Dry Cake Pops

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.

Simple Cake Pops Recipe

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.

In A Pickle: What To Do With A Dry Cake

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.

Chocolate Coconut Almond 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.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.

Make Yummy Cake Pops With Dry Cake

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.

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.)

How To Make Cake Pops

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:

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!

Make This Easy 4th Of July Cake Pops Recipe

(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.)

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!

Cake Balls Recipe

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.

Another trick: To ensure the cake ball stays secure on the lollipop stick, dip about the top 1/2 inch of the stick into the coating first. Then stick into 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.

Easy Cake Pops (no Baking Required!)

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