How To Hold Cake Pops Up To Dry

How was your weekend? We spent most of it celebrating my friend’s birthday. I made a whole mess of treats including chocolate zucchini cake (as cupcakes), these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies, and these peanut butter M&M cookies too—it’s been way too long since I made a batch of those in particular! The birthday girl loves chocolate and peanut butter and caramel so these 3 were a no brainer.

There’s no batter time (get it? batter?) than a happy occasion to indulge in your favorite treats whether that’s a birthday, shower, wedding, you name it. My mom and sisters threw my baby shower last month and one of the treats they surprised me with was a HUGE display of cake pops. I love cake pops, but hardly ever take the time to make them. Though I did whip up a batch for both of my sisters’ bridal showers in the past few years.

The difference between these cake pops and others you may have tried is that these are 100% homemade. There’s no box cake mix or canned frosting, which results in a totally unique cake pop experience. You can actually TASTE the homemade. The love, the passion, and the care that goes into creating each adorable pop.

Tips You Need For Making Cake Pops

So anyway! I first began making homemade cake pops when I wroteSally’s Candy Addiction. In fact, this recipe is published in the book! I want to share it on the blog as well because I’ve gotten lots of questions about making from-scratch cake pops.

Today we’ll go over all my tips, tricks, and secrets to crafting the peeeeerfect pop as well as the homemade vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream used inside. There’s lots of ground to cover so let’s pop right to it. (Can’t stop with my nerdiness right now.)

Since we’re leaving the box cake mix and canned frosting on the store shelves, we’ll need to take a little extra time to prep both from scratch. I always make the cake the night before, then finish the cake pops the next day. Here’s the general process:

Cake Pops Recipe (poppyseed And Raisins)

Super basic recipes for both the vanilla cake and frosting, but I do encourage you to use the correct size pan for the cake. This cake is too large for a typical 9-inch cake pan. You’ll need to use a 9-inch springform pan since it rises quite high. Or you can use an 11×7-inch pan instead. A 10-inch springform pan would work as well.

Cake ingredients are straightforward. The basic crew like flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, milk. Same goes with the vanilla frosting: butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, milk (or cream). The difference between this and what you get out of a box is the taste. You can totally tell these cake pops are special and it’s because you started with from-scratch components. WORTH IT!

(Crumbling the cake into the frosting sounds super weird when you think about it and that’s exactly what cake pops are—super weird when you think about it. It’s cake and frosting mixed together to form a truffle-like ball. Pop a stick in it and dunk into coating. Yep, it’s weirdly delicious and awesome and you need to embrace it.)

Erica's Sweet Tooth » Striped Cake Pops

It’s easier to roll the cake + frosting mixture into perfectly round balls if it’s cold. And what I do is roll the balls up right after the two are mixed together. They’re pretty misshapen because the cake + frosting mixture is super moist—and at room temperature. So then I chill the balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. After that, I give them another little roll to smooth out the sides. When they’re cold, they’re easier to smooth out and form perfectly round shapes.

Just like when we make Oreo balls, the cake balls need to be super chilled before dipping, so this trick gets both steps done!

Now let’s dunk. You can dip the cake balls into pure white chocolate, which is what I prefer for best taste, but that stuff is pretty expensive. And 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.

Cake Pop Display

Another trick: to ensure the cake ball stays secure on the lollipop stick, dip it slightly into the coating first. Then stick in the center of the cake ball. See photo above!

And another trick: the best way to allow the coating to dry and set—without ruining the perfectly round cake pop—is to place them right side up in a large styrofoam block or even a box. I used a box, as pictured below, for this batch. I just poked super tiny holes into it. Easy and cheap.

Cake pops are a genius celebration-worthy treat to make ahead of time because they freeze beautifully. I simply freeze them in a large zipped-top freezer bag after they’ve fully dried. They’re great for up to 6 weeks, then just let them thaw overnight in the fridge.

Chocolate Cake Pops — Salt & Baker

I have a few more tips for ya! I went over these in Sally’s Candy Addiction because they’re pretty important to review before you get started.

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 onA couple of weeks ago I posted my 5 tricks to make cake pops more easily – ways I’ve found to cut down on time and frustration by using kitchen tools I already had. The post got a lot of comments and feedback, along with some questions about making cake pops that made me realize I skipped the basics for you all who have never made them.

Cake pop recipes can be overwhelming even to an experienced baker, so I  can definitely understand why a lot of you haven’t attempted making them yet. I made a simple step-by-step photo tutorial to guide you through the process and I hope it encourages you and helps you take the plunge into making cake pops. I hated making them at first because it took so much time, but the more I make them (and I keep doing it because they’re so delicious!), the easier and faster it gets.

Homemade Cake Pops

 1. Bake a cake, any cake (use a box mix if that’s your thing, or your favorite cake recipe). Let it cool, then split it into several big pieces. Crumble them evenly with your hands, a food processor or a blender. Place all the crumbs into a large bowl.

2. Make the frosting that goes with your cake recipe (or buy canned frosting) and add it to the crumbs. Use the back of a spoon or your clean, dry hands to thoroughly mix them together.

3. Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to scoop out even amounts of cake pop dough. Use clean, slightly moistened hands to roll into firm balls. Place them onto a baking sheet or dish and put them in the freezer.

Strawberry Cake Pops

4. Use a microwave, double boiler, or CrockPot Little Dipper to melt the coating. If you’re using the first 2 methods, be careful not to make it too hot, or the cake pops will fall apart. If this happens, let the coating cool for several minutes before dipping more.

5. Remove several cake pops from the freezer. Take a lollipop stick and dip the tip into the melted coating (this is key to get the cake ball to stick). Push the stick almost all the way through the cake ball. Dip the ball into the melted coating until it is all the way covered, then quickly remove it. Hold the coated pop over the bowl while the excess drips off. To help speed up the process, you can tap your wrist with your other hand.

6. Once most of the excess coating has dripped off, add sprinkles if you want and place the pop stick into styrofoam or a colander to dry. if you’re making pops that are going to lay flat (like the snowmen ones below), set them on a flat surface lined with wax paper. When you’re done with the first batch of cake balls you remove from the freezer, take out several more and repeat steps 5 & 6.

No Bake Oreo Cake Pops

And don’t forget to check out my bonus tricks to making cake pops more easily! You’ll definitely want to read this before you make them:The first time I made cake pops, I was pretty convinced that I would never make them again. It seemed to take forever. There are so many steps. To make matters worse, I was making peppermint chocolate cake pops, so after I dipped each one in white chocolate, I waited 30 seconds for it to set before rolling it in crushed candy canes. That added a lot more time than I’d anticipated.

However, if you read this blog regularly, you know that I have actually made cake pops several times since my first attempt. They turned out to be so delicious and popular that I couldn’t help but try making them again. Each time, I discovered a new way to