Cake Pops Tutorial!

When I first tried the Cake pops by Starbucks I Fell. In. Love. However, I thought that they were a bit pricey. I started looking for more affordable ways to make them myself. I came across the Oreo pops and have made those for several events. Everyone who tried them enjoyed them and I won a baking competition at work! I still wanted to learn how to make cake pops.

I tried a no bake option with tons of powdered sugar and they were horrible. When I made my Halloween cupcakes I had some extra cake. I decided to try and create my own recipe with a few other random ingredients. These were a huge success! I found that even I liked them better than the Starbucks cake pops.
Recently a friend and her son celebrated his 18th birthday and requested that I make these cake pops for them. Even better than that, she was helping! So I decided this would be the PERFECT time to put together a tutorial.

INGREDIENTS

Cake!

1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar

2 Bags Wilton Chocolate Melts

Sitcks (Optional)

1 8oz pack of Cream Cheese

Wax or Parchment Paper
*Makes about 25 Cake Pops*

DIRECTIONS

1. Make your cake just like your box says. (Betty Crocker Super Moist has been my favorite. Maybe one day I will search for a from scratch recipe :\) Let the cake cool before going to the next step. Trust me you don't want to be crumbling up hot cake. :)

2. Crumble the cake. I use a fork and sort of scrape across the cake. Don't worry if there are a few larger pieces  you'll take care of those in a moment.

3. Add the powder sugar and the cream cheese. I like to use about 6oz to 7oz of cream cheese but if you overcooked your cake you can use more. Mix this all together you should be able to pick up the whole chunk without pieces falling off. Or at least mostly.

4. Roll the dough into little or big balls (your choice!) Using an ice cream or cookie scoop may help make your size consistent. Place the balls on some parchment or wax paper and on a cookie sheet.

5. Pop the balls in the fridge for about 15 min.

6. Heat about 7 to 10 of the melts in a small dish according to the directions on the package. Use this to dip your sticks in before shoving the stick into the frozenish cake. This will help the ball stay on the stick. *For your sticks you can use the super expensive white ones or you can get some cheap bamboo skewers and cut them in half.* Put the balls back in the freezer for another 10 min or until the chocolate is hard.

*I like to use Wilton Candy Melts but there are a few other brands out there.*

7. Heat the rest of the chocolate in a narrow bowl or measuring cup. Dip the balls into the chocolate and place back on the pan or in a stand (you can use a store bought one, styrofoam, or card board). You can tap the stick on the edge of the bowl to get some of the excess chocolate off. This is the time when you would want to put the decoration on. The chocolate hardens pretty quickly. Keep in the fridge until about 20 min before serving. I prefer them to be a bit colder but you could leave them out a bit longer and they would still taste fine. 

Have you made cake pops? Do you have any tips? Share them in the comments!