Cake Pops

Ever since I discovered Bakerella I have been dying to make cake pops.  They just looked so cute!  The first time I tasted them was when my cousin made them.  She has a cupcake business called Polka Dot Cupcake Shoppe.  They were so amazing…actually everything she made was amazing…looked awesome and tasted even better.

 

For those who have never heard of cake pops, basically you take a baked cake and make it into crumbs.  Then you mix in frosting.  You make little balls, insert a lollipop stick and then dip in melted candy melts or chocolate.  It’s not complicated but there is a lot of waiting time because you have to keep putting them in the fridge to get cold.  If they are too warm they won’t hold on to the stick and will fall off.

I didn’t do such a good job rolling them…they were not perfect circles and my dipping didn’t come out very smooth.  Some cracked as the chocolate dried but they still tasted yummy.  My husband wasn’t a fan.  He thought they were too sweet.  Hasan and I loved them.  I used a Swiss Meringue Buttercream so they wouldn’t be too sweet.  I still have to work on the technique for dipping to get it right.  My pictures turned out blurry.  That’s what happens when you start making them at 11 pm and then when you are finally done start taking pictures.

Once you have dipped them in chocolate you should stick the sticks in a piece of styrofoam covered in plastic wrap.  I didn’t have any styrofoam so with my husband’s quick thinking this is how we were drying them:

They dry pretty quick and I was slow with the dipping so it worked.  But next time I am going to use styrofoam.  If you don’t use the sticks you can put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to dry and then you would have cake balls!

For a quick tutorial on how to make cake pops check out Bakerella’s video:

The following are the cake and frosting recipes I used.  It made 16 cake pops.

Lightning Cake
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
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3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla powder (you could add up to 1/2 tsp vanilla, I added less because I don’t have the best quality vanilla powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine, room temperature

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8 inch round cake pan.  Line with parchment paper and grease again.

In a large bowl (I used my mixer to make this), whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla powder, and salt.  Add egg and milk.  With the mixer on medium speed, mix for 2 minutes.  Add the margarine and beat on low speed for 1 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl and beat on medium-high speed for 1 1/2 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl again and beat on low speed for 30 seconds.

Transfer to prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
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Note: This makes a very small amount of frosting

1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg white
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla powder

Heat up a pot of simmering water.  To the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the sugar and egg white.  Put this bowl over the pot of simmering water and occasionally whisk.  Once you can no longer feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Wipe the bowl and put in the mixer with the whisk attachment.  Mix the mixture on medium high speed until it has doubled in volume.  Add the vanilla powder and mix.  Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time and whip until it has a mayonnaise like consistency.