so is a cupcake... so I thought I'd try and make some of my own, see what all the fuss was about. Ok, totally simple steps, nothing confusing about making pops...HOWEVER, one batch takes 6-7 hours (if you bake the cake yourself)!!! So they were all done, the candy had set, I popped them in the fridge (they keep muuuuch longer in the fridge) and was able to leave them alone for all of 5 minutes before I was itching to taste one. I'm looking down at the pop in my hand, thinking, this better be good, I've spent all day making it...and was I ever rewarded. OMG, so tasty, and might I say, delicious. I will not be keeping these in the house on a regular basis, or I will gain 10 pounds, haha. It's hard to describe, because it's really not the same as just eating a piece of cake, its a whole other experience...and there really is something about it being on a stick that makes it so much fun to snack on. To put it simply, I AM IN LOVE!!!
Of course, if you want to try some cake pops for yourself, I can whip you up a batch, it would be my pleasure. But if you're ever rained in, or snowed in, and you feel like making a day of it...here are the steps to making your own cake pops.
1. Bake a cake. For my first try I just used a vanilla cake mix, to keep things simple. Either follow the directions on the box, or try one of my "Cupcake of the Day" recipes. Try to avoid recipes with big chunks of fruit or unmelted chocolate chips in the mix (or just remove them from the recipe).
2. Crumble your cooled cake. You can do this one of two ways. you can either cut the cake in half and rub the two halves together over a large bowl OR you can break off chunks of the cake over a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer to create a small crumble.
3. Mix in frosting. I know that I tout the wonders of whipped frosting, but in this case, its best left for cupcakes. Any standard buttercream (even one pre-made from a tub) will work well. For a standard cake mix, you will need 2 cups of frosting. (If you use one of my recipes that makes 12 cupcakes, only use 1 cup of frosting in your mixture). You can either mix the frosting into the crumbled cake with a spatula or beat again with your electric mixer on low speed.
4. WASH YOUR HANDS! Even though you probably washed your hands before you started, wash them again. Take a tablespoon and scoop out some of the cake/frosting mixture. Press the mixture into the spoon and level off the top. Scoop out the mixture from the spoon and into the palm of your hands. Roll between the palms of your hands until you have an evenly shaped ball. (This part was so much fun for me, it reminded me of making meatballs with my mom as a kid)! Put the ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. At this point, your cake balls should look like this...
6. Melt a few candy melts, or chocolate wafers in the microwave for about 30-60 seconds. I used Wilton Color Burst Pastel Candy Melts. Dip the end of of your lollipop stick into the candy melt and then poke the stick about half way into the cake ball. Then put it back onto the baking sheet. Repeat until all cake balls are on a stick. It should look something like this...
7. Now that your cake balls have been turned into cake pops they need to go back into the fridge for 2 hours. This will allow the candy on the stick to harden and help the ball stay on the stick. After 2 hours have passed, removed the cake pops from the fridge 12 at a time. If you take them all out at once they will become soft before you can dip them and you will have problems.
8. Melt the entire bag of candy melts in a small-medium bowl in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well in between. I used my brand new Wilton Chocolate Pro. It has two settings, warm and melt. It melted the whole bag of candy in about 15 minutes, and kept it at the perfect temperature and consistency for dipping, LOVE IT! The Chocolate Pro retails for about $33. If you love dipping things in chocolate, I definitely recommend this product, it's great for pops, chocolate dipped strawberries, or fondue desserts. Here it is, melting my pretty pastel melts. I think it's quite nice looking. I wouldn't be ashamed to put this out on my table to serve dessert...let people dip their own.
11. Put the pops upright in a stand to let the candy or chocolate coating set. You can buy these from Wilton...unfortunately they haven't quite made it to my local store yet, so I had to fashion my own out of a styrofoam block. Remember not to touch the pops while they're hardening, and try not to let them touch each other either. (Is anyone else feeling like this whole post has some naughty undertones *wink, wink*) Sorry, I can't help it. Immediately after dipping, you can put some simple decorations on your pops if you like. I used some shimmering sugars. I sprinkled some all over the pop, and dipped some on the top. You can also roll your pops in sprinkles, jimmies, non-pareils or chopped nuts.
You can also wrap them in cellophane bags and tie them up with a pretty bow. This is a really nice way to display decorated pops.
If you want to leave your pops plain, but still wrap them up to gift them, you can cover the pop in foil candy wrappers. These are 4"X4" squares of foil that come in a variety of colours and patterns, they will add a pretty pop of colour and protect the outer shell of your cake pops for packaging and transportation.
And there it is. After a whole day of baking, melting and dipping, you're finally done! Time to enjoy your delicious little treat. These are great for kids...just the perfect size for their little mouthes and little tummies. They're also great for those friends that are always asking for the tiniest slice of cake...they can't complain about these bite sized treats! If you have the time to try these yourself, I applaud you. If not, well, you can always give me a call. As for me, I'm beyond excited to try out lots of flavor combinations between cake and icing and all of the beautiful colours of candy melts.
Stay tuned for cake pops, coming soon to heartofthebatter.com!
Until next time,
Happy baking, caking and tasting!
Love and Sprinkles xoxo
>>Any questions about making your own cake pops? products that I used and where to find them? or different types of pops you can make? Want to place an order? Leave me a comment below.<<
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