Cake Pops

How to make cake pops!
Made famous by Bakerella and ubiquitous by Starbucks, cake pops are the latest trend in dessert culture.  Here I walk you through the steps to make your own cake pops at home!  Whether you use homemade or store-bought cakes and icing, you can still customize these adorable treats to your heart's content.  Decorate them for any occasion!  The process may be time consuming (be patient!) but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Step 1 Materials

I got all of my decorating stuff from Joann.com. Cheap shipping and I got to get it all in one stop!
_{plus, if you sign up with them, you can get 50% off coupons all the time!}

• A design concept (V. Important for knowing what kind of decorating supplies to get!)
• Cake mix (or homemade)
• Frosting (or homemade)
• Lollipop sticks
• Candy melts
• Sprinkles
• Colored icing tubes
• Other neat stuff for decorating
• Styrofoam to stand them up in

Comments

[elg1973]

Hey, we tried this at home and found that donut holes (the round donuts, plain or glazed) worked just as well as making your own cake into balls. :) It was great! We made ducks/chicks because that's my boy's favorite animal... but then branched out into tigers, hedgehogs, and sunshines! Very fun craft/snack - I will be making more.

[scoochmaroo]

Oh Oh!! Please do post pictures if you have any! (if not, a good reason to make more!) I recommended donut holes to Cyan.sidy as well. I'm so glad it worked!

[elg1973]

It worked great - so well, our son almost wouldn't eat these! He enjoyed cuddling the first ones for a while, then picked all the frosting off before biting it. :)

[alucci212]

my friend and i made these just for fun the other day but instead of cute chicks we made cute zombies, aliens and robots! we got the inspiration from the chick with its head cut off!! thanks for the great idea!!!

[scoochmaroo]

These are fantastic!!!! I would totally want to eat them.

[starmanz]

Fantastic Instructable! Thanks so very much. I made a batch of 'pops' for my son's 6th birthday party tomorrow. I did half with a vanilla cake mix and the other half with a double choc cake mix. The candy coating has a 'mind of its own' (!) and I gave up trying to make it pretty, instead going for the maximum sugar content and any kind of sprinkles I could attach! The kids will love 'em anyway and it makes such a welcome change to the boring old cake served up at all the other kid parties! Thanks again :)

[scoochmaroo]

Oh my gosh!!! Those look so great! I love that you covered the block with aluminum foil. I bet they loved them!!

[bdblock94]

ha, cool

[komecake]

  ALL DONE! :)
 
 I had a bit of trouble getting the candy coating on, so it's really lumpy, but they taste good and I had fun making them. I can't wait to do them again with a homemade cake and some real decorating! Thanks! :)



 

[kcls]

How did you get your chocolate perfectly even? I am typing this as we are putting the chocolate on them, and one just fell off the stick! I think we are going to put them back into the freezer for a little (or lot) longer. It seems like the two that we did (out of three so far) that didn't fall off are drying a little smoother, but they are still a bit lumpy. here are the two good ones and the one that fell off. I bet you can guess where that one went real quick! (the second one is sideways, sorry!)

[scoochmaroo]

Oh no!
This happened to me too at first.

Try keeping them in the freezer right up until you're about to dip them maybe?
And you can double coat them to make them prettier too.  But then you get a pretty high chocolate :cake ratio. 

[frenzy]

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[S189]

I couldn't get my coating smooth no matter what I tried (melts or regular chocolate chips), even added a little bit of oil to try make it more loose but it didnt work, so I gave up trying to make the faces or cute chicks (so wanted to make the smiley faces! :( couldn't tho). So i settled for just dipped and decorated. Made these for last Christmas, everyone loved them.

[makendo]

Thanks - here's our Thanksgiving turkey :)

[halley]

I was inspired too! Check out my chickies!
cakepopsicles.com

[foxcxlaydee]

I just started in June and having so much fun giving it as gifts and baby shower. Hope you like some of my creations! And they called it Puppy Love!

[mla2069]

I'm wondering what you are using to make your decorations? (the ears, eyes, etc.) Is this just melted almond bark? and do you need to do this when you are putting on the initial coat of chocolate. I would love to try making some of these for my son's birthday party.
Thank you!

[foxcxlaydee]

I use confetti for cakes that I find in stores. Some stores like Michaels have specialty confettis just for cake pops. I use that confetti for the cat ears. As for the drawn on eyes and whiskers, I used black candy writer and hand drawn it in with the tube it comes in. Gotta have steady hand. You can also use toothpicks for define marks like the puppy muzzle. You can buy the candy writer on amazon.com or you can go to Michaels and Chef Duff brand sales it. Another way is to get white candy melts and use wilton frosting color on it (feels like paint). Do not use regular coloring!

[mla2069]

Thank you very much for the information - it is very helpful! Now I just hope I can do it myself!

[foxcxlaydee]

No problem. If you have facebook, you can follow me and what I make on www.facebook.com/kaylahkreations and message me there for tips. Webpage is work in progress so I haven't post all my photos there yet hahaha. I don't always check this site.

