I posted a cake pops tutorial last January and have gotten so many questions in the comments section, usually the same few repeatedly, that I’m having trouble locating them to reply when a new one is posted anywhere other than at the very end. An FAQ is long overdue, and I hope to address all the concerns and questions I have received over the last year and a half so that my readers have somewhere to go to resolve their problems and get their questions answered.
I have made many batches of cake pops, balls/truffles, and cupcake bites, but I have NEVER done anything creative like Bakerella so if you’re looking for inspiration, check out her site. This post is solely meant to help you with the basics. If you have a question that isn’t answered here, leave it in a comment or email me at vraklis@yahoo.com and I’ll add it to this post. Thanks!
A: I have found mine cracks if I overheat the chocolate before dipping, or if I freeze the cake balls/pops very long before dipping. Make sure you very gently heat your chocolate–you never want it to get hot but just barely warm enough to melt.
Log House Chocolate Flavored Almond Bark
The surest way to keep your chocolate from cracking is to place your styrofoam block in the refrigerator, or even better, the freezer, and place each pop on it after dipping. This is a pain, but if you have a lot of issues with cracking, this will prevent it. However, don’t leave your pops in the freezer too long. Just let them sit long enough to get hard, then remove. If they get too cold, they will sweat when you remove them from the freezer.
The fix: if your chocolate does crack, just spoon some melted chocolate over the crack, making sure to cover it well. It won’t be pretty, but it will keep the cake ball contained and will still be delicious. If you are using sprinkles, that will help disguise it.
A: You most likely overheated your chocolate. Chocolate is temperamental and needs to be heated very gently. I’m extremely careful when microwaving chocolate, stirring it very well every 15 seconds (after the initial 30 seconds-1 minute, or whatever your package says) so that the residual heat does the melting instead of doing it all with the heat of the microwave, which will overheat it.
Recipe Of The Day: Homemade Cake Pops
The fix: stir in some vegetable or canola oil until thinned to the desired consistency. Your chocolate will dry softer than it would have, but it will still be firm enough to hold the cake ball inside.
A: It’s a Wilton Chocolate Melter Deluxe, which is no longer for sale. Wilton has upgraded the pot to a “Chocolate Pro, ” available for purchase here. I don’t actually use mine for melting the chocolate as it takes a long time and I’m impatient, but after melting it in the microwave, I like to pour it into the melter and set it on “warm” to keep the chocolate from solidifying during dipping. I do find I need to shut it off every so often to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.
I have not tried using a crockpot to melt chocolate, but a reader, Sherry, says that she always melts her chocolate in the microwave and then puts it in the crockpot on the lowest setting to keep it warm while she dips.
Simple Cake Pop Recipe
A: This could be due to many things. Most likely, you added too much frosting. Start with less and add more as needed. Depending on the moistness of the cake you are using, you may not need any at all to get the crumbs to hold together. I usually use 1/3 to 1/2 cup, even with moist cakes, because I prefer the sweeter flavor to those without any frosting, and that isn’t so much that they are mushy. Second, make sure the cake balls are cold before you start dipping. I’ve noticed if I leave my tray of balls out while I’m dipping, by the time I get to to the last ten or so they are starting to slide off the sticks because they aren’t as cold. Third, make sure you dip the sticks in chocolate before inserting them into the balls (is it just me, or does that sound kinky?). This will ensure that the balls adhere to the stick.
A: That is just what we call candy coating around here. It’s also called “chocolate flavored bark” and “vanilla flavored bark.” It’s basically chocolate, white or regular, that has palm kernel oil added so that it dries to a nice, hard finish without having to temper it. You can use any type of chocolate you wish, whether it’s the real stuff, the white stuff, chocolate melting wafers, or candy melts like Wilton has. If you use real chocolate, add a tablespoon of vegetable shortening or oil per pound or bag of chips (12 oz) and melt them together.
A: I have used powdered icing color with success, but regular icing gel color makes it seize up. You can do it this way, and just add oil to thin the chocolate back out (I have done this), but the best thing to use is oil-based colors made specifically for candy, such as these. Check out your craft stores, like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby, or if you have a local cake supply store, they might have them as well. These same stores usually offer colored candy melts as well, so that you don’t have to color them yourself.
How To Make Cake Pops Without Candy Melts: Easy Alternatives (2023)
A: Certainly! All you needs is a binder to keep the cake crumbs stuck together when you roll them into balls. I have a co-worker that uses peanut butter in her chocolate cake balls and lemon pie filling in her lemon cake balls. Other ideas would be pudding, cream cheese, softened butter, bittersweet or semisweet ganache, sour cream, mayonnaise, jams & jellies. Just be careful and add a little at a time, as many of these would go further than frosting and you probably wouldn’t need very much.
, here’s what you do: make my favorite chocolate cake, process it to crumbs in the food processor and then wad up balls of the crumbs and roll! This particular recipe sticks together with nothing added! The pops end up tasting more like cake than candy, although the texture is still more dense since the crumbs are compacted. Here is the picture of the inside of a cake pop made this way:
A: No, make a scratch cake if you wish! I prefer the taste of pops made with a cake mix, and since it takes so much time to make the pops themselves, making the cake from a mix is just a shortcut, but not required.
Easy Cake Ball Recipe
A: Store them covered in the refrigerator. I prefer to remove mine at least a couple hours before serving to serve at room temperature, but they can be served cold and really should be if your climate is very hot or humid. Here in Kansas, I don’t have to refrigerate them and if I’m making them the day before serving, I won’t put them in the fridge at all.
A: You can make them a month in advance, if you like, because yes you can freeze them! Once the chocolate is hard, there is no risk of the chocolate cracking from freezing the pops/balls and removing them. If you freeze them, be sure to defrost them in the refrigerator 24 hours before servings so that they won’t sweat when you serve them. They sweat like crazy if you take them straight from the freezer, especially in the summer. If you don’t wish to freeze them, I’d recommend making them no more than a week in advance and keeping them in the refrigerator.
A: I have had this happen only once, when I used a real buttercream (made with mostly butter and eggs) instead of American (powdered sugar-based) buttercream. I think if there is too much fat in your cake ball mixture, it will seep into the sticks over time and turn them yellow. Try using less frosting next time. Lately I’m using only about 1/3 cup per batch.
Starbucks Cake Pops
A: I have not personally tried anything else, but one reader had success using a chocolate glaze, and another (thanks, Praveena!) had the brilliant idea of using royal icing for her friends that do not like chocolate. (Royal icing dries hard so you’d want a very thin layer.) If you wish to try the aforementioned glaze, here is the recipe Michelle used and shared with me:
Put cream and corn syrup into pot and heat until it just starts to boil. Then remove from heat add chocolate chips, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Then stir until combined. A note from me: this is basically ganache with corn syrup added and will get quite firm when cold. I’d recommend keeping the finished pops in the fridge to keep them intact.
A: I found a slew of recipes on Wilton.com but have no special ones of my own. I’ve only
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