The Best Cake Pops Recipe
The Best Cake Pops Recipe - Just like Starbucks (Chocolate or Vanilla/Birthday Cake)
OK, my daughter loves cake pops. Especially the cake pops from Starbucks — chocolate ones and birthday cake ones. So do her friends. Annnnnd, I guess I’m a big fan as well. So when she suggested cake pops for her New Year's Eve party this year, who was I to say no? I looked up several recipes online to find just the right recipe that would work for me, and modified it a bit to suit my tastes — and came up with what I think is THE BEST Cake Pop recipe out there. So, here goes…
First things first
Cake pops are pretty easy — just crumbled cake, mixed with frosting and rolled into a ball, put on a stick and dipped in melted candy with sprinkles. They are easy, but they also take time and patience. So set aside an afternoon, put on some music and get ready to have fun!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO BUY
- 1 box cake mix (chocolate or vanilla or both!)
- 1 16-oz tub of ready-made frosting (chocolate or vanilla or both!)
- 48 oz. candy coating (chocolate or vanilla or both!)
- 48 lollipop sticks
- Food coloring (optional)
- Sprinkles (optional)
WHAT YOU’LL NEED FROM THE KITCHEN
- A few big mixing bowls
- A microwave safe plastic or metal bowl
- A large mixing spoon
- Parchment paper
- A few large baking sheets
- A styrofoam block to put the finished pops in
MAKE 48 CAKE POPS IN 10 EASY STEPS
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BAKE: Bake the cake as directed on the box.
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COOL: Let your cake cool, and once the cake is cool, line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
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CRUMBLE: Crumble the cake into a bowl and make sure its broken up into small pieces.
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ADD FROSTING: Add about ¾ of the frosting into the bowl and mix it around with a spoon or your hands until it is moist and you can form balls out of it. Start off a little at a time — don’t use too much frosting or the cake pops will be too moist.
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ROLL: Roll your cake/frosting mix into 1½ inch balls and put them on the parchment-lined baking sheets.
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CHILL: Put those little babies into the refrigerator and let them cool. Give them a couple of hours. If you’re in a hurry or impatient like me, you can try the freezer for between 15-30 minutes. You don’t want them frozen though, so keep an eye on them.
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PREP COATING: Put about 16 oz of the candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl and melt it according the the instructions on the package. Don’t overheat it, or it’ll break up and you’ll have big mess on your hands. Stir it really well so its nice and smoooooth.
Pro tip #1: If your candy coating is too thick, it’ll be a mess and your cake pops won’t turn out right. If it is too thick, you can add a little vegetable oil to thin it out a bit. This is critical at this point, so don’t skip this step. Make sure its smoooooth and thin.
Pro tip #2: If you’re using white-chocolate candy coating, you can use a few drops of food coloring to make it look all colored and pretty.
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DIP: OK, now you’re ready for the fun part. Take a few balls out of the fridge and dip ½ inch of the stick into the melted candy coating. Now insert the stick into a cake ball, about ½ way through. Carefully dip that ball into the candy coating up to the base of the stick (it will help secure the ball to the stick). You want the coating to be thin, so this may take a little practice. Don’t dip it in twice or it’ll be too thick. Like I said, it may take a little practice to get your dipping technique just right. Have confidence, you can do it.
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ROTATE: Once you pull the cake pop out of the coating, it’ll drip a little, so gently rotate it and tap it so the coating is looks nice and even. A good presentation is key, because the better they look, the more chance you have of taking nice Instagram shots and impressing your friends with how cool you are.
- SPRINKLE: Now, get some pretty sprinkles and shake them onto your beautiful new cake pop while the candy coating hasn’t hardened yet. Put the cake pop into your styrofoam block. Or if you’re lazy and don’t have a styrofoam block, you can gently lay it down on a piece of parchment paper and come to grips with the fact that your cake pop will be a little lopsided.
Good job, you make your first Cake Pops, and I’m sure Starbucks will be jealous. Your next job is to eat as many as you can before your kids realize what happened.
