Earlier this year I developed a slight addiction to Birthday Cake Pops from Starbucks. After proclaiming my love of these sweet-treats for all the world to hear on Facebook, a friend recommended I try making them on my own. I began searching the inter-webs and sure enough, found various recipes and how-to’s…and then began spreading the love and getting others addicted. I’m sorry and you’re welcome!

After accepting a request to make 200 ‘pops’ for a birthday party, I put my apron on last week and took a little break from wedding planning and business building. I didn’t put my camera away though. Oh, no! I documented each step, and decided to put together my own cake pop tutorial.

What you’ll need:

• 1 Cake (whatever flavor you choose…yellow and chocolate have been our favorites)
• 1 Can frosting (I mixed cream cheese frosting in with the yellow and red velvet cakes, and used chocolate in a chocolate cake. Yum!)
• 1-2 Bags candy melts (you can find these at specialty bake shops, craft stores…Michael’s, Joann Fabrics and the likes. I’ve even heard people talk about using almond bark found at the grocery store, but I can’t seem to find that in LA grocery stores??)
• 1 Bag sucker sticks (pick these up when you’re at previously mentioned craft stores or bake shop)
• Styrofoam (you’ll use this to put your freshly dipped pops into to dry)
  

Step 1: Bake Cake
Follow the instructions to your favorite cake recipe. Let it cool completely before proceeding to step 2.

Step 2: Crumble Cake
Once it’s cooled, crumble the cake into a large bowl. You can use your hands if you like to get dirty, or you can use a spatula or some other handy utensil. Whatever works for you!

Step 3: Add Frosting
Add just a little more than 1/2 can of frosting to the crumbled cake. Using either your hands or a spoon, mix it up really good.

Go ahead. Dip your finger into the left over frosting and give it a taste. I mean, you gotta test it to make sure it’s not poisonous, right? *wink*

Step 4: Roll Into Balls
Get a cookie sheet and cover it with wax paper. Then, roll them out into balls. I found that a slightly heaping tablespoon of cake mixture makes the perfect size pop. It’s your ballgame though…make ‘em as big or little as you want. Using my tablespoon method, you’ll get approximately 40 pops out of one batch.

Step 5: Stick ‘Em
Get your sucker sticks and candy melts ready.

Now, put 3 or 4 of those candy melts in a microwavable container and melt them (follow the melting instructions on the packaging). I found these snazzy ceramic melting bowls at Michael’s and they worked well for me. Once the candy is melted, dip the tip of your sucker stick in the candy. It just takes a little bit. (This step isn’t *necessary*, but I don’t usually skip it. It creates a little candy anchor helping the cake ball attach to the stick a little better.) Then, stick it down into the cake pop about 3/4″ to 1″…kind of depends on how big you made them. You don’t want it to go all the way through, but in deep enough that it won’t fall off.

Step 6: Chill out
Stick the pops into either the fridge or the freezer for at least an hour or two. This helps the pops form, and the coldness helps the candy coating harden.

 Step 7: Dip baby, dip (sorry…couldn’t resist)
Get your Styrofoam out and handy, and proceed with melting the remainder of your candy coating. Here’s a little tip from me to you…depending on what type of candy melts you’re using, you *may* need to add a little vegetable oil to thin it out enough to dip properly. When I was using the Wilton brand, I added 2-3 Tbsp’s of oil to the melted candy and then stirred it up really good.

Once you’re melted, well, you start dipping!

(No. Refrigerating does not change them from chocolate to vanilla. I switched over to a vanilla batch to finish the photo portion of this project.)

Here’s where you’ll need to develop your own style. I personally don’t like a full submersion, but a half then twirl. With the full dip, mine start to slide off the stick and nose-dive to the bottom of the candy coating sea. Once dipped, you may want to twirl or tap the stick against the edge of the bowl to shake off some of the excess candy. Otherwise, it’ll melt all down the side of your stick…or  maybe you like that, so do what feels right.

If you want to add sprinkles, now’s the time to do that while the candy coating is still melt-y (that’s a two-handed process, so I couldn’t get a photo…sorry). Then, stick the pop into your Styrofoam and let the candy coating harden. Repeat until all pops are dipped.

If sprinkles aren’t your thing, you can also consider a drizzle style decoration. Once the pops were dry, I melted some black candy coating in decorating bags and then got creative. There are tons of options out there.

Once you’re finished, enjoy…and get ready to make a LOT of friends!

Step 8: Display (optional)
Here’s a picture of my completed 200 pop display from this past weekend. It didn’t *quite* hold 200, but we were attendees at the party, so I just snuck over occasionally and replenished the goods!