How To Make Candy Melts For Cake Pops

When it comes to covering your cake pop, Candy Melts candy makes it easy and fun! Learn how to melt and thin Candy Melts and get some helpful tips on how to decorate cake pops with Candy Melts candy.

Candy Melts candy can be used for dipping, drizzling, dunking and decorating – but it’s perhaps best known for coating cake pops.

Available in a variety of colors and flavors, Candy Melts candy helps seal in the flavor and moisture of a cake pop. It also acts as a blank canvas for decorating!

How To Make Confetti Cake Pops

Whether you melt it using a melting pot or a double boiler, Candy Melts is a great way to personalize your cake pop creations. Use this helpful guide to ensure you get smooth and shiny cake pops every time.

Candy Melts candy is a sweet confectionery coating that can be used to dip treats, mold candy, pipe and drizzle decorations and even make ganache. It’s available in a variety of colors and flavors, can be melted to a semi-liquid state and sets hard with a smooth, shiny finish.

Candy Melts candy can be melted in one of three ways: in the microwave, using a double boiler or in the Candy Melts Melting Pot. For cake pops, the best methods are the melting pot or double boiler.

Easter Mini Egg Cake Pops

The Candy Melts Melting Pot is the safest way to melt candy for cake pops. This pot can melt up to 2 1/2 cups of Candy Melts candy in less than 10 minutes and will keep your candy warm until your project is completed.

Once preheated, add your candy to the pot, stirring occasionally until completely melted. For faster melting, try cutting your candy up in smaller pieces.

When your candy is completely melted, move the switch on the pot to the warm setting to keep candy fluid as you dip your cake pops. If the candy begins to thicken or cool, you can rewarm it by switching it back to the melting setting.

The Best Chocolate Cake Pops

To melt your candy using a double boiler, fill a small pot with about 1 in. of water. Place a large heat-safe bowl on the pot and place the pot on low heat. Add your candy to the bowl, stirring constantly to help distribute heat. The steam rising from the boiling water will melt your candy.

If too much steam is releasing from the pot, turn down your heat. Water and steam can cause your Candy Melts to seize, rendering them unusable.

If your candy starts to thicken or harden, you can remelt it by placing it back on the pot and stirring over low heat.

Homemade Cake Pops

There’s a higher risk of burning your candy if you use the microwave, especially when you’re melting more than 12 oz. at a time. Save this method for making your candy cake pop decorations!

If your melted candy appears too thick or is not smoothly covering your treat, you can thin it out using EZ Thin Dipping Aid. These crystals dissolve into your melted candy, making it the perfect consistency for dipping and drizzling.

To use EZ Thin, simply add 2 tablespoons of crystals to 12 oz. melted candy. Stir until completely incorporated. If you’re using less than 12 oz. of melted candy, start with a small amount of EZ Thin, then continue adding until you achieve the correct consistency.

The Do's And Don'ts Of Making Cake Pops

You can also thin out your melted candy with solid vegetable shortening (2 teaspoons per 12 oz. bag). Do not use liquid vegetable oil, butter, milk, water or any other liquid to thin your candy. These will all cause your candy to break or seize, rendering it unusable. This can also happen if your candy is burned or overheated.

Sometimes if you place a freezing or cold cake pop in warm candy, it can cause the candy to crack as it hardens. To prevent this, let your cake pops come to room temperature before dipping them in the warm candy.

Once all your cake pops have been coated, you can let them sit for a few minutes at room temperature to harden slightly before placing them in the refrigerator to finish setting. This will give the warm candy a chance to cool down gradually and the cold blast from the fridge won’t crack your smooth candy coating.

Step By Step Cake Pops

Easy to make and fun to decorate, cake pops make great edible gifts or party favors. They’re a cinch to customize with your favorite flavors and colors and are perfect for those moments when you just need a little taste of something sweet!

