Cake Pop

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cake(baked and cooled)

2-3 Tbs Vanilla Butter cream Frosting

Lollipop Sticks (I use the skewers cut into half)

1 Cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Large Block of Styrofoam or Florist Foam (for drying cake pops)

Candy sprinkles

Preparation:

Bake the Vanilla Cake and let it cool completely. Then, in a large bowl,crumble the cake into small crumbs by hand.

Using your hands stir in just enough frosting to hold the mixture together. If you add too much frosting the cake balls will be soggy. Too little frosting and the cake balls will fall apart, especially when dipped. So add the frosting gradually and really work into into the cake crumbs, as the amount you need totally depends on the type and texture of your cake.

Roll the mixture into golf ball sized rounds. Place the cake balls on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. After forming the cake balls, cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until they are firm, but not frozen. 

Once the cake balls are cold, it is time to melt the chocolate chips. 

You can do this in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. 

If using the microwave, place the candy melts in a microwaveable bowl and heat on medium for about 1 minute. Stir and continue to heat on medium, at 20 second intervals, until the candy melts evenly. If the melted candy is too thick, gradually stir in about 1/2 - 1 tablespoon flavorless oil. You want it to flow easily from your spoon. (This prevents the candy coating from being too thick, which makes the cake balls hard to dip and may cause cracking.) At this point you may want to transfer the melted candy coating to a small deep bowl so when dipping the cake pops they can be completely submerged.

Remove the cake balls from the refrigerator and one by one, dip the sticks about 1/2 inch into the melted chocolate and then insert about halfway into the cold cake balls (the melted candy acts like a glue). Don't insert the sticks all the way through the cake balls or they will crack.Before you starting dipping the cake balls have a large thick block of Styrofoam (or florist's foam) on hand to stick the cake pops in for drying.

Then, one by one, dip the cake pops straight down into the melted candy coating.Dip, don't roll, the pops completely into the coating. Rolling can cause crumbs to get into the coating. Then lift the cake pops out of the coating and let the excess coating run off, turning the pop so you get an even coating of candy. You can also very very gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl to help with this. At this point you can sprinkle the still wet candy coating with candy sprinkles, sanding or sparkling sugar, edible pearls or glitter, chocolate jimmies, finely chopped nuts, crushed cookies, dried coconut, or even crushed candy. 

The cake pops need to dry upright, so gently insert the end of the stick into the Styrofoam and let dry or refrigerate it to speed up the freezing process. Once dry, the cake pops can be covered and stored, at room temperature or in the refrigerator, for about 3-4 days.