tips from a cake pop rookie

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I have a bad habit of making things for showers and parties that I have never made before. Do you remember my terrible petit four mess? I do it all the time. Sometimes it turns out terribly. Sometimes it is just super stressful. And almost always I say “I will never do this again!” 

Anyway- for the POP shower, I signed up for cake pops. I had never made cake pops and had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I picked up a few tips and tricks along the way and thought I’d pass them along to you (you know, just in case you have a bad habit of attempting food masterpieces that you’ve never made before for large audiences as well).

After making the batter, roll the cake balls and freeze them. Seriously, this trick made all.the.difference. I tried to dip them in the chocolate without freezing them and they slipped right off the sticks but after they were frozen I had no problems whatsoever.

 On this note, take the frozen cakeballs out of the freezer in small batches so that they stay nice and cold.

Also, keep your chocolate at a moderate temperature. If it is too hot, it won’t be thick enough to coat the cake ball, but if it is too cold it will be too difficult to manage and you won’t get a smooth finish. I melted the white almond bark completely over a double boiler and then turned it down to simmer so that it stayed completely melted, but not too hot.

 Tap off the excess chocolate gently and then turn the cake pop upright to dry.

Use a styrofoam board covered it in foil to let the chocolate set (just poke the cake ball sticks into the styrofoam to keep the cake balls steady). This made decorating so easy!

Similarly, a foam board covered with coordinating wrapping paper is the perfect display for the cake pops!

Next time I might go for a more complicated design, but for my first attempt, I count this a success!

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19 Comments

  1. They are super cute! Just a thought: Bakerella (the cake pop goddess) dips the stick into the chocolate/candymelts/whatever and then sticks it into the cakeball, lets it harden a bit and then dips the cake pop.

  2. are you using a tupperware plastic-type bowl for your double broiler thing – I didn't know you could do that, but it would make things so much easier!

  3. I did this but found when my cake inside defrosted, it expanded and tried to ooze out of any available holes. Not a big deal and easy to tidy up, but did you not have a problem with this? I really need to try making cake pops again, it was fun but I was in a rush making them for a cookie exchange and didn't get any pictures…

  4. This is perfect! I've been wanting to try making these and just signed up to bring them to the Valentine themed bake sale at my daughter's school. Nevermind I have never actually MADE a cake pop… You probably saved me from contributing my entire crafting budget for next month to the curse jar!

  5. i do the exact same thing, "sure ill make 50 handmade invitation" or "yea, a 3D shark cake sounds easy" HAHA

  6. I made some for my son's 1st birthday party we had a Monkey theme so they looked like monkey heads. I agree with Jessica I highly recommend the Bakerella cook book called Cake Pops it is very easy to use and has pictures of every step so if you do not like to read like me it is easy to follow while you are in the middle of the mess you have created in you kitchen. I will say when you decorate them more the key is to have all of your "toppings" separated in individual bowls prior to starting the dipping and decorating process this saved a big headache. I kept mine in the fridge and brought them out one at a time and dipped it and decorated it and set it aside and had no issues with the cake defrosting but was still firm.

  7. Great tips. I made some for a treat exchange at Christmas and learned the hard way! But they are so much fun and yours turned out great!

  8. Great tips. I've always wanted to make them, but have been a bit nervous about how they would turn out…yours look fabulous.

  9. I have a similar problem of attempting new things for large audiences. In fact, my first attempt at cakepops was for Eleanora's first birthday party. Oh how I wish I had read your tips and tricks before that stressful experience!

  10. Thanks for these tips! I'm going to attempt some later this month for my daughter's birthday. I've read that you can add shortening to thin out the chocolate. Did you find that you needed to thin it at all? Or did keeping it warm make it dip ok?

  11. I made some last night and followed Bakerella's suggestion to chill before dipping and my chocolate was cracking after coating. I think it was because the cake was too cold. Did you have any issues with cracking? Thanks!

  12. I keep seeing everyone using chocolate bark or candy coating to dip these in… gross! I get it if you want them to be white, but for chocolate I would use dark chocolate or semisweet bakers chocolate… the other stuff isn't even real chocolate!

    http://www.1allnaturalmommy.blogspot.com

  13. I just wanted to say STARBUCKS sells these now where we live…crazy! So glad to see I can do this myself! 🙂

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