Candy Coated Cake Pops

In my holiday baking frenzy I also had to supply pick-up desserts for my mother’s 80th birthday party. The Queen Mum’s surprise party guest list ages ranged from 80+ down to less than 1 month old, with grandkids of all ages sure to begin their dinner with the dessert table.

What to bake for the kids….Cake Pops!

Cake Pops are everywhere these days: they are bite sizes cupcakes (the size of a donut hole) on a stick. The original recipe called for baking a cake or brownies, crumbling it up, mixing it with frosting, cream cheese, or some other binder, and shaping it into a ball. Too messy, too much work.

But on one of my weekly shopping trips to Bed Bath and Beyond I discovered the Bake Pop pan: just pour cake batter into the pan, cover with the lid pan, bake and decorate! $19.95 – $5 coupon. Done!

I bought the pan, 1 box of chocolate cake mix and 1 box of yellow cake mix, and followed the directions on the Bake Pop can for mixing the batter (slightly different from cake batter directions: extra egg).  Followed the directions, et voila! cake pops!

Now to decorate. The Bake Pop pans come with 18 sticks, but that’s no fun! I decided to make my cake pops with edible sticks: pretzels sticks. Now to find the right pretzels sticks. Traditional pretzel sticks are too thin, pretzel twists were too short and too thin. Then at my favorite Trader Joe’s I discovered Trader Joe’s Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks: not too thick, not too thin; not too short, not too long: perfect!

Next, the assembly: I used a chopstick to poke a hole in each cake pop. Then, I melted some white chocolate. I dipped an end of each pretzel stick in the melted white chocolate, then inserted it into the cake pop hole. I refrigerated 10 minutes to harden, then continued making the cake pops.

I’m not a great cake decorator, so I decided to go with the easy tuxedo-style chocolate candy covered cake pops. I dipped each cake pop (in the stick) into the melted white chocolate, almost up to the pretzel. I let the excess chocolate drip off, then set the cake pop to harden on a silpat mat for about 30 minutes.

Next, I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips. I dipped each cake pop into the chocolate at a 45° angle first on one side of the cake pop, then the other, and set it again to rest on the silpat mat. Voila! Each cake pop decorated tuxedo-style with a white shirt and black tux.

Moi Tip: I considered but then decided against flavoring each cake pop before inserting the pretzel stick: after making the hole with the chopstick, add a few drops of liqueur such as Cointreau or Frangelico; or a pump of flavored syrup (I liked Torani’s Caramel Syrup). Try making your cake pops with a flavor: and let me know.

Moi Tip Encore: this would be a great baking project with your kids!

Bonne fête, Maman!