Cake Balls/Pops

Cake balls, or pops, are basically individually decorated little balls of cake on a stick. They are always a hit at parties, and kids especially love them!

I've made them for a bunch of different types of occasions (for example, monsters and ghosts for Halloween, red Love Monsters for Valentine's Day, rabbits and chicks for Easter). I started making them by hand, but now I also have a cake pop maker (which is much faster, but I found works best with a pound cake type of recipe). These are a ton of fun to make and eat! (Although they do take a while to make/decorate.)

To make them by hand you will need:
½ cup icing (creamy)
Half of a 9x13 inch baked cake
Candy Melts
Cookie or lollipop sticks
Sprinkles, candy, or other decorations


*Bake cake.
*Crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl.
*Add icing (1/2 cup). Mix completely.
*Use a measuring spoon to get the same size ball each time. 

Small (1/4 inch diameter) = 1 Tablespoon. Medium (1 ½ inch diameter ball) = 2 Tablespoons. Large (1 ¾ inch diameter ball) = 3 Tablespoons. One recipe makes about 48 small balls, 24 medium balls, and 16 large balls.



*Roll in between your hands until you have a round, smooth ball.
*Place balls on parchment paper and chill at least two hours.

*Next, insert the sticks. Before you insert the sticks, dip the end of the stick in melted candy coating. This helps the cake ball stick to the stick. *Let sit to allow the candy melt to harden.
*In a container tall enough to dip the entire cake ball in, melt the candy melt.
*Dip the cake ball in and gently tap stick on container to get rid of excess coating. (You can dip the ball in melted candy wafers, Wilton Candy Dips, or cover in fondant. If you buy white candy melts to color, make sure you buy candy coloring, NOT icing coloring gels!)

*Attach the decorations before the candy melts harden, or if already hardened, use some of the melts to attach. To make sure the candy melts don’t crack while drying, you can poke a small hole in the bottom near the stick with a toothpick.

Decorations can be almost anything from sprinkles, any small candies such has mini M&M’s or pieces of candy necklaces. Wilton sells different kinds of sprinkles and candy eyes for making animals or faces. Wilton has some really cute ideas in their book and online. They have ideas from gumball machines, popcorn, pirates, monsters, dinosaurs, fish, fishbowls, animals, balloons.

Other ideas:
* Make cake in the brownie pop mold. Insert sticks, dip, and decorate as above.
* Make a pound cake in a 9x13 pan. Bake, cool. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Insert stick, dip, and decorate as above.
* Press cake ball mix into silicone pans to create shapes. Chill 2 hours, remove from pan. Insert stick, dip, decorate as above.
*Press into a plastic dowel rod, insert stick, chill, and push out. Decorate to look like candles, crayons, or fireworks.  

CAKE BALLS, OREO

Ingredients: 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, 1 (16.6oz) package Oreo cookies

Soften the cream cheese and finely crush the cookies. Mix together cookie crumbs and cream cheese until well blended. Chill for 2 hours. Follow the above directions for inserting the stick and decorating.