Cake Pops!!

My love with the cake pop idea stem from a picture I saw 8 years ago. It was a picture of a dozen colorful mini donuts that's sticking on a lollipop stick. Back then when there's MSN, I used the picture for my profile for the longest time!! Lately I decided to challenge myself and make cake pops from scratch. With big thanks to The Kitchn I successfully made my first batch of Cake Pops!

Cake Pops

What do you need?

*TIME!* Making the cake pops take a long time!!! It's the waiting to cool time that really makes it harder. First you need to wait till the cake cools down completely, then after you mix everything you need to wait till the mixture is cold enough that is can make a firm cakeball! You need at least 5 hours or prepare some parts the night before!

1 batch of  Dark Chocolate Cake

1 pack (8 ounces) of cream cheese, softened

2 cups icing sugar

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon milk

2 bags of Candy Coating

60+ Lollipop Sticks

How do you do it?

1. Break the cooled chocolate cake into crumbs. I used a fork to "dig" my way through the cake.

2. Use a mixer to mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter and milk until smooth. (Make sure the mixture is FULLY smooth, I was too rushed so I ended up with little chunks of cream cheese in some of my cake pops >_<)

3. Mix the creamy mixture with the cake crumbs until fully incorporated.

4. Cover the mixture and refrigerate until it is firm and will stay in ball shape (I let it sit overnight)

5. Once you take it out, roll the mixture into ball sizes. I made 60 cake balls from the batch. Make it as round as you possibly can!! Once again, I didn't think it will matter after the candy coating, BUT IT DID!! I put half (30) cake balls in the freezer for future use. 

6. Stick the lollipop stick halfway into the cake balls, and return it back to the fridge to let it SIT another hour or so (this step helps it firm up the ball around the lollipop stick)

7. Melt the candy coating in a double boiler or by microwave (bought it from Michael's along with the lollipop sticks) - Side note, never buy stuff from Michael's without a coupon! They have coupons EVERY WEEK!!!

8. Dip the cake pop in the melted candy. The trick to get smooth exterior look (took me 2 batches to finally figure out) is to dip it in, lightly bang the lollipop stick against the side of the bowl to let excess candy drip off the cake ball. REMEMBER, lightly tap the lollipop so the cake does not break off the stick. Once it is thinned out, turn the cakepop around to where it was dripping off excess previously, gently tap twice to smooth out the uneven part. TADA! there's your smooth cake pop!!

9. I used an upside down egg carton and punctured tiny holes to serve as my cake pop stand as it dries. But best tool would be a big fat styrofoam to hold up your cake pops.

Enjoy!! Everyone loved these Cake Pops, they taste very moist and fudgy due to the moist cake and cream cheese mixture :)