Introduction: Cake Pop Essentials & Time-Saving Tips

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About: Army Vet. I love learning & being creative. I am back!

Cake pops are adorable, delicious treats that you can make for any occasion! But, when you first attempt to make them - it may be way more time-consuming than you could have ever hoped for or imagined. I wasted a lot of time originally because I bought a brownie pop mold. The brownies I made in them were deformed and misshapen - so I decided to make real cake pops the right way! These tips should help save you precious time! To avoid common mistakes (which I have made myself) here are some useful tips to consider:

Cake Pop Tip #1 - Dipping Do's & Don'ts
When making cake pops, candy melts are usually used to dip the cake pops into for the outer coating. You can buy candy melts at most grocery stores. When melting, follow the instructions on the package. If you want to change the color of the melts, be CAREFUL! Do not use food coloring under any circumstances - this will ruin the candy melts. The consistency will change and your cake pops will look terrible if you try to dip it in it. If you must dye the color, use a concentrated icing color or gel - I recommend Wilton's.


Cake Pop Tip #2 - Fastest Dipping Method
If you want to create all your cake pops in much less time, there is a much faster and easier method to dipping than with the candy melts. I think it is equally delicious too. You need to buy some type of store-bought frosting (hopefully this would work with home-made as well, but I have yet to try it). Take the cover off of the frosting container and the metal lid if it has one. Then put the frosting container in the microwave. Put it in for 30 seconds at half power (5) - then check if it is fully melted. If not, leave it in for another 15 seconds at half power - mix it around to see if it is mixing smoothly with a liquid consistency - if not, repeat until ready. Then dip your cake pops in it, let the excess drip off and let it dry. If the cake is very dark, then you can dip it twice. It hardens, but isn't totally solid like the ones dipped in candy melts. It looks shiny & smooth - more than the candy melt-dipped ones. I  loved how mine turned out - and it was so much easier than with the melts.

Cake Pop Tip #3 - Lollipop Sticks
Once the cake balls are all made, then dip a lollipop stick in the candy melt and insert into the cake ball. Repeat with all others. Try not to handle them or move them around too much until the entire thing is dipped. It can cause issues with the stick remaining in place. Then, let these sit around so they can cool and harden - so that the stick is in the cake ball and not going to come out or push through it. After that is done, and the candy melt is hard and secured to the stick and cake pop ball, then you can dip the entire cake pop into either frosting or more candy melts.

Cake Pop Tip #4 - Pan vs. Cake Pop Maker - Baby Cakes
I've personally spent a lot of money on every type of cake pop pan you can imagine - and none of them were easy to use or turned out well. There is the common method of making cake pops, which involves baking a cake and then crumbling it and mushing it together into balls. I don't like this at all - I think it's a little gross to be honest and I don't like the texture of mashed, mushed together cake! So, I was so lucky last Christmas as my own mother bought me a cake pop maker, called Baby Cakes. Rather than the long conventional method which takes about 30 minutes a batch, using the Baby Cakes maker took me only 3-5 minutes per batch! I can whip up so many Cake Pops with so much less work and cleanup, I love this cake pop maker so much! You only need to be aware that you must change the cake mix recipe slightly - so that the cake pop will be a little denser than a normal cake. Please read Tip #5 for instructions!

Cake Pop Tip #5 - Using Cake Pop Maker - How to Adjust Cake Mix Recipe
If you use a cake mix for this, you need the cake pop batter to be a little bit thicker. You substitute milk for any water content that the recipe might call for, use no oil and add an egg. I hope this helps!


Lastly, have fun decorating! I personally put a handful of candy melts in a zip lock bag - top open - in the microwave. I melt them, then cut a tiny hole in the corner and use it to make designs on the cake pops. The Valentine's Daycake pops I made were for my son's class (30 of them) - and I made the decorative roses out of fondant. They are my favorite!

Click Here to View My Instructable on Making Marbled Cake Pops!


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