How to Make Cake Pops!

 

Cake pops! I'm sure everyone has heard of cake pops. These days, they're becoming as much of a trend as cupcakes. Cake pops were popularized by the supremely talented Bakerella. Using her web instructions, I tried making them with a friend a while back. The results were not pretty. The pops would not stay on the stick. They were impossible to coat. During dipping, the cake would simply drop off into the chocolate, filling it with crumbs. The pops that we did manage to coat and keep on the stick began to slowly slide downwards, morphing into cake ball kabobs. I don't think we had a single cake pop that looked remotely like it should have. 

Luckily for my cake pop making skills, I decided to attend a cake pop demonstration over the weekend, along with my cousin, who had never attempted cake pops. We were taught by the hilarious Ro Z (whom I completely recommend--the demonstration was so, so fun), who shared her tips and tricks with us, including flaws she had found with the original Bakerella instructions. Ro must have been right, because that night we were the proud creators of 20 beautiful cake pops (it would have been 21, but we lost one during dipping), using half of the cake from a standard box of cake mix. It was incredibly fun and easy; the hardest part was waiting during refrigeration times!

So, what was the trick? Not using a whole tub of icing per cake, as Bakerella suggests. Very little moisture is needed to hold the cake together. We used less than 2 tablespoons of creamer, but any liquid or frosting can be used: whipping cream, liquor, buttercream. Cake pops are less about following a recipe, and more about feel. Just add small amounts of liquid until the cake crumbs come together. It won't take a lot.

Let's go through the process!

 Bake your cake. We decided to go the easy route and used a yellow cake mix. Let the cake cool completely (we refrigerated it for at least an hour) and then crumble it as finely as possible. The finer the crumbs the more successfully you'll be able to make the balls! This is why a drier cake works better; moist cakes tend to clump and won't crumb as evenly.

Add your liquid to the crumbs a little bit at a time, and work it through the crumbs as though you are incorporating butter into flour for a pie. Again, just use a little at a time; the crumbs will come together sooner than you think. Don't be afraid to add a little extra if you need it though, you want to make sure that the cake won't crumble apart. Just don't go overboard (i.e. add an entire tub of icing--this is bad). After it comes together, you can refrigerate it for 10 minutes or so, then form the cake into small balls about 1 inch across. Really pack them tightly; you want them to be really dense. Then refrigerate them again for 10 minutes.

Time to pick the decorations! We used these cute flower sprinkles...

 ...some more traditional rainbow jimmies...

...some confetti sprinkles...

 ...sprinkles masquerading as dipping dots...

...and these chocolate jimmies. Don't they look appetizing up close?

 Time to melt your coating! We went with the microwave at 30 seconds intervals just to be safe. We used coating wafers, rather than actual chocolate. The dark chocolate one is of higher quality (Merckens), so it required very little shortening to get it to the proper dipping consistency. Next time I make these, I think I'll add even more shortening: you want your coating to be pretty "drippy." Ro suggested using Paramount crystals (flake shortening) instead of straight shortening, but she was sold out so we went with Crisco and it worked fairly well. Whatever you do, don't add oil!

The white coating was Wilton's, so the quality was not as good. It required a lot more Crisco to get it dripping.

Arrange your coating set up.

Now you want to take a lollipop stick, dip the end of it in the coating, and then stick it a little more than halfway into the cake ball. When the coating dries, this will firmly attach the cake ball to the stick.

Arrange the cake pops on a tray, and back they go for more refrigeration (5 minutes should do it).

Then, dip the cake pop into the coating, and rotate the pop while tapping the stick lightly against the rim of the bowl to shake off any excess. Once most of the excess coating has dripped off, just lightly press the pop into the sprinkles. Then allow the pops to dry. You can either make a stand for the pops, which will allow them to dry with the cake pop in the air, or just allow them to set with the pop side down. The coating of sprinkles prevents the pops from developing a flat top. No need to refrigerate at this point, the pops dry very quickly. If you are taking pictures of the process, make sure to include a fork and a Crisco lid in the background of the photo; this is a technique used by only the classiest photographers. And then you're done!

An uncoated cake ball contemplates its transformation into a glorious cake pop.

 Beautiful.

 Magnificent.

 Exquisite.

 Fabulous.

 Cake pops as far as the eye can see (more specifically: 4 rows).

Now, I know they don't look perfect, but I think they came out very cute! Maybe I can experiment with some more creative ideas another time.

So, an easy process, right? Just remember a few simple points and you should be fine!

1. Make sure to crumb the cake evenly (a drier cake helps).
2. Don't add too much liquid/frosting to the cake crumbs (the most important point, in my opinion).
3. Really pack the balls tightly when you are rolling them, you want them as dense as possible.
4. Add shortening or Paramount crystals to your coating to ensure the coating will be liquid enough.
5. Refrigerate, refrigerate, refrigerate! (But never freeze).
6. Have fun!