Cake Pops

Have you ever sampled a cake pop? They are basically smashed up balls of cake with icing mixed in and then coated with either chocolate or melting candy. I had been reading on-line about them for some time, so I decided to try my hand at it for some of Miss M's teachers back on Valentine's Day. Here is the recipe I used:
* 1 box cake mix of your choice. 95% of the posts I saw used Devil’s Food - next time I think I will do yellow.

* 1 container of ready-made icing. Any flavor will do, but most recipes recommended cream cheese. That's what I used, but over all it was too rich for my tastes. I am thinking I will try just plain white icing next time.

* Candy Melts or Chocolate Bark (I used bark)

* Waxed paper, sprinkles, & candy/sucker sticks

Bake the cake in a 9x13 pan according to the box directions and let cool completely. (I let it cool overnight.) Then crumble it into a large bowl. Mix in about 1/2 a tub of icing until it is completely blended. You may need to add a bit more icing but it's better to start with a little and then add more later.

(I was in a hurry so I my pictures are crummy and I didn't take the time to snap many in the process of making the pops. But it's really simple, so I think you can figure it out anyway!)

Roll the batter into balls and place on waxed paper in the freezer for a few hours. You want them firm but not frozen solid. Just before you take them out of the freezer, melt your candy wafers or chocolate bark according to the package directions. Working one at a time, stick a sucker stick in the cake ball and then carefully dip it. I had to use a spoon to get good coverage. Here is a great trick that I learned but didn't apply until about 1/2 way through the project - tap the stick on the side of the bowl a few times after it's covered. This forces the extra chocolate/candy down and off so you have a nice smooth surface. You will see in my horrible pictures some using both techniques!

I had some Styrofoam in the basement and used that to hold my pops while the coating hardened. I also put a few sprinkles on each one. Once they were completely hardened. I packaged them two to a clear cello bag and finished off with ribbon and a tag made by Miss M.

You can certainly omit the sticks and just have cake balls if you wanted. If you want to see some really intricate cake pops, then be sure to visit Bakerella's site...beautiful - but she uses the same basic recipe!