Cake Pop Rant...I Mean Tutorial

I have two strong feelings about cake pops. I've eaten more than a few this year that don't follow these two random "rules" that I have invented, and therefore, I am writing a follow up to my original cake pop tutorial post.

Rule #1.

Cake pops must not be made with a cake pop maker. That is just a ball of cake on a stick, and when I get one of these pops, I feel like I am being gypped of the cake pop "experience". People think that they are making cake pops easier by using the cake pop makers, but they aren't. The hard part of making them is not making the balls...it's dipping them without a big drippy mess. I find that the little bit of extra work it takes to roll them by hand is very much worth the final product. Also, I think they stay on the stick easier, as long as you don't make them to large (heavier).
Ok, I just realized that these 2 rules can almost be made into one rule, but anyhoo...

Rule #2.

Cake pops must not be mushy! Starbucks, I'm talkin' to you. Your cake pops have crossed the line from "moist" to "doughy, but worse". I have made the mistake of giving your cake pops a second...and third...and even a fourth chance. It seems like such a good idea at the time, but I always regret it as soon as I put it in my mouth. Slimy, mushy..the only thing they have going for them is that they are chocolate.

A perfect cake pop texture may be difficult to explain, but I'm going to give it a shot. Before I do though, I am NOT a cake pop expert by any means, so I am not going to get TOO technical. I am simply a girl who knows what she likes :)


1. Bake a cake and let it cool. Using a box cake mix is the easiest, but if you have a good, moist homemade one that you enjoy, it will work too.
Once it's cool, crumble it into a large bowl. It should be the texture of coarse bread crumbs before you add the frosting. Some people say to use a food processor, but I just use my hands and have never had a problem.

2. Add the frosting. Again, Betty Crocker canned frosting is easiest, and that's what I used in these ones.
*Remember, you can always add more, but you can't take it out, so add it a bit at a time. a few large spoonfuls to start, then add more as you need.
The point of the frosting is two fold...one, to add moisture and give it the signature, chewy "cake pop" texture that I've been talking about; and two, to help your cake pops stick together easily. I find that when made this way, they also give the stick a sturdier base.

I've made cake pops three times now, and the ones in these photos turned out the best out of all of them. Here's a few of the things I did a little differently that I think helped :)

3. I made the balls a little smaller. The first time I made cake pops, I had so many of them slide down the stick when I tried to put them upright, I almost went crazy. This time, I decided to help alleviate the frustration by making them what I thought was ridiculously small. They turned out to be pretty much the perfect size though. 

I hope you can get a bit of an idea of how big they are from the photos, because I'm having a hard time thinking of something to compare them too.

Hmmm, ok, try this. put your index finger and thumb together so they form a circle. The cake balls could probably fit through there. It might be tight, but about that size anyways.

I totally forgot to count them, but this is how many I got. 

4. To help them stay on the stick like good little cake pops, this is what I did. I melted chocolate chips into a bowl, then dipped the top inch or so of a stick into it, and carefully stuck it into a cake ball. See how the chocolate kind of forms a ring around the base of the stick? That's what helps it stay.

The big trick is to have patience at this point. In the past I tried freezing them for a bit, and that might work, but this time I wanted to just take everything really slow because I tend to mess things like this up super easy.

So, after all the pops had sticks, I put them in the fridge, just like this for a good 4 to 5 hours. It may have been overkill, but it REALLY worked. I didn't lose one pop to "stick sliding".

My ever-willing baking partners!

 5. Dipping...the hard part. If you thought the fourth step took patience, then you are in for a surprise :) This step is where all the love and dedication of a homemade cake pope really come out. It was hard giving them away after spending so much time with them...I kind of wanted to just enjoy them all to myself :)

You will find a million different answers on the web about which chocolate to use. I researched it because I wanted a really deep dark chocolate, and I didn't think Wilton candy melts would do the trick. However, after researching it forEVER, none of the other options seemed like the best choice. I may have been able to get them to work, but I didn't want to chance it...these pops were Christmas gifts :)

So, I went to Michaels and found that they DO have a dark chocolate melt.

I'm really glad I went with them. They melted real fast, and really smooth. The melted chocolate was also quite thin so it wouldn't put extra stress on the fragile cake pops when I dipped them!

To melt them, I used a double boiler....water in the bottom pot, chocolate in the top to prevent burning. I don't actually have a double boiler, but I have two pots that are the same size, and they worked pretty well!

So, dip the cake pop in, right up past the chocolate ring at the bottom of the stick. The trick now is to get it to cool enough so the chocolate won't drip everywhere when you put it upright. I slowly rolled it over the pot edge for a few seconds, then held it in front of my open window with the winter air blowing in. Unconventional maybe, but it worked! It just took a long time!

To avoid the flat top look, you want to set them upright to finish cooling. I was using these pops as Christmas gifts for the neighbours, and I found these cute red tin buckets at the dollar store to display them in. I also used them as a cooling spot, and they worked great! I just had to make sure none of the pops touched at first.

Before I set them in the bucket though, I wanted to something a little special with them, so I crushed a candy cane to powder in my magic bullet, then sprinkled each pop while it was still slightly wet. 

I think that's it! Once they had cooled completely, they were pretty sturdy, so I could display them in the buckets and transport them with no issues!

To give them a bit more stability in the buckets, I filled them about half full with candied almonds. 

I hope these tips help your next cake pop making experience be a better one than my first two were :) 

Sometimes, I am not sure why I keep trying to make them...they are a lot of work! But then, I bite into a rich, chewy chocolate covered pop and all those doubts fly away. 

The effort it takes keeps me from making them very often, which is better for my health AND makes them that much more enjoyable when I do get one :)

MYTH of the day:

Using a cake pop maker means that making my cake pops will be easier.

FALSE: the hard part is not forming the balls, it is dipping them!