Have Your Cake AND Eat It, Too!

Cake pops seem to be all the rage these days -- Starbucks charges a $1.50 a pop (pun intended). But you can make around 40 out of one box of cake mix! I have made cake pops several times and found what works best for me. My Facebook friends have been asking for details, so here they are. This link (click here) is a great one that shows how to make them on video. It's a little long, but a must see if you are serious about making cake pops. Please note that I was not able to duplicate the "wave" consistency she shows in her video while describing mixing the shortening with the chocolate, but I added the shortening anyway and it is VERY important!  You can do without it, but the chocolate will be harder to work with and take longer to harden.

Here are my tips...

You will need one box cake mix (plus the ingredients it calls for such as eggs, vegetable oil, water), one can frosting, white, milk, or dark chocolate wafer melts, Crisco vegetable shortening, parchment paper, cookie sheet or similar surface, sucker sticks (paper works best instead of plastic), and styrofoam (I find that florist foam works well with the plastic wrap still on) or a cake pop stand. Optional: Sucker wrap bags, ribbon, and sprinkles. You can get all of these supplies (except the cake mix and frosting) at Michael's. I do not like the "waxiness" of Wilton's chocolate melt wafers, but unless you have dealt with chocolate a great deal, you will probably not notice a difference. I buy most of my products at Do It With Icing in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. Any chocolate or candy supply store (and possibly cake supply stores) should have Merckens or Guittard wafers (my fave).

Prepare a cake box mix according to package directions (you can make one cake, two smaller cakes, even cupcakes). This is important because to me it seems to take forever to make a full mix's worth of cake pops (unless you need a lot). So I might bake a cake and only use half of it. The rest I leave for the family to eat as a regular cake, or save it to make more pops later.

I bake my cake in foil, so it's easy to remove, cool, and I don't even need to wash the pan.

Cool completely (you can speed this up by sticking it the fridge for awhile, I usually bake the cake the day before or earlier in the day). Take however much of the cake you would like to use and crumble into a bowl. Add just enough frosting (room temp) to help it easily stick together. This is where a lot of first-timers make the mistake of adding too much frosting. My first batch I added 3/4 can of frosting to one cake as the recipe called for, and it was way too much. If I am making an entire cake, I will add about a third of a can. The best thing to do it just add a little, mix it in and repeat until you can shape the mix into balls without it coming apart. It's easiest to do this with your hands, and you are going to get your hands icky anyway when rolling it into balls. I crumble the cake with a fork, mix frosting in with a fork, and then switch to my hands to finish it off.

Roll the mix into balls and place on a small cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Do not make the balls too small or it will take forever to dip them, too big and they fall off while dipping.  One inch in diameter is recommended. They will be even bigger when dipped. Place in fridge while preparing chocolate. DO NOT FREEZE THE CAKE BALLS for any length of time because the chocolate will crack when you coat them. I learned this the hard way, thinking if I only put them in the freezer for five or ten minutes it would be okay.

Melt wafers in your microwave. I use 50% power for two and half minutes. This knowledge comes from many, many days of melting chocolate. You will have to experiment if you've never melted chocolate in your microwave. The video comes in handy explaining this. If you are not experienced, I recommend melting the chocolate for one or one and half minutes, stir, melt in 20 second increments after that if it is still not melted. You need to be careful or you will scorch the chocolate. Use a bowl or cup that is not too wide so it's easier to dip into the chocolate. I use a small glass bowl and tip the bowl while twirling the cake pop to cover easily. But I am getting ahead...  (Update:  I now use these silicone prep bowls from pampered chef... love them!)

The next step is essential, or it will take too long for your chocolate to set on the cake pops. Once the chocolate is melted add a little 100% vegetable shortening to the mix (again the video is great to show you this). Make sure it is the white, stiff shortening (Crisco is in a can with a blue label), as I made another mistake trying to use some shortening bars once. I would estimate for a cup of chocolate, add about one or one and a half tablespoons of shortening. Chop it with a untensil and keep stirring... it will take a little time to make sure it is fully melted and mixed in. This step thins the choclate a little, makes it easer to dip and will set faster. (One note, my pics are a red velvet cake mix and the cake was so dark that I dipped the white chocolate ones twice to cover.)

I take out five or six cake balls at a time from the fridge and coat them, so that the rest of them can stay cooling in the fridge and will hold their shape better. This also makes them firmer and easier to work with. Take a sucker stick and dip it one-fourth inch into the choclate, then push into the cake ball. Place on a paper plate or cookie sheet with wax paper with the sucker stick pointing up. This sets the stick into the cake ball.

After completing this step on the balls you have taken out of the fridge, reshape them a little if necessary, and roll them into the chocolate to coat them. You can use a spoon or knife to help in this area like in the video, but I find it easier just to tip the small bowl and roll on!

If you want to sprinkle something on top, hold the still wet ball over a paper plate and shake on sprinkles. You can also put chocolate or chocolate writing designs on them later, depending on how fancy you want to get.

Stick completed balls into the styrofoam and let them set for at least twenty minutes. I like to put sucker wrapper bags on mine and tie them off with ribbon for a finishing touch. No need to refrigerate after this point.

I have tried these with success...

Strawberry cake, strawberry icing, white chocolate. (A little too rich for me.)
Lemon cake, cream cheese frosting, white and milk chocolate.
Chocolate cake, vanilla frosting, white chocolate.
Red velvet cake, vanilla frosting, white and milk chocolate.
Basically mix and match to your hearts content. I'd like to try spice cake with vanilla frosting, dipped in white chocolate!

You can sprinkle with cake sprinkles, colored sugar, small nuts, cruched up toffee, graham cracker crumbs... whatever!

Hope this info helps. I recommend watching the video, reading this blog, and experimenting with what works best for you. Do not attempt to make cake pops for your friend's fancy birthday party on the first attempt! Make a trial batch to experiment with.

You can give as gifts by putting some styrofoam in a coffee mug and sticking suckers in, or I have used a Chinese food style box (they make holiday ones) by folding the flaps down into the box and sticking suckers into styrofoam that way (see photo). People freak out over these and LOVE them!

Enjoy!

UPDATE:  Learned to make these recently for Amy's wedding... so fun!