How To Make Cake Pops: A Step
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Have any leftover birthday cake? Or did you bake a cake and it turned out a little dry? So what do you do with dry cake? Turn it into cake pops of course! This how to make cake pops tutorial has really easy steps to turn any cake into cake pops. Kids will love helping to make these but the best part is enjoying them as a fun treat!
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How To Make Cake Pops: Step 3
Keep mixing until you have a fudge-like texture. To see if its ready, squeeze a little of the mixture in your palm it shouldnt crumble and it should be pliable. If you add too much frosting, the mixture will be soggy, sticky and heavy and the cake pops will just fall off the stick when you try to dip them. Wrap the mixture in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.
Homemade Frosting For Cake Pops
If youre looking for the homemade frosting to use with your cake pops, these are my two favorites!
The Real Cream Cheese Frosting and this Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting. These frostings are so creamy with that homemade taste.
No one will ever know you use a box cake with these from-scratch frostings!
To make these quick and easy cake pops, youll need:
- 1/2 prepare 9 x13 cake
- chocolate frosting , youll only need a few spoonfuls, seriously!
- Chocolate or Candy Coating I use to only use chocolate now I swear by candy melts! All those fun colors just speak to me!
- Sprinkles
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How To Make Perfect Cake Pops
Published by Lauren on
Learn how to make the perfect cake pops! If you love Starbucks cake pops then you are going to love these, they are even better! Homemade cake pops are easy to make once you know how and we are going to tell you all the tips and tricks to make perfect homemade cake pops.
How To Decorate Cake Pops
When it comes to decorating these tasty little treats, the sky’s the limit. You can make anything from birthday cake pops to holiday cake pops, and cake pops just because. Here are some ideas to inspire your creativity:
It doesn’t take much to decorate cake pops. Raid your pantry for easy embellishments like cookies, nuts, and candies. Fry up and crumble a slice or two of bacon. And if you want to get fancy, track down or make candied flowers or citrus curls.
Cake pops all dressed up for the holidays with crushed peppermints, toasted coconut, chopped nuts, and candy sprinkles.
Christmas cake pops for kids and who are we kidding grown-ups love them, too!
Cake pops threaded onto lollipop sticks and decorated to look like fun-loving snow people.
All your little ghosts and goblins will love these Halloween cake pops. You know what would be fun inside? How about pumpkin cake pops!
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What You Need To Make This Recipe
Vanilla cake I use a box cake mix for these cake balls for convenience. However, if you have some leftover vanilla cake lying around, you can use that as well.
Frosting you can use homemade frosting or store-bought frosting. I prefer homemade for the flavor, but sometimes convenience wins!
Candy melts once melted and dipped, candy melts will set up with the same look and texture as chocolate. Its easier to use than chocolate, as you can skip tempering it. Careful not to scorch the melts, or theyll harden too quickly to work with.
Sprinkles Buy your favorite from a store or follow my recipe on easy homemade sprinkles.
Cake Batter Sugar Cookies
Homemade sugar cookies that taste like cake batter. No cake mix needed!
Fact: its been ages since I posted a recipe with sprinkles.
Weird, considering Im known as SallySprinkles to some of my friends. Its true sprinkles and glitter and confetti and sparkles are a handful of my favorite things in life. Im actually a 5 year old at heart.
When I think of sprinkles, I think of birthday cakes. Funfetti madness. Bright colorful dots assorted through soft, buttery confections. Pinks, blues, greens, and orange flecks of sugary beauty. No cake batter is complete without a hefty pour of sprinkles, in my opinion.
And I like my sprinkle-filled cake batter just as it is an unbaked batter. I believe that the actual batter sort-of-kinda tastes better than the actual baked cake. Kinda like how cookie dough probably-all-of-the-freaking-time tastes better than the cookie? FACT.
I like my cake batter taste in things other than cake. Like itsy bitsy cinnamon buns.
And today? Well, I LOVE my cake batter taste in sugar cookies.
These sugary little cake batter dreamies are void of any boxed cake mix and took me THREE failed attempts to get down. I was a cookie maniac this week! Pure sprinkle madness.
Love love love.
The smell of the cookie dough alone had me in cake batter heaven. I couldnt wait to taste one.
So instead of cutting down on the butter extract which is key to the cake batter flavor I cut the egg white in batch #4.
Preliminary notes:
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Single Layer Chocolate Cake
It might seem like the switch from vanilla cake pops to chocolate cake pops is easy. Replace some flour with cocoa powder, right? And vanilla frosting with chocolate frosting? I wish! Chocolate is a complicated soul and requires a little finesse, thats why my vanilla cake and chocolate cake recipes are so different! I baked a couple single layer chocolate cakes before stopping at this one. The first few began with creamed butter + sugar. My favorite chocolate cakes and cupcakes typically rely on oil for the fat because HELLO MOISTURE and the flavor of butter really isnt necessary because chocolate overpowers it anyway. My initial thought with cake pops, however, was that I needed a slightly drier cake to get the best texture for cake pops . Well this was just a huge mess from the start because dry cake is gross.
That being said, youll need oil for the cake. And a few other basics like cocoa powder, sugar, flour, and eggs. Hot water is also a must. Remember why? The hot liquid encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve. When I make chocolate cake, I usually reach for hot coffee because coffee accentuates the chocolate favor but thats not as crucial here. Because were just crumbling the cake and mixing with chocolate frosting!
Crumble up and use your mixer to combine the frosting + crumbs:
How To Make Starbucks Cake Pops
The best thing about our homemade Starbucks cake pops is that you dont have to be a master baker. They are actually pretty forgiving. The reason for this is that the cake isnt baked onto the stick, nor will you have to have to bake the balls of cake mixture separately. All you do is make a sponge and crumble it, before merging it with other ingredients, making it much easier to get perfect balls of tasty goodness.
