How To Chocolate Dip Cake Pops

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.

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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!

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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.

Easy Chocolate Cake Balls (cake Pops)

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.

Monster Chocolate Cake Pops

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!

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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 onMy birthday is this week, and I can't resist throwing a party! So I've created a bunch of fun recipes and ideas to share with you all week long!

I love coming up with creative party themes. Last year I threw a Pink and Gold Birthday Party, and in years past, I've thrown a Fiesta Birthday Party and a French-Themed Party. So fun!

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Can you guess what my theme is this year? I'm a sucker for anything bright and colorful, and I can't think of a party theme more fun and festive than sprinkles!

So let's get sprinkling ... these adorable Birthday Cake Pops with Sprinkles are the first treat I have for you this week!

These Birthday Cake Pops with Sprinkles are sure to impress your guests. They're beautiful to look at, and they're totally delicious, too.

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If you've never cake pops before, these Confetti Cake Pops are the recipe for you. These pops aren't difficult to make (although they take a bit of time), and I'll lead you through the process step by step. Plus, those cute sprinkles will cover up any little mistakes you might make!

While I love cooking from scratch, and do it probably 90% of the time, I almost always use cake mixes and prepared frostings for cake pops. It just makes the process simpler and quicker. And trust me, they still taste delicious!

Feel free to use your favorite white cake recipe for these Rainbow Cake Pops though, if you have one. You'll need 2 (8 or 9-inch) baked cake layers to make 24 cake pops.

Chocolate Cake Pops

You can also great creative and use different cake / frosting flavors or different colors of candy melts. Just keep in mind that if you use a dark-colored cake (like chocolate), then white or other light-colored candy melts may not cover your pops well.

If you've never made cake pops before, I think you'll be surprised at how easy these Sprinkles Cake Pops are to make. They do take a little time, but each step is simple.

The first step is baking your cake. Simply follow the package directions, then let your cake cool completely before starting the cake pops.

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Once your cake is baked and cooled, place it in a large bowl and use your hands or a fork to crumble it.

Next, you'll add frosting, and you can use your hands for this step, too. The amount of frosting you'll need depends on a few things: how moist your cake is; how much liquid is in your frosting, etc. You want to add just enough frosting to hold the cake together when rolled into a ball. So start with a small amount of frosting and add more if needed.

To form the cake pops, take a heaping tablespoon of the cake / frosting mixture. Roll it between your palms to form a ball. Don't worry if your balls have minor imperfections, because the candy coating will cover any small flaws.

Chocolate Cake Pop

Place the cake balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or foil). Then, refrigerate the pops for two hours or freeze them for one hour. Don't skip this step, because it firms the pops and keeps them from falling apart.

Melt a few candy melts in a small bowl, then dip in the end of