[mla2069]

I tried your link for facebook and it told me there was no such page. Is there another way I can find you there?

[smcdonough1]

These are fantastic! How do you get your cake pops so perfectly round? mine always look a bit lumpy or off shape. Your's look amazing

[foxcxlaydee]

I use cookie scooper or tablespoon so shape is the same. It takes practice to roll it with your palms. Try not to apply so much pressure and make sure your cake ball is moist with the frosting so it is easy to roll. Making the ball cold in the freezer or fridge before dipping to help maintain the shape. You can also check out my site if you want more tips. http://kaylahkreations.blogspot.com/

[foxcxlaydee]

http://kaylahkreations.blogspot.com/

[cupcakemaker]

Once you have rolled all the cake mix into balls, place in refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes. When the cake balls have been chilled, melt a small amount of the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl according to package directions. Take one of the sticks, dip about 1/2 inch of the end into the melted candy and stick it about half to three-quarters of the way through the cake ball. Don’t go too far into the cake ball, or it will fall apart. The candy melts will help adhere the stick to the cake.

[AMAZONIAbydjljwilliams]

Being in Australia, I'm happy to say we have this awesome stuff called Copha..which is a vegetable shortening made from coconut oil.
A little bit added to chocolate while melting it makes it really smooth, and thin enough to give a perfectly smooth coat. If you put too much in, you might need a couple coats. So 30g of copha to 200g of chocolate and its perfect!
Copha sets not QUITE as hard as chocolate, which makes it easier to eat at room temp..but hard when refrigerated.
um..I'm told that you can get Copha from Wholefood's over in the states...wouldn't recommend Crisco..yucky!
These are some cake balls I did with white chocolate melts, and copha mix. Two coats. Am going to try putting sticks in them next time!

[itsazooinhere]

See, another reason to love Australia. :)

[AMAZONIAbydjljwilliams]

Oh yes..Copha..yet another reason why Australia is the lucky country..lol

[scraphappy666]

i am looking for some pics of anything decorated disney its for a cupcake tower or the cake pops look good too. If anyone has any ideas on how to get this done please let me now

[hotpinkbunnies]

I have made cake pops many times before, and in order to get the candy melts not super lumpy, you need to add about two tablespoons of vegetable shorting. This thins out the candy and prevents it from hardening too quickly. :)

[MommaCook]

If you want smooth round balls the easy way, you can just cheat and buy a Babycakes pop maker. It makes donut holes too. It's a lot faster than having to mix and mold everything by hand. This is a great tool for me being a traveling working mom. It let's me do projects like this with my young daughters whenever I am home. You can get it at several websites. But my husband just went to Kohl's and got one. He actually found the device for me! Lol! They have other devices too on their babycakes web site. I love it for making the simple balls and the donut holes. I've asked for their pie pops maker for this Christmas. Maybe Santa will be nice this year. As far as the coating the oil or the shortening are good tips and work well, but don't re-heat it in the microwave after the intial melt. Put it in a melting pot instead. I've found a double boiler actually works a lot better than anything though. Hope this helps.

[angelabchua]

:::clicking imaginary "I Made It" Button::::

Thanks Sarah. Made these for a holiday party thing and they were a hit!

[angelabchua]

:::clicking imaginary "I Made It" Button

Thanks Sarah. Made these for a holiday party thing and they were a hit!

[AussieAnglerGal]

uuuh whats a candy melt?

[lunabean]

I have made a bunch of different ones but here are pics of the banana chocolate peanut butter and the chocolate peanut. I think my fav so far are the pina coloda ones rolled in toasted coconut.

[suezyjane]

for the pina coloda cake pops, what flavor cake mix and icing did you use. would appreciate any other flavor combinations you tried and liked also, thinking of making an assortment of these in a box (without the stick) for Christmas gifts. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[courty bear]

scrumptious :P

[nlowrie1]

I made each pop different for a Baby Shower. I tried to make them look like rattles. Suggest to those who say the pop falls off the stick... push stick into ball and then pull stick out... dip it into frosting and stick back in the hole. Also be sure to either freeze or refrigerate for minimum of two hours or more. Some melt brands seem to melt smoother then others. I had to throw out the white choc. melts I bought from the grocery store. The ones I bought at a candy store worked soooo much better! The temp. of the melted choc. makes all the difference too. Trying to reheat the melts in the microwave doesn't work too well. It burns so fast. I liked using the hot water under my bowl of melts like a double boiler.
These are easy once you get the hang of it!
Endless possibilities of decorating!

[scoochmaroo]

Excellent tips. Would love to see pictures!

[Jessie Starlight]

These look and sound too divine for words! I just have two questions.... I want to make a batch for Halloween, and am trying to make life easier... Where I live it is impossible to get candy melts or frosting in a jar. Could I use dulce de leche instead of frosting? And could I use royal icing instead of the melts? Using and coloring white chocolate would become very pricy! I want to make mini pumpkins... Many thanks for a fantastic party pleaser!