You can make cake pops with your favorite homemade cake recipe from scratch; however, there’s no shame in using a boxed cake mix here. Boxed cake mix produces a moist cake crumb, perfect for cake pops. You can also add in your favorite mix-ins to make it feel a little more “homemade” (we suggest mini chocolate chips or sprinkles for a confetti look).

The great thing about Candy Melts is that leftover melted candy, or candy that has dripped off your treat and is crumb-free, can be re-melted and re-used. To keep your candy as fresh as possible, follow these simple storage instructions.

How To Thin Wilton Candy Melts For Perfect Cake Pops

Create a cute edible garden with these Sprinkled Succulent Cake Pops. Formed to look like cacti then covered with Green Candy Melts and sprinkles, these cute treats are perfect for birthdays, Mother’s Day or garden parties.

Show off your team spirit with these School Spirit Cake Pops. Made using two different colors of cake mixture, these cake pops are easy to customize and fun to make for any sporting or school event.

These Over the Moon Cake Pops are out of this world! A fun addition to any galaxy or space-themed party, these cake pops are decorated using Pearl Dust edible decorating powder, so they sparkle and shine!

Starbucks Cake Pops Copycat Recipe

Take a bite out of summer any time of year with these cute Fruit-Shaped Cake Pops. Decorated to look like lemons, limes, grapefruits, dragon fruits, kiwis, watermelons and papayas, these bright and colorful pops use Candy Melts candy to add fun and decorative elements.

Marbling is a fun candy technique that looks great on a cake pop. Swirls of white and blue candy make these Blue Marbled Cake Pops perfect for baby or wedding showers. Customize your marble swirl using any color you’d like!

Have you decorated cake pops using Candy Melts candy? Share a picture of your treats on social media and tag us @wiltoncakes.

Easy Cake Pop Recipe

Since 1929, the Wilton Team of bakers has been inspiring the joy of creativity in everyone, everywhere, every day. From big milestone celebrations to simply baking in the kitchen with your loved ones, the Wilton team is here to be your trusted guide, your secret ingredient, ready to help you shine with tips, tricks and solutions that enable you to be your most creative self. No matter where you are on your baking journey, Wilton is here to help you bake your world happy.Have you ever had trouble using Wilton Candy Melts for cake pops?  I know I have!  It's often too thick and clumpy and I get sooooo frustrated when this happens!   But the truth is, the candy melts are sooo convenient!  They're already colored in a whole rainbow of colors and they're very easy to find online or in craft stores or Walmart.

Well, you can not imagine how excited I was to see this video that Wilton recently shared on YouTube... and they share how to fix the candy melts to make perfect cake pops!    Watch it here:

They're #1 suggestions is to mix in 2 Tbsp. of EZ Thin Dipping Aid.  Honestly, I had never heard of this before watching this video, but it appears to be an awesome product!  If i see some in stores, I will be grabbing it and giving it a try!

Christmas Cake Pops

First up - shortening (which is also mentioned in that video).    Before a few months ago, shortening was my go-to fix for thick melted candy melts.  I'd just keep stirring in a teaspoon at a time until I got the candy melts to a good consistency.

But a few months back, I read somewhere about using Paramount Crystals to thin candy melts.  I didn't know what that was either but since I was willing to try anything to make cake pops easier, I ordered me a bag and voila - they also work like a charm!!

By the way, I suspect that paramount crystals and EZ Thin are very similar products, if not identical, although I haven't tried the EZ Thin yet.  Anywho... if you've ever had trouble with thick, goopy candy melts, maybe now you can solve that problem to make your cake pop adventures go a little easier!

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Rose Atwater is the founder and cake decorator behind Rose Bakes. She is baker, cake decorator, author, wife to Richy and homeschooling mommy to 6 wonderful kiddos! Her work has been featured in American Cake Decorating Magazine, Cakes Decor, Pretty Witty Cakes Magazine, Huffington Post and Cake Geek Magazine. Learn