How To Make Make Cake Pops

Want to learn how to make the perfect Cake Pops? These homemade cake balls are so easy to make, and the perfect bite-sized party treat for any occasion! These sweet treats are made with vanilla cake, frosting, and rainbow sprinkles but can be with any flavor combination.

You won’t have to buy overpriced cake pops again with this easy recipe. It only requires a handful of ingredients, and with my step-by-step photos and tips, you’ll be making cafe-worthy cake balls in no time. Decorating these bite-sized desserts is effortless and makes for a great weekend project with kids. For another kid friendly dessert idea, check out my homemade funfetti cake!

Vanilla cake — I use a box cake mix for these cake balls for convenience. However, if you have some leftovercake lying around, you can use that as well because nothing beats homemade cake. If you prefer you can use chocolate cake, red velvet cake, or strawberry cake instead.

Vanilla Cake Pops From Scratch

Frosting — you can use homemade vanilla frosting (great use for leftovers) or store-bought frosting. I prefer homemade for the flavor, but sometimes convenience wins! Of course feel free to use chocolate frosting or cream cheese frosting instead.

Candy melts — once melted and dipped, candy melts will set up with the same look and texture as chocolate. It’s easier to use than chocolate, as you can skip tempering it. Careful not to scorch the melts, or they’ll harden too quickly to work with.

6. Melt candy or chocolate wafers according to the package instructions. Dip the tip of a lollipop stick in the melted chocolate and insert about halfway into a cake ball.

Easy And Fun Homemade Cake Pop Recipe

7. Dip the cake ball into the chocolate. Remove and gently tap on the side of the cup to let excess coating drip off.

If you don’t have candy melts, try melting wafers (my favorite is Ghirardelli Vanilla) or melting good white chocolate or dark chocolate bars. If the chocolate is too thick, you can try stirring in 1 tbsp vegetable oil to the melted chocolate.

The main culprit of a cracked cake pop coating is due to significant temperature differences in the cake balls. If the cake balls are too cold and the melted candy melt is too hot, the coating will crack as the hot mixture will cause the cake balls to expand and then contract. To prevent this from happening, make sure the coating isn’t super hot when you dip your cake into it. Allow your coating to cool for a few minutes before dipping.

Cake Pops Recipe

Don’t skip dipping lollipop sticks in the frosting before inserting into the ball. This helps the sticks stay put in the balls as they harden. Not inserting the lollipop stick deep enough will cause them to fall off as well. Finally, make sure your lollipop sticks aren’t too thin, as you need a thick enough stick to hold the weight of the cake balls. My go-to lollipop sticks are pictured above.

If you’re making cake balls ahead of time, you can keep un-dipped cake balls in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. After dipped and decorated, store them in an airtight sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You can freeze uncoated and coated cake balls for up to 2 months. When ready to enjoy, let them thaw at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before eating.

Ingredient Funfetti Cake Pops (using A Box Of Cake Mix)

If you’ve tried this Cake Pops recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!

Calories: 137 kcal | Carbohydrates: 20 g | Protein: 1 g | Fat: 6 g | Saturated Fat: 2 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g | Trans Fat: 1 g | Cholesterol: 13 mg | Sodium: 115 mg | Potassium: 15 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 14 g | Vitamin A: 19 IU | Calcium: 32 mg | Iron: 1 mgHow to make homemade cake pops? Which recipes to choose? How to decorate them? How to make them successful? Follow this guide to make cake pops, an easy sweet treats recipe made without mold, perfect for any occasion like a baby shower, birthday party, wedding, and more.

The cake pops also called cake balls, are small balls of cake coated with chocolate or candy coating and decorated with sprinkles.

How To Make Cake Pops Without Sticks (with Pictures)

They were invented by the very famous blogger Angie Dudley from the Bakerella blog and she highlighted them during the Martha Stewart TV show.

Since then, these tiny, colorful cake pops have been super trendy and totally irresistible, and they are great to spend time making with the kids who have so much fun.

These little sweet bites are a lot of fun, with an endless choice of decorations, and can be twisted into any shape and for any occasion.

How To Make Red Velvet Cake Pops (valentine's Cake Pops)

In Christmas tree, in bell for Easter, for a birth, a wedding, or using special molds for pop cakes, cupcakes, or ice cream cones.

You don't have to be an advanced baker to make the perfect cake pops recipe at home! All you need is a cake mix or vanilla cake or even leftover cake, some icing like cream cheese or buttercream frosting, candy melts, lollipop sticks, and sugar decorations.

In this recipe I share you my buttermilk vanilla sponge to make these vanilla cake pops, but here are other similar sponge that you can use:

Step By Step Cake Pops

You can also replace the sponge cake with crumbled cookies like Oreo cookies in this Oreo cake pops recipe or Biscoff cookies in these Biscoff cake pops recipe.

Candy melts: These little chocolate pistols that come in all colors and are not really chocolate, are perfect to make cake pops!

Tip: The dough is a little wet, it can stick to your hands, after a short time in the fridge, you will be able to roll them again more easily to give them a nice round shape.

How To Make The Best Cake Pops At Home

Tip: For a thinner candy melt or chocolate, you can add a small amount of crisco, coconut oil, candy wafers, cocoa butter or vegetable oil.

The candy melt will crack if there is a temperature shock. Let the cake pops come to room temperature a bit before dipping them in the candy melts.

You need to dip the sticks in the melted candy melts beforehand, which will act as a glue and prevent the sticks from coming off the cake.

How To Make Cake Pops Without Candy Melts: Easy Alternatives (2023)

The cake pops can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container box with a tight-fitting lid or in the refrigerator.

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Storage: 2-3 days at room temperature and up to 1 week in the refrigerator. You can also keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Your Guide To Cake Pops

Keywords: cake pops, pop cakes, homemade cake pops, vanilla cake pops, cake pops recipe, easy cake pops, how to make cakes pops, I have to admit, I had never made cake pops before but I was determined to make them for our gender reveal party. I’ve made Oreo truffles multiple times, which are somewhat similar to cake pops. Somewhat. They’re essentially the cookie version of cake pops. Basically dessert cousins. I figured, how hard could it be?

Now, I know mine aren’t 100% true cake pops– they’re basically cake balls with sticks in them, but people can still carry them around like cake pops. I mean, who wants messy hands? Anyway, I’ll tell you at the end of the post how to make them into legit cake pops with the cake portion at the top and the stick coming out the bottom.

Prepare a boxed cake mix as directed on the box. Let the cake cool completely. Wash your hands. Next, crumble the cake into fine crumbs with your hands in a large bowl. Mix in about 1/3 cup of icing (I used store bought milk chocolate) with your hands. The mixture should be dense but not gooey. Gooey cake balls gross me out. Grab a cookie scoop (I used my 1.5 T scoop, which I LOVE). (Remember, everyone needs a cookie scoop, or 3.) Then, scoop out the mixture, packing the cake mixture into the scoop as you scoop it (I smushed the open side of the cookie scoop against the inside of the bowl). Smush the mixture in your hand to pack it tightly into a ball. Roll it into a nicely shaped ball. Roll the remaining mixture into balls (my cake mix made 18 balls).

How To Make Sugar Free Cake Pops

Grab your Candy Melts (I purchased mine from JoAnn Fabric) and a small microwaveable dish (I used a small oatmeal bowl). Put about 5 morsels into the bowl and melt them in the microwave. Next, grab your cake pop sticks (I purchased mine from JoAnn Fabric). Dip your stick into the melted Candy Melt and quickly stick it into a cake pop at least half way down. Repeat with remaining cake pops. Then, set pops on a cookie tray. Freeze for about 15 minutes