Cake Pop Couture

If you thought cupcakes were the latest craze in desserts, I’m here to tell you, you’re 100% mistaken. These days it’s all about Cake Pops– a lollipop/cupcake hybrid that’s sending foo foo-loving girly girls into such a frenzy, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the emergence of the maltipoo. Yes, everything has become “designer” these days, right down to our baked goods.

I tried my hand at cake pops for the very first time last week. I decided to surprise my co-workers with an unexpected treat on my last day as a working woman, and the response was overwhelming! Several people had never heard of cake pops before. Others had been wanting to try the Starbucks version. One of the office dads didn’t miss a beat. He recognized cake pops from a Beverly Hills birthday party the weekend before and excitedly asked “who brought the cake pops!” The tray was gobbled up in no time, and I’m still getting requests for more.

Okay, so now that I’ve told you that lovely little story (which I hope encourages you to try making some cake pops for yourself), I’m going to get real for a minute. These aren’t that easy to make. In fact, they take a lot of time, and several of your cake balls are going to come out looking deformed and ugly, and it’s going to drive you absolutely bonkers. If you’re like me you’ll probably let out a few frustrated s-bombs and even f-bombs. But the hubs will be happy because he’ll get to eat all the mess-ups, which means he’ll encourage you to mess up, and that will really piss you off, and I think I’ve gone a little off track, so I’m going to go ahead and stop right there.

The end result really is worth the work (otherwise I wouldn’t be posting this). I used white chocolate, divided it into 3 bowls, and added a touch of food coloring to 2 of the bowls, for muted tones. I used various toppings, from sugar sprinkles, to edible glitter stars, to  rainbow nonpareils, and Trader Joe’s chocolate-coated sunflower seeds. Fortunately for you, I learned a few tips the hard way, which should make your experience a breeze. Honestly, once you get into your grove, it’s a piece of cake. Haha! I’m hilarious!

Tips for Easier Cake Pops

1. Follow this tutorial
2. Using a cookie scoop is an easy way to keep all the balls uniform in size.
3. When inserting your sticks, dap a tiny bit of the icing on the tip. It will act as a glue-like reinforcement.
4. Freeze your cake pops (with the sticks inserted) for at least 15 minutes prior to decorating.
5. Only pull a couple of cake pops out of the freezer at a time when decorating so they stay cold.
6. Don’t use melted baking chips to coat your cake pops. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “Duh Hawlie, chocolate chips aren’t supposed to melt well under heat.” Guess what? You’re right. But I was trying to make it work with what I already had in my pantry. Obviously, my cake pops did turn out, but the chocolate was so thick and heavy, it was tough to get a good dunk, and the sticks kept falling out. Instead, use something made for coating, like Wilton’s White Chocolate Melts.
7. Add toppings immediately after dipping. The chocolate dries pretty quickly.
8. Usually cake pops are dried upright by sticking the pops into a piece of styrofoam. I didn’t have styrofoam, or the time to go out and buy some, so I opted to dry them on a sheet of wax paper. My cake pops turned out to be more like cake hors d’oeuvres with a handy little stick. Quite frankly, no one seemed to really care. They were too busy oohing and ahhing over how pretty they were.

Happy Baking!