Cake Pops

 

Pardon the "sweaty" look. I just took it out of the fridge!

I made some cake pops since I was thinking of gifting them to friends for Christmas. I love handmade gifts, and I thought these would be such a great idea. However, I have encountered some difficulties in making this first batch of cake pops. 

First, the cake I bought was the moist kind. Which is really, really good when you eat it immediately. With making cake pops, I had to freeze it for a few hours so it would hold its shape and stay on the stick. 

Second, even after freezing, it was still a challenge to coat it with chocolate while remaining on the stick. 

The taste was excellent, but I have to make some major tweaks with my technique. Maybe use regular cake mix instead of the moist kind? I will try it and will let you know the outcome. In the meantime, enjoy the recipe of my moist cake pops! :-)


What you need:

1 box cake mix (I used Betty Crocker's Super Moist White Cake Mix)
oil, water and eggs called for in the cake recipe

8 oz cream cheese frosting (about half a tub)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 tablespoon oil
candy sprinkles, nonpareils, and other decors
sticks


What to do:

Bake cake according to package instructions. Set aside to cool.

When the cake has completely cooled, slice the cakes in small squares and crumble them completely. Place the crumbled cake pieces in a large bowl. Add cream cheese frosting and blend well (using your hands, of course). 

Prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment or wax paper. Gather about a tablespoonful of cake and shape it in a ball. Place on the sheet pan. Repeat the process until you have used up all your cake. Refrigerate (or freeze!) for at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate. Place the morsels on the top part of a double boiler and melt. Or, you can put it in a mini Crockpot just like I did! Add the tablespoon of oil and mix well.

Have a stick ready by dipping the top end in chocolate. This is so the cake would stay put when the chocolate at the end of the stick hardens. Poke the cake ball with the stick, making sure the stick doesn't go through! Dip the cake ball in the chocolate and slowly rotate to remove the excess chocolate.

Stick the cake pop in a styrofoam square to keep it upright. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the top with nonpareils or candy sprinkles. Repeat until you have used up all your cake balls.

If you are planning to give it as a gift, wrap in a clear plastic with a pretty bow. :-)

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks: 

1. You can make cake pops from scratch (not from a box). It is just easier and I didn't wanna mess up with that (hahaha).
2. Cake pop makers can be purchased from stores - but the pop itself is pure cake - no cream cheese frosting to hold it.
3. Not a fan of cream cheese frosting? Try buttercream.
4. If you don't have a double boiler or mini crockpot, just zap the chocolate morsels in a microwave for a few seconds. If it hardens, just re-zap it!
5. Consume immediately! I noticed that after a week in my fridge, the cake pop went through the stick! Too dense, I suppose.