Another reason that these Starbucks cake pops are easy to make at home is that you require next to no baking knowledge at all. Even the cake mixture is taken care of, as we use a premade mix that you can buy in pretty much any store.
Although these cake pops look fancy, you wont need much specialized equipment. You will want a baking tin, a saucepan, and a couple of mixing bowls. Oh, and dont forget your popsicle sticks!
To stop your cake pop heads from flying off, there is something special that you must ensure that you do. We use pure melted candy to act as a glue for your stick. Dont skip this step!
The shape of the cake pops is important. If you want absolutely perfect globes you could consider using a cake pop former, put we find that using a small scoop, such as a melon baller, is just as easy. If you havent got either then two teaspoons will do the trick. Your Starbucks cake pops wont be perfectly round, but theres nothing wrong with going for the rustic look.
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How To Make Cake Pops From Scratch
In summary, the key steps you need to follow before you can take a bite into that perfect cake pop are as follows:
So easy! And so so good. Trust me on this one.
Perfect Bite Sized Dessert
Theres just something about eating a decorative, bite-sized dessert on a stick that is so fun. My kids love these! These homemade cake pops are the perfect treat for birthdays, baby showers, wedding showers, holidays or when hosting a dinner party. You can even wrap them up individually and give them to guests as party favors!
This recipe is perfect for beginners, with an easy step by step tutorial included. Its a great way to use up any leftover cake and frosting. I love the classic white cake + buttercream combo, but there are so many other yummy variations you can make too. They are so fun to decorate and can be served at literally any occasion!
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Why Do My Cake Pops Fall Off The Stick
If your cake balls are falling off your treat stick, they could be too heavy due to size or adding too much frosting.
To help ensure your cake balls stay, be sure to dip the stick in melted candy before inserting it into the cake ball. This hardened candy coating acts as a glue to hold the stick in place.
If you think youve added too much frosting, add a little more cake to help even out the texture.
Tips To Make Perfect Starbucks Cake Pops
- A good way to know if the frosting and cake crumbs are well combined is by compressing a handful and checking to make sure theres no more marbled frosting visible.
- Remove and discard the outer layer of the baked cake. It tends to be drier than the rest of the cake, therefore it can cause the cake ball to fall apart.
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Supplies You Need To Make Cake Pops
For cake balls When making cake balls all you really need is a baked cake made with cake mix, frosting, and candy melts to coat the outside of the balls. You can shape the cake balls with your hands or use a meatballer to get the perfect shape and size each time.
For cake pops you will need the same ingredients here but you need to add cake pop sticks and a styrofoam block to keep the pops upright until they harden.
How To Make The Perfect Cake Pops For Any Occasion
I have to admit, I had never made cake pops before but I was determined to make them for our gender reveal party. Ive made Oreo truffles multiple times, which are somewhat similar to cake pops. Somewhat. Theyre essentially the cookie version of cake pops. Basically dessert cousins. I figured, how hard could it be?
Im pleasantly surprised to report that making cake pops isnt very hard at all. Its not very time consuming either. Win-win.
Now, I know mine arent 100% true cake pops theyre basically cake balls with sticks in them, but people can still carry them around like cake pops. I mean, who wants messy hands? Anyway, Ill tell you at the end of the post how to make them into legit cake pops with the cake portion at the top and the stick coming out the bottom.
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Tips On Dipping The Cake Pops
- When you dip the cake pop into the candy coating, dont swirl the cake pop around. Instead bring it straight down, dip, and slowly bring it back up, so it doesnt break apart.
- After the cake pops have been dipped into the melted candy, quickly tap the hand thats holding the cake pop to help release any excess candy melt.
Decorate And Serve The Cake Pops
Now we get to decorate these little homemade cake pops. I chose to just drizzle different flavors on the top, using a bit of chocolate in a plastic bag with the corner snipped. You can use a professional piping bag with tips as well.
If you want to stick different candies or nuts on it, you will want to do it shortly after dipping before the chocolate sets completely. And there you go, cake pops!
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How To Melt Candy Chocolate For Cake Pops
Your candy chocolate will have directions for melting. This is the step you really want to be careful with. If you over-heat, then add some shortening to it. Turn your microwave setting down as low as possible and stir often in between heating. Let the heat of the candy melts continue to melt on their own before putting in the microwave again so you prevent overheating them.
Tip: Microwave for half of the recommended time on your packaging. Stir and see if the heat from the candy melts will melt the remaining chocolate. All microwaves vary in heat settings so be careful not to over-heat your candy melts or you wont be able to dip your cake pops in them.
Watch the full tutorial video here before you get started!
- 1Package of candy melts
- 1Package of Candy sticks
- Foam board- for placing finished cake pops in to dry
- Sprinkles
Watch Me Make These Cake Pops From Start To Finish
I thought I HATED cake pops. I made them for a baby shower a few years ago and they were a pain in the butt cheeks with all that freezing and refreezing, dipping, twirling, decorating, and oh that texture!! Ewww!!
It was soggy, grainy, and tasted like someone had chewed it up already. My hubby sat quietly, ate the whole thing and calmly said: you dont have to make these again please.
I seriously did not see what all the cake pop hype was about, but I kept getting requests to PLEASE DO A CAKE POP TUTORIAL!. I cant let my babies down so I got back in the kitchen to figure these things out. Something had to give!
I discovered that I LOVED cake pops. Heres what I learned:
Such a cute little homemade gift dont ya think?
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