A Sally Obsession with Baking: Homemade Cake Pops

The weekend was great, how about you? My friend's birthday party took up most of the day. I baked a chocolate zucchini cake (in cupcake form), these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies, and these peanut butter M&M cookies, the latter of which I haven't made in far too long. Since the celebrant of the day has a penchant for the flavors of chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel, those three were an obvious choice.

No time to have a batter (pun intended) batter ) than a celebratory event where you can eat all the cake you want (birthday, bridal shower, wedding, etc. When my mother and her two sisters threw me a baby shower last month, one of the many surprises they prepared for me was a massive spread of cake pops. While cake pops are a favorite, I rarely make them. However, in the past few years I have made a batch for both of my sisters' wedding showers.

See The most exceptional treats should be saved for the most exceptional of occasions.

Unlike store-bought cake pops, these are made entirely from scratch. Cake pops made without a cake mix or store-bought frosting are unlike any other. The homemade flavor is very apparent. All the heart, soul, and dedication that goes into making each little pop

So anyway When I wrote Sally's Candy Addiction, I first started making cake pops from scratch. This recipe is actually printed in the book. Due to the high demand for my advice on how to bake cake pops from scratch, I feel compelled to publish it here on the blog.

My homemade vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream will be revealed today, along with all of my tricks of the trade for making the peeeeeerfect pop. Let's get down to business and cover a lot of ground quickly. (I simply cannot contain my nerdiness at the moment. )

We're going to have to spend some extra time baking and frosting a cake from scratch because we're not using any store-bought cake mix or canned frosting. My standard procedure is to bake the cake the night before, and then decorate the cake pops the following day. So, here's how it works in general:

1. Bake a cake from scratch.
2. Prepare your own icing.
3. Combine cake crumbs with homemade icing.
4. Mix
5. Form little balls.
6. Dip
7. EAT

Recipes for the vanilla cake and the frosting are extremely simple, but it's important to use the right sized pan. No standard 9-inch cake pan can contain this spongy masterpiece. Since it rises significantly, a 9-inch springform pan is required. The alternative is to use a 117-inch pan. Alternatively, you could use a 10-inch springform pan.

Recipes for cakes are simple. Common ingredients include: flour, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. The same ingredients used for the vanilla frosting are also used for the vanilla cake. The flavor is what sets this apart from prepackaged options. These cake pops are truly exceptional, and it's clear that you put in extra effort to make them from scratch. WORTH IT

Crumble the cake and combine it with the frosting.

(When you put it like that, crumbling the cake into the frosting sounds super weird, and that's exactly what cake pops are. These cake and frosting truffles are a combination of the two ingredients. Simply poke a stick into the center and dip it in the sugary sauce. Accept it and enjoy it because it's weirdly delicious and awesome. )

On the left, a piece of cake has fallen into a puddle of icing.  ↓

Images on the right show the two blended together.  ↓

After incorporating both ingredients, shape the dough into balls. And here's my secret technique for doing it:

A Trick I Use to Roll

Cake frosting mixture can be rolled into more uniform balls when chilled. And then, after combining the two, I roll the balls. Cake frosting mixture, when at room temperature, is extremely moist, causing the cookies to spread and become lopsided. Once I've rolled the balls, I put them in the fridge for at least two hours to chill. Then, I give them a final, tiny roll to make the edges nice and smooth. They can be more easily shaped into perfect spheres when cold.

Steps to take are as follows: (1) roll (2) chill (3) roll once more to even out the edges.

Cake balls, like Oreo balls, need to be extremely chilled before being dipped; this method accomplishes both of those tasks in one fell swoop.

Okay, time to slam some dunks Pure white chocolate, which is what I recommend dipping the cake balls into for optimal flavor, is quite pricey. For all 40 cake pops, you'll need a substantial amount. Confectionery melts or coatings can be substituted. The recipe below includes both variations and my thoughts on them.

Another tip is to lightly coat the cake ball in the coating before placing it on the lollipop stick. Finally, insert into the center of the cake ball. View the image above

As an additional tip, a large styrofoam block or even a box can be used to hold the cake pops upright while the coating dries and sets without damaging the perfectly spherical shape. Below is a picture of the box I used for this batch. I merely pierced it with teeny, tiny needles. Low-cost and simple

Within an hour or so, your cake pops will be completely dry.

As they defrost beautifully, cake pops are a brilliant pre-party dessert idea. After they are completely dry, I place them in a large freezer bag and place the zip top on it. Good for up to 6 weeks, you can thaw them in the fridge overnight before eating.

Here are some more suggestions from me. Given their significance, I discussed them at length in Sally's Sweet Addiction.

Advice on Making Cake Pops

1. The icing on the cake is the most delicious part, right? But that's obviously not true for cake pops. If you use too much frosting, your cake pops will be soggy and greasy instead of moist and delicious. There is *barely* enough frosting in this recipe to moisten the cake crumbs. The importance of the right proportion cannot be overstated
2. For the best results, dip the cake balls when they are very cold. Take care to leave adequate storage space for them in your freezer and fridge. I use a large baking sheet lined with foil to chill them first.
3. When dipping cake pops, the depth of a glass liquid measuring cup that holds 2 cups is ideal.
4. Adding color to the coating makes for a refreshing POP. For the most part, I only wear white and one other color. Also, no more than two hues Teal is achieved with Americolor's gel food coloring.
5. Sprinklers are a must in any garden. But I think you already knew that

You can get started with just lollipop sticks and a suitable cake pan.