What Youll Need To Make Cake Pops
- Cake. Make a homemade cake or use a store bought cake mix. Either one works!
- Frosting: You wont need much frosting. You can use canned frosting from the store or use a homemade buttercream.
- Melting Chocolates or Wafers: These can be any color youd like! I highly suggest using Ghirardelli melting wafers. They work great and melt smoothly. If your chocolate ends up being super thick, add a teaspoon or two of coconut oil or shortening to thin it out.
- Cake Pop Sticks. Get long sticks or short sticks. You should be able to find candy sticks at a store like Walmart or Hobby Lobby.
- Sprinkles. This is optional, but sprinkles always make cake pops so cute. You can also use a coordinating color of melting wafers for drizzling over the cake pops.
An optional tool is a cake pop stand. This will help the cake pops set in a perfect shape without having to lay them down.
And a cake pop idea book is a great option if you need inspiration.
Do you need cake pop molds? From what I can see, cake pop molds are for baking a cake in ball shapes. This is not what this recipe is for. This recipe makes a thick, truffle like piece of candy. Not a ball of fluffy cake.
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!
Making Cake Pops With Leftover Cake
Using leftover cake to make cake pops is the best!! We dont have leftover cake in my house very often, but when we do, its on and poppin!
That leftover cake turns into cake pops, and then all of a sudden, people are in the mood for cake again! Isnt it funny how you can put something on a stick, and everybody wants it?
When making cake pops with leftover cake, you want to scrape off the frosting first and place it in a bowl.
You definitely wont need all the frosting. Crumble the cake up and then add in the frosting a little at a time until the cake can hold its shape once formed into a tight ball.
These cake pops are what I consider cake pop perfection!!! They are the best cake pops Ive ever had. The texture is fluffy AND moist, and it was nowhere near as messy and time-consuming as my first attempts at making cake pops.
Now, if youre looking for a tutorial on how to decorate cake popsugh, Im not the girl for the job!! Sprinkles is as good as it gets over here : )
Even without fancy decoration, these cake pops can still make a pretty cute, cheap, and festive gift idea! Let your imagination run wild!
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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.
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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What Are Cake Pops
Cake pops are crumbled cake mixed with frosting and rolled or shaped into bite-size balls, which are dipped in melted candy wafers and served lollipop style on a stick.
These cute eggless treats are super easy to make and dangerously delicious.
Here I walk you through the steps to make your eggless cake pops at home!
How Long Do Cake Pops Last
Once the cake pops are dipped in the chocolate and have set up, they will last in an airtight container at room temperature 3 to 4 days or in the fridge 5 to 7 days. Remember, if you put the cake pops in the fridge, they will probably crack when they come back up to room temperature.
TIPS for Success
- To avoid cracks, NEVER refrigerate cake pops at any point. They will crack when they’re coming back up to room temperature and may seep liquid. I will say that I thoroughly enjoy them when they’re cold and the chocolate is crunchy.
- MUST use candy gel food coloring. Regular gel food color will seize the chocolate because it’s a water base food color. Candy colors are an oil base food color.
Supplies youll need
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How To Keep The Cake Balls On The Stick
The best way to prevent the cake balls from falling off the stick is by makingsure you added enough frosting to the cake balls and thinning out the candy coating. If the chocolate coating is too thick it will be heavy and way down on the cake balls.
TIP: If you want to avoid using the stick, just make cake balls instead! I have an easy recipe for red velvet cake balls and no-bake oreo cake balls right here in my blog.
Why Are My Cake Pops Cracking
If your candy shell is cracking, its mostly due to an extreme change in temperature . This can also happen with hot candy or chocolate being put into a cold refrigerator or freezer.
To avoid cracking, let your cake balls warm up to room temperature a bit before dipping in warm candy or chocolate. Once dipped, let your cake pops sit at room temperature for 5 to 7 minutes before placing in the fridge or freezer so the candy has time to cool.
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Shelf Life Storage And Making Ahead
- Storing: Keep cake pops in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: Finished cake pops can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
- Making Ahead: I like to make the cake and frosting the night before I plan to assemble cake pops to save on time. Alternatively, you can make your cake pops up to 2 months in advance and simply store in the freezer.
How Far In Advance Can You Make Cake Pops
Your mixture can be prepared a couple days in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to use. You can even form the cake balls a day ahead and let them chill in the fridge for easier dipping.
If you want to prep your cake balls and freeze them, store them in a large freezer bag and keep in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. Let your cake balls come to room temperature before dipping.
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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.
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:
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Variations Of This Recipe
Change up the cake flavor. Read on for some of our favorite cake flavor combinations but you can use any cake flavor you want to.
Change up the frosting. You can change up the frosting to make your favorites, read on for some of our favorite cake and frosting flavor combinations.
Skip the pop stick. If you want to make cake balls you totally can, just skip adding the lollipop stick in.
Change up the toppings. I like adding sprinkles, but you can totally add some shrdded coconut, chopped nuts or skip toppings altogether.
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.
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Dont Make This Mistake
Smaller wins. If you roll the cake pops too large, theyll wobble off the lollipop stick. Theyre too heavy. You need 1 Tablespoon of the cake pop mixture per ball. No more, no less. Youll end up with 40 of them. Quite a lot but these babies freeze beautifully! And you can gift them to anyone and everyone. Who doesnt love a homemade cake pop? Seriously WHO.
These cake balls need to chill in the refrigerator before we pop em with a lollipop stick. Why? Theyre much too delicate right now theyll completely fall apart. Which reminds me you do NOT have to make these as pops. You can make them truffle style by simply rolling them up and coating in chocolate. Either way you enjoy them, chill the cake balls before coating. I just place them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate them for a couple hours.
Speaking of chocolate, you can dunk the cake balls into pure chocolate, which is what I prefer for best taste, but thats pretty expensive. You need a good amount for all 40 cake pops! You can use candy melts/candy coating instead. I give both options in the recipe below along with notes for each choice.
How To Dip Cake Pops
Once the stick is set up in the cake pop, it’s time to dip the whole cake ball! Push the cake ball into the melted chocolate until it’s fully submerged. The chocolate should just touch the stick and then pull it back out.
Don’t mess around pulling it out of the chocolate and putting it back in because the cake pop will loosen up and fall off the stick.
Next, move your hand down the stick close to the cake pop ball and gently tap the hand that’s holding the stick until the excess chocolate drips off. If there’s a point where the chocolate was dripping off, give the pop a shake and it should smooth out.
Working quickly, use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles that have formed in the chocolate coating. The best way to do this is by making a small swirl in the center of the air bubble with the toothpick and then give the cake pop a shake to smooth the chocolate back out.
Place the cake pops in either a cake pop stand if you want the perfectly round cake pop or on a piece of parchment paper to dry. Don’t use a silicone mat for these cake pops. The bottoms will stick.
PRO TIP: Set your bowl of melted chocolate in a container of hot water so it stays a dipping consistency longer.
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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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