How To Make Chocolate Cake Pops Without Frosting

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 make it easier.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I make cake pops, especially without a cake pop maker. I’m not a huge believer in unitasker kitchen appliances, plus a cake pop maker just shapes cake into balls. In my opinion, a true cake pop is cake and frosting combined into a fudgy, moist truffle. I’m not sure that Bakerella (the creator of cake pops) would want it any other way.

Chocolate Cake Recipe Without Cocoa Powder

Odds are, you have at least one or more of these tools in your kitchen already. Put them to use and make some cake pops more easily!

(Need some recipe inspiration? I’ve also made snowmen cake pops, heart shaped cake pops, salted caramel cake pops, cheesecake pops and whoopie pie pops. Plus, I’ll be posting a St. Patrick’s Day inspired cake pop (the one pictured below) in a few days!)

The Little Dipper is a tiny Crock-Pot often used for dips and sauces. It only has 1 setting, warm, and it’s perfect for melting chocolate or candy melts to coat cake pops. I don’t own a microwave, so I usually melt chocolate in a double boiler on the stove top. This sometimes makes the chocolate or candy melts too hot, which makes the cake pops fall apart when dipped. Even if you have a microwave, the Little Dipper will melt the coating for you with no effort and to the perfect temperature.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake With Glossy Chocolate Frosting

It will take around 15-20 minutes to melt. You can stir occasionally or wait until the end to stir. Don’t leave it plugged in if you’re not going to be dipping the pops right away though – it might start burning around the edges.

Usually when people make shaped cake pops, they shape them each individually by hand. It’s daunting enough to roll round cake pops by hand, and making each into a shape seems even worse. So when I made heart shaped cake pops, I found an easier way: push the cake pop dough into a wide, shallow baking dish and use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes. Easy peasy!

I thought everyone knew this one, until I saw someone at a bakery using a cheese grater to break up the cake. Seriously?! You can also use your hands to break up the cake, but it’s so much easier and faster to crumble a cake by putting in a food processor. I know that not everyone owns a food processor, so I tried out this method in my blender too. It works almost as well, you just have to use smaller pieces of cake at a time. There’s no easier way to break up a cake into even crumbs with no chunks.

How To Make 4 Ingredient Cake Pops

I use this medium cookie scoop to make evenly sized cake pops. It’s pretty easy: scoop up the cake pop batter, push off the excess with your finger, and release onto your clean, slightly moistened hands (making your hands a little wet prevents the cake from sticking). Then roll it into a ball. Done!

I saw this idea on Pinterest. Can’t find any styrofoam? Use a colander! Only some of the holes on mine fit the lollipop sticks, but it was a great solution for letting the cake pops dry. I bought some styrofoam at Michael’s (and felt a little silly paying money for something you can get for free) and it was immediately covered in sprinkles and flecks of melted chocolate. This can be easily cleaned if that happens and you probably already have one in your kitchen cabinet.4-Ingredient Cake Pops are simple to make, requiring just 20-minutes hands on prep. Crumbled chocolate cake meets vanilla frosting, gets shaped into bite sized balls, dunked in chocolate and served up lollipop style.

A little known fact about Simply Sissom... I used to have help with ANY recipe that required ANY type of baking. I never specifically went out in search of a babysitter/fabulous baker situation, buuuuut, sometimes life works out in your favor and our family ended up with Miss Maty. She moved to North Carolina several years ago, but this weekend... she visited! Out of habit, we found ourselves whipping up yummy things in the kitchen (ok, I held the baby while she did the whipping). The result... these 4-ingredient cake pops that my family Can. Not. Get. Enough. Of.

How To Make Cake Pops (easy And Fool Proof)

Are they sugar free and made from dates, oatmeal and maple syrup? Well, no. Things rarely are when Miss Maty comes to visit, but every single ingredient is recognizable AND with a few carefully selected store-bought purchases they became free from funky-ingredients and unwanted additives.

You could go the route of making a cake from scratch, busting out your Kitchen Aid and whipping butter + sugar into homemade frosting, but you guys.. it's really not necessary. These adorable little guys are just the right amount of sweet and jut the right amount of effort.

Step 1: Bake a cake. I used Simple Mills Chocolate Muffin and Cake Mix. It does contain sugar but I love that all the ingredients are recognizable. I feel compelled to tell you.. this is NOT sponsored. Just a brand I love and want to share with you.

Cake Truffles (aka Cake Balls, Aka Cake Pops Without Sticks)

Step 6:Add sprinkles if you're feeling festive. The sprinkles pictured areNature's Colors Rainbow Mix Decorating Sugar from India Tree. They are made from all natural ingredients.

So let's review.. cake mix + frosting + melted chocolate + coconut oil. That's it. Here's a few tips to get the best results possible:

Prep: To get a jump start on this recipe, you could bake the cake ahead of time. This is especially helpful if you have tiny kitchen helpers who may get impatient while waiting for the cake to cool.

Easy Chocolate Cake Pops • A Table Full Of Joy

Make Ahead:The cake pops can definitely be made ahead. They keep well in the refrigerator for several days. You can either go ahead and add the chocolate coating and sprinkles to the outside or just let them hang out in undecorated ball-form.

Freezer:The freezer is exactly where my cake balls are hanging out as I type this. I like that they last longer AND having to allow them a few minutes to thaw before eating keeps me from having an unfortunate incident involving myself and the disappearance of All. The. Cake. Balls. I try to avoid these types of accidents.

4-Ingredient Cake Pops are simple to make, requiring just  20-minutes hands on prep. Crumbled chocolate cake meets vanilla-frosting and then  gets shaped into bite sized balls, dunked in chocolate and served up lollipop style.

Cake Balls Recipe

Nutrition facts will vary greatly depending on the type of cake mix and frosting that you choose to use. For this reason, this information was not calculated for this post.

Bailey Sissom is a 3rd grade teacher turned stay-at-home mom and the creator of Simply Sissom, a blog for busy moms who value feeding their kids healthy meals and snacks, but struggle with finding the time to make it happen. On Simply Sissom, Bailey shares practical recipes, tips and tricks to help make preparing whole food meals happen consistently.I am not an expert on cake balls. Some people are really really good at making them.  I’m not even talking about the cutesy, snazzy people who can make their cake balls/pops look like freakin Hello Kitty or a unicorn head.  No, those people are sculptors. I’ve come to grips with the reality that I simply do not have the skill, time or patience for that. But they

Mine always come out looking more like mini deformed potatoes.  I basically quit trying to make cake balls because not only was I making pathetic looking ones, but they were so sweet that I would make the sour pucker face when I ate one.  What’s the point of all this work if I wasn’t willing to blow the summer slim down diet for a few?! Yes, they’re adorable, they are usually too sweet and don’t taste very good.  I am all for presentation, but taste is first and foremost.

Easy Cake Pops

Don’t get me wrong, I looooove me some sweets (I mean look at my recipe page, it’s a wonder I don’t give myself diabetes).  Most cake balls use a crumbled cake and frosting as the binding agent (the thing that holds the crumbs together), then dunked in white chocolate which I hate because it’s too thick and too sweet even on its own.  I make no-bake oreo “cake pops” that I love (get recipe