Cake pops are all the rage this holiday season. These fun and delicious desserts make great gifts as their flavors and colors are completely customizable. Cake pops are bits of crumbled cake, mixed with frosting and dipped in melted candy wafers. They're served up on a lollipop stick. There's an endless amount of cake pop ideas, limited only by your creativity.
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Starbucks is known for its pink and white sprinkle birthday cake pop. They even have a seasonal Christmas cake pop made to look like a reindeer. If you've recently attended a birthday party, wedding, or baby shower, you've likely seen cake pops make their appearance on the dessert table alongside brownies and cookies.
We are going to walk you through a step-by-step guide to creating your own cake pops, as well as provide some tips to help you create your masterpieces.
The Story Behind Cake Pops
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Cake pops first popped onto the scene in 2008. They were invented by blogger Bakerella, aka Angie Dudley. Her riff on a version of the cupcake took the nation by storm and cake pops have been a hit ever since. The official first cake pop was a riff on a red velvet cake ball. Bakerella's first cake pop recipe adapted her cake ball by inserting a lollipop stick into the center. She also covered her cake with pink candy melts, instead of chocolate bark. Such a simple change, and voila a new creation!
Bakerella has expanded her repertoire with hundreds of different designs and cake recipes. She even shares recipes for other desserts like cheesecakes, truffles, fudge, and homemade marshmallows.
Their miniature size compared to traditional slices of cake is part of their appeal. They're also very easy to make, especially for beginners. If you're an experienced baker you can use a homemade cake, but a boxed cake mix will work just as well!
How to Make Cake Pops
The cake pop is made by taking cake crumbs, mixing them with frosting, and covering them with a candy coating. This easy recipe works with any flavor of cake and any candy coating. Once you've mastered this, you can get creative with all kinds of flavors and designs.
First, bake your boxed cake and let it completely cool. We recommend baking the cake the night before and letting it cool overnight.
While the cake is cooling, line baking sheets with wax paper.
Crumble the baked cake into fine pieces and until no large chunks remain. Once the cake is crumbled, add 3/4 of your frosting and the cake to a large bowl. Mix with the back of a large metal spoon until combined.
Roll the mixture into 4 cm-sized balls and place them on the baking sheet. The recipe makes 48 cake balls, so be prepared to do this step for several batches.
Once the balls are rolled, let them rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then, pop them in the fridge to chill for several hours or overnight.
In a microwave bowl, melt the candy coating following the package instructions. We like using Wilton candy melts because they have a huge variety of colors and flavors. You can also add food coloring to a plain white candy melt to achieve your desired color.
Once you've melted candy melts, dip your lollipop stick into the coating, then insert about halfway into the cake ball. Next, dip your entire cake ball into the melted chocolate, thoroughly coating the entire cake.
When most of the excess coating has dripped off, stick your cake pops upright into a styrofoam block and let dry.
Bakerella shares here easy recipe here
Types of Cake pops
The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to cake pop creations, but we're sharing a few of our favorite cake pop ideas.
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Classic combos like vanilla cake pops with chocolate coating will never go out of style. Switch it up by using chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting for the cake ball.
For next year's Halloween party, impress your guests with pumpkin cake pops.
Peppermint-flavored snowmen cake pops are perfect for wintertime festivities. Use a white cake mix and cover with white chocolate candy melts. To decorate the snowmen, add mini chocolate chips for the eyes and a candy sunflower seed for the nose. A mini oreo cookie makes the perfect hat. You could even "melt" your snowman by dipping him in a cup of hot chocolate.
10 Cake Pop Ideas From Bakerella
- Santa's Bag Cake Pops
- Beach Ball Pops
- Unicorn Cake Pops
- Sunshine Cake Pops
- Candy Jewel Pops
- Baby Faces
- Carrot Cake Pops
- Snowman Cake Pops
- Candy Apple Cake Pops
- Spring Chicken Cake Pops
Cake Pops By Bakerella
If you'd like some assistance with your DIY cake pops, you can purchase Bakerella's very own cake pop book. The book comes with 40 cake designs and detailed tutorials for each design.
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Sarah Abrams is a writer living in Austin, Texas with her husband, 1-year old daughter and cat. She's loved cooking and trying local restaurants for as long as she can remember. She only got a Twitter account to stalk the burgeoning food truck scene in Los Angeles. She has every Ina Garten cookbook and is slowly working her way through those the recipes. When she isn't cooking or eating, she loves hiking around the city and being with her family.
