How To Make Chocolate Cake Pops Step By Step

Chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + cute heart sprinkles = the most adorable treat! Today we’re making chocolate cake pops because many of you request them, especially after I shared my vanilla cake pops. Your wish is my command. What I love most, however, is that you have creative control. You can decorate these cake pops in your own unique way, which makes this recipe 100x more fun.

I have plenty of step-by-step photos and lots of tips/tricks. I want you to understand every instruction so you can follow along and know what the heck you’re doing. The process isn’t difficult– you’re literally just baking a chocolate cake and making frosting then mixing them together. Things just get a little particular when it comes to rolling, lollipop-sticking, and dunking/dipping. If you can make bread bowls, you can totally handle cake pops! (They’re more fun to eat too… sprinkles!)

By the way, if you’ve ever eaten store-bought cake pops– these taste totally different. They’re from scratch. No cake mix. No canned frosting. No preservatives. You can actually TASTE the homemade.

Starbucks Chocolate Cake Pops Copycat Recipe

Quick tip: Whenever I make cake pops from scratch, I always begin the night before. I make the cake, cover it, and let it sit out at room temperature overnight. I also prepare the frosting, cover, and refrigerate. This way everything’s ready to go.

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, that’s 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 (1) HELLO MOISTURE and (2) the flavor of butter really isn’t 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 (because it will be mixed with frosting). Well this was just a huge mess from the start because dry cake is gross.

That being said, you’ll 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 from when we made this tuxedo cake?The hot liquid encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve. When I make chocolate cake, I usually reach for hot coffee (instead of hot water) because coffee accentuates the chocolate favor—but that’s not as crucial here. Because we’re just crumbling the cake and mixing with chocolate frosting!

Easy Gluten Free Cake Pops (chocolate)

By the way, you can totally enjoy this chocolate cake on its own. If you ever need a single layer chocolate cake—use this guy. It’s

Like, italicize and bold good. Deep and dark chocolate flavor. Super moist. Super rich. Top with chocolate buttercream, whipped cream, peanut butter frosting, or red wine chocolate ganache.

What was a little more difficult than testing the perfect single layer chocolate cake was figuring out how much frosting I needed. Too much frosting and the cake pops are wet and greasy. Too little frosting and you won’t have enough to bind the cake crumbles.I have the perfect amount of frosting you’ll need. It’s not much because the chocolate cake is already so moist.

How To Make Cake Pops (with Pictures)

Crumble the cake into the bowl of frosting and yes, you’ll feel very weird doing this. You just made this beautiful chocolate cake and will now break it up into a bowl of frosting. Because that’s what cake pops are—cake crumbs and frosting.

Once the two are mixed together, it’s time to roll the mixture into balls. This part is EASY. I found the chocolate cake pops much easier to roll into balls than my vanilla version. This mixture is just sooo smooth! Your hands will get a little sticky, but just roll with it. Hahahaha get it? get it?

Smaller wins. If you roll the cake pops too large, they’ll wobble off the lollipop stick. They’re too heavy. You need 1 Tablespoon of the cake pop mixture per ball. No more, no less. You’ll end up with 40 of them. Quite a lot—but these babies freeze beautifully! And you can gift them to anyone and everyone. Who doesn’t love a homemade cake pop? Seriously WHO.

Cake Balls From Leftover Cake (vegan Pralines)

These cake balls need to chill in the refrigerator before we pop ’em with a lollipop stick. Why? They’re much too delicate right now; they’ll 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 ballsinto pure chocolate, which is what I prefer for best taste, but that’s 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.

Contrary to my wordy post (sorry!!!) and 1 million photos, I promise chocolate cake pops are simple (about as simple these Oreo balls!). As long as you follow my tips in this post and get started the night before per my suggestion, it’s simple!

Best Cake Balls Recipe

Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂

Sally McKenney is a professional food photographer, cookbook author, and baker. Her kitchen-tested recipes and thorough step-by-step tutorials give readers the knowledge and confidence to bake from scratch. Sally has been featured onChocolate Cake Pops are the perfect way to celebrate any occasion! This easy recipe for cake pops is so chocolatey and delicious, and they are just so adorable.

Pro Tip: Use a cookie scoop to make sure every single cake pop is the exact same size! Trust me, they’re way more impressive to present when they’re all the same shape and size.

The Easiest Halloween Cake Pops

You can easily change the flavor of these cake pops by using your favorite cake recipe! Try vanilla cake, funfetti cake, red velvet cake, eggnog cake, or spice cake. Use an accompanying frosting, like brown sugar frosting, and whatever kind of chocolate you like!

While you can use any unsweetened cocoa powder you prefer, I like to use natural cocoa powder here because the baking soda helps to neutralize the acidity of natural cocoa powder, letting its rich flavor shine.

If you want to speed up this process and make it even easier, you can start with a boxed cake mix. This just means all your dry ingredients are ready to go, so you can get straight to mixing and baking.A typical box of cake mix will make about half of this recipe, so use only half a tub of frosting (instead of the full tub). You can use two boxes if you want a full 36-40 cake pops.

Easy Brownie Cake Pops Recipe From Barbara Bakes

A drizzle of white chocolate or your favorite rainbow/chocolate sprinkles are always great options. If you’re making these around a holiday, you could always theme your drizzle or sprinkles to that holiday! For example, red and green sprinkles are always cute on these cake pops around Christmas.

Yes! You can make the chocolate cake, bake, and keep it stored at room temp for a few days. You can also make the cake balls, and keep them in the fridge overnight, so they’re ready to assemble. And since the chocolate coating needs to set, it’s best to fully assemble the pops at least a few hours before serving.

If the cake balls are falling off the stick, that means they are simply too heavy. There are a few things you should do to prevent this. First, don’t make the cake balls any larger than 1-1½ inches. Make sure to dip the stick in the melted chocolate before inserting into the cake to help it stick. And finally, fully coat the cake pops, but let any excess chocolate drip off so they don’t get too heavy.

Carrot Cake Pops Recipe

In an airtight container at room temperature, these chocolate cake pops will stay fresh for up to 5 days! If you want to extend that time by a lot, place them in the refrigerator in that same container. There, they’ll stay fresh for up to 2 weeks. These are excellent treats to make ahead!

Remember what I said about making these ahead? Yeah – they’re perfect for freezing! In an airtight container or Ziplock bag, these chocolate treats will stay fresh for up to 6 weeks. When you’re ready to enjoy them, just let them sit in the refrigerator or on the countertop to thaw for a few hours.

Whether they’re decorated with rainbow sprinkles or a simple white chocolate drizzle, these homemade cake pops are sure to be the biggest hit at the party. They’re perfect for birthday parties and holidays.

Easy And Fun Homemade Cake Pop Recipe

Forget