A cake pop goes by many names – cake pops, cake-on-a-stick, cake balls, tiny bites of heaven. Basically, a cake pop is cake mixed together with frosting, covered in candy coating, on a lollipop stick. Mmmmmm – there’s not a single word in that last sentence that isn’t yummy!  They do require some effort, but it’s soooooo worth it.

What you’ll need:

The first step is to bake a cake – any flavor will work.  Boxed cake mix works really well and frankly, once coupled with frosting no one will know the cake is not made from scratch.  Let the cake cool completely.

The cake doesn’t have to pretty (see those cracks??) because once cooled, you’re going to break it up into fine crumbs: *Note, if you leave any lumps of cake, they may make inserting the lollipop stick later in the process more difficult.

Once crumbled, mix in the frosting. Opinions vary at this point, but what I’ve found works best for me is 1 cup of the frosting – NOT the whole can.  Too much frosting makes the balls soft and can fall off the stick during dipping.  Remember, you can always add more later if it seems too dry.

To create the cake ball, I use a scoop that looks like a mini ice cream scoop.  They’re sold in most stores these days, but if you don’t have one and don’t want to buy one more gadget to clutter your drawer, a tablespoon will work.  Make it a heaping tablespoon.

Next we roll the balls.  The mixture should feel like play doh that’s been sitting out for a little while.  Roll it into a ball with your hands and place on a baking sheet.  Continue rolling until the cake mixture is gone.  I usually can get about 30 cake balls out of my batch because mine are a little big.

Once complete, place the cake balls in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  You can also freeze them for about 15 minutes to firm up.  I cover them with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out while chilling.

Melt your candy coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing between each to ensure you don’t burn it.  I add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to 1 pound bag of candy coating to thin it which helps when you’re tapping off excess candy coating.  Throughout the dipping process, you will need to warm up the candy coating for about 10 seconds every 5-7 cake balls to keep the coating thin.  As it cools, it will thicken and cool quicker, thus leading to a bumpy surface and/or balls falling off the lollipop stick because the coating is too thick.

First, dip your stick in the candy coating. The candy coating will help adhere the cake ball to the stick, helping to prevent it slipping down the stick.

Insert the stick about halfway into the ball.

Dip the ball into the candy coating.  Gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl to tap off any excess coating.

If you don’t tap off the coating, this drippy thing will happen. Still yummy, not so pretty.

Occasionally, you’ll see an air bubble in the coating while you’re tapping off the excess.  Simply use a toothpick to pop it and the bubble will disappear.

After the cake ball has been dipped and the excess candy coating has dripped off, poke the lollipop stick into the styrofoam block.  Repeat these steps until all the cake balls have been dipped.

Now you can jazz up your cake pops.  The pop on the left was supposed to be an apple, but it looks like a tomato.  I stuck a small piece of pretzel for the stem while the candy coating was still wet and attached the eyes.  You can add sprinkles while the coating is still wet.  The cake pop on the right has candy coating striped on the top.  To do that, pour melted coating into a Ziploc bag, snip off the corner and swing your hand back and forth over the cake pop while squeezing the bag.  You WILL drizzle some on the styrofoam but that’s OK.  Or cover your plain pop with a plastic treat bag and tie with fun ribbon to match whatever occasion you’re celebrating.

Ta-daa!  Once you bring these to your next function, people will be asking you to bring them everywhere you go!