Trial: Cake Pops!

There's been a lot of hype around cake pops... and I admit, thanks to Bakerella, they make for an adorable, festive treat when done correctly. Over the holidays, I witnessed many cake pop fails via instagram and twitter. I've also heard they're way to sweet and that they're a pain in the --- to make...

But I had a party to go to this weekend, so I thought I'd give it a go. I thought about what flavors to make and settled on kid pleasers: chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, coated in chocolate almond bark and strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting, coated in vanilla almond bark. 

I have tried and true chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting recipes that I love; but the strawberry cake and chocolate buttercream were also trials (over achiever, table for one). I omitted quite a bit of sugar from original recipes to counter the super sweetness of the almond bark. Most cake pop tutorials tell you to use cake box mixes and store bought icing. The cake mixes I don't have a problem with; it's basically just dry ingredients. When you doctor them up, they work fine. Store bought icing on the other hand... NO. They are toooooo sweet. Sickly sweet. That plus the candy coating = death by sugar. I recommend at least making your own icing-- it's super easy! 

**Let me just get this out of the way-- cake pops are FRUSTRATING. I've seen it on YouTube a couple of times and thought they didn't look too bad. Yeah, I was dead wrong-- you need practice to perfect this skill. I DO NOT recommend trying this out for the first time before you bring to an event, a la me.  Excuse the lack of pics-- I was too busy trying to solve the mystery of the disintegrating cake pops.

What I learned: 

1) Almond bark is HEAVY. As in, dip-cake-pop-and-PRAY-it-will-come-back-up-heavy. Also, if you heat up too much it will seize and become HEAVIER. I've read tips to thin it out, but that included adding shortening to it which I wasn't too crazy about. Some tips said using a double boiler to melt the almond bark works better consistency-wise than microwaving it.

2) Chilling the cake balls is key. Because I lacked time, I only chilled mine for about 30 mins tops. Next time, I'll chill them for at least 2 hours. I don't recommend freezing them because if you dip them frozen the cake will expand as it defrosts and will crack the coating.

RECIPES:

Chocolate Cake: 

Use this recipe, MINUS 1/4 cup of sugar.

Bake in 9" x 13" Sheet Cake Pan that have been oiled and floured for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean

Chocolate Buttercream:

Adapted from Joy the Baker

*Please note I cut the recipe in half because you don't need that much for cake pops.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 (3/4 cup) sticks unsalted butter, softened 
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (not dutch process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup chocolate Ovaltine or chocolate malt Ovaltine

Directions

Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt. Butter mixture will be very thick. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add powdered sugar. Turn mixer on low and mix in powdered sugar while adding milk and vanilla extract. As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting. Beat until smooth. In a 2 cup measuring glass, stir together heavy cream and Ovaltine. Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached your desired consistency.  You may not need the full amount of Ovaltine and cream.

Strawberry Cake:

Adapted from Joy the Baker (yes, I stalk her)

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix (without pudding)

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello

1 Tablespoon self rising flour (or a Tablespoon of AP flour with a heavy pinch of baking soda)

1 cup butter (melted)
1/4 whole milk

4 eggs

2/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced or 2/3 cups unsweetened frozen strawberries (thawed and pureed)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jello, and flour in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Add the melted butter.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition  Add the water and strawberries and mix well.  Divide the batter evenly into a 9" x 13" Sheet Cake Pan that have been oiled and floured.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Transfer the pan from the oven to wire racks.  Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold onto the racks to cool completely.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:

*Also cut in half because you don't need much

Ingredients

 4 ounces (half a package) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1/3 cup finely diced fresh strawberries

Directions:

Cream cream cheese and butter together until well blended. Add vanilla, salt and sifted powdered sugar. You may add more sugar if you desire, but I went with a low dose because these cake pops will be covered in vanilla almond bark which is really sweet. 

To assemble Cake Pops

• Use two forks to break up the cake into a bowl; It should be even size crumbs.
• Gradually add frosting to the crumbs and mix in.
• Check to see if it will roll into a ball. If it needs a little extra moisture, add more icing a little at a time.
• Next place the mixture in the refrigerator to cool for some time. Take out the mixture, small part at a time and make small balls of 1 inch diameter and place it on a wax covered baking sheet and place it once again in the fridge. I wanted uniformed cake pops so I used a medium sized ice cream scoop.
• While cake balls are cooling, melt almond bark in microwave in 30 second increments. DO NOT OVERHEAT or the chocolate will seize up. If you can, melt over a double boiler.
• Once the chocolate has melted, it is time to take out the cake pops (in batches!) and insert the cake pop sticks in each one of the cake balls. Dip each cake balls in the melted coating so that the cake pops are covered with an even layer of confectionery covering. Like I said, keeping the cake pops chilled is KEY! Take them out batch by batch so the others don't get warm.
• Let drip over the bowl and tap hand to remove the excess coating. 
• If you plan on using sprinkles, don't forget to add them before the coating hardens. 
• Stick cake pops into a styrofoam board to cool and set completely.

Here is a video if you need more visual steps:

... and that's it!

All in all, despite my frustration, the cake pops were a big hit at the party. Everyone raved about the flavor and they were gone in under an hour. I've received requests to make them for other parties already... but I need to experiment and practice more before I commit to this again!