Cake Pops
Authors: Angie Dudley
Tags: #Cookbooks, #Baking, #Cupcakes, #Confectionery, #Cake Decorating
By
Bakerella
Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats
For Mady, with love.
This book is further dedicated to the readers of
bakerella.com
. Your enthusiasm and excitement for making these little treats inspires me every day. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did writing it for you.
Welcome to Cake Pops!
I’m not a professional baker, and I don’t have any formal training in chocolate or pastries or anything confectionery. But I do have a passion to learn and a desire to try new things. I’ve always loved sweets, and my motto has always been “the more chocolate, the better!” But growing up, I never really experimented with anything other than packaged cake, cookie, or brownie mixes. It never even crossed my mind that I could or should try to bake from scratch. Yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting were the extent of my cake-baking adventures (and they’re still a favorite today).
On a whim in 2007, I took a two-hour cake decorating class. We learned how to make and tint homemade frosting, properly ice cakes, and use decorator bags and tips. You know—the basics. Well, that class changed everything for me. I still remember how happy I was to be exposed to the world of cake decorating. Even now, that feeling is still with me and inspires me to keep baking. To branch out and expand my experiences. To try new things without being afraid of the outcome. It’s only sugar, you know. Even mistakes can be sweet!
Several months after finishing the cake class, I started a blog to chronicle my baking attempts. I named it Bakerella
(www.bakerella.com),
the same as my user name on Flickr.com, where I was hosting my photographs. I didn’t tell anyone about my site in the beginning. I started out with some of my favorite things to make…and cake balls were one of them. I was introduced to cake balls at a Christmas party by my best friend’s mother-in-law. One thing led to another, and over time I turned the bite-size balls of cake into cake pops and then developed them further into cupcake-shaped cake pops. The cupcake pops took the Internet by storm and caught the attention of The Martha Stewart Show. Before I knew it, my anonymous blog had catapulted me onto national TV to show Martha herself how to create the tiny treats. Needless to say, my friends and family were a little surprised.
Since the show, I have received so many wonderful e-mails and messages from readers about how the blog has inspired them to start baking. Readers began re-creating my cake and cupcake pops and sharing their photos with me. The excitement surrounding the pops made me want to experiment even more, which led to this book, where I share more than forty cake pop projects, plus techniques for creating your own.
So, get ready to experience cake as you’ve never seen (or eaten) it before. You won’t find any traditional layer cakes or cupcakes in this book, but you will find ideas for amazingly creative bites of individually decorated cakes, and frosting.
Need something unique for a birthday party, baby shower, wedding, or upcoming holiday? The answer is right here. Let cake pops be the stars at your next event or party. But be careful: once you make them, you won’t want to stop, and anyone who tries them probably won’t let you.
Don’t worry. You don’t have to be a pastry artist or confectionery genius to make cake pops. You don’t even need to be a great baker. With a few ingredients and common candy, you can transform any cake, even a store-bought one, into fascinating tiny treats.
You’ll learn the methods behind the madness. You’ll see how easy cake pops are to decorate. You’ll learn techniques that will kick-start your creativity. Once you make your first cake pops, you’ll be so proud of what you’ve accomplished. I promise.
I hope you enjoy them and find the same passion as I have, no matter what the subject!
Are you ready to get started?
Cake pops, cupcake pops, cake balls, and bites. They all have the same things in common: cake, frosting, candy, and cute. But these aren’t ordinary cakes. They are tiny candy-covered confections made of crumbled cake mixed with frosting that you can mold into different shapes and decorate for any occasion. They are super-sweet, extremely moist, and completely covered in candy coating.
Over the next few pages, you’ll find easy instructions that will help you master each of the four methods of creating unique sweet treats. Get ready to impress your friends, your family, and even yourself.
The following how-to’s are based on using a cake mix and ready-made frosting. It’s a really easy way to learn the basics and achieve predictable, consistent results. Then, once you feel comfortable making and decorating your very own cake pops, you’ll have the knowledge to branch out with other cake and frosting recipes and get even more creative with custom flavors.
Or just stick with the mixes. I do.
Refer to
Cake Pop Flavor Combinations
for suggested cake mix and ready-made frosting combinations, and
Cake & Frosting recipes
for easy cake and frosting recipes from scratch.
Cake balls are bite-size balls made of crumbled cake mixed with frosting and covered in candy coating. They are super-easy to make and form the basis of endless variations of decorated cake pops, cupcake pops, and cake bites.
You’ll need
18.25-ounce box cake mix
9-by-13-inch cake pan
Large mixing bowl
16-ounce container ready-made frosting
Large metal spoon
Wax paper
2 baking sheets
Plastic wrap
32 ounces (2 pounds) candy coating
Deep, microwave-safe plastic bowl
Toothpicks
Resealable plastic bag or squeeze bottle (optional)
Bake the cake as directed on the box, using a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Let cool completely.
Once the cake is cooled, get organized and set aside plenty of time (at least an hour) to crumble, roll, and dip 4 dozen cake balls.
Crumble the cooled cake into a large mixing bowl. See
“Crumbling Your Cake.”
You should not see any large pieces of cake.
Add three-quarters of the container of frosting. (You will not need the remaining frosting.) Mix it into the crumbled cake, using the back of a large metal spoon, until thoroughly combined. If you use the entire container, the cake balls will be too moist.
The mixture should be moist enough to roll into 1½-inch balls and still hold a round shape. After rolling the cake balls by hand, place them on a wax paper–covered baking sheet.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours in the refrigerator, or place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. You want the balls to be firm but not frozen.
If you’re making a project that calls for uncoated cake balls, stop here and proceed to decorate the cake balls, following the project instructions.
The first time I tried a cake ball was at a Christmas party in 2007. The appearance of the balls was deceptive—they looked like peanut butter balls—and I almost passed them by. But then I was told they weren’t peanut butter balls at all, but cake balls. Well, the name alone sent me straight over to investigate. And I’m so glad I did, because they have been a featured sweet at many family get-togethers since and the basis for my cake-pop craze.
Place the candy coating in a deep, microwave-safe plastic bowl. These bowls make it easier to cover the cake balls completely with candy coating while holding the bowl without burning your fingers. (I usually work with about 16 ounces of coating at a time.)
Melt the candy coating, following the instructions on the package. Microwave on medium power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring with a spoon in between. You can also use a double boiler. Either way, make sure you do not overheat the coating. See
“Candy Coating Basics,”
for more on working with candy coating.
Now you’re ready to coat. Take a few cake balls at a time out of the refrigerator or freezer to work with. If they’re in the freezer, transfer the rest of the balls to the refrigerator at this point, so they stay firm but do not freeze.
Place one ball at a time into the bowl of candy coating. Spoon extra coating over any uncoated areas of the cake ball to make sure it is completely covered in candy coating. Then lift out the cake ball with your spoon. Avoid stirring it in the coating, because cake crumbs can fall off into the coating.
Holding the spoon over the bowl, tap the handle of the spoon several times on the edge of the bowl until the excess coating falls off and back into the bowl. This technique also creates a smooth surface on the outside of the cake ball.
Transfer the coated cake ball to the second wax paper–covered baking sheet to dry. Let the coated cake ball slide right off the spoon. Some coating may pool around the base of the ball onto the wax paper. If so, simply take a toothpick and use it to draw a line around the base of the cake ball before the coating sets. Once the coating sets, you can break off any unwanted coating.
Repeat with the remaining cake balls and let dry completely.
If you have extra candy coating left over, pour it into a resealable plastic bag (and then snip off the corner) or into a squeeze bottle and drizzle it over the tops in a zigzag motion to decorate.
You can make the cake balls ahead of time and store them in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator for several days.
The cake balls will be easier to roll if you wash and dry your hands periodically during the rolling process. Dry your hands completely each time, and make sure you don’t get water in the candy coating, as that can make it unusable.
You can use a mini ice-cream scoop to get uniform-size cake balls.
If you don’t need or want to make 48 cake balls, simply divide the cake in half for 24 cake balls or in quarters for 12 and freeze the remaining cake for later use. Remember to reduce the amount of frosting proportionally.
It took me a while before I realized that candy coating came in various colors and flavors. One day I stumbled across pink candy coating at a craft store, and that’s when everything changed. My eyes opened to the possibilities. I thought how cute it would be to turn cake balls into cake lollipops…or cake pops for short. The cake pops in this photo are the first ones I ever attempted. I had no idea at the time that they would inspire a cake pop sensation.
