Cake Pops

As far as I can tell, Cupcake Pops originated with Bakerella, and are adorable and somewhat trying and require much more patience than I have available. However, I decided to make a variation of them that I've seen in multiple spots on the blogosphere, which are a simplified version. Basically, they are Cake Pops, just balls of cake and frosting on a lollipop stick that have been dipped in melting chocolate. It sounds like a sugar overload, but eating just one is quite delicious. As some of my friends found out, eating three very quickly can make you very sick(ly).



The recipe is, by far, one of the most basic I've ever seen. On top of that, the flavor combinations are endless. You can pair any cake flavor with any icing flavor with any color for the outside. I decided to make two different choices: White cake with strawberry frosting and pink melting discs and brownies with milk chocolate frosting and regular semisweet melting chocolate. Both were equally delicious, although I found that the flavor really fully saturated and tasted better after about a day in the refrigerator.



The only issues I had with these occurred with the white cake mix. The original posts and recipes I read on Cupcake pops and such recommended mixing the cake and frosting while the cake was still warm. I waited until mine was mostly cooled and I still had a very hard time trying to get it to stick together when I rolled it into a ball. I figured out eventually that if I wiped my hands completely and kept them a little damp after each ball I formed, the next ball would not stick as much.



The dipping was also a little trying, as I almost ran out of the pink melting discs; I had fewer pops than I orinally started out with too because my brother had found them in the outside refrigerator and decided to help himself. So I guess I would suggest...buying an extra bag? Or just leaving a few lightly-dipped. The brownies were much easier to coat because I just added chocolate chips to my melting chocolate to produce more to dip.



Because I wasn't able to take homemade cupcakes into the bowling alley for my birthday party, I made these and packed them in goody bags to hand out when everyone left. Each person received two brownie pops and two strawberry pops. gb's sister liked them so much that she offered to pay me to make a whole other batch for her. I think I will probably take her up on it.



Cake Pops
Makes 30 to 45 cake pops, depending on size

1 (18.25 ounce) package cake or brownie mix
Eggs, water, and oil called for on cake mix box
16 ounces of store-bought or homemade frosting
1 (1 pound) package of melting chocolate or colored vanilla melts

Combine cake ingredients according to directions on box. Bake the cake in a 13x9-inch pan at the temperature and time noted on box. NOTE: A homemade sheet cake can also be used, if you'd like. Remove the cake from the oven when cooked and cool for about half an hour.

Scrape the entirety of the cake out of the pan and into a very large bowl. Then, add the frosting and stir vigorously until all the cake is in fine crumbs and the mixture is completely stuck together. Roll the mixture into one- to two-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. If using lollipop sticks, poke them into the balls. Refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.

At this point, the cake balls should be quite stiff. Heat the melting chocolate/vanilla/whatever in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly so as not to burn any of it (like I did). Turn the burner off and begin to dip the cake balls, making sure to cover each one completely and thoroughly in the melted substance. Place the pops back on the baking sheet and, after all of them are dipped, back in the refrigerator for at least two to three more hours.