Cake Pops

These are little balls of cake, so delicous, and so cute. They are perfect for childrens parties or even as a gift. You can play around and experiment the different ways you can make it interesting.

First of all, this is what they're supposed to look like:

Photo by www.bakerella.com

I couldn't find any sticks at the last minute, so I used mini cupcake cups instead. It's a little easier in the cups, as doing it on a stick is supposed to be quite difficult and the balls can come off in the process. It's all a matter of practice and technique, which one day I might master.

Here is my recipe.

Cake Pops

Ingredients:

1 Cake of your choice, whether you choose a box cake or make it yourself from scratch (I used White Wings brand Chocolate cake)
1 Tub of ready-made Frosting (such as Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, again I used Chocolate)
1 Packet Nestle Melts (or use any chocolate you prefer for melting and coating, I used white chocolate)
Sprinkles (optional)

Method:

Make cake as per instructions on the box, or however you normally make it. Here's a tip I just realised while making it: I searched around to see what would happen if I dont add egg into the cake (personal reasons). Most websites say there are lots of other ingredients that replace eggs in baking recipes like vinegar and baking soda, or mashed banana. I asked my mum what would happen if I dont add the egg, would it be a complete disaster? As I imagined it would just not be as fluffy and spongey. She said it would just be more dense and chocolate brownie-like, and it would not flop at all. So if its an option for you, leave out the egg, it will work out a bit better for you later on in the process. But to be safe, rather just make it like you normally would, egg included, I wouldn't want your 'cake popping' to be a disaster on my part!!

Once the cake is cooked, let it cool so its easy to touch. Now break the cake up and crumble it comepletely. It's easy to cut it into half and rub the two halves against each other.

Next, add frosting into the mix. How much you add is up to you and how your cake has turned out. Like I mentioned earlier, adding no eggs has actually made my cake more into a mud cake, which means the cake is more dense than light and spongey. The frosting is there to act as a bonding agent if you can call it that, so having the cake more dense makes the need for frosting less. So just add frosting as you go and figure out the texture until its just right for rolling into balls. Be careful not to add too much frosting, it can ruin the whole mix. The idea is for the balls to be cake, not mushy frosting!

Once its all mixed together, put in the fridge for a few minutes or until its hardened up a little so you can roll balls easily. Then roll the mixture into balls and place onto a tray lined with baking paper. Place the tray into the freezer for 20 minutes. Be careful not to freeze the balls. The idea is to cool the balls down quite a lot so when coating them in chocolate, the chocolate cools and hardens immediately. You can do what I did and instead put all of them in the fridge, then when you are ready to coat with chocolate, place about ten balls onto a plate and into the freezer for 10 minutes. Take them out and coat with chocolate and sprinkles if you are (sprinkle immediately as the chocolate will harden very quickly). Repeat again with another ten on a plate into the freezer. If you do them all at once in the freezer, taking them out will mean half will soften while outside, or the remaining will freeze if you leave them in there whilst coating the others.
After dipping each ball into the chocolate, place it straight into the cupcake cups so it sets in the mould.

These are DANGEROUS!! Too easy to eat. But there are so many variations you could make: Vanilla cake, banana cake, Christmas cake at christmas time...the options are endless.

Hubby has taken a plate of them to work today, as there is too much 'bad' in the house now. Here's hoping they go down well at work!

If you have made cape pops, or will try making them soon, please share your stories with me. I would love to know how you go and possibly see some photo's.

Happy baking!