How to make homemade cake pops? Which recipes to choose? How to decorate them? How to make them successful? Follow this guide to make cake pops, an easy sweet treats recipe made without mold, perfect for any occasion like a baby shower, birthday party, wedding, and more.
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What are Cake pops?
The cake pops also called cake balls, are small balls of cake coated with chocolate or candy coating and decorated with sprinkles.
They were invented by the very famous blogger Angie Dudley from the Bakerella blog and she highlighted them during the Martha Stewart TV show.
Since then, these tiny, colorful cake pops have been super trendy and totally irresistible, and they are great to spend time making with the kids who have so much fun.
Why you'll love this recipe
These little sweet bites are a lot of fun, with an endless choice of decorations, and can be twisted into any shape and for any occasion.
In Christmas tree, in bell for Easter, for a birth, a wedding, or using special molds for pop cakes, cupcakes, or ice cream cones.
You don't have to be an advanced baker to make the perfect cake pops recipe at home! All you need is a cake mix or vanilla cake or even leftover cake, some icing like cream cheese or buttercream frosting, candy melts, lollipop sticks, and sugar decorations.
More Truffls and Ball recipes
Composition and substitutions
Sponge
In this recipe I share you my buttermilk vanilla sponge to make these vanilla cake pops, but here are other similar sponge that you can use:
- Vanilla sponge cake
- Vanilla Molly Cake
- French Genoise Sponge
- Chocolate sponge cake
- Chocolate buttermilk cake
- White cake flavored like in this strawberry cake pops
You can also replace the sponge cake with crumbled cookies like Oreo cookies in this Oreo cake pops recipe or Biscoff cookies in these Biscoff cake pops recipe.
Frosting
To bind the cake crumbs I use mascarpone cheese, but you can also use all kinds of frosting recipes like :
- Whipped vanilla buttercream frosting
- Cream cheese or my buttercream cream cheese frosting
- Whipped mascarpone frosting
- Nutella spread, Biscoff butter spread, homemade peanut butter, raw almond butter, fruit jams or fruit compote like my strawberry compote, raspberry compote or lemon blueberry compote.
Coating
Candy melts: These little chocolate pistols that come in all colors and are not really chocolate, are perfect to make cake pops!
You can replace the candy melts with any dark chocolate, white chocolate, or milk chocolate.
Sugar decorations: Sprinkles, edible glitter, chocolate vermicelli, sugar pearls, coconut, etc…
You will find the recipe with the quantities and instructions in the recipe card further down this page
How to Make Homemade Pop Cake Recipe From Scratch
Crumble the cake
- Make the vanilla cake recipe and let the cake cool completely.
- Place the cooled vanilla cake in a large bowl and cut into large pieces.
- Then crumble cooled cake with your fingertips until you get a very fine cake crumb.
Tip: Be careful not to leave large pieces of cake, as you will have trouble forming well rounded cake balls.
Add the Frosting
- Add the frosting in small amounts to the cake crumbs.
- And mix the cake and frosting with your hands until you have a smooth, even, slightly sticky batter.
Tip: If the cake mixture seems too dry and you can't form a ball with it, add a little more frosting.
Shaping the cake balls
- Scoop a small amount of dough between your hands (you can use an ice cream scoop to make the same amount of dough into balls of the same size)
- Roll the dough between your hands to form round cake ball.
- Place them in a large flat dish or plate.
- Then place the cake balls in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Tip: The dough is a little wet, it can stick to your hands, after a short time in the fridge, you will be able to roll them again more easily to give them a nice round shape.
Fix pop sticks
- Heat some candy melt in a double boiler or microwave according to the directions provided on the package instructions.
- Dip the top of a cake pop stick into the melted candy melt and immediately push it into the center of the rolled balls.
- Smooth the candy melt around the stick with your finger before it hardens.
Decoration
- Heat more candy melt and place it in a deep bowl or glass large enough to dip the cake pop inside.
- Dip the cake balls into the melted candy melt to cover it completely, then shake off the excess chocolate drip.
- Immediately add sprinkles and other sugar decorations before the candy melt cools.
- Then place your cake pop on a special cake pop stand and let cool completely.
Tip: For a thinner candy melt or chocolate, you can add a small amount of crisco, coconut oil, candy wafers, cocoa butter or vegetable oil.
Tips for this recipe
- Crumble finely the cake which must be also completely cooled. The finer the crumbs, the more you will be able to make a smooth and round cake pop.
- Be careful with the amount of frosting, the batter should be soft enough to handle easily, if it lacks frosting you will have trouble rolling them.
- Let the preparation chill in the fridge to make it easier to shape the cake pops.
- The cake pops must be cold before inserting the candy sticks so that the chocolate freezes inside and the lollipop sticks stay well attached to the cake pop.
- Use a stand to put the cake pops on or a dummy (styrofoam block) or a cardboard box with holes pre-drilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
The candy melt will crack if there is a temperature shock. Let the cake pops come to room temperature a bit before dipping them in the candy melts.
You can replace the candy melts with melted chocolate, dark, milk or white chocolate.
Use a special cake pop stand, or a Styrofoam dummy, or a cardboard box with holes.
Yes it is possible to make the cake pops ahead of time and store them in a cardboard box.
You need to dip the sticks in the melted candy melts beforehand, which will act as a glue and prevent the sticks from coming off the cake.
The cake pops can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container box with a tight-fitting lid or in the refrigerator.
No, it's not needed and the chocolate coating will crack, just put them in the fridge before dipping.
More Cake Pop recipes
You will also love
- Vanilla birthday cake
- Kinder cake
- Strawberry layer cake
- Number cake
- Dates Energy balls
- Oreo white chocolate fudge
- Peanut butter cups
- Hot chocolate bombs
- French Chocolate truffles
- Coconut truffles.
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How to make Cake Pops
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 cake pops
Description
Cake pops recipe with vanilla cake, candy melts and sugar decorations (for about 20 cake pops)
Ingredients
Vanilla cake :
- 130 g (1 cup) Flour - cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon of liquid vanilla extract
- 125 g (½ cup) Sugar - granulated
- 85 g (⅓ cup) butter - softened
- 110 g (⅓ cup) buttermilk - or semi-skimmed milk
Frosting :
- 115 g (⅓ cup) mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
- 1 tbsp. icing sugar
- 250 g (9 oz) candy melt
- Sugar sprinkles
Instructions
Vanilla cake:
- Preheat the oven to 320° F / 160°C and line the bottom of a 6 inch / 15 cm round cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients, cake flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
- In another large bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the softened butter with the sugar for 2 minutes until you have a smooth mixture.
- Then add the eggs and liquid vanilla extract and mix again for 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately and mix with a spatula between each addition until you have a smooth cake batter.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes until golden on top. (Check for doneness by plunging a toothpick or knife blade into the center of the cake, it should come out clean or with light crumbs)
- Let the cake cool completely in the pan before unmolding.
- Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Cake pops:
- Crumble the cooled vanilla cake into a large bowl until it is a fine powder.
- Add the mascarpone and icing sugar.
- With your hands, mix until you have a compact and sticky dough (if it is too sticky, put it in the fridge for 20 minutes).
- Form cake balls between your hands and place them on a large dish.
- Place in the fridge for 20 minutes or in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the candy melt in a double boiler or in the microwave.
- Dip a lollipop stick into the melted candy melt and insert it into the center of the cake ball.
- Smooth excess candy melt around the stick and repeat for all cake pops.
- Dip the entire cake ball into the melted candy melt, then remove and stir to release excess candy melt.
- Immediately decorate with sprinkles and other sugar decorations.
- Then place the cake pop on a cake pop stand.
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
Storage: 2-3 days at room temperature and up to 1 week in the refrigerator. You can also keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: cake, cake pops
- Cuisine: American
Thanks for the recipe
He hecho la masa y no me ha salido...no entiendo x q...la he repasado una vez hecha y no veo q haya hecho nada distinto y las cantidades están bien. Apenas a subido y tiene como grasa...
Thanks for the recipe it was great ❤️
Thanks for your feedback
Thanks for the recipe, perfect for a snack.