Whenever I fill out get-to-know-you forms, I always use Nutella as my favorite food. I love everything about this amazing hazelnut spread and I am always trying to find recipes to use it. This is why I created the recipe for these Nutella Cake Pops. Normally cake pops are made by mixing cake and frosting so in this recipe, instead of frosting, I used Nutella and of course some more as a filling.

Makes: 2 dozen large cake pops

Ingredients:

1 8-inch Cake, chocolate or vanilla (I did chocolate)

1 1/3 cup Nutella

12 oz Chocolate candy melts (made for hardening, NOT chocolate chips)

Crushed toppings (hazelnuts, pretzels, cake crumbs, etc.)

Supplies

Cake pop sticks (optional)

Cake pop stand or cardboard box (optional)

Piping bag (or a gallon sized zip lock bag)

2 TBS measuring spoon

Aluminum foil

Parchment paper

Step 1: Make the Cake

I made a chocolate cake instead of a vanilla cake because I wanted my cake pops to have a really rich flavor.

To make an 8-inch cake you can half this recipe Chocolate Cake Recipe, which is what I did, or you can make 2 8-inch cakes from a box mix and use one of them for the cake pops. (This is probably the better option because then you get a cake and cake pops)

If you want to top your cake pops with cake crumbs, set aside about 1/4 cup of crumbs.

Step 2: Add Nutella

Once the cake cools, add 1 cup of Nutella to the cake either in the pan it baked in or a separate bowl.
Using your hands or a couple of forks, mash the cake and Nutella together until the "dough" is smooth and homogeneous.
You can test it by grabbing a small handful, rolling it up in a ball, and seeing if it cracks or if the ball is pretty smooth. If the ball cracks or has bumpy edges, mash the mixture up more. If it still cracks, add a splash of water and mix. Test again and continue this process until the ball looks smooth but is not sticky.

Step 3: Fill and Shape

Fill the corner of a zip lock bag or a piping bag with the remaining 1/3 cup Nutella.
Take a small chunk of the cake mixture (about 1 TBS) and press it into the bottom of a 2 TBS measuring spoon making a small indent in the center
In the center indent, pipe a small dot of Nutella
Take another chunk of cake mixture and top off the 2 TBS measuring spoon making sure it's flat and the Nutella doesn't squeeze to the sides.
Roll up the balls in your hands and place them on a baking sheet with parchment paper
Repeat this until all the cake mixture is gone (If you want smaller cake pops you could do this same process with a 1 TBS measuring spoon)
Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes

Step 4: Coating and Topping

Prepare and crush the topping you want to add to the top of your cake pops (I drizzled mine with more Nutella but I would not recommend that because it got messy. Instead I would suggest crushed hazelnuts, pretzels, or some extra cake crumbs)
Cube 12 oz of chocolate and place in a medium bowl
Melt in the microwave in 30 second blast, stirring between each, until the chocolate is smooth and melted
Note: I used Great Value hardening chocolate (wouldn't recommend) which is pretty thick and resulted in a bumpy looking surface so if your chocolate is too thick, add a small amount of oil to thin it out.

Cake pop with stick method:

Transfer the chocolate to a tall and skinny cup. Dip the end of the stick in the chocolate then poke it into the cake pop to help keep the cake pop on the stick. Once that chocolate has hardened, grab the cake pop by the stick and dip it in the chocolate to fully coat it then poke into cake pop stand or a cardboard box to drip and harden.
As you dip cake pops, sprinkle them with your prepared topping while the chocolate is still wet.

Cake ball method:

Use two forks to drop 2-3 balls into the bowl of chocolate, roll them around until they are fully coated, then one-by-one, remove them by rolling them onto a fork, letting them drip for a few seconds, then transferring back to the parchment paper. If you are using this method, you may have to trim any excess chocolate from around the edges that pooled on the parchment paper once the chocolate dried.
As you dip cake pops, sprinkle them with your prepared topping while the chocolate is still wet.