If you've made cake pops...

[Bernadine]

Do you have a recipe to share? Any tips? I might try them for Thanksgiving.

[katb]

I have a process. It takes about 3/4 days total.

Day one - make cakes and cool. (I make mine from scratch due to DD1 food allergies - for Christmas party this year I will make chocolate cake, mint chocolate cake, and vanilla)

Day two - crumb (I use a mini food processor), mix with frosting (homemade again - peanut butter for the chocolate cake, mint for the mint cake, and lemon for the vanilla). You want it to be sticky and thicker. Roll into balls, fridge for at least an hour - preferably a few hours.

Day three (or two) - dip sticks into corresponding melting candies (I use Wilton's - peanut butter, chocolate mint, and lemon) and stick the balls to make pops. Leave these overnight to set - this is important.

Day three (or four) - I melt the different colors I want and have sprinkles on hand as well. Dip the cake pops and the splatter other colors on it. Sprinkle as desired. I use a parchment covered baking sheet and florist foam covered with plastic wrap to stick the pops in it as they dry. Then I cover the florist foam blocks with festive wrapping paper and serve my cake pops with them in it. I will try to find a pic for you from last year.

Mine are the more traditional, truffle like cake pops. It is a lot of work and I make about 200 for our party so I only make them once or twice a year. Not as hard if you are doing it on a smaller scale.

[katb]

You can still see the wax paper under the pops.  I tear it away and then the boxes are ready for display.  

[ssmjlm]

I'm lazy and have a cake pop maker. I just use a recipe from the book that came with it, then after they cool dip them in the candy melts.

[Bernadine]

Nov 18, 2016 7:59:57 GMT -5 katb said:

View Attachment
You can still see the wax paper under the pops.  I tear it away and then the boxes are ready for display.  

Wow! I'm making like 30, lol. Any tips on dipping them? That's what I'm nervous about.

[minerswife17]

I use Skinnytaste's recipe. Even though it's a lighter version everyone that has tried them, loves them!

[katb]

Nov 18, 2016 8:05:58 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Nov 18, 2016 7:59:57 GMT -5 katb said:

You can still see the wax paper under the pops.  I tear it away and then the boxes are ready for display.  

Wow! I'm making like 30, lol. Any tips on dipping them? That's what I'm nervous about.

I keep the chocolate melted enough in a ramekin and then put those in gently simmering water in a huge saute pan.  But again, this is because it takes me a long time lol.

I dip in the base flavor, tap the extra off gently on the side of the pan  and then use a fork, stick, etc to drizzle the other colors .  All while it is wet.  Use sprinkles and you won't see any uneven spots of the chocolate.

[Awkward]

I use flavored coffee creamer in place of the frosting when mixing with the cake. So many more flavor combinations. I also find it a little easier to work with and less sticky.

[FastHands]

Make a no-bake pie, girl. Attempting cake pops for the first time is NOT in line with feeling less overwhelmed.

I come from a place of love. And from having literally been there 2 years ago. At very least, be open to the option of cake BALLS (ditch the sticks and just coat them like truffles). They still taste delicious and have the added benefit of being easier to transport/store.

Oh and if you have a publix, you can call and order a cake with no icing and a container of icing so you can skip like 4 steps.

I still highly recommend making like a no-bake cheesecake. Or buying one. Unless these kinds of things actually bring you zen and you won't totally implode if all goes wrong. Because I implode, and curse a lot, and end up in a spiral of SEE THIS IS WHY I SHOULD NEVER EVEN TRY ANYTHING BECAUSE I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT I HATE LIFE! lol

[luckyval]

I regularly make cake balls for the holidays - it's not terribly difficult, but really time consuming to do.

I mixed it up and devised a bourbon pecan pie cake ball for thanksgiving last year. Spiced cake mix and instead of icing, I made the pie filling (with bourbon of course).

It takes a long time to make these, but they are a nice option after a huge meal to just do a small, two bite dessert.

[Bernadine]

Nov 18, 2016 9:01:01 GMT -5 FastHands said:

Make a no-bake pie, girl. Attempting cake pops for the first time is NOT in line with feeling less overwhelmed.

I come from a place of love. And from having literally been there 2 years ago. At very least, be open to the option of cake BALLS (ditch the sticks and just coat them like truffles). They still taste delicious and have the added benefit of being easier to transport/store.

Oh and if you have a publix, you can call and order a cake with no icing and a container of icing so you can skip like 4 steps.

I still highly recommend making like a no-bake cheesecake. Or buying one. Unless these kinds of things actually bring you zen and you won't totally implode if all goes wrong. Because I implode, and curse a lot, and end up in a spiral of SEE THIS IS WHY I SHOULD NEVER EVEN TRY ANYTHING BECAUSE I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT I HATE LIFE! lol

My head knows you're right. My stomach wants cake pops. Maybe I'll order them, lol.

[lemons]

If you don't want pie, what about a trifle? They're pretty on the dessert table and easy to make. Google for flavor ideas, but it's basically cake/brownie layered with pudding/mousse.

[So_Fetch]

Cake balls aren't hard - they are just time consuming. I can make them in 2 nights generally due to needing them to be really firm.

I use a cake mix cake and canned frosting.
I bake the cake according to the recipe (usually just a 9x13 pan)
I let it cool a bit, and then put it in my kitchen aid mixer with 3/4 of a can of frosting.
I put that mixture in the freezer for half and hour to an hour.
Then I make the balls.
I put them on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer to firm up a bit more.
Sometimes if I start early I can get the sticks in that night a well.
Once they are firm, make a little bit of the melts coating.
Melt it in the microwave. Start at 20 seconds, stir, and then go for 10 second increments until it's melted.
Dip the stick in the chocolate and then put the chocolate end of the stick into the ball
Once all the sticks are in, I usually freeze them overnight.
I melt the melts in the microwave in a mug (it makes it deeper so the chocolate goes on a little easier without having to use a ton of it)
Dip/Swirl, place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, and sprinkle with jimmies/candy balls/etc.
The sprinkles can hide any weirdness. lol And if the chocolate starts to crack around the stick as it hardens - you can go back with a spoon and just put a little bit around the stick to cover up any issues.

Favorite combinations: spice cake with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate melts; chocolate/chocolate/chocolate; and yellow/lemon/white chocolate

[wannabe]

you guys know how much i love to bake, yet i fucking HATE making cake pops. they aren't hard to do, but they are time consuming. and the worst part is when you think you're doing a great job, dipping and tapping, dipping and tapping, and then you look over at your finished pops that were so perfect before and find giant cracks in the chocolate.

fuck that shit. i'm sticking to cookies.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Nov 18, 2016 7:54:34 GMT -5 katb said:

I have a process. It takes about 3/4 days total.

Day one - make cakes and cool. (I make mine from scratch due to DD1 food allergies - for Christmas party this year I will make chocolate cake, mint chocolate cake, and vanilla)

Day two - crumb (I use a mini food processor), mix with frosting (homemade again - peanut butter for the chocolate cake, mint for the mint cake, and lemon for the vanilla). You want it to be sticky and thicker. Roll into balls, fridge for at least an hour - preferably a few hours.

Day three (or two) - dip sticks into corresponding melting candies (I use Wilton's - peanut butter, chocolate mint, and lemon) and stick the balls to make pops. Leave these overnight to set - this is important.

Day three (or four) - I melt the different colors I want and have sprinkles on hand as well. Dip the cake pops and the splatter other colors on it. Sprinkle as desired. I use a parchment covered baking sheet and florist foam covered with plastic wrap to stick the pops in it as they dry. Then I cover the florist foam blocks with festive wrapping paper and serve my cake pops with them in it. I will try to find a pic for you from last year.

Mine are the more traditional, truffle like cake pops. It is a lot of work and I make about 200 for our party so I only make them once or twice a year. Not as hard if you are doing it on a smaller scale.

This is exactly how I do it. Only I use cake mix to make the cakes and store bought frosting. I usually wouldn't use either (especially the frosting), but it's worth it to save yourself the work. It only takes a small amount of frosting to make the "batter" soft enough to form into balls because store bought cake mix cakes are much moister than a homemade cake. Only other change is that I let everything set in the freezer instead of the fridge.

If you can't find the Wilton's melting candies, some grocery stores sell almond bark in chocolate and vanilla, and you can use that instead.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Oh, another option if you want something slightly easier is to make truffles with oreos. Same basic idea, except you don't put them on sticks. And instead of making a cake, you just use a food processor to make oreos into crumbs, then you add frosting to get the mixture to the right consistency.

[jssymom14]

Nov 18, 2016 14:07:13 GMT -5 DarcyLongfellow said:

Oh, another option if you want something slightly easier is to make truffles with oreos. Same basic idea, except you don't put them on sticks. And instead of making a cake, you just use a food processor to make oreos into crumbs, then you add frosting to get the mixture to the right consistency.

Oreos and cream cheese make excellent truffles (so many flavors of Oreos!) dipped in chocolate almond bark.