Cake Pop Madness

There are few things more important to me than the immediate gratification of a compliment from my husband (or anyone else eating my food) about how delicious something is, especially when it’s something I actually cooked myself. In the case of these cake pops, I’ve found that not only is there almost always this aforementioned immediate gratification, people are practically hounding me for this recipe.

I had a somewhat life-changing day when one of my best friends, Tien, forwarded me the link to www.bakerella.com. This woman is amazing. She has all these fantastic ideas and not only did she invent the cake pop, she’s doing some crazy creative things with them. I tried out her turkey pops this Thanksgiving and brought them to the office and my brother’s house, people went CRAZY. The base for the turkey pops are these chocolate covered red velvet cake pops. Everyone wants the recipe, so here we go:

Recipe from: http://www.bakerella.com/ (she calls for store-bought frosting in a can, but I like to make my own since it’s so easy)

Red Velvet Cake Pops

1 pkg Red Velvet cake mix (for all you foodies that are gasping at the thought of box cake mix, I promise it works great - or you could use your own R.V. recipe)
1 pkg dark chocolate candy melts
1 pkg milk chocolate candy melts
1 pkg lollipop sticks (you can also get at any craft store)
1 large foam block (used to hold pops while they dry)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

It's very important to have the butter and cream cheese at room temp for this, I leave out overnight.

1 8oz. pkg cream cheese
2 c confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 stick butter, unsalted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Bake the cake in a 9 x 13 pan (or similar) according to the instructions on the box and set on a cooling rack to cool completely before handling. Meanwhile start the frosting. Cream the cream cheese and butter together for about 5-10 min in a stand mixer or w/ hand mixer on high until light and fluffy. Slowly add in sifted sugar in about 3 batches waiting for sugar to be mostly incorporated before adding the next batch. After all the sugar in mixed in, add vanilla extract and mix for another minute.

After the cake is completely cooled remove from the pan and crumble the entire cake into a large bowl. Add about 1/2 the frosting to the crumbled cake and mix in more frosting gradually (you may not need all of it) until the cake will come together into a ball when formed.

I use a mini ice cream scoop that forms 1" balls and scoop onto a baking sheet lined w/ parchment or wax paper. Should make about 50 balls. Roll the balls in your hand until they are round and line on the baking sheet so they are not touching. Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. A few minutes before the cake balls come out of the freezer, melt some of the candy coating in the microwave according to the instructions. It's very easy, just mix some melts together (you can always do all milk or all dark chocolate if you prefer) and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between heatings.



Use the lollipop sticks and dip about 1/2 - 3/4 inch into melted chocolate then insert into the cake ball about halfway in. After finishing the whole tray, place back into the freezer for another 10 minutes. A few minutes before they're ready, melt the rest of the candy melts.

If you get cracks when the coating dries on the pops, just re-dip into the coating. Extra chocolate, YUM.

I dip the cake pop into the melted chocolate and use a spoon to round out the sides while twisting the stick so the excess chocolate falls off. Use a foam block to stick the cake pops on to dry (they dry very quickly so you can just do batches if you don't have a large foam block) then place stick side up for presentation. Enjoy!