Cake Pops

A friend of mine asked me for this method, and I told her I'd blog it for her, so here goes. This is *THE* most forgiving "recipe" EVER. I seriously cannot think of a single way to mess it up that cannot be fixed.

Oh, and this is TOTALLY Bakerella's thing, not my own. I just *do* it...I didn't come up with it and mine are in no way as cute as hers, even when I go to the effort to decorate them. haha!

So here goes. You'll need: Cake, frosting, chocolate of some kind, sticks. That's it, really. You can make your own cake, or use a boxed mix. You'll need about half a cup of frosting--I figure half a can per box when I use store bought, but you could totally make your own as long as it was a buttercream of some kind for consistency. For the chocolate, anything will work, really, and unless you're great at tempering chocolate, and you have all the patience in the world to do it, I recommend almond bark. I know it's not real chocolate, but no one will ever know. You cannot taste the difference once it's ON the cake pop, I promise. I'm a chocolate snob, but they taste just fine dipped in almond bark. Add to it that Almond bark runs about $4 for 24 ounces, where candy melts (which are the same darn thing, but in disc form) run about $2.50-$3 for 12 ounces.....just buy the Almond Bark. Sticks...well, Bakerella uses lollipop sticks, and that is WONDERFUL, really....assuming you plan ahead and order them online, because those little suckers are expensive at Walmart and the like when you're gonna make a ton of cake pops. I use short little popcicle sticks, and if I can't find those on the shelf, I get regular ones. They run about a penny a piece no matter which size I want. haha! So there ya go: cake, frosting, chocolate, sticks.

So, bake the cake per the directions on the box or recipe for a 13x9" cake. No one will care if it's a little dry or if it collapsed in the oven because your kid went stomping through the room or anything else, I promise. Let it cool completely, then break it into pieces and put it in a bowl and go to town shredding it into crumbs.

Throw a couple good spoons full of frosting into your crumbs, then just roll up your sleeves and dig in because nothing will mix this as well as your hands. Start with a little less frosting than you think you'll need, and add as you go. You want the "dough" to be Play-Doh consistency, if that helps. If you get it too wet, it'll be gloppy, and if it's too dry, it will not hold itself together. Just keep adding a bit, mixing it all in, adding more, etc. If you get too much frosting into it and it's sticky and gloppy, sprinkle on a few tablespoons of flour and work it in, repeating as necessary until the dough is the right consistency. No one will know, I promise.

Insurance. ;)

Here's the dough, "just right," in both my lemon and red velvet from last night:

It'll be a little springy, if that makes sense. You'll see.

Then just portion it out into balls and roll them up. I used a cookie scoop last night since these were for a pot luck and I wanted them all the same size, but you really don't have to go to that extreme. Just grab a bit, roll them into balls about the size of a walnut, and put a stick in them.

You can see the ones in the back that I haven't rolled smooth yet. Don't stress too much about the shape as long as they are reasonably round. The chocolate coating will 'fix' that for you. No one will notice. At this point, just throw a stick in the balls and put them in the freezer for a couple hours to firm up.

When you're ready to dunk them, melt your chocolate. You might want to add a little bit of vegetable oil to your candy coating to thin it out a bit. Don't add too much because then it won't set up, but it's better than zapping it in the microwave to remelt it every 15 dunks. haha! Dunk them and tap off the excess. If the stick falls out? Dunk it in the chocolate and put it back...can't find the spot it came out of? Poke it into a different spot, chocolate will fill the hole where it came out of. See? Forgiving.

Set them on a parchment lined tray (I put the ones for the pot luck in mini cupcake cups, but that is seriously not necessary). They'll set up in less than 5 mins if you used Almond Bark. :)

SEE? FORGIVING! Most forgiving recipe EVER.