Misadventures of cake pop making.
I'm more into baking than cooking, so this was fun! I first heard of cake pops when I was thinking of what to put in my candy buffet for the wedding. Turns out, I couldn't get cake pops for the event, but whatever.
Then, fast forward to the present, and I had this hankering to try it myself.
I started out with cake mix and frosting (True fact, I'm lazy and hate making things from scratch unless absolutely necessary). Made the cake per instructions in a 13x9 pan. Then, when fully baked and cooled, I cut it in four equal sections. A full 13x9 pan makes approximately 48, so I used only half the cake sheet to make 24. Any extra cake was wrapped and stored airtight in the fridge.
In a large bowl, I used a fork to crumble the cake.
Then, I mixed the frosting of choice in the cake. Usually, half a container of frosting for half a cake, depending on how moist the cake turns out. The idea is that when you roll them into balls, they hold shape. So, I used my hands to roll the cake goo into 1"-1 1/2" balls.
IT GETS MESSY.
After all the pops were rolled, I popped them in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I microwaved orange candy melt in 30 second intervals until it was smooth, mixing in between. I brought out the pops. I took lollipop sticks and dipped the tips into the candy melt, then inserted them in the cake balls about halfway. Put them in the freezer again for about 15 minutes.
Made sure the candy melt was melted and smooth. Pulled out the bare pops from the freezer and got to work. I tried my best to coat each pop evenly.
After I dipped it in the candy melt, I punctured it into some spare styrofoam so it would stand up. Then, I added a green apple tic-tac on top while the candy is still melted, and let the candy set.
Don't wait too long to put the tic tac in and don't push too hard or you'll get FAILITUDE.
The final product turned out super cute! You can wrap it with plastic and tie it with a bow and voila! The one on the left is smooth and the one on the right, I used a spare lollipop stick and rolled ridges on the cake balls, pre-candy dip.
It was a fun waste of time :).