Cakepops

Pumpkin Cream Cheese

My biggest complaint with cupcakes, although let’s face it, there aren’t many, is the consistency of the actual cake. We’ve all had cake, in whatever form, that was overcooked and dry. It happens. You end up slathering more frosting on to combat the fact that it has the texture of a sponge.

Enter cakepops.

Recently, a cakepop centered bakery opened up in my hometown and they are truly works of art. I’m a cupcake baker from wayyyyyy back, but cakepops are a relatively new concept to me. I’ve seen absolutely gorgeous photos of every flavor you can imagine scattered across my Pinterest feed, and when I pulled up the how-to instructions, they looked relatively easy to make. Turns out, not so much. But the great thing is they don’t have to look beautiful to taste fabulous!

Here’s the simple part: cakepops are essentially crumbled up cake mixed with frosting, and then coated with chocolate, or candy melts, or something of that variety.

I used a cake mix.

From a box.

#noshame

It was infinitely quicker and easier, and, again, as long as you don’t overcook it, you’re going to have a great, tasty cake to work with.

Roll up your sleeves, put on some snappy baking music, and let’s get busy!

 

You’re going to think you’re not adding enough frosting and they’re too dry. I promise, they’re not. Once you start forming them into balls, everything adheres and they’ll form a nice smooth cake ball.

You might need to pop the candy melts back into the microwave for 20 seconds at a time to keep them at a good liquidy consistency.

You can buy lollipop sticks at a craft store like Michaels or Jo-Ann. (You can find coupons for both here.)

If you’re planning to keep them standing upright like a true lollipop, you’ll need something to hold them while they dry. I got a Styrofoam block used for floral arrangements. It has to be fairly thick because the pops are a bit top heavy. I just wedge the stick down in it after I’ve dipped them.

I decorated these by using a couple of drops of orange food coloring and mixing it into melted candy melts. You can use a piping bag and tip, or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off to swirl the accent color around the dried cakepop.

I wrap them individually in cellophane/plastic wrap with a bit of baker’s twine wrapped around the stick. You can also find baker’s twine at craft stores. (Michaels, Jo-Ann)

There are hundreds of flavor combinations, these just seemed appropriate for Fall. And while these were not the visual masterpieces that the pros make, they certainly did taste great!

Have you had cakepops? Tell me your favorite combo in the comments.

Have you made cakepops? I’d love to hear your tips!