How To Make Chocolate Dip For Cake Pops

Chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + cute heart sprinkles = the most adorable treat! Today we’re making chocolate cake pops because many of you request them, especially after I shared my vanilla cake pops. Your wish is my command. What I love most, however, is that you have creative control. You can decorate these cake pops in your own unique way, which makes this recipe 100x more fun.

I have plenty of step-by-step photos and lots of tips/tricks. I want you to understand every instruction so you can follow along and know what the heck you’re doing. The process isn’t difficult– you’re literally just baking a chocolate cake and making frosting then mixing them together. Things just get a little particular when it comes to rolling, lollipop-sticking, and dunking/dipping. If you can make bread bowls, you can totally handle cake pops! (They’re more fun to eat too… sprinkles!)

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By the way, if you’ve ever eaten store-bought cake pops– these taste totally different. They’re from scratch. No cake mix. No canned frosting. No preservatives. You can actually TASTE the homemade.

Cake Pops Recipe

Quick tip: Whenever I make cake pops from scratch, I always begin the night before. I make the cake, cover it, and let it sit out at room temperature overnight. I also prepare the frosting, cover, and refrigerate. This way everything’s ready to go.

It might seem like the switch from vanilla cake pops to chocolate cake pops is easy. Replace some flour with cocoa powder, right? And vanilla frosting with chocolate frosting? I wish! Chocolate is a complicated soul and requires a little finesse, that’s why my vanilla cake and chocolate cake recipes are so different! I baked a couple single layer chocolate cakes before stopping at this one. The first few began with creamed butter + sugar. My favorite chocolate cakes and cupcakes typically rely on oil for the fat because (1) HELLO MOISTURE and (2) the flavor of butter really isn’t necessary because chocolate overpowers it anyway. My initial thought with cake pops, however, was that I needed a slightly drier cake to get the best texture for cake pops (because it will be mixed with frosting). Well this was just a huge mess from the start because dry cake is gross.

That being said, you’ll need oil for the cake. And a few other basics like cocoa powder, sugar, flour, and eggs. Hot water is also a must. Remember why from when we made this tuxedo cake?The hot liquid encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve. When I make chocolate cake, I usually reach for hot coffee (instead of hot water) because coffee accentuates the chocolate favor—but that’s not as crucial here. Because we’re just crumbling the cake and mixing with chocolate frosting!

Common Cake Pop Issues & Tutorial

By the way, you can totally enjoy this chocolate cake on its own. If you ever need a single layer chocolate cake—use this guy. It’s

Like, italicize and bold good. Deep and dark chocolate flavor. Super moist. Super rich. Top with chocolate buttercream, whipped cream, peanut butter frosting, or red wine chocolate ganache.

What was a little more difficult than testing the perfect single layer chocolate cake was figuring out how much frosting I needed. Too much frosting and the cake pops are wet and greasy. Too little frosting and you won’t have enough to bind the cake crumbles.I have the perfect amount of frosting you’ll need. It’s not much because the chocolate cake is already so moist.

Chocolate Cake Pops (starbucks Copycat)

Crumble the cake into the bowl of frosting and yes, you’ll feel very weird doing this. You just made this beautiful chocolate cake and will now break it up into a bowl of frosting. Because that’s what cake pops are—cake crumbs and frosting.

Once the two are mixed together, it’s time to roll the mixture into balls. This part is EASY. I found the chocolate cake pops much easier to roll into balls than my vanilla version. This mixture is just sooo smooth! Your hands will get a little sticky, but just roll with it. Hahahaha get it? get it?

Smaller wins. If you roll the cake pops too large, they’ll wobble off the lollipop stick. They’re too heavy. You need 1 Tablespoon of the cake pop mixture per ball. No more, no less. You’ll end up with 40 of them. Quite a lot—but these babies freeze beautifully! And you can gift them to anyone and everyone. Who doesn’t love a homemade cake pop? Seriously WHO.

How To Make Cake Pops!

These cake balls need to chill in the refrigerator before we pop ’em with a lollipop stick. Why? They’re much too delicate right now; they’ll completely fall apart. Which reminds me… you do NOT have to make these as pops. You can make them truffle style by simply rolling them up and coating in chocolate. Either way you enjoy them, chill the cake balls before coating. I just place them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate them for a couple hours.

Speaking of chocolate, you can dunk the cake ballsinto pure chocolate, which is what I prefer for best taste, but that’s pretty expensive. 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.

Chocolate

Contrary to my wordy post (sorry!!!) and 1 million photos, I promise chocolate cake pops are simple (about as simple these Oreo balls!). As long as you follow my tips in this post and get started the night before per my suggestion, it’s simple!

Chocolate Cake Pops

Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂

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 onThese chocolate cake pops are made with moist chocolate cake, delicious chocolate frosting, then coated in more chocolate and dipped in sprinkles! These can be made with a box mix or a cake made from scratch, and there are instructions for making it vegan or gluten free!

Chocolate cake pops have got to be one of the cutest desserts ever - there's just something about eating a little piece of cake on a stick, you know?

Chocolate Cake Pops — Salt & Baker

Cake pops are so great for kids or adults, and you can customize them with fun sprinkles for birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, weddings, or pretty much any event or holiday you can think of! While they are a labour of love, they are so worth it in the end.

These cake pops are already dairy free, so to make them dairy free, simply use dairy free chocolate chips, and use this dairy free chocolate cake recipe.

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To make the cake pops with regular ingredients, simply swap out the ingredients in the chocolate cake recipe with regular dairy ingredients, and do the same for the frosting. You can use any chocolate melts or chocolate chips for the coating.

Cakeball Pops And The Secret To Dipping Anything In Chocolate

To make vegan cake pops, use this vegan chocolate cake recipe, and use vegan butter and milk in the buttercream. For the chocolate coating, you can use vegan semisweet chocolate chips, or any vegan chocolate chips you'd like.

To make a gluten free version of these cake pops, simply swap out the chocolate cake for your favorite gluten free chocolate cake from scratch or use a gluten free box mix cake.

STEP ONE: Begin making the chocolate cake. If using a box mix, follow the instructions on the box to make the cake. If making this recipe from scratch, follow the instructions here. Preheat the oven to 350°F and preparean8 inch round cake pan or 8x8 square baking pan.

Homemade Chocolate Cake Pops

STEP TWO: In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder together. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and oil, then add the milk. Pour in the hot water and whisk until smooth. Bake for 20-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

STEP THREE: Let the cake cool completely, then make the chocolate frosting. Mix butter and cocoa powder together in a large bowl, then slowly add vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and salt. Add milk if buttercream seems too thick.

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STEP FOUR: Break and crumble the cooled chocolate cake into the bowl with the buttercream and use your hands or a standing mixer to mix it all together until the frosting is fully combined.

How To Dip Cake Pops In Chocolate Video

STEP FIVE: Form the mixture into 1 tablespoon - sized balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least two hours or freeze for about 1 hour.

STEP SIX: Once the cake pops have chilled, melt the chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips in a microwave-safe mug or liquid measuring cup or 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals until melted fully. If using chocolate chips, you may need to thin out the chocolate with a little bit of oil.

STEP SEVEN: Dip the tip of one end of each cake pop stick into the chocolate then gently push it into one of the

Mint Julep Cake